My Crab Stuffed Flounder Recipe is the ultimate restaurant-quality dish that you can make in your own kitchen.
Sweet crab meat blended with an easy-to-make imperial sauce stuffed between fillets of ocean-fresh flounder couldn’t be easier to make. Whether it’s for your next dinner party or date night be prepared to impress your guests with this delicious seafood dish.
One of the most popular dishes on my restaurant menu at the Jersey shore was flounder stuffed with crab imperial.
If you were a seafood lover my stuffed flounder was at the top of the list of choices. One of my other favorites is my baked seafood casserole.
The secret is in the imperial sauce, which takes 3-5 minutes to make. And that same sauce mixed with crab meat can be used to make Crab Cakes, Crab Imperial, Stuffed Lobster, and so much more!
What do I need to make Stuffed Flounder?
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Stuffed Flounder. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed the up cooking process, but it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
*My choice of crabmeat is always from blue crabs, and while I do love fresh flounder fillets, frozen is definitely acceptable.
WHAT TYPE OF CRAB MEAT CAN I USE?
The source of the crab meat can be from any part of the world that has crabs and includes varieties such as Blue Swimming, Dungeness, Snow, King and of course my favorite Blue Claw.
- Jumbo lump crab meat
- Lump crab meat
- Backfin crab meat
- Claw crab meat
- Imitation crab meat
What other types of fish can I stuff with Crab Imperial?
If you want the same type of presentation, fish fillets that are thin work best.
- Tilapia
- Sea Bass
- Sole
- Turbot
But any fish can be topped with crab imperial. The stuffing doesn’t have to go between the fillets, it can simply go on top of the fish before baking.
How do I make Imperial Sauce?
The first step is making the imperial sauce for the crab meat. In a small bowl mix all the ingredients for the imperial sauce together until well blended.
Gently blend the sauce into the crab meat, don’t add it all in, in case you don’t need quite that much sauce.
How do I make Crab Stuffed Flounder?
- Place a small piece of flounder on the sheet pan. This will be the placeholder for the crab meat.
- Add four ounces (or more) of the crab imperial mixture on top of each fillet.
- Place a piece of flounder on each side of the stuffing, leaving the top visible. It will look great as it browns, and you want your guests to see all of that lovely crab meat!
- Place a little water in the pan with a squeeze of lemon juice. This will help keep the stuffed flounder moist, and if you’re feeling really decadent, brush the stuffed flounder with a little melted butter (that’s how we would have done it in the restaurant). It’s definitely worth the extra effort!
*You can also make the stuffed flounder in individual au gratin style baking dishes.
Bake the Flounder stuffed with crab meat at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until you reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
*If you want the top to be extra brown make the last minutes under the broiler.
The nice thing about this dish is that it can be prepped ahead of time, so the only work you really have to do is pop it in the oven when your guests arrive.
Recipe FAQ’s
Crab Imperial is a classic American dish made with crabmeat that has been combined with an imperial sauce made with mayonnaise, egg, lemon juice and old bay seasoning. It is used as a stuffing for various seafood and can be baked in small shallow baking dishes or decorative shells. No bread is used in crab imperial!
The flounder itself can be cooked to 140 degrees, but the imperial crab meat stuffing needs to reach 165 degrees to be safe because it contains raw egg.
Flounder as known as winter flounder faces right with its mouth up. Fluke is also known as summer flounder faces left with its mouth up. The flavor of both fish is mild and very similar. Some say the texture of fluke is better.
More Crab Meat Recipes You’ll Love!
Crab Stuffed Flounder
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 16 ounces crab meat lump or jumbo lump
- 24 ounces flounder fillets
- 2 Tablespoons melted butter
Imperial Sauce
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 large egg lightly whipped
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tsp Italian parsley finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon old bay seasoning
- old bay sprinkle on top of the flounder before baking.
Instructions
- In a small bowl mix all the ingredients for the imperial sauce together until well blended.
- Gently blend the sauce into the crab meat, don’t add it all in, in case you don’t need quite that much sauce.
- Place a small piece of flounder in the bottom of your baking dish, and place half of your crab imperial mixture on top of each fillet.
- Place a piece of flounder on each side of the stuffing, leaving the top visible. It will look great as it browns, and you want your guests to see all of that lovely crab meat!
- Place a little water in the pan with your stuffed flounder to help keep them moist, and if you're feeling really decadent, top the stuffed flounder with a little melted butter (that's how we would have done it in the restaurant) and a sprinkle of old bay or paprika. It's definitely worth the extra effort!
- Place the baking dish in a 350 degree preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. It’s important not to let the flounder dry out, but you do want your crab imperial to be hot enough (if you have a food thermometer check its internal temperature to make sure its at least 165 degrees).
- Serve with your favorite side dish and sit back and enjoy!
Tiffany
Grocery shopping totally destresses me too! 😀
anniebakes
Great tips Chef and that flounder looks spectacular!! anne
Mari
Flounder!!!! I love this dish; it came out perfect and mouthwatering. My dad used to love this fish. I will save this recipe, thanks Chef Dennis. As for the social media etiquette, I totally agree.
Hasta Pronto 🙂
Jenn
I'm so envious of your wonderful seafood selection!! The stuffed flounder looks wonderful! Love the imperial sauce 🙂
Pegasuslegend
this is a keeper, we eat tons of flounder in Florida, I usually stuff it but this is different never used the mayo.. cant wait to try book marking!
Boulder Locavore
Love reading all your seafood recipes as I never make seafood (as a locavore, we are a long way from the sea). Despite the ability to ship reliably now, I'm still twitchy about it having lived by the ocean for many years. Congrats to your wife! What an accomplishment.
Love all your resources as always. Always love finding new and interesting tools.
Megan @ Pip and Ebby
I have to say, Chef Dennis, that I truly drool over every one of your creations….but this one?? WOW. This, I absolutely must make. Incredible! Thanks so much for sharing!!
Kate from Scratch
Fantastic post, Chef Dennis! Twitter Karma is awesome. I usually go through every three months to weed out the no follow backers. haha. I'm honest to a fault, I know. 😉 Great post! Love the look of that corn…delicious! Buzzed and saved!
Federica
wowwwwwww che meraviglia!!!complimenti!baci!
Apron Appeal
Why eat out when you have a chef for a spouse? I guess you need children at home to finish the deal…someone's got to do dishes. 😉
How many girls to you feed daily at your school? I was wondering because I remember having (not gourmet) but almost all from scratch food in my school cafeteria growing up and now all it is is pre-purchased, preservative laden, processed yuck. I want better for my kids. This is probably not my business to ask, but how much to you spend over or under what a school of the same size is spending on processed yuck?
thecompletecookbook
Congratulations to your wife Chef and what a fabulous meal to celebrate.
🙂 Mandy
purabi naha
Chef Dennis, you experiment a lot with seafood. This recipe looks really yummy. I haven't experimented with flounders yet, now it's time!
Marguerite
What a great meal to celebrate! Flounder stuffed with crab meat is my fave and yours looks fabulous. Thanks for the great recipe and links!
The Harried Cook
Congrats to your wife on passing her exam! 🙂 This celebratory dinner looks fabulous… better than any restaurant dinner, i'm sure! This recipe sound great! Thanks for sharing 🙂
kitchenarian
The flounder looks amazing. I would rather have a really nice meal at home than go out.
Thanks for the twitter tips.
sara @ CaffeIna
Oh Chef, you are so right…social media is not going away….you should approach it as a way to get help and friends…it just takes so much time. Lately I have been very much out of the "public sphere". I know I have to go back and connect. Maybe with the summer break 🙂
Have a great week!
Claudia
I'm thinking I need to cross state lines to find some good lump meat. But what's a few borders between friends? That's how much this flounder excites me. Congrats to your wife! Exciting news!
All That's Left Are The Crumbs
Wow, your fish looks incredible. My mouth is watering looking at all of that crab meat in the stuffing. I wouldn't want to go out either when this is what is being served at home.
Please pass on my congratulations to your wife on passing her exam.
Chris's Gourmet Fashion
First of all congratulations to the wife on her achievements. What a way to celebrate. That flounder looks mouth watering. Wish I could have that for dinner too 🙂
Lizzy
Oh, Dennis, you are tempting me once again with a gorgeous fish dish. Can I come to dinner at your house??? You sure know a lot more about Twitter than I do…I am going to re-read your advice in the AM…and work on my tweets 🙂 Thanks for being our rock in this blogging world! xo