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.
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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 Tail, and so much more!
Ingredients 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 up the 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 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 is Blue Crab from the east coast and gulf of the US.
- 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 (Hellmans, Best foods or Dukes Mayo)
- 1 large egg lightly whipped
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon 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 on the sheet pan. This will be the place holder 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) 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!
Mark says
If I can’t find 16 ounces of crabmeat can I substitute 1 pound instead? Seriously though, if crab claw meat is sweeter why is lump meat preferred?
Chef Dennis Littley says
I don’t think claw is sweeter. It’s got a stronger flavor and is great for crab cakes, soups, pasta red sauce, and even stuffing mushrooms. But you can’t beat good jumbo lump.
Leigh says
Successfully made several of your delicious recipes. However, the first time I made the crab stuffed flounder it was so easy to make, but I used imitation crab, it was ok. So I tried claw crab meat to hopefully make it better. I give up, it was edible but not that good. Maybe a better cook and only use chunk premium fresh caught. We didn’t save this recipe, because it has made me feel like such a failure 😂. That being said, we will definitely try a few others. Sharing so it might help someone else with ingredient choices. It has been said, the dish is only as good as the ingredients.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes.
Chef Dennis Littley says
You can’t expect it to be that good using imitation crabmeat and claw really isn’t a good choice for stuffed flounder. Claw is good for crabcakes or stuffed mushrooms.
Rhonda says
Hi Chef Dennis, I plan on making this tonight using Tilapia (I couldn’t find flounder). If I make this in an individual style au gratin dish, should I still add water and lemon juice to keep them moist? I like the idea of everything staying in one place and making it easier to serve instead of trying to transfer from pan to plate. In your Baked Seafood Casserole, the flounder was baked a bit first with water, then drained before adding the seafood mixture so I’m concerned that the water might not be a good choice for this since its not drained before serving. Another reviewer mentioned covering with foil for 20min then uncovering for the last 5-7min. I’m not sure if they added water and/or used individual dishes. Looking for any advice you can give. Thanks!
Chef Dennis Littley says
hi Rhonda
If you’re baking them in au gratin dishes, you won’t need the water and lemon. just put a small piece of tilapia on the bottom and finish building the dish. You should be fine baking uncovered for 20-25 minutes. Check the internal temp to make sure its gotten to at least 165 degrees before removing from the oven.
Rhonda says
Thanks for the reply! This is an excellent dish. The seasoning did not overpower the crab and the fish wasn’t too fishy. I even received compliments from some who don’t often give them. Thank you for that! Well, things don’t always go as planned. I had decided to bake them in a pan, like your photos, at first. My imperial sauce looked perfect! When I added the sauce to the jumbo lump crab meat, the sauce got really runny. I tried transferring the crab/sauce mixture to the fish on the sheet pan, but the pan started filling with liquid. I poured the remaining non-crab imperial sauce over the top, but it didn’t improve anything much. I also had a hard time keeping the sides of fish around the crab. At this point I went to plan B and transferred each stuffed fish to an individual au gratin dish. I divided the leaked liquid from the first pan into the individual dishes and added a bit of lemon juice, so as the fish baked, the sauce thickened around it in the dish. I wonder if the reason my sauce was so runny was that my crab was purchased frozen. I thawed it and let it sit in a colander to dry off a bit before adding it to the sauce. I think next time (and there will be a next time) I will squeeze/press the crab to get as much of the remaining liquid out before using it. Despite my problems with execution, it was delicious! Imagine if I had done it right?
Mark says
Can you make extra portions to freeze and eat later? We are only two in the household and love leftove4rs.
Chef Dennis Littley says
Yes you can. The imperial sauce will help keep the crabmeat intact. Freezing crabmeat by itself is not a good thing.
Dave says
Hi Chef Dennis, I love crab stuffed flounder and I want to make it. The only issue is there is an egg allergy in our family. Do you know of a good egg substitute for the egg in your recipe? Thank you so much for your advice!
Chef Dennis Littley says
sadly there isn’t really a substitute for the egg in imperial sauce. But you can make a light cream sauce to use as the base instead of the imperial sauce.
1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour to make the roux. Then add chicken stock or vegetable stock to make a cream sauce and season it with old bay. This will take the place of the imperial sauce, just use enough to bind the crabmeat. It won’t be as light but it will work
Chenée says
Such an elegant, yet simple dinner! I love the addition of the Old Bay seasoning!
Jenny says
You can never go wrong in my book with a good seafood dish. Your recipe is excellent. We enjoyed it. I was committed to finding every ingredient; I have a great market close to me that has everything. So I didn’t substitute anything, and the flounder came out perfect. I will make it again for sure.
Lauren Michael Harris says
My husband loves crab but only ever makes the same crab dip whenever we have it fresh (which is often since we live on the coast!). I told him we were making this stuffed flounder instead and we LOVED it!! Such a welcomed change for us both – great recipe!!
Cathleen says
This is my new favorite recipe! I will be making it again for my in-laws next week when they visit. Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Lori | The Kitchen Whisperer says
And I just added flounder and crab to my grocery list! This looks absolutely incredible and a true showstopper!!!
Sharon says
This is an elegant flounder dish that is just like the top-quality dishes you would get in a fancy seafood restaurant.
Megan says
Another winner dinner right here. It was easy to prepare and so incredibly good.
Amanda Mason says
This was so good! The old bay seasoning paired with the mayo made this recipe for me! I loved every bite! Thank you for this recipe! I’ll be making this on the regular!
Devan says
This was great Chef. We tried this the other night with Dover sole and it was so good! I LOVE that old bay seasoning. Thanks for sharing this!
Bernice says
Wow, I can see why this dish was so popular. The fish baked up so tender and moist but that crab filling was the star of the show! Thanks for sharing this great recipe.