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!
Dayle Brignac
I am looking forward to trying your flounder dish. I live on Galveson Island and fish a lot. Yesterday you can guess what type of fish i caught. I will let you know how much I do r don’t enjoy it. Look forward to trying some of your other reciptes.
Dale
Nikki $
It was awesome! My husband loved it. Did tweaked it a bit. I put salt, pepper and old bay on all the fillets. Then topped it with Italian seasoning. Most recipes don’t have enough seasoning for my hubby and I. We also baked it covered for 20 minutes then uncovered it for 5-7 minutes to brown the top this helped keep the fish moist. Thanks for sharing. Will cook again. I also used imitation crab meat that’s what I had available.
Andy
Tried this tonight! I worked in a cape cod restaurant during college and I was trying to remember how to prepare this old stand by. You recipe was closest… the only difference was I turned up the oven to 400, and checked it at 10 minutes… 12 minutes later it was done… The imperial sauce was SPOT ON! THANKS!
Mike Miroux
Chef,
I followed you recipe last night and it was delicious! Everyone loved it! Thanks for the recipe! Keep them coming!
Mike
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the stuffed flounder Mike! Thanks so much for letting me know.
George Sarricueta
how long can i keep the stuffing of the stuff flounder in the fridge and freezer??
Chef Dennis Littley
I wouldn’t keep it more than 2 days. It’s also going to start getting runny the longer it sits. You can freeze it but freezing crabmeat is the best thing for it. It will make it stringy.
Robbin
Chef Dennis – this dish looks scrumptious. But I would like to try this with chilean sea bass stuffed with the crab imperial. Will I need to soak the fish in water so that it will not dry out? Also, would you recommend just salt and pepper on the fish. I don’t want to take away from the crab imperial, but I do want to enhance the flavor of the chilean sea bass.
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Robbin,
I don’t think you need to soak the fish, the stuffing should help keep it moist, but when baking it I would add a little water to the bottom of the pan to help keep it moist. As for seasonings with the imperial as the stuffing I would keep the seasoning mild just using a little olive oil and salt and pepper on the fish.
angela@spinachtiger
I grew up in Pennyslvania (Harrisburg) eating blue crab and lots of stuffed flounder. This takes me back to that great seafood that we don’t have here in Nashville. Glad i found your site. Congratulations on the changes.
admin
Hi Angela, I’m so glad you stopped by! I do take for granted all the wonderful fresh seafood we have in the area, and my wife loves it! Hope all is well in Nashville!
Lin Ann
I had stuffed flounder while on vacation and I now want to make it at home. So guess where I looked first – your blog. And here it is! I knew I could count on you!!!
Maranda
Oh my goodness! Stuffed flounder is one of my favorite things to get at Red Lobster. I can't wait to try this!!! I pinned it on pinterest so I won't forget!
Thanks for the great information as well!
Gloria
I love this Dennis, look delicious! gloria
Kate@Diethood
I always love all your seafood creations… this flounder sounds fantastic!
Great post chef, very informative…and as always, a beautiful recipe!
Kim - Liv Life
Another wonderful post Dennis! That corn has me thinking summer… while you have the hot weather I'm dreaming of, I've still got long sleeves. No socks though! I have to admit it's really been beautiful in the day time, but I could still do with a few more degrees. We do our corn on the grill as well and I'm eager to get some.
Love the twitter info… I'm still wading those waters and probably not using it as well as I could be!
kita
I knew about tweetdeck – but I had no idea about all the other links you included in this weeks ask Dennis! I can't wait to check it all out.
Stuffed flounder is a family favorite. My daddy always makes it for the holidays in the winter. I've been looking for a recipe to challenge him (the best way we bond).
Julie M.
Now that is truly a Mid-Atlantic treat! Just beautiful Dennis. Great advice as well. I definitely check out Path.com and foodspotting; they sound like great sites.
The Mom Chef
This recipe got bookmarked for sure. I can well imagine that Mrs. Chef would prefer to eat at home with this amazing meal instead of be taken out. Bravo, Chef, bravo.
Elin
Hi Piggy Chef….Congrats to Mrs.Dennis for passing her exam 🙂 Your dish makes me salivate …Stuffed flounder with crab meat…gosh..who wouldn't want to marry a Chef ? LOL! Thanks for sharing the recipe…I can substitute flounder with other fish I guess ,since we don't have it over here 🙁
I always find your ' Ask Chef Dennis ' so valuable. So much to learn from you. Thanks for being our Rock in our blogging world 🙂
I will be submitting my best recipe to Nancy end of June 🙂
Have a great weekend,
Elin
kankana
You are so right.. wonder what we would have done without all these social media.
About that fish .. I never had this fish before but it looks SO SO SO creamy .. just wanna grab that plate 🙂
Torviewtoronto
this is a delicious summer dish corn looks fabulous with the fish and sauce
Kate
Dennis, that fish looks magnificent. I've got some crabmeat from TJ's in the fridge so all I've got to do is get the flounder…
Baking Serendipity
Congratulations to your wife! This celebratory dish looks fantastic, and while I know the fish is the main star, I can't help but drool over that grilled corn. Yum!