Chinese Buffet Cheesy Crab Casserole
This recipe for Chinese Buffet Cheesy Crab Casserole is an indulgent treat. Filled with imitation crab, cream cheese, two types of shredded cheese, lemon zest and crunchy celery and green onions.
What is it?
Chinese Buffet Cheesy Crab Casserole is a new one to me. It is a unique side or main dish filled with imitation crab, which I think is a fantastic protein.
A bit of cream cheese and sour cream bind the ingredients, with lemon zest for a pop of flavor, and celery for crunch. Shredded cheese, freshly shredded is best, tops it all off. It is delicious and rich.
Ingredients Needed
- imitation crab meat
- sour cream
- lemon juice plus lemon zest
- garlic powder or minced garlic
- shredded mozzarella & cheddar cheese
- celery and green onions
- cream cheese
- mayonnaise
- Worcestershire sauce
Crab Casserole varies depending on restaurant
From what I can tell, restaurant Chinese Buffet Crab Casserole can vary a bit depending on what place of business you eat at. This reminds me of my recipe for Copycat Steak ‘n’ Shake Frisco Melts which spurred a lot of comments debating if sautéed onions were served on the sandwich.
As it turns out, it just depends on what place you eat at. That is similar to this recipe, so please keep that in mind before you come for me in the comments. 😅
Can I make this lighter?
If you’d like to lighten up this recipe, feel free to try using light cream cheese and fat free shredded cheese. I haven’t tried this out yet myself, but I’d love to know what you think if you try it yourself.
Imitation crab is a bit more affordable
Super tasty and more affordable using imitation crab. I know the rising prices of food are on most peoples minds, so I am all for saving where I can. Enjoy!
Looking for more seafood recipes? Check these out!
- Crab Rangoon Pizza
- Fried Crab Rangoon
- Spicy Sriracha Crab Dip
- Seafood Pot Pie
- Lemon Scallop Pasta
- Crab Rangoon Dip
- San Remo Seafood Dip
- Crab Rangoon Cups
Chinese Buffet Cheesy Crab Casserole
Ingredients
- 16 oz. imitation crab meat
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1.5 Tablespoons lemon juice, plus lemon zest see notes
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder or minced garlic
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheddar
- 1 cup celery thinly sliced
- ½ cup green onions thinly sliced
- 4 oz. cream cheese softened to room temp
- 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1.5 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce see notes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the sour cream, lemon zest & juice, garlic powder, half of each type cheese, mayo, celery, onion, cream cheese and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well to combine. Gently stir in the imitation crab meat.
- Spoon into a greased 9×13-inch casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown and casserole is bubbly.
Notes
Nutrition
The directions don't say when to mix in the cream cheese. I assumed it's not split in half and put on top, so I mixed it all in with sour cream, etc.
Thank you for the heads up! I'll fix that. That is indeed when you want to add the cream cheese.
I added real crab and real seafood mix instead of imitation.. the carb nutrients improved and it was delicious thank you for the recipe. This is one of my favorites at buffets. We are now doing low carb and this was great! Any ideas what to serve it with as a side?
I made it exactly as the recipe shows. However, I now question the amounts of lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. I will probably exclude both next time as having both of them in those quantities yielded too much ‘bite’ in each taste.
Thank you.
Appreciate the feedback GC. It may come down to personal tastes, as I enjoyed the bite from the lemon. I will make a note of that in the recipe that it can be omitted or cut in half for a less potent flavor.
This recipe is fantastic!! Does anyone know if you can freeze it?
Hi Liana – I haven’t tried freezing this so my guess is as good as yours. Typically I am a little leery of freezing sour cream or cream cheese based recipes. It could be enough of a mix of cheese and other ingredients included to hold up though. If you try it, please let me know how it goes.
Initially I was planning to make stuffed mushrooms with the imitation crab meat. Never used it before but am trying to come up with keto friendly recipes for my daughter and son in law. Since my husband came home with 2 packages of tiny mushrooms I had to go with plan B. Saw this, made it mostly how your recipe reads. Then sautéed the button mushrooms and stems, celery, and half an onion in olive oil and butter, salt/pepper. I spread this over your recipe then added the rest of the cheese. It’s in the oven now and I think it’s going to be delicious! I will sprinkle diced green onions and parsley on top when I take it out.
Your changes sound really good Patty. Hope it turned out well 🙂
I try to make recipes as close to ‘as-written’ the first time. I read the comments and make adjustments next time. I’m not on any special diet. I made this recipe (as written, but halved it because I cook for two. Also, my oven is on the fritz, so I did it in the air fryer in a 7 x 3″ pan at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.) It was delicious. I served it over rice noodles with an Asian cucumber salad on the side. It’s a keeper. We are not people who object to ‘too much bite each taste’. Around here . . . we express that as ‘flavorful’. The joy of cooking at home means you can tweak . . . and I usually do.
Hi Riki – Thanks so much for your feedback! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. I am tempted to try it out again and cook it in the air fryer next time. I’m with you on enjoying things with a lot of flavor.
If I could have I would have given you 5 more stars!!! I’m the main cook in my family and I made this dish,ate the whole dish myself! Not all at once,lol😋 That was 6 days ago and I’m making it again today! I love seafood and this one is fantastic!! My wife and mother in law better not dawdle when it’s ready cause I ain’t waiting for nobody when it’s done!Thanks so very much for posting this recipe.
That’s so wonderful to hear Mike. Glad you enjoyed it.
Husband’s “In The Top Five” dishes I’ve made in 10 years! He didn’t want to share much of it.
That’s so great to hear!
I don’t feel it is fair to rate this, as I had to make too many changes. I don’t really like celery in this kind of dish, and I don’t like green onion at all, so I always planned on leaving those out. Since that is a cup and a half of the recipe, that’s a big change. I did add some dried onion. But the biggest issues were the sour cream and the cream cheese. I have both, but they are needed in another recipe. I thought I had enough of both. I didn’t. I ended up subbing Greek yogurt for the sour cream and adding more of that, the cheese, and the mayo to try to compensate. I also didn’t measure things like the garlic and the Worcestershire sauce; I just eyeballed. If I had realized I didn’t have the cream cheese, I probably wouldn’t have started it. But I was just too far into mixing ingredients to scrap the whole thing. And, I have to say, this recipe is sooo forgiving. It’s delicious. Rich, without the celery, but delicious. I look forward to making it again, with all the proper ingredients. I might even throw in a little celery. :-P. For those who are questioning the Worcestershire sauce, you might try soy sauce instead. I love the Worcestershire sauce, but the two often work interchangeably in recipes like this. And for those who are doing keto, be careful. Imitation crab often has more carb than you’d think.
Hi! Thank you for your thoughts on this recipe and the substitutions you made. I think the Greek Yogurt and sour cream are a great idea that I would be interested in trying next time around. Thank you also for the tip on the soy sauce.
It sounds like you just like to hear yourself talk. why write a review if you barely even made the recipe? it doesn’t help anyone to know that you started to make it, but then didn’t have the ingredients, so you basically changed everything. why even write about it?
They added helpful tips and information. Sounds like you are the one who likes to hear themselves talk. You didn’t even say anything about the recipe.
The recipe is awesome, by the way. I did lower the lemon juice as some other helpful comments suggested, but served with lemons on the side for adding some brightness if desired. It was delicious!
This is very close to the cheesy imitation crab dish at our local buffet, with the addition of a little Old Bay Seasoning and quite a bit less Worcestershire. Thank you for this recipe!
Appreciate that feedback! Old bay sounds like a great addition.
Thank you sooo much!! This was absolutely phenomenal! 🥰
i liked it i just used lemon juice with no zest and it turned out really well and will make it again . you can follow me on tic tok all are welcome tim bitterman 581
thank you have a good day
Love this recipe So good.
We weren’t a fan of this recipe. We halved the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce as suggested; everything else remained the same. Ultimately, all the ingredients were too overpowering and the overall taste was not good. Quite sour. probably would have been better with much less sour cream and more cream cheese. Doesn’t taste like buffet cheesy crab casserole that we love so much. Easy to throw together, but flavor missed the mark.
I made this tonight with the addition of some mini shrimp I had in my freezer. Tasted real good. Don’t think there will be left overs.
I love it!! It’s really good!
Made it and it was great!
Happy to hear that 🙂
I enjoyed the tartness of the lemon and Worcestershire Sauce. I served a side of seafood cocktail additionally adding horseradish for those who seriously want the bite. On the casserole it’s self I added French fried onions for a bit of crunch. I and my guests thought it was perfect.
Happy to hear that Donna 🙂
I used the imitation crab meat and only thing I left off the recipe was celery. It was way too fishy tasting. I love getting this at the buffets but mine didn’t turn out very good. Nothing against the recipe, it looked delicious. I just couldn’t get over it being too fishy. Has anyone else had that result?
This was delicious. I only added a small amount of lemon zest, lemon juice and Worcester sauce. I will make this again.
I absolutely love it. I omit the lemon but everything else is on point. Easy to make & very satisfying.
I am afraid that I am not a fan of this version. I found it too rich and the Worcestershire sauce was a bit overwhelming. I am probably alone in that opinion, as my husband really likes it as the recipe called for. the lemon juice was fine and probably could have had more. my elderly mother only ate one bite and shook her head, but that is not unusual for her.
TBH, it’s nothing like the versions in our local Chinese buffet restaurants. I suspect that they use more mayonnaise, less cream cheese and eliminate the sour cream.
I halved the Worcestershire and lemon after reading the reviews and WOW that was not enough. All I taste is lemon and Worcestershire….i would completely omit it and thats coming from someone who loves both. I wouldnt say this is very accurate compared to what Ive had, but its not terrible
This is also great made with shrimp that you’ve precooked and chopped slightly, or a combination of the imitation crab and shrimp. I like to add some finely chopped red bell pepper for sweetness and crunch, plus it looks nice. I use lactose free sour cream and cheese…still good! You can sub soy sauce if you don’t have Worcestershire sauce on hand and seasoned rice vinegar in a pinch for the lemon juice and still have a tasty outcome, but it isn’t quite as excellent.
Loved this recipe!