This easy Crab Dip recipe is meant to impress, made with fresh lump crab meat in a creamy dip that can be served hot or cold. It’s the perfect appetizer or side dish for parties, game-day or holidays.
I’ll take advantage of any opportunity to make crab for my family, including Baked Crab Legs, incredible Crabs Cakes, or this easy and delicious Crab dip. For a similar recipe, check out my clam dip.
The ingredients are so simple, hopefully the only thing you need to grab from the store is fresh lump crab meat.
How to make Crab Dip:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Add cream cheese to a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Stir in mayo, sour cream, garlic, green onion, Old Bay seasoning, salt, Worcestershire, and lemon juice.
- Stir in ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese and hot sauce and mix until smooth.
- Stir in crab meat.
- Spread into a 9″ pie dish or similar size baking pan and sprinkle remaining cheddar cheese on top. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly.
Serve warm, with slices of sourdough bread, crackers, tortilla chips or chopped cold veggies.
Variations:
Cold Crab Dip: prepare dip as instructed, but don’t bake (serve it cold).
Crockpot Crab Dip: Add dip to the slow cooker and cook on low for 1-2 hours, until heated through.
Crab Dip in a Bread Bowl: For an extra fun appetizer, bake the crab dip right inside a bread bowl (homemade or a large round store-bought loaf). Hollow out the bread, leaving about an inch around the inside edges. Fill with crab dip and bake as directed in recipe. Save the removed bread pieces for dipping.
Fresh Crab Meat substitution: Since the crab is the star of the show here, I only recommend using fresh jumbo lump crab meat. You can use canned crab meat if really necessary.
Make Ahead and Storing Instructions:
Leftover crab dip will keep, stored covered in the fridge, for up to 5 days. Rewarm in the microwave.
To Make Ahead: Crab dip can be prepared 1- days ahead of time, stored covered in the fridge, then baked according to instructions.
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Recipe
Crab Dip
Ingredients
- 8 ounce package cream cheese , room temperature
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- ¼ cup chopped green onion
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon salt*
- 1 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- ½ of a lemon , juiced
- 1 cup freshly shredded cheddar cheese , divided
- ½ teaspoon hot sauce , or more, to taste
- 1 pound fresh jumbo lump crab meat
Dipping ideas:
- sourdough bread
- crackers
- tortilla chips
- chopped cold veggies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Add cream cheese to a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Stir in mayo, sour cream, garlic, green onion, Old Bay seasoning, salt, Worcestershire, and lemon juice.
- Add ¾ cup cheddar cheese and hot sauce and mix until smooth. Stir in crab meat.
- Spread into a 9″ pie dish or similar size baking pan and sprinkle remaining cheddar cheese on top. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly.
- Serve warm, with slices of sourdough bread, crackers, tortilla chips or chopped cold veggies.
- Leftover crab dip will keep, stored covered in the fridge, for up to 5 days. Rewarm in the microwave.
Notes
- Cold Crab Dip: prepare dip as instructed, but don’t bake (serve it cold).
- Crockpot Crab Dip: Add dip to the slow cooker and cook on low for 1-2 hours, until heated through.
- Crab Dip in a Bread Bowl: For an extra fun appetizer, bake the crab dip right inside a bread bowl (homemade or a large round store-bought loaf). Hollow out the bread, leaving about an inch around the inside edges. Fill with crab dip and bake as directed in recipe. Save the removed bread pieces for dipping.
Nutrition
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Really excited to make this crab dip recipe. I was planning on it being my girl dinner for a week. I didn’t check the price of the fresh lump crab before I rang it up at the register. Then quickly decided it needed to be shared. I made no changes to the recipe… even used a honey hot sauce from a local market. This dip is so freakin good! My future son in law ate it for breakfast and took a small container to his mom for a lunch snack. Her text to me was OMG that dip is fire! We all love it! I even saved some for my daughter when she gets off work. Thanks so much for this recipe! Next up: your crab cake recipe.
Very good crab dip recipe! I’m from Maryland and have not found good crab dip in the state I live now. I have tried many online recipes but didn’t like too much. This is a winner! I didn’t have hot sauce but was still very good. Many recipes call for more old bay seasoning, but as much as I like it on steamed blue crabs, you can overdo it in crab dip. The ingredients in this dip are just right. I also used large premium claw meat and it is less pricey and just as good! Claw meat is sweet. Just get good meat, not canned! Thanks for the recipe! We had it for dinner with slices of sour dough baguette slices warmed.
I’m excitedly waiting for this dip to come out of the oven. I added an Italian blend cheese along with the sharp cheddar instead of cheddar and tabassco instead of hot sauce. The dip is ok cold, but i believe its going to be Great out the oven. Frying egg roll wraps for chips. Thanks for the recipe.
This recipe was absolutely delicious! I made it for a party, and everyone loved it. I served it with garlic toast/crisps. The pan was scraped clean!
Love the crab dip! It’s a keeper!
Can this be frozen (before the baking)?
Made this for Super Bowl Sunday and it was a huge hit!!! My husband’s family is from Baltimore, so he is super picky and he gave it 5 stars!! Served it with baguette, crackers, and fresh veggies….all great compliments to the dip.
This would have been great, except the 1 cup of cheddar cheese ruined the dip. 1 cup of cheddar cheese made the crab dip extremely oily and an absolute waste of money. Maybe sprinkle a little bit of cheese on the top, but that’s about it.
I forgot to mentioned that I used two 8oz containers of Phillips jumbo lump crab meat. I made this recipe for me and my 14 year old son, along with some steamed jumbo shrimp on a snow day (school had closed) . He was simply in heaven. I toast some garlic Tuscan bread and the rest is history. This recipe is amazing!!