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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.

Hot crab dip baked in a round baking dish with cheese on top, and bread slices on the side for dipping.

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.

Individual bowls with the ingredients needed to make Crab Dip, labeled.

How to make Crab Dip:

  1. 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.
  2. Stir in ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese and hot sauce and mix until smooth.
  3. Stir in crab meat.
  4. 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.
Four process photos for making Crab Dip.

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

Hot crab dip baked in a round baking dish with cheese on top, and bread slices on the side for dipping.
Prep 15 minutes
Cook 20 minutes
Total 35 minutes
Save Recipe

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 3 days. Rewarm in the microwave.

Notes

Crab: Fresh lump crab meat is best for this recipe since it's broken pieces of jumbo lump crab meat. You can find it at the grocery store in a container on ice, in the fresh/refrigerated seafood section. Costco has the best price I've found. 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 absolutely necessary.
Salt: Taste a little of the crab. If it tastes salty, you can omit the added salt.
Make Ahead Instructions: Crab dip can be prepared 1- days ahead of time, stored covered in the fridge, then baked according to instructions.
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.

Nutrition

Calories: 304kcalCarbohydrates: 5gProtein: 22gFat: 22gSaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 95mgSodium: 1156mgPotassium: 269mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 769IUVitamin C: 11mgCalcium: 229mgIron: 1mg

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RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.

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About The Author

Lauren Allen

Welcome! I’m Lauren, a mom of four and lover of good food. Here you’ll find easy recipes and weeknight meal ideas made with real ingredients, with step-by-step photos and videos.

3.8 55 votes
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4.96 from 1710 votes (1,635 ratings without comment)
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Karen Parker
1 year ago

5 stars
We live in Maryland and tried more crab dips than we can count. This is our fav!

Debbie
1 year ago

Love the crab dip! It’s a keeper!

Duane
2 years ago

5 stars
Best crab dip I have ever made. Excellent recipe.

rocky_local502@hotmail.com
2 years ago

5 stars
This crab dip was a huge hit with my family. The recipe easily made enough for a sitting plus a couple more however it was so well received, it was demolished in one. 2 huge thumbs up.
Thank you so much.

Cindy H
11 days ago

5 stars
FYI If you are planning to bake this in a sourdough bread bowl…it will take much longer than 20 minutes! I don’t know how long yet because it’s been in my oven for 45 minutes and it’s not even close to hot enough yet! It looks and smells amazing though. I might be late to my Christmas party but I bet I’ll be forgiven when we finally get to taste this!

Terril
15 days ago

5 stars
I love this dip

Marlene
16 days ago

5 stars
I made this last xmas and it was excellent. I will be making it again this year

Lois
26 days ago

5 stars
I made this today, I used canned crab (I rinsed it and squeezed the livin’ heck out of it!), I thought it was okay. I stirred in some romano after I took it out of the oven and it was better. But then I made up a bit of cocktail sauce with horseradish and ketchup, stirred that into a bit of it for my husband and I to do a taste test. We liked the zing of the cocktail sauce version (I would add a bit at a time, to not overwhelm it) I could still taste the crab, it just gave it more flavor. I don’t know if I’d do that if it was real crab, but for the canned version, I thought it improved it. I will be freezing this until Christmas Day. Hope it works out!

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