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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.
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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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 3 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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HAVE YOU TRIED THIS RECIPE?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
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We live in Maryland and tried more crab dips than we can count. This is our fav!
Love the crab dip! It’s a keeper!
Best crab dip I have ever made. Excellent recipe.
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.
I made the crab dip recipe but used 1/2 lb. Imitation crab and 1/2 lb. Lump crab meat. Got rave reviews at an outing! Yummy!
I used mock crab and garlic powder (didn’t have fresh), did not add the salt. Delicious recipe. Will add some chopped celery in future. Chopped spinach or small broccoli florets are also a consideration. Based on the comments, if you use canned crab, be sure to rinse it well to reduce the salt. I live in Canada, so I don’t think the Canada/US comment is likely the issue.
Terribly salty. $85 down the drain.
This is the best recipe, made this crab dip for my friends and they enjoyed it. Not complicated for a person like me who don’t always follow instructions, I even printed it so I can make it again next time.
Great dip! I’m based in Europe so can’t get old bay, so I used some paprika and onion powder instead. I’ve made it a couple of times, and hot or cold its always delish!
Sorry, forgot to add my 5 stars!
This is a first for me to bring a crab dip to an Easter celebration. I think it will go over big.
I spent over $55 on this and it ended in the garbage. I wouldn’t even let my dog eat it…I was so disappointed, I don’t know if it is a difference from US to Canada but I was just bummed that I spent so much on this dip and it was disgusting.
I wish I had read the comments before investing in this dish, but I was obviously not thinking. I agree with many – waaaayyyy too much salt, I would have omitted it entirely. Also beware it also took twice as long to heat as it called for – yes I have a professional oven so my oven is not the issue. Being a waste not/want not person I added 2 cups of thawed chopped spinach to try and offset the terrible salt issue. We also used unsalted crackers as our vehicle of choice. I will only use about half the Old Bay (and I LOVE Old Bay!) because of the heavy salt content that ingredient also added.
Make sure you always use fresh jumbo lump crab meat. The canned stuff has considerably more sodium.
She did say to taste it BEFORE adding salt! Read the instructions and tips! You can’t give a true review if you don’t do as the recipe says.
I thought it was a great recipe and will definitely be a keeper!
Made this for The Super Bowl this Sunday and it was a HIT!!! Absolutely delicious!!
I used this recipe with cold smoked fish, minus cheese, the combo of ingredients worked nicely.
Thank you,
I would have given this 5 stars but it’s SO salty. Crab is already salty, I would completely omit the salt if I ever make this again. Such a pity, I lost a lot of expensive ingredients and it’s really just not edible as is.