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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.
This recipe turned out great! I took it to work and all my colleagues loved it. Because I was sharing it with so many people I left out the hot sauce, of course
Very good receipe. I cut back on the old bay seasoning. And did not add any extra salt. Used 2/3 can of claw can crab meat, and it was great. Good Receipe.
I made this for a potluck neighborhood seafood party. It was gone before everything else (and there was A LOT of food) and people kept coming up to me to tell me how good it was and that they couldn’t stop eating it. I left out the garlic and the salt, and added a tsp of ground mustard. Thanks for the great recipe!
Does this only really make enough for 6people??? I was going to make it for a party
Hi Cathy, it depends how hungry your guests are! You can expect between 4-5 cups of the dip. So if each person eats 1/2 cup of the dip, it could feed 8-10. We hope you enjoy it!
Does this freeze well? Tastes delicious but have a ton leftover
Hi Amanda, you can freeze it after baking but keep in mind the texture will not be exactly the same (because of the mayo and sour cream base). Thaw it in the fridge and then give it a good stir before rewarming.
What is the nutritional information based on? 2 Tbl Spoons?
It’s an estimate based on the dish serving 6 people (a serving would be 1/6th) and the nutrition info represents 1/6 of the dish.
Ok after reading comments and ingredients/amounts I can see why some people say it’s too salty! Hot sauce, worcestershire, old bay and salt! Talk about a salt bomb. I made 1/2 recipe with way smaller amounts of all (plus a small amount of creole seasoning and more hot sauce). I thought it was salty…..if I would’ve added half of seasoning per recipe, it would’ve been way too salty. I added cayenne pepper (no salt) I like it spicy and more lemon juice to cut through the salt. I also added a little more lump canned crab meat than the recipe called for and it was perfect!
I have made this crab dip on Christmas Eve for the last three years. It’s always a big hit. My husband, kids and grandkids all love it and asked for it again this year. As for the comments about the salt, if you are sensitive to things tasting salty, then omit it. You can always add it afterwards if needed. Love the recipe Lauren! 😋
I want to make this ahead and freeze it. How long would it keep?
Great recipe. Sadly I could not locate fresh crab (in France!). So although I squeezed as much liquid as I could from the canned crab, it was a bit watery. However the guests loved it; it was very flavorful.