This Cheesy Hot Crab Dip is the ultimate party snack! Lump crab meat is baked into this luxurious dip with cream cheese, sour cream, sharp cheddar cheese and few dashes of hot sauce.
Looking for more warm party dips? Artichoke Dip and Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Dip are excellent choices!
Just as we are recovering from the food coma that is Christmas, it’s time to plan what we’ll be consuming as the ball drops on New Year’s Eve and when I think New Year’s Eve I think crab dip.
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Best Hot Crab Dip Recipe
This Hot Crab Dip is decadent, cheesy, but at the same time a bit elegant. It pairs perfectly with champagne, cocktails, or whatever you happen to be imbibing at your celebration. For me that may be iced tea so I won’t fall to sleep before the countdown. Sad but true.
It’s exceptionally easy to make and can be made up to a day in advance.
Ingredients for Hot Crab Dip
- Lump crab meat – My local store carries Chicken of the Sea Lump Crabmeat but there are many other brands available. If using canned crab meat, be sure to drain the cans well before adding them to the rest of the dip ingredients.
- Cream cheese – You can use regular or Neufchatel less fat cream cheese for a lighter result.
- Mayonnaise
- Sour cream – Regular or light sour cream both work well.
- Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- White onion
- All-purpose seasoning salt – My favorite is Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
- Worcestershire sauce
- Fresh lemon juice – A natural choice with any seafood dish.
- Italian parsley
- Tabasco sauce – Just a few shakes of hot sauce to add a little zip. You can alter the amount added to suit your taste or leave it out altogether if you’d like.
- Freshly ground black pepper
What is Lump Crab Meat
Lump crab meat consists of chunks of jumbo lump and crab body meat and it is perfect for dips, crab cakes, and salads. Don’t confuse it with imitation crab products. Lump crab meat is the real deal, 100% real crab. And, you want the real deal for this dip.
Lump crab meat comes canned and you also may find it at the butcher counter in some grocery stores. The bonus to buying it canned is you can pick it while it’s on sale and stash it away until you need it.
How to Make Hot Crab Dip
This recipe could not be any easier. It’s just a matter of combining all of the ingredients and transferring the mixture to a small baking dish. You can cover the dish and refrigerate it overnight or bake it right away.
Use a cheese grater to grate onion when you want to add onion flavor to a recipe without adding too much texture. A great choice when making dips, spreads, and meatballs.
How to Serve Cheesy Hot Crab Dip
You can bake this dip in a small serving dish like I did here or in a small bread bowl with the added bonus that the serving dish will be edible! Once most of the dip has been consumed you can tear off chunks of dip soaked bread and eat the whole gosh darn thing. Most grocery store bakery departments carry small bread bowls over the holidays.
I like to serve this dip with Ritz crackers but it is also delicious with sliced baguette or tortilla chips for dipping.
Tips and Variations
The “Hot” in the recipe title refers to the fact that this dip is served warm from the oven. Although it calls for a few shakes of hot sauce, it’s not a spicy dip. However, if you want to spice it up, feel free to add as much hot sauce as you’d like. You could even throw in a diced jalapeno for good measure.
I like to keep things on the mild side when serving a crowd but if you know your group likes it hot, go for it!
I hope you add this one to your party menu this New Year’s Eve or tuck it away for Super Bowl Sunday. It’s just around the corner.
Enjoy and Happy New Year, friends!
More Party Appetizers You’ll Love
- Shrimp Dip
- Antipasto Skewers
- French Onion Dip from Scratch
- Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Check out my entire collection of tasty appetizer recipes!
Cheesy Hot Crab Dip
Ingredients
- 8 ounce package cream cheese or Neufchatel (light cream cheese), softened
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup light or regular sour cream
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 tablespoon grated white onion
- 12 ounces lump crab meat , from 2 6-ounce cans
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose seasoning salt, I use Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
- a few shakes of Tabasco, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- crackers, baguette slices, or tortilla chips for serving
Instructions
Oven Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sour cream in a medium mixing bowl and stir until creamy. Add remaining ingredients and stir again until well combined. Transfer to a small baking dish and transfer to oven.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until browned and bubbly.
- Serve with crackers, baguette slices, or tortilla chips.
Slow Cooker Instructions
- Add the ingredients to a small (3- to 4-quart) slow cooker, stir to combine, and set it on LOW for 2 hours. It needs to cook until the cream cheese melts completely. Stir the dip and then let it cook for an additional 15 to 20 minutes.
- It should keep well for up to an hour on the KEEP WARM or LOW setting. Be sure to stir it occasionally to prevent it from burning or separating.
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Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
Fun Party Food
This looks like a great recipe minus the canned crab meat. I’m from Maryland and can’t fathom the idea of using canned crab meat. I will only use Jumbo Lump crab meat and make it 1 pound 🙂
This was so delish! I am allergic to lemons so I omitted that. I did add onions, jalapeños, and cheese blends. I then put some leftover between sourdough bread and toasted it… so good! Everyone wants me to make it again. I’m gonna make quesadillas!
Way too much lemon. Lemon flavor was overpowering. Many other recipes call for one tsp to one tbsp of lemon but the juice of half a lemon was too much.
Hi Michele. There is only about 2 to 3 tablespoons (at the most) of juice in a whole lemon so you’re at right about 1 tablespoon if you use half. But, if you’re not a fan of the flavor of lemon juice you can adjust it to your liking.
I made this for Christmas Eve and it was such a hit that they didn’t want to eat dinner, just the dip! Great!
This was wonderful—I’m an author and will not take time away from my work/art to cook unless I have a great recipe. This one is!
My first recipe review ever… fantastic! I finally found a recipe that rivals the local seafood restaurants. Thank you!
I’m honored! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment, Tammy. So happy you loved the dip!
Will this work baked in cast iron…sorry for the stupid question, but I keep finding the crab dip recipes baked in glass or ceramic. Thanks
Not a stupid question at all! It should work great in a small cast iron pan. Depending on the size of your pan, you may want to double the recipe though.
Can this dip be pit in the freezer?
I don’t recommend freezing cream cheese based dips.
You have to use fresh picked blue crab meat! Maryland is a cult, not a state!!
I have some fresh crab meat I’m looking to use. Can I make this dip with fresh crab meat? Thank you in advance.
Absolutely! It will be delicious with fresh crab meat.
I made this last night for my Christmas Eve cocktail party and it was outstanding!!! Prepped it a day in advance then just popped it in the oven right before the guests arrived – east peasy! EVERYONE commented on how delicious it was! I was a little skeptical at using crab meat from the tuna fish aisle and not the refrigerated section, but it was perfect! This will become a staple at my cocktail parties!!!!!
Yes! The high quality canned lump crab meat is really all you need! You can absolutely use more expensive lump crab meat from the fish counter but we think it’s great with the canned variety too. Thanks, Susannah. 🙂
I made this I use high quality crab in a can from sams club .served 12 people , I did not care for the flavor . No one gave a compliment except one person .
I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you, Cindy.