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Crab Dip

September 25, 2024

Indulge your friends and family with this creamy crab dip recipe (which you can serve hot or cold)! Loaded with fresh lump crab meat, cream cheese and Old Bay, it’s classic perfection.

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crab dip in a baking dish made with cream cheese, mayo, sour cream and cheese served with crackers and raw vegetables
Photography by Gayle McLeod

Whether it’s New Years Day or just game day, we break out this classic, easy crab dip recipe when it’s time to seriously treat our favorite people and it never, ever fails. In the chilly months (AKA fresh crab season here in the Pacific Northwest!), we love hot crab dip, all bubbly and cheesy and ready for us to dip big hunks of crusty bread into. Just a few ingredients — like cream cheese and fresh crab meat — and a few minutes, and you’ll be in appetizer heaven! If you love creamy, warm dip recipes as much as we do, try classic Spinach Artichoke Dip, or cozy hot corn dip, too.

cream cheese, mayo, sour cream, spices, Worcestershire, lemon juice, hot sauce, cheese & crab meat in prep bowls

Crab Dip Ingredients

  • Crab meat: Fresh lump crab meat is the very best here, but if canned crab is all you can access, that is OK in a pinch.

  • Cream cheese: If the only ingredients in your crab dip are crab meat and cream cheese, you’d have a pretty bland dip, but also you’d be most of the way there. Crab meat and cream cheese are the foundation of crab dip!

  • Old Bay seasoning: Crab dip is sometimes called Maryland crab dip, because of its (likely) Chesapeake Bay origin. Therefore, you’ve got to include Old Bay seasoning, which is made in Baltimore! You can buy the real deal, or you can whip up a little homemade Old Bay seasoning.

  • Mayonnaise + sour cream: Creamy crab dip doesn’t just feel luxurious because of the crab (though that’s a big part of it). It’s got to be ultra-creamy, too, and so we doubledown on the creaminess factor by including mayo AND sour cream, along with the classic cream cheese, to give our crab dip recipe the perfect creamy-yet-dippable consistency.

  • Worcestershire sauce: Don’t worry, you don’t have to be able to pronounce it in order to cook with it. (For the record, it’s pronounced “wooster” sauce, because the English language is totally bananas).

  • Lemon: You’ll use both the zest and juice.

  • Garlic: Fresh cloves and granulated, too. Flavor, flavor, flavor!

  • Fresh chives.

  • Hot sauce: You can feel free to add hot sauce to taste, and if your taste is such that you want nothing to do with spicy crab dip, it’s fine to skip it! Or, if you’re like “give me all spicy crab dip, the spicier the better” then you may want to add even more hot sauce that we call for.

  • Cheese: We like to use white cheddar purely because of the color. If you only have yellow cheddar, it’s just fine to use it. We include mozzarella for its melt factor.

cream cheese, mayo and sour cream stirred together in a bowl
cream cheese, mayo, sour cream spices, Worcestershire, lemon juice, hot sauce, cheese & crab meat being stirred in a bowl
cream cheese, mayo, sour cream spices, Worcestershire, lemon juice, hot sauce, cheese & crab meat being stirred in a bowl
a baking dish of crab dip made with cream cheese, mayo, sour cream, spices and cheese ready for the oven

How To Make Crab Dip

  1. Buy good crab. Crab meat is often expensive, but that’s part of what makes crab dip such a special appetizer to serve. People know that you’ve gone all out for them! We love to serve it at the holidays, when we want everything to feel a little sparkly — even the party snacks.

  2. If you’re making hot crab dip, preheat the oven. If you’re option for cold crab dip, obviously don’t.

  3. Combine the cream cheese, mayo, sour cream, garlic, chives, Old Bay, salt, pepper, Worcestershire, lemon zest and juice, hot sauce, and cheeses. This can take some elbow grease, so you may opt to use your stand mixer. Or a sturdy spoon and big bowl work, too. Gently stir in the lump crab meat (don’t use a stand mixer for this part!)

  4. If you’re going to serve it cold, you’re done!

  5. If it’s hot crab dip you’re after, move the dip to an oven-safe dish (like a pie pan or cast iron skillet), top with cheese and bake until the dip is super bubbly.

a baking dish of hot crab dip made with cream cheese, mayo, sour cream, spices, white cheddar cheese and mozzarella
crab dip in a baking dish made with cream cheese, mayo, sour cream and cheese served with crackers and raw vegetables

Crab Dip Tips, Tricks + Variations

  • Serve crab dip cold: Just skip the baking step!

  • Make crab dip ahead of time: Mix the crab dip ingredients and stop before your bake the hot crab dip. Cover and store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve it (for up to 48 hours). Then, top with cheese and bake until bubbly!

  • Leftover crab dip will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge, but we have never experienced this “leftover crab dip” thing.

  • Unfortunately, you cannot freeze crab dip.

  • How to buy fresh lump crab meat: Look for fresh lump crab meat at the seafood counter of your grocery store. It’s usually sold in 1-pound tubs. If you really can’t find it, you can use canned crab (though our crab dip recipe is best with fresh crab meat).

a cracker being dipped in crab dip made with cream cheese, mayo, sour cream, spices, white cheddar cheese and mozzarella

When You Dip, We Dip!

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Crab Dip

  • Serves:  12
  • Prep Time:  20 min
  • Cook Time:  25 min
  • Calories:  197

Ingredients

  • 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
  • ⅓ cup mayonnaise
  • ⅓ cup sour cream
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, plus more for garnish
  • 1 ½ teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
  • ½ teaspoon granulated garlic
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • ½ teaspoon lemon zest
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, (from 1 lemon)
  • ½ teaspoon hot sauce, (see Note)
  • ½ cup shredded white cheddar cheese
  • ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1 pound fresh lump crab meat

For serving (optional)

  • Crackers
  • Tortilla chips
  • Vegetables, (carrot sticks, celery, cucumbers, bell peppers)

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the center position.

    cream cheese, mayo, sour cream, spices, Worcestershire, lemon juice, hot sauce, cheese & crab meat in prep bowls
  2. In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sour cream until smooth. Stir in the garlic, chives, Old Bay, granulated garlic, salt, pepper, Worcestershire, lemon zest, lemon juice, hot sauce, white cheddar, ½ cup of the mozzarella, and the crab meat until well combined.

    cream cheese, mayo, sour cream spices, Worcestershire, lemon juice, hot sauce, cheese & crab meat being stirred in a bowl
  3. Transfer the crab mixture to a 9-inch pie plate or oven-safe skillet. Sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup of mozzarella.

    a baking dish of crab dip made with cream cheese, mayo, sour cream, spices and cheese ready for the oven
  4. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and lightly browned and the crab dip is bubbling.

    a baking dish of hot crab dip made with cream cheese, mayo, sour cream, spices, white cheddar cheese and mozzarella
  5. Serve warm with crackers, tortilla chips, and vegetables, if using.

    crab dip in a baking dish made with cream cheese, mayo, sour cream and cheese served with crackers and raw vegetables

Notes

If you like some kick, add more hot sauce to taste!

Nutrition Info

  • Per Serving
  • Amount
  • Calories 197
  • Protein 11 g
  • Carbohydrates 3 g
  • Total Fat 16 g
  • Dietary Fiber 0 g
  • Cholesterol 74 mg
  • sodium 542 mg
  • Total Sugars 1 g

Crab Dip

Questions & Reviews

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  • Jenn

    This is my new go-to party dip! Love crab and this dip was to good. Like, I shouldn't know how to make it because it might become a problem.

    Thanks Jenn, glad you love it!