Hot and Spicy Chesapeake Crab Dip is rich and decadent. It’s fit for a crowd you want to impress ! Once you have prepped your ingredients, it will come together quickly and be in the oven permeating your kitchen with the aroma of Old Bay and crab. Is there anything better than that? Not if you are a Marylander!
The ingredients for the cheese mixture are assembled for preparation.
The cream cheese is softened in the microwave. It should be easy to make indentations with the back of a spoon.
Combine ingredients, except for cream cheese, together in a glass bowl.
Once combined, blend in the cream cheese with a rubber spatula. Make sure you leave no streaks of cream cheese!
Fold grated cheese gently into the Old Bay mixture until evenly distributed.
Place crab into bowl after removing any shells or cartilage from packaging.
Gently stir to blend the cheese mixture evenly into the crab meat.
Place in preferred serving dish, prepared with cooking spray. I chose smaller soup crocks since I was sharing this with others. These would be perfect to place in separate areas where your guests circulate…. or…. place in 9-inch pie plate or equivalent-sized serving dish as shown above. Below, 3/4 cup of the grated cheese mixture was saved to sprinkle on top before heading into the oven This is an option. However, I prefer to incorporate all the cheese into the crab mixture. It creates a more creamy texture as seen in the other photos.
Since these crocks were filled a little deeper than a casserole dish might be, I cooked them a little longer, making sure they were a little bubbly. I also turned on the broiler for last 2 minutes to lightly brown.
If you have any leftovers, refrigerate and then extend your love for this by placing it on top of soft pretzels and baked or as a filling for Hot and Spicy Chesapeake Crab Jalapeno Poppers! Better yet, slice some Rosemary Focaccia Bread to spread this creamy delight on. Your mouth definitely won’t be disappointed!
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Cook time:
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Serves: 12 servings
- 2- 8 oz. bricks of Neufchatel, (1/3 less fat) cream cheese, softened
- 4 oz. of sharp white cheddar cheese, grated
- 4 oz. of Monterey Jack cheese, grated
- 2 oz. of Parmesan cheese, grated
- ½ c. mayonnaise
- ½ c. sour cream, low fat
- 2 T. Dijon mustard
- 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced- your preference for taste- I use 2
- 2 T. Worcestershire sauce, low-sodium
- 1 T. Old Bay seasoning
- ¼ t. cayenne pepper
- 1 pound lump or jumbo lump crab meat, picked of cartilage and shells
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Soften the two unwrapped bricks cream cheese in the microwave for about 25-30 seconds.
- Grate the 3 cheeses, then toss them together in a Ziploc bag to evenly distribute.
- Whisk together the mayo, sour cream, mustard, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, Old Bay and cayenne pepper.
- Combine the mixture until well blended.
- Add the softened cream cheese and continue to blend until well incorporated. (You should not see white streaks of cream cheese.)
- Add the grated cheese and fold in until evenly distributed.
- Pick the crabmeat of shells and cartilage and place in a large bowl.
- Add the crab to the Old Bay/cheese mixture. Blend gently until evenly distributed with crab meat.
- Place in dish about the size of a large pie pan, or 3 soup crocks which are oven safe.
- Cook time may vary according to the depth of the dish you choose. Start with 30 minutes. The mixture should be slightly bubbly. The soup crocks took about 33 minutes. If you desire, place it under broiler for an additional couple of minutes to lightly brown before removing from oven. Watch carefully!
[…] favorite produce market, How Sweet It Is . The crab was bought there also. I took the recipe for Hot and Spicy Chesapeake Crab Dip found on my blog and placed it into halved and seeded jalapenos. I baked them for about 15 minutes […]