Philadelphia Cream Cheese Crab Dip
Philadelphia Cream Cheese Crab Dip makes the perfect party appetizer. This delectable and addictive crab dip will impress the entire crew! It requires only a few ingredients and is ready in under 30 minutes! It’s ideal for any occasion. Every delicious bite has the full flavor of the crab, cheese, and spices!
An Easy Make-Ahead Appetizer
This easy crab dip recipe is creamy, cheesy, and perfect for parties. With just a few simple ingredients and big, meaty chunks of crab, this dish is a cinch to make.
Whether it’s the holiday season, baseball season, basketball season, football season, or party season, dips should be on your to-make list!
The star of this crab dip is a generous portion of crab served in a creamy base with plenty of cheese. When I place it on the table, it disappears in seconds. It’s one of the best appetizers I’ve ever made!
I recommend serving it hot to keep all of the cheese ooey, gooey, and delicious. You can certainly make it spicy if you like. Simply add a dash of hot sauce to the mix.
Do you want more dip recipes? Try my Haydari Meze (Turkish Yogurt Dip) and Mirza Ghasemi – Persian Eggplant Dip.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
This is a great recipe for a variety of reasons!
- This dip is an easy appetizer that takes almost 30 minutes to make from start to finish.
- It’s versatile. Depending on what you serve it with, you can dress this dip up or down.
- You can serve it hot or cold.
- It’s easy to make ahead. Simply combine the ingredients and wait to bake until your guests arrive.
This Dip Is Meant to Impress!
Philadelphia Cream Cheese Crab Dip Ingredients
You will only need a few ingredients to make this creamy dip.
- Cream cheese: Soften the cream cheese by leaving it out at room temperature for 30 minutes or by microwaving it for 30 seconds.
- Garlic powder: It adds a wonderful flavor to the dish.
- Salt: Add salt to taste.
- Sour cream: Helps thin the cream cheese and adds a great bit of tang.
- Green onions: If you don’t have green onions, you can use fresh parsley.
- Crab meat or imitation crab meat: Look for it near the tuna in the canned meat aisle. You can use real crab meat or imitation crab meat.
- Cheddar cheese: I use white cheddar cheese.
See the recipe card for quantities.
Just Like the Real Deal!
Steps to Prep this Easy Dip Recipe
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Next, in a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, garlic powder, salt, sour cream, and green onions.
Then, mix the ingredients very well until you have a creamy mixture.
Now, chop the crab and add it to the cream cheese mixture, along with the white cheddar cheese.
After that, transfer the mixture to a small baking dish. Top it with additional cheese and green onions.
Finally, bake the dip for 25 minutes. Serve hot or cold with buttery crackers, tortilla chips, or a bread bowl.
The Perfect Appetizer
Substitutions
Despite the short ingredient list, there are a few different substitutions (or additions) you can make to this classic crab meat dip that will still result in incredible taste and flavors.
- Instead of crab meat, you can use lump imitation crab.
- Instead of sour cream, you can use mayonnaise or Greek yogurt.
- Instead of green onion, you can use red onion or parsley.
Variations
- Spicy: Add some cayenne pepper, chili pepper flakes, or diced jalapeno.
- Tangy: Add some lemon juice or lemon zest.
Insanely Delicious!
Equipment
You only need a mixing bowl and an oven-safe dish.
Storage
- Making Ahead: You can make this cheesy hot crab dip ahead of time. Simply, combine all ingredients but do not bake. Refrigerate after tightly wrapping in plastic wrap. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.
- Refrigerating: You can store leftover crab dip in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Reheating: You can reheat leftovers in the oven or the microwave.
- Freezing: I don’t recommend freezing this dip. As a general rule, it is not recommended to freeze dairy products such as cream cheese, milk, and so on because the texture will change during the freezing and thawing process.
Top Tips
Even canned crabmeat can contain tiny pieces of shell, so pick over the crabmeat with your freshly washed fingers before adding it to a recipe.
Make sure to thoroughly drain the crab. If there is too much liquid left in the crab, the dip will be watery and thin.
Use high-quality cream cheese, preferably Philadelphia Cream Cheese, for the best flavor and texture.
If you need the crab dip to stay warm for a long time, transfer it to a crockpot and set it to low. You may lose some of the golden top, but it will remain warm and melty.
Serve It Hot or Cold
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
Imitation crab is made from fish, egg whites, starch, salt, and other ingredients. It is shaped to resemble meat.
Yes! Canned lump crab meat is delicious and ideal for recipes like this seafood dip. Typically, lump crab meat is a combination of broken pieces of jumbo lump crab meat – so it’s high-quality crab meat that’s been broken down into smaller pieces. If you happen to have leftover crab legs, you can use them for this dip.
You certainly can. Fresh crab meat is typically sold in plastic containers on ice at the market. These crabs have been steamed or boiled, but they are slightly more expensive.
Leftovers make a great spread in a quesadilla for a quick lunch. Spread the crab dip between two tortillas and toast them in a pan over medium heat on both sides.
Yes, you can use low fat cream cheese in this recipe, but full fat cream cheese has the best flavor and texture.
You can serve your crab dip with Easy And Simple Seasoned Air Fryer Pita Chips, baguette chips (crostini), vegetables, breadsticks, and crackers.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with Philadelphia Cream Cheese Crab Dip:
If you’ve tried this recipe or any other recipe on Sourandsweets, don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience with my recipes. Please share it with me on Instagram.
Philadelphia Cream Cheese Crab Dip
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese softened at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 3 green onions finely chopped
- 8 ounces crab meat or imitation crab meat
- 8 ounces white cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, garlic powder, salt, sour cream, and green onions.
- Mix until the ingredients are well combined and the mixture is creamy.
- Chop the Crab and add it to the cream cheese mixture, along with the white cheddar cheese.
- Transfer the mixture to an oven-safe baking dish. Top it with additional cheese and green onions.
- Bake the dip for 25 minutes. Serve it warm or cold with crackers.
Can I use Monterey jack cheese instead of the white cheddar, or what kind of cheese can I substitute for the white cheddar.
yes you can use white cheddar or any other cheese you like.