Easy Cold Crab Dip with Cream Cheese (2024)

🔪 Instructions

1. Make sure your cream cheese is softened and at room temperature, otherwise, the dip will be lumpy.
2. Begin by combining cream cheese, mayonnaise, horseradish, garlic and finely chopped bell peppers, celery and optional radishes. Stir until well combined.
   
3. Add lemon zest and juice, remembering to zest the lemon before you cut or squeeze it. Zest only the thin outer part of the lemon peel, as the white portion is often bitter. Stir.
   
4. Now all you have to do is gently stir in the fresh or canned crab meat being careful not to break it up too much. Lumps of crab meat are a good thing that people will seek out! Taste and correct the seasoning if necessary.
   
5. Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with freshly chopped parsley and refrigerate until you're ready to serve.

🔁 Possible Variations

• If you love horseradish, add another teaspoon. I kept it at 2 teaspoons, as I wanted the delicate flavour of crab to shine.
• You can substitute sour cream for the mayonnaise if you'd prefer. However, the flavour will be a little different.
• Radishes are optional, but I like the extra crunch and the colour they add to this cold crab dip with horseradish.
• If you're short of crab, make this a cold crab and shrimp dip instead! Substitute cooked baby shrimp for some of the crab. It's delicious!
• Use this recipe as a crab spread instead of a dip. Spread the cold dip on toasted crostini for fun finger food.

👍🏼 Helpful Tips

If you are new to removing crab meat from its shell, this video How to Humanely Kill, Cook and Crack Dungeness Crab from Becky Selengut, author of Good Fish: Sustainable Seafood Recipes from the Pacific Coast will be very helpful. Check it out!

🥶 Can you freeze crab dip with cream cheese?

This seafood dip should be stored covered in the fridge for up to 2 days.

This crab dip does not freeze well. Dips made with cream cheese tend to lose their creamy texture when frozen. This dip will be best if you eat it within two to three days, so you can easily make it the day before you plan to serve it.

🍽 Serving suggestions

Serve this dip with low-carb tortilla chips, gluten-free crackers or toasted gluten-free flatbread. It's also delicious with Super Seedy Snack Crackers.

Keep it keto by offering fresh veggies like celery sticks, kohlrabi sticks, mini bell peppers, broccoli florets, cucumber rounds, zucchini sticks, or strips of red pepper for low-carb dipping choices.

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