CrockPot Crab Dip Recipe


Day 327.

Dip! With crab meat! And cream cheese!

Do better things than this exist?

I don't actually think so.

We had a houseful of people last night and I was thrilled that Christine emailed me earlier in the week with her famous crab dip recipe. I changed a few things, but this is definitely her recipe. Thank you, Christine!

The Ingredients.

--1 pound crab meat (imitation crab meat is NOT gluten free. Go for the real stuff!)
--3 packages (8oz each) cream cheese
--1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (or you can use 1/2 cup jarred salsa)
--1 can chilies and tomatoes, drained (Rotel)
--1/2 cup milk
--2 lemons, optional

The Directions.

I used a 4 quart crockpot. This feeds 20 people as an appetizer, or one cranky woman as a meal.

Sort through the crab and make sure that there aren't any shells.

Cube the cream cheese and put it into your crockpot. Plug it in and turn to high to begin melting the cream cheese. Add the buffalo wing sauce (or salsa), milk, and the drained can of Rotel.

Put in the crab, and stir gingerly to combine.

Cover and cook on low for 2-3 hours, stirring every 20 to 30 minutes, or on high for no more than 2 hours, stirring often.

Serve with your favorite crackers, cubed bread, or celery sticks.
If you plan on serving out of the crockpot, you can "pretty it up" by inserting slices of lemon all the way around the edge of the dip in the crock.

The Verdict.

This was a hit. The crock was scraped clean.

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Posted by: Stephanie O'Dea | A Year of Slow Cooking at November 22, 2008

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What they say about this article

  1. This one has me DROOLING!!! Oh my gosh! And I had no idea that imitaion crab meat wasn't gluten free! What a pain!

    Okay...I need to make this. I MUST MAKE THIS! I just have to wait to make it when I won't be the cranky woman eating it all!

    It threw me off that there was no title for this post! I get confused reaaaaally easily!

    I wonder if I can sneak thie recipe in as an appetizer on T-day!

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  2. Anonymous11/22/2008

    I laughed out loud at the "one cranky woman" part!

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  3. I can imagine the crock was scraped clean, that looks really good. I love the serving size description, very funny!

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  4. Oh yea - we have two appetizer pot-luck things coming up in the next few days in the marina. This looks GREAT!

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  5. This sounds delicious! I am going to have to give it a try! Especially since it is just going to be the two of us for Christmas Eve, I think it might be just the decadent thing to make!

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  6. You are my hero!!!!
    I can't believe I am just finding you now in November and NOT in January of '08!!! Boo-hoo. I, too, love my crockpot. There are just a few recipes I use it for, however. After finding you via a search for applesauce in the crock, I will take the voyage into a lot more fun cooking with my crockpot. Easy and delicious. Yum.
    Thanks so much,
    Cyndy

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  7. Ooh, this looks delicious!!! Can you believe your year of CrockPotting is almost over?

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  8. this looks amazing. whenever i think of crab dip, i think of it as being cold. obviously, yours is in the crockpot so it's hot. it sounds really good and addictive.

    i also wanna tell you that you won the butterfly award on my blog for having a cool blog!

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  9. Oh, I'm so excited about trying this one! As a native of Baltimore, MD (where crabs are basically our official food of choice), this will definitely be a hit.

    I'd also suggest modifying it by leaving out the hot sauce (or just using a little less) and adding Old Bay seasoning. This would give it a true Baltimore kick!

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  10. Are there any "special tips" for getting all the shell fragments out of canned crabmeat? I love the taste, but man, I cringe - or gag - when I get a piece of shell.
    Any help?

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  11. I'm so glad you liked it! I do have to give credit to my mother, who passed on this recipe to me when I was a newlywed. I wasn't such a great cook then, so I think my husband had it for dinner approximately 30 times our first year of marriage. And he didn't complain one bit.

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  12. Oh wow, that sounds so delicious! My husband and I absolutely love the crab-and-cream-cheese combo.

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  13. Mmmm. Looks great! By the way, I left you an award over at my blog--check it out!

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  14. I am cracking up at the cranky woman comment!!
    this looks great--I have the chicken version just about scraped clean upstairs right now since my husband's friends are over! He would love the crab version. Great suggestion!

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  15. Ok, we had a cold and blah day so I decided to give this a test drive as a appitizer for T-Day.

    Used imation crab meat (i'm not about fishing shells out of stuff) and Mild salsa and it was AMAZING.

    Currently eatting some with ritz crackers and it fabo. Warm and slightly kicky from the salsa and a nice taste of crab but not crazy fishy...Another treasure from our Crock Lady; )

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  16. Oh, sad me. At the PTA meeting last night, the janitor dropped and broke my CrockPot. Be proud, I was gracious and declined when she offered to replace it. "Accidents happen." My children were frozen and ready to flee; they know how much I love my Crock, even though it's old and not a cool one. (Steph, it looks, LOOKED, like your old light blue one) The good news is, guess what's going on my Christmas list?!? The bad news is, Christmas is very far away, with lots of cooking between now and then. Woe is me!

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  17. Does anyone know if this will work in a 1 quart crock pot?

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  18. so what are you going to do with yourself when this year is up? sell the crockpot? start again? i'm curious!

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  19. YummY1 Did the buffalo sauce make it spicy?

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  20. Anonymous11/23/2008

    I have just awarded you the kreativ award. You are so creative in using your crockpot everyday. Love it. Go to my site to check out your award.

    www.savingmoney101.blogspot.com

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  21. Anonymous11/23/2008

    Steph: Thought of you this morning when browsing through the Sunday paper. Target has a special three crockpot thingy on sale. Hard to describe. It's looks like three crockpots surrounded by stainless steel - you'll have to look at the ad to see it.

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  22. Anonymous11/23/2008

    Oh, geez. I might have to make that for breakfast!

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  23. kraftykash,

    the buffalo sauce provided more of a tang and a slight kick. I didn't find it spicy at all.
    There were 8 kids in the house and not one of them tried it. I think it's because of the bowl of cheetos...

    --steph

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  24. Anonymous11/23/2008

    my husband and i couln't stop dippin before the cream cheese was all melted!!

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  25. I used to make a great hot dried beef dip with cream cheese and green pepper, horse radish, sour cream, a bit of milk and onion... I bet I can do it in the crock...

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  26. We make this in the fondue pot and it is soooo good!

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  27. Anonymous11/24/2008

    Many years ago I was given a 3 ingredient crab dip recipe, easy enough to remember: 1lb crab, 1lb salsa, 1 lb cream cheese. You pick the heat.
    We aren't seafood eaters in my house, so we make crabless Crab Dip. Cooking doesn't get easier than a 2 ingredient recipe!
    Yours sounds amazing!

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  28. Anonymous12/06/2008

    Wow! I just made this for a Christmas party tonight and it was a huge hit! It is freaking amazing. I love it. It's like a crockpot of my favorite things. :)

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  29. I just made this for my office holiday party and it went over like crazy - people were dipping all sorts of vegetables into it.

    I will definitely be making this one again.

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