This is such a delicious crab dip that can be used with tortilla chips, toasted baguettes, potato chips, or even sliced vegetables. Serve this crab dip hot and refrigerate the leftovers (if you have any!) The best crab to use for Maryland Crab Dip is the Maryland Blue Crab obviously; however, any crab substitute such as Dungenous Crab or Alaskan King Crab work work just as well. Maryland Crab (cooked lump crab meat) is often available at your local seafood counter (normally on the East Coast) or can also come pre-packed and cooked. For those who are fortunate enough to live on the East Coast, it’s possible to go crabbing yourself to pick up the crabs for this recipe. Of course this also requires steaming the crab. If you’re up for that, you can search this site for instructions on steaming live crab.

This crab dip recipe serves about 8-10. Double or triple the recipe for a larger crowd.

Ingredients
2 lbs of Maryland Lump Blue Crab Meat (picked, cooked, de-shelled)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
8 oz package of cream cheese
1 teaspoon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoons reduced fat mayonnaise
1/8 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix 1/4 of the cup of cheddar cheese with all other ingredients. Spoon the mixture into a baking dish
and top with the remaining cheddar cheese. Bake the crab dip for about 30 minutes or until the cheese on top is melted.

Serve the Maryland Crab Dip Hot with sides of chips or veggies. This is a great appetizer to serve that your seafood loving guests will enjoy.

Many people enjoy crab without any sauce or butter at all. With its sweet and delicate flavor, crab is a delicacy that can stand on its own without any seasonings, sauces, or butter. However, if you wish to make cocktail sauce or clarified butter, here are a few recipes to help you out.

Cocktail Sauce

This recipe makes about 2 cups

Combine all of the ingredients below and stir. Save the cocktail sauce in a sealed container. If you have a glass container, this works well for storing cocktail sauce.

Ingredients -
1 cup chili sauce
1/2 cup catsup
2 tablespoons horseradish
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon hot sauce (tabasco sauce)
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon Warcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice (for added flavor use freshly squeezed lemon)

Here is another recipe for Cocktail Sauce that uses less ingredients - simple and easy -

Cocktail Sauce
1 cup ketchup or salsa
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon horseradish
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (Tabasco)

Mix ingredients well and serve. Store in tightly closed container

Clarified Butter
You can use as much or as little butter as you need.

Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once butter is melted and starting to boil, turn off the heat until the milk solids and oil have separated, which is about 10 minutes. Next, skim the milk solids from the surface of the butter. You can save the milk solids if you want to flavor other items such as baked potatoes or other vegetables because the solids have a lot of flavor. Next, pour off the clear butter oil into a dish until you can no longer separate solids from the oil. Use the clarified butter in recipes or for dipping crab.

For many dishes such as crab and shrimp stuffed salmon, the recipes taste wonderful when topped off with a savory sauce such as the Butter Blanc Sauce. The sauce gives the fish a finishing touch and will impress your guests too.
This recipe makes 1 cup of sauce
Butter Blanc Sauce

Ingredients -
3 ounces white wine vinegar
6 ounces white wine
1 cup heavy ceam
6 ounces cold butter cut into pieces (better to use unsalted to keep the sauce from tasting too salty)
1 shallot
3 ounces cold butter in addition to butter above, cut into pieces

Instructions -

Using a noncorrosive saucepan such as claphalon, teflon, or stainless steel, add the vinegar, wine, and peppercorns. Cut the shallot into quatered pieces and add to the saucepan as well. Heat on medium heat and stir. Reduce the heat and continue stirring until the mix has a syrup consistency. Add cream and reduce heat again until the mixture is very syrupy and about 3-4 tablespoons. Add 2 ounces of butter pieces and stir until melted. Once melted, add 2 more ounces of butter pieces and stir. Continue until you have used all of the butter pieces. Do not allow the mixture to cool too much or the butter will not melt. Strain the mixture and keep it on a double broiler until you are ready to use it.