00:00 Hello this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with the best hot crab dip.
00:07 That's right I'm gonna show you the best recipe for what I consider the king of
00:12 the hot dips. And whether you have an unlimited budget and use the really
00:17 expensive fresh crab, or your funds are limited and you have to use something
00:21 out of a can, this easy bake dip will still be a huge hit at your party. And to
00:27 get started we will take some room-temperature cream cheese and to
00:30 that we will add some mayonnaise as well as some sour cream. And if you're new to
00:34 hot bake dips this is pretty much how all of them start. And then after that
00:39 I'm gonna add one of my secret ingredients which is a little touch of
00:42 ketchup, which not only adds a little bit of sweet and sour savoriness but I think
00:47 it makes for a nicer color also. And then we will follow that with lemon in two
00:51 forms. All right we'll do some freshly grated zest which gives us a beautiful
00:56 intense lemon flavor. And then we'll also add the juice for a different kind of
01:00 lemon flavor, but also more importantly for some acidity. And then you can't make
01:05 a hot crab dip without a little bit of Worcestershire sauce. And then it is
01:09 optional but I do also like to add some minced garlic, followed by another key
01:13 ingredient, a couple teaspoons of Old Bay. And please do not under any circumstances
01:19 substitute with Young Bay. That will not work. And then we'll finish up our
01:24 seasonings with some paprika, as well as some freshly ground black pepper, and of
01:29 course a little touch of salt. And then if you want, and I do, I'm gonna heat this
01:34 up with a few splashes of hot sauce. Plus to hedge our bets a few shakes of cayenne.
01:40 And then before we give this a mix I'm gonna toss in some grated white cheddar.
01:44 And a sharp cheddar would work but I do prefer the mild or medium for this. And
01:49 I'm not sure why, but everybody uses the orange cheddar for this. But personally I
01:54 think it looks better with the white. And that's it. We'll take a spatula and give
01:58 this a mix until we're pretty sure everything's been evenly combined. And
02:03 you're probably thinking at this point, "Shouldn't there be crab in this?" Well yes,
02:07 we're gonna add that soon. But I think it's a good idea to mix everything at
02:10 this point, since our crab is already gonna be in pretty small pieces. And if
02:15 we mix that in with everything else, it's pretty much gonna disappear into the
02:18 other ingredients. So by mixing that in at the end, we can hopefully retain a few
02:23 identifiable pieces. And then the other ingredient we won't add until this has
02:27 been mixed, is our freshly sliced green onions. Since if you overwork and crush
02:32 and smash cut onions, the flavor can actually get a lot more intense and
02:36 harsher. So I think it's better to dump those in at this point. Followed by, as
02:41 promised, the best lump crab meat we can find. And by the way, someone in Maryland
02:46 just said, "That doesn't look like lump crab meat." Well to them it probably
02:50 doesn't, since if you're from a place that's famous for fresh crab, the lump
02:54 crab meat is much lumpier and in much bigger pieces. But most of us are not
02:58 going to be able to find or afford that nice fresh stuff. So we'll just use a
03:02 couple containers of that refrigerated stuff they have at the supermarket, which
03:06 works great and is more affordable. But if you can't swing that, don't worry. You
03:11 can use canned crab meat, which you can find right next to the tuna fish. And
03:14 believe it or not, even with the cheap stuff, this dip is still gonna be pretty
03:19 amazing. And that's it. Once our crab has been gently but evenly mixed in, we will
03:24 transfer that into whatever baking dish we're gonna use. And as usual with these
03:28 type of baked dips, you can put it in two or three smaller baking dishes or
03:32 ramekins, and you can bake those one at a time. And then once one is almost gone,
03:37 you can pop another one in, thereby giving yourself a continuous supply of
03:41 hot dip. But this time I just put everything in one dish. And then we are
03:46 definitely not gonna smooth out the top. Alright, crabs are many things, but smooth
03:50 is not one of them. So I like to leave the surface kind of rough and gnarly. And
03:54 then what we'll do to finish this, once everything has been transferred in and
03:58 maybe tidied up a little bit, is we will apply a little more grated cheddar to
04:03 the top. Okay, just enough, but not too much. And then after the surface has been
04:08 cheesed, to spice this up a little more and make the top look a little bit
04:12 crabbier, I like to do another generous application of cayenne. And if you're not
04:17 into the extra heat, just go ahead and use some paprika. And that's it. This is
04:22 now ready to transfer into the center of a 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes
04:27 or so, or until our dip is nice and hot and the cheese on top starts to take on
04:31 a little bit of color. And it hopefully looks like this. Oh, and speaking of looks,
04:37 as you can see here when I give that rack the old shake-a-shake-a, these dips
04:41 are gonna be very soupy when they first come out of the oven, which is still fine
04:45 to eat. But we're making hot crab dip and not hot crab drip. So we really do want
04:51 to let this sit for about 10 minutes or so before we serve. And while we wait, we
04:55 can go ahead and garnish the top, which I'm gonna do with, yes, even more cayenne.
04:59 Because, no, I didn't put enough on yet. And then I finished up with some more
05:03 freshly sliced green onions. And that's it, our hot crab dip is ready to serve.
05:08 And yes, I should use a towel, but I chose accurate placement over not feeling
05:14 pain. And you're about to see here as I grab that adorable cheese knife and
05:18 serve some of this up, that even though this was still super hot and it had only
05:23 been out of the oven for about 10 minutes, it has definitely thickened up
05:26 enough to stay on the bread. So we really do want to be a little bit patient. And
05:30 that, my friends, really was truly incredible. Alright, even though we used a
05:35 decent amount of crab, those other ingredients we included, like the
05:39 Worcestershire sauce and the Old Bay, really amplify that crabby flavor. And
05:43 this is gonna taste like we used even more than we did. And even though it's
05:47 hard to see, as I'm eating this, I am feeling and seeing pieces of crab. So
05:52 mixing that stuff in at the end really does make a difference. Oh, and there is
05:56 another alternative method where you can add half the crab into the dip mix and
06:00 then take the other half of the crab and kind of poke it into the top a little
06:03 bit, which will make this look like it has more crab in it than it does. So if
06:08 you want to try that, go ahead. I mean, you are after all in charge of the
06:11 administration of your crustacean. But having said that, I absolutely loved how
06:16 this came out. Oh, and by the way, if you're gonna call something a dip, it has to
06:21 work just as well if you dip the bread or cracker in. Otherwise, if you have to
06:25 use a knife, it's a spread. And those comments I just made are dedicated to
06:29 the ten people in the world that are actually bothered by that kind of thing.
06:33 You know, the people that are telling you it's not a stuffing if you didn't stuff
06:37 it in the bird. That's alright. They can't help themselves. But anyway, the much more
06:42 important point is whether you dip or spread, there are very few things as
06:46 delicious on bread, which is definitely my first choice here. But my second
06:51 choice, believe it or not, would be some nice thick potato chips. And then after
06:55 that, any kind of cracker would also be very, very effective. But anyway, that's
06:59 it. What I'm calling the best hot crab dip. The only real problem with this is
07:05 that it's really, really hard to stop eating. So consider yourselves warned. But
07:10 other than that, this dip is pretty much perfect. And I really do hope you give it
07:15 a try soon. So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a
07:20 printable written recipe, and much more info as usual. And as always, enjoy!
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