Hot Snow Crab Dip for Holiday Parties

Crab dip nutrition is a dairy story with a protein bonus. USDA FoodData Central lists cooked queen crab, the species sold as snow crab, at about 115 calories, 24 grams of protein and 1.5 grams of fat per 100 grams, with plenty of selenium and vitamin B12 (FoodData Central). The same source puts cream cheese at about 350 calories per 100 grams, nearly all of it fat, so the dairy supplies most of the calories and nearly all of the saturated fat here, while the pound of crab supplies most of the protein. Estimates below are for one of eight servings, about half a cup, without bread or crackers.

Swap the sour cream for plain whole-milk Greek yogurt and leave out the mayonnaise to cut the fat by roughly a third; the dip comes out a little tangier and slightly looser.

Crab dip with cream cheese is a ratio before it is a recipe: one part dairy base to one part crab by weight. That ratio only works with clean crab, so start with our wild snow crab meat, fully cooked, hand-picked after cooking and frozen with no shell. Snow crab meat is sweeter and finer than most crab meat dip recipes assume; it does not need the heavy seasoning canned claw meat does, so the spice stays light. Cream cheese carries the body, sour cream keeps it from setting like a cheesecake, mayonnaise adds richness and Parmesan gives the top something to brown. Lemon, Worcestershire, Dijon and a little Old Bay do the seasoning.

Thaw the crab in its sealed bag on a plate in the refrigerator overnight. Once thawed, drain it in a colander and press it gently between paper towels; wet crab waters down the base and the dip never thickens. Cut the long pieces in half so each scoop gets a piece of crab without dragging a whole leg out of the dish, and keep it cold until it goes into the bowl.

Take the cream cheese out an hour ahead. Cold cream cheese beats into lumps that never smooth out, and beating harder to fix it is what breaks the crab later. Grate the Parmesan yourself if you can; pre-grated cheese is coated against clumping and browns less. Slice the scallions, keeping the white parts for the base and the green for the top, and butter a 9 inch pie dish or a shallow 1 quart baking dish. Before you mix:

Here is how to make crab dip that tastes of crab. This hot crab dip recipe has four stages, and three of them are about restraint: beat the base until it is smooth, fold the crab until it is just coated, bake until it bubbles and stop. Crab dip is reheated crab in a cheese sauce, and reheating is where cooked crab turns stringy.

• A chilled shrimp cocktail of our super colossal shrimp, peeled and deveined at 10 to 12 to the pound, poached, chilled and served on ice with a sharp cocktail sauce. Cold against hot, lean against rich.
• Icelandic smoked salmon on dark rye with creme fraiche, dill and a squeeze of lemon. Our Nova lox is cold-smoked and ready to eat, so this one is assembly, not cooking.
• Something raw and crunchy: endive leaves, celery, radishes and cucumber, which double as dippers.

Dippers: toasted baguette slices, sturdy crackers, pita chips, and the endive and celery above. Avoid thin chips, which break in a hot dip.

For a bigger crowd, fold a 14 oz can of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped, into the base with the crab for a crab artichoke dip; it stretches the dish to serve ten or twelve, adds a little tang, and is the version to make when the crab has to go further.

Storing & Reheating Baked Crab Dip

Baked crab dip keeps for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, the window the FDA's storage chart gives cooked fish (FDA storage chart). Cool the dish within 2 hours of leaving the oven, cover it and refrigerate it; the chart of FDA safe food handling temperatures puts the refrigerator at 40F or below and reheated leftovers at 165F.

Reheat covered in a 350F oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or in the microwave in short bursts with a stir between them, until the center reaches 165F. Stir once before serving to bring the released oil back into the dip, and refresh the top with grated Parmesan if it has lost its color.

Unbaked dip stores better. Assembled and covered, it holds in the refrigerator for a day before baking. If the crab is still frozen on the morning of the party, the FDA's fallback is the sealed bag in cold tap water, changed every 30 minutes, used as soon as it is pliable; our guide on how to safely thaw seafood covers thawing frozen seafood without warming it into the danger zone.