Crab Dip

The Best Crab Dip

This Crab Dip is great to serve at home, parties or barbecues and it can easily be made, in advance, and kept refrigerated until needed. One of the best things about this dip is that it can be served hot or cold and either way is absolutely delicious. I show you how to prepare both and there’s only a few ingredients so, don’t worry about breaking the bank with grocery shopping.

Crab Meat for Crab Dip

For this Crab Dip recipe, I’m using real crab meat and I get it from a refrigerated can. If you want to save money, this is one way to do it. I bought this 16 oz. can for $13 bucks, which may sound expensive but consider the alternative. A pound of Crab legs is going to cost more for practically half the meat weight because of the shells. This can is solid meat. Savings can be taken a step further, however, if you’re willing to use imitation crab but, in all honesty, it won’t even be close to the same recipe and it absolutely won’t taste the same. If that’s all you have available, though, just make my Seafood and Crab recipe, instead. It’s really good and it’s great served as a dip with crackers.

Hot Baked Crab Dip with Parmesan and a sliced toasted French Baguette.

Cold or Hot Baked Crab Dip

To serve this Crab Dip cold, all you half to do is mix the ingredients and serve. Marinating the ingredients in your refrigerator for a half an hour or over night will improve the flavor but it isn’t necessary. Plus the ingredients are already cold so, it’s really something you can just play by ear.

For a hot baked dip, I just top it off, in an oven safe baking dish, with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and bake in the oven until it’s warm. If I’m serving the dip with a sliced baguette, I usually just toasted the pieces along with the baking of the dip.

If you you’re looking for other dip recipes, check out my Clam Dip, Broccoli and Cheese Dip, Spinach and Artichoke Dip and my Jalapeno Popper Dip recipes. FYI, if you drop the sour cream out of this Crab Dip recipe and add a package of wonton wrappers, it makes an excellent filling for fried Crab Rangoon’s.

Crab Dip video tutorial by poormansgourmet.

Crab Dip Ingredients:

1 8oz pkg Cream Cheese
1/4 cup Sour Cream
8 oz Crab Meat, canned claw
1 Jalapeno, diced
1 Green Onion, diced
1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tsp Sugar
1 pinch of Salt
1 pinch Blackened Seasoning
1/4 cup Parmesan, grated

Be sure to follow the instructions in the Crab Dip video tutorial and I’ll show exactly how to make it. This dish can be served cold immediately or marinated in the refrigerator for more flavor. If you’d like to serve this recipe warm, bake it in the oven at 350° Fahrenheit for 8 minutes, then serve.

Jalapeno Poppers

New and Improved Jalapeno Poppers!

So what’s so new and improved about these Jalapeno Poppers? Everything! These Poppers are absolutely done right. There is nothing lazy about them. If you’ve already looked online, then you’ve probably noticed that there are a lot of people that don’t even deal with the breading. And then, to make matters worse, some recipes use only half the pepper. Others are wrapped with bacon or just a little Panko sprinkled on top, then baked. Well not my Jalapeno Poppers, no Sir/Mam. Not only are these the real deal, I’ve made some definite improvements so let’s talk about it.

First of all, what are the basic rules for traditional Jalapeno Poppers? One, it’s got to be a whole Pepper. Two, it’s got to be stuffed with Cheese. Three, it’s got to be breaded and Baked or Fried, and Four, it’s got to stay and hold together. The secret for all of the above is detail. So the first thing you need to do is peel the skins. This is one of the secrets to keeping the breading on a shiny, smooth Jalapeno. The second trick is to stuff them with enough Cheese so that two Jalapeno halves will stick back together with pressure. Now if you want to know how to keep them together with out using a tooth pick, listen to this. Once the Jalapeno Poppers are stuffed and pressed together, they must be rolled in flour first, then egg washed, rolled in breading, then back in the egg wash and rolled in the breading one last time. This three step process will hold the Pepper together from the outside, while the cold from the freezer holds the inside. Freezing the Poppers for a couple of hours before they’re fried insures that they won’t fall apart in the fryer. The Frying Cooks The egg wash breading on the outside before the frozen cheese softens on the inside. And this keeps them from falling apart and making a mess in the oil.

Jalapeno Poppers Ingredients:

8 to 10 Jalapeno Peppers
1 pkg Creme Cheese
2 chopped Green Onions
1/3 pkg sliced bacon
1/2 cup graded Colby Jack Cheese
1/2 tsp Ranch Dressing Seasoning (optional)

Breading:

3 to 4 eggs
1/2 cup Flour
1 cup Bread Crumbs (Progresso Garlic and Herb)
Oil for Frying

I recommend Frying at 375 degrees until golden brown, which takes only a few minutes. If you’re going to bake them, bake at 425 degrees for approximately 8-12 minutes. Serve Jalapeno Poppers with a Sweet Berry Jelly or Orange Chili Sauce.

Clam Dip

Clam Dip and the Miracle of Clams!

I’m not too sure that there is a large crowd anywhere screaming for Clam Dip. What I do know is that anyone that ever tried this recipe couldn’t put it down. I swear to you that my son, of only 16 months of age, flat out ignored the potato chips and full on scooped the Clam dip out with his fingers and shoveled that creamy delight right into his little mouth, one hand full at a time. The secret to this party dip is literally in what I call, “The Miracle of Clams”! If you are wondering what this means then I should explain.

The Miracle of Clams isn’t just in their ability to make Pearls, it’s in their flavor, and in their very being and the way they live and function. They are a very clean and tighty creature. If you could dare say that they have good Hygiene, then that’s what they have. And I believe that makes for a great recipe. Think about it. What’s the first thing you do before you start cutting your vegetables? You wash, rinse and clean them off, right? Of course you do. No one wants dirt and soot in their food and anyone with common sense keeps a clean house as well. Well, these little Clams do the same exact thing. They clean everything. And with a little help from my Clam Dip recipe, they’ll clean your pallet too!

Clam Dip Ingredients:

1 pkg Cream Cheese
1 can Chopped or Minced Clams with Juice
1 chopped Garlic Clove
1 chopped Green Onion
2 tbsp diced Bell Pepper (I use Red for color)
1 tsp fresh chopped Parsley
1/2 tsp Black Pepper