Slow Cooker Crab Dip is a fantastic warm seafood appetizer that eats like a meal! Creamy dip with cream cheese, lump crabmeat, green onion, red peppers and flavored with a horseradish zing. Serve it right out of the crockpot for a simple “fix it and forget it” party dip, or serve it beautifully garnished in a classic warm cast iron skillet. Delicious served with toasted baguettes, crackers, chips or raw veggies.

Slow cooker crab dip is a wonderful warm crab dip appetizer, that is pretty much great for any and every occasion. But, I have to warn you. This is one you will have to keep a keen eye on closely. The temptation to double-dip is going to be hard to resist.

Seriously, people will not be able to help themselves. It is almost like a reflex action.

The best slow cooker crab dip

With a typical slow cooker, this hot crab dip is super easy to make. You put the ingredients in the pot and let the low and slow heat do most of the work, with the exception of the occasional stir that helps blend everything together.

I love that with this appetizer, the hostess gets to enjoy the party, not spend their time tending to things going in and out of the oven.

What to serve with hot crab dip

Pretty much everything goes well with hot crab dip. I like melba toast or a toasted sliced baguette, but pita chips, veggies, and all sorts of chips work great, too. It just depends on how fancy you feel like getting.

How to serve Slow-Cooker Crab Dip

Honestly – if the get-together is casual, I say just serve it right out of the crockpot itself, dip right in if you feel comfortable, or serve with a spoon on little plates. But if you are having a little more sophisticated gathering, it looks really nice served in a cast-iron skillet, as I have shown here.

The method is still simple. Let the crockpot do its work while you prep for the party. Before everyone arrives, place the dip in a skillet, and keep it warm in the oven. Place the hot skillet on a heat-safe board with a sliced baguette.

If you love cheese like we love cheese, topping it with some cheddar is delicious, too! Garnish with green onion, red peppers for color if desired.

Seated Hors d’oeuvres

A fun way to serve this hot crab dip is as a seated appetizer before the meal. Have guests enjoy their own little crock of dip, seated at the table prior to dinner! Aren’t these Staub crocks so pretty?

Hot Crab dip uses lump crabmeat in a can

If you need to shop for your crabmeat, then often you will find a few options available. In this case, look for the “lump crabmeat” in a can. Lump crab meat is a mix of smaller bits of meat as well as some bigger fleshy parts like jumbo lump.

Just so you know the difference, the jumbo lump is whole intact pieces of the fine white meat that comes from the muscles that power the swimming legs. Jumbo lump is the biggest and sweetest meat in the crab.

With regular lump, you save a few bucks, but it also makes sense. As the crab meat cooks into the dip, it breaks down. So you don’t need big intact lumps anyway.

Crab dip made in a crockpot

The trick to a great hot crab dip is using the low heat setting. No need to quickly cook this at high heat. Once it is nicely mixed and plenty warm, then it is ready to serve. Typically it takes about 3 hours on the low heat setting. Keep an eye on it though.

Depending on your slow cooker, then it might be longer or shorter. Once the ingredients have blended and warmed to a nice temperature it is ready to serve.

Just make sure to stir it so that the crab breaks down and the cream cheese is completely melted. (* tip – cube the cream cheese into smaller pieces like shown here)

Using horseradish in hot crab dip

Horseradish is one of the two things that make crab dip so amazing. The hotter horseradish you can find, the better. Not necessarily because it makes the dip too hot, but because the hotter horseradish adds more flavor.

So, try and find real ground “prepared” horseradish. Prepared horseradish is ground horseradish with a bit of salt and a little vinegar to preserve it. You can actually easily make your own if you feel like grinding some horseradish.

Some stores carry fresh horseradish, but every store carries jars of prepared horseradish. So that is definitely the easiest way to go.

The other secret ingredient in crab dip

A great hot crab dip relies on horseradish, but the other secret ingredient is worcestershire sauce. Horseradish adds heat to the warmth of the dip, but worcestershire works below the surface. You don’t feel it so much as sense it.

Because the Worcestershire sauce is what adds all the complexity, but without being obviously worcestershire.

Makes sense though. In fact, you might even see “seafood horseradish” sauce in the search for prepared horseradish. Seafood sauce is horseradish, worcestershire, and tomato paste. If necessary, you can substitute with that too.

The best slow cooker crab dip has one caveat

Make sure whomever you serve this to doesn’t have a crustacean allergy or any other issue with shellfish. The dip is wonderful, but not worth having an allergic reaction to.

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Storing leftovers

You can’t keep it too long, but it will last about three days in the fridge with a tight lidded container.

More dip suggestions

The more dip recipes you have under your hat, the better. That’s all there is to it. Because a great dip will make the party every time. Whether it is a party of one or many.

20+ Dang Delicious Dips — See ALL of my Dip Recipes!!

Let’s make some Slow Cooker Crab Dip!

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Close up of Slow cooker crab dip on a piece of toast

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