Recipe: Creamy Crawfish Dip — Party Recipes from The Kitchn |Cooking With Amanda

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Recipe: Creamy Crawfish Dip — Party Recipes from The Kitchn

If I could give you only one festive (and game-day-appropriate) recipe this month that is absolutely, positively worth a few extra hours in the gym, this crazy-good, decadent crawfish dip would be it.

Crawfish and cream sauce have always gone hand-in-hand, and this particular pairing is at the very tip top of my list. If it wasn't so dang sinful, I would offer this appetizer at every single gathering I ever hosted. Oh, well. Enjoyed once a year, it makes watching the Super Bowl — or any game! — just a tiny bit more bearable. (Because we all know it's really just about the food.)

Makes 2 cups

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1 bunch green onions (white parts only), chopped (reserve the greens for garnish)
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
2 to 3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened and cubed
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning, such as Tony Chachere's
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more to taste
1 12-ounce package crawfish crawfish tail meat, thawed and drained
Kosher salt, to taste
Crusty bread and Louisiana-style hot sauce, for serving

In a medium skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add onions and bell pepper and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for another minute.

Stir in the cream cheese, mayonnaise, creole seasoning, and cayenne; whisk until smooth. Reduce heat to low. Add the crawfish tail meat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste. Serve immediately with toasted bread slices and hot sauce. Garnish with the green tops of the onions, if desired.

Recipe Notes

Frozen Louisiana crawfish tail meat is available at CajunGrocer or in the frozen seafood section of a well-stocked grocery store. If using freshly cooked, whole crawfish, 5 to 6 pounds will yield 12 ounces of meat.
If you cannot find crawfish meat, you can substitute cooked, chopped shrimp.

This recipe was originally published January 2013.