Bacon Poblano Hot Crab Dip

I will make up any excuse to eat crab. I would have to say it is one of my favorite proteins. This might possibly stem from growing up near the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia for 2/3 of my life.

One of my favorite things to do while living on the east coast was crabbing. In fact, the day before the first date my husband and I went on, I was crabbing and ended up hurting myself. I went down to the York River in Williamsburg, Virginia by myself and was crabbing on these pretty large rocks covered in barnacles and slipped and cut up my legs. The brackish water didn’t help, either.

But I digress. I still caught a few crabs and made my future husband a fine dinner out of them!

Hot crab dip is delicious! Not to mention you don’t have to make any crazy substitutions to make it low carb…and for the love of God–do NOT use imitation crab meat. It is loaded with carbs and all kinds of preservatives and meat-binding agents. BLAH!

I like to eat my dip with pork rinds, baby carrots, celery sticks or sliced cucumbers. All of these having zero to a tiny amount of carbs. The whole batch of dip has about 20 carbs in. With there being ten servings that is about 2 carbs per serving!

First we start with some rendered bacon. I have a bacon fat crock that I use to save all my drippings. It’s great to cook eggs in for breakfast!

Mix together the cream cheese, sour cream and mayo.

Then we add the cheese, green onion, cooled bacon, garlic, lemon juice and poblano peppers. Just mix until combined.

Now, you paid a pretty penny for your crab meat. Treat it with a little respect. You don’t want to over mix this ingredient and end up with a crabby paste with no discernible lumps! Just fold it in with a rubber spatula. Be gentle, folks!

Ready to go into a baking dish and into the oven!

Sprinkle remaining cheese and crack a little black pepper on top. Pop this baby in the oven and in about 20 minutes you will have some hot crab dip!

Bacon Poblano Hot Crab Dip

Servings: 8-10
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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Ingredients:

12 oz crab meat (lump or claw–I used claw)
8 strips thick cut bacon, sliced into lardons
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
2 poblano peppers, small dice
4 green onion, minced (reserve a few tablespoons for garnish)
4 large garlic cloves, grated or minced
2 tbs lemon juice
1/2 cup of shaved Parmesan cheese, to mix in
1/2 cup of shaved Parmesan cheese, for topping
fresh cracked pepper

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat a medium-sized saute pan on medium-high. Render bacon until golden brown and crispy.
Drain fat (save this! its great for using as a cooking oil!) and let bacon cool on a paper towel.
With a stand or hand mixer combine cream cheese, sour cream and mayo. This may stay a little clumpy, but that is just fine.
Add green onion, poblano, garlic, bacon, lemon juice and 1/2 cup of parm. Mix on low until just combined.
Add crab meat and fold in with a rubber spatula. You don’t want to break up the whole chunks of crab too much! Be gentle!
Pour mixture into a decorative oven-safe dish (this is what it will be served in). Spread into an even layer and top with remaining parm and season the top with freshly cracked black pepper.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and bubbly.
Garnish with reserved green onions and serve with pork rinds, baby carrots, bell pepper slices, celery stick or sliced cucumbers.