Shrimp Dip

Dips are a great excuse to just indulge in calories and make something insanely delicious. This shrimp dip is a little different from most other dips but is well worth a try at your next party.

Learn How to Make Homemade Pita Chips for the perfect pairing with your shrimp dip! For tips on how to cook your shrimp, make sure to check out this Grilled Shrimp recipe.

Shrimp Dip Hot and Cheesy

Not a lot of people would expect to find a shrimp dip when they come to a party expecting appetizers, but this recipe might help change their minds.

Filled with cheese, mayo, and cream cheese, this is a seafood lovers dream, and the shrimp work surprisingly well when all mixed together.

Enjoy this dip with some crunchy snacks, or try to assuage your calorie guilt by using things like carrot sticks instead!      

What To Do If You Only Have Raw Shrimp

While precooked shrimp works best for this hot and cheesy dip, you can absolutely use fresh shrimp if you are happy to add a little extra prep time to the dish.

You can cook fresh shrimp ready to be used in your dip in several ways. For each method, you will want to peel the shells from your shrimp if this has yet to be done before you cook them.

The easiest option, and the one that minimizes mess, is to boil your shrimp. Place the shrimp in a pot of boiling water with salt, just as you would when boiling potatoes.

You will know when your shrimp is cooked as it will turn pink and is ready to be removed from the water and set to the side to cool. The only real disadvantage of boiling shrimp is that it will lose some flavor, but this should not be overly noticeable in the dip, thanks to all the other flavorings.

Pan Fry Shrimp

Alternatively, you could pan-fry your shrimp in butter. Melt butter in a pan, toss your shrimp in and cook them until they turn pink. Don’t forget to add salt and pepper for flavor. The obvious downside here is that cooking in butter is less healthy than boiling. However, your cooked shrimp with have a lot more flavor as a result.

The third method for cooking your shrimp is to steam them just like you would vegetables. Steaming your shrimp is a good compromise between frying in butter and boiling. Much less of the flavor is lost compared to boiling, but you will also not get that buttery taste that you will with frying.

Could You Use Low-Fat Mayonnaise And Sour Cream?

Swapping out ingredients like mayonnaise and sour cream for low-fat options can be a good way to cut calories and make a healthier dish. Sometimes doing this works great, and the taste of the finished dish is barely affected. There are also recipes for which this does not work, and the texture and taste are altered too much.

Unfortunately, if you were hoping to cut calories from your shrimp dip, using low-fat ingredients is not the answer, as it very much falls into the latter category.

A lot of the taste in the dip comes from the mayonnaise, sour cream, and cheese. Swapping these for low-fat options will leave your dip lacking in flavor.

If you are really worried about the calories in the dip, you could serve it with vegetables rather than chips. But, realistically, you are probably best to enjoy this cheesy, fatty dip and consider it a treat you will make up for later in the week.

What To Serve With Your Shrimp Dip

While it might be tempting to eat this delicious hot and cheesy dip with a spoon, it really does benefit from being paired with a crunchy carb or raw vegetable sticks for a satisfying snap with each bite.

• Raw Vegetable Sticks

Raw vegetable sticks pair perfectly with this shrimp hot and cheesy dip for two reasons. Firstly, carrots and celery act as a delivery system for scooping your dip while providing that all-important crunch with each bite. Secondly, there is no hiding that this is not exactly a super healthy dip, and the vegetables help to offset this, at least slightly.

• Homemade Crunchy Carbs

There is something gratifying about knowing that you have made every element of a meal yourself. So why not try making your own chips and snacks to serve with your dip rather than buying them?

You want to choose something that is carb based and has a crunchy nature while also being the correct shape to act as a scoop for the dip. Things like pita chips or corn chips will work best. You could also make bread rolls and serve your dip as more of a spread.

• Store Bought Snacks

If you’re planning to serve your shrimp dip at a party and the thought of having to make an extra dish to serve alongside is just too much, that’s okay. Store-bought snacks can work just as well with this dip and allow you to offer your guests various options for dipping.

Looking for more hot and cheesy Salsa, Guacamole, and Dips recipes? Try these out:

• Hot N’ Cheesy Spinach & Artichoke Dip

• Not N’ Cheesy Kale & Artichoke Dip

• Hot and Cheesy Artichoke Dip

Happy Cooking

Love,

Karlynn

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