Food Recipes Appetizers Dips & Spreads 16 Seafood Dips From Smoked Salmon to Warm Crab Turn caviar, clams, lobster, and more seafood into savory snack dips for entertaining. By Jodie Kautzmann Published on January 23, 2024 Trending Videos Photo: Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen Cool and creamy or warm and gooey, dips and spreads are a natural choice for casual snacks and elevated appetizers alike. Add the briny goodness of seafood — flaked, chopped, pureed, or even caviar — and presto! You have a fancy, flavor-packed offering that's easy to serve and even easier to eat, scooped up with crunchy potato chips, crisp crudités, toasted baguette slices, or your favorite crackers. With this collection of our best seafood spreads, choose from breadcrumb-topped warm crab dip, classic Southern smoked fish dip, clam dip tinged with hot sauce and fresh dill, and more recipes sure to satisfy and delight. 01 of 16 Smoked Salmon Dip Photo by Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell This creamy, smoky dip features flaky smoked salmon two ways: Half is finely chopped to add a pleasant texture to the dip alongside briny pops of capers, and the rest is pureed with the mayonnaise, sour cream, and cream cheese, lending its beautiful color and deepening the flavor. Get the Recipe 02 of 16 Warm Crab Dip with Fresh Herbs Photo by Antonis Achilleos / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Kay Clarke This creamy, crowd-pleasing recipe is one of the most delicious things you can do with fresh crab. A base of caramelized shallots, cream cheese, mustard, and chives is topped with a golden breadcrumb crust. Bake the dip in a gratin dish to serve family style with toasted baguette slices or pita wedges, or divide among ramekins for an elegant first course. Get the Recipe 03 of 16 Kamaboko Dip Victor Protasio Tender julienned kamaboko — a pink-and-white fish cake sold frozen at Asian grocery stores — plays off of crunchy scallions, mayonnaise, cream cheese, and sour cream laced with umami-packed dashi concentrate. Get the Recipe 04 of 16 Fancy Clam Dip Justin Walker This classic white clam dip — filled with cream cheese, crème fraîche, and, of course, canned clams — is salty, cheesy, and craveable. Some generous splashes of hot sauce and plenty of fresh dill add brightness and cut through the rich, indulgent dip. Get the Recipe 05 of 16 Four-Layer Caviar Dip Justin Walker Layers of creamy egg salad, crisp red onion, herbed cream cheese, and salty, briny caviar come together in a beautiful molded dip that serves up an entire caviar platter in one dish. Get the Recipe 06 of 16 Smoked Fish Dip Greg DuPree This mayonnaise and cream cheese-based dip, seasoned with lemon juice, mustard, horseradish, and Old Bay, is inspired by Griffin Bufkin’s smoked fish dips at Southern Soul Barbeque on St. Simons Island in Georgia. Get the Recipe 07 of 16 Smoked Bluefish Spread Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen Smoky, rich, and creamy, this delicious spread brings together luscious smoked bluefish with light and fluffy whipped cream cheese, tangy whole-milk yogurt, and a dash of acidic hot sauce and horseradish. Don't skip on chilling the dip for at least an hour; time in the fridge allows the flavors and textures to meld. Get the Recipe 08 of 16 Baked White Fish Dip Abby Hocking With a healthy dose of artichokes included, this creamy cod fish dip is like two dips in one. Serve it with crudités or potato chips. Get the Recipe 09 of 16 New England-Style Crab Dip with Brown Butter Crumbs © John Kernick Boston chef Matt Jennings tops this simple, crab-packed dip with super-crispy brown butter breadcrumbs. Get the Recipe 10 of 16 Italian Tuna Mousse © Evi Abeler Scoop this simple spread with grissini or slather it on toast. It's delicious on its own or dressed up with asparagus or artichokes. Get the Recipe 11 of 16 Taramosalata © Guy Ambrosino This creamy, briny dip made with jarred tarama (carp roe) belongs in the pantheon of classic Greek meze, alongside hummus, baba ghanoush, and skordalia. Get the Recipe 12 of 16 Creamy Spinach and Shrimp Dip © Fredrika Stjärne Vegetables just taste better when you get to dip chips in them, particularly when they're enhanced with shrimp, like in this spinach dip. It's also one that you can make without touching the stove — everything comes together quickly in the food processor. Get the Recipe 13 of 16 Oyster Tartare Sauce with Potato Chips © Michael Turek This ingenious, briny sauce couldn’t be simpler: Chef René Redzepi purees raw oysters with a little of their liquor, plus rice vinegar and oil. He adds diced blanched vegetables for texture, then serves the dip with potato chips. Get the Recipe 14 of 16 New England Lobster Dip Abby Hocking Justin Chapple transforms the ingredients of a classic lobster roll into a genius dip. We like it best scooped up with crunchy kettle-cooked potato chips, but toasted slices of brioche are just as delicious. Get the Recipe 15 of 16 Brandade de Morue au Gratin (Whipped Salt Cod Gratin) © Con Poulos The Provençal dish known as brandade de morue is a great example of how to elevate modest ingredients like salt cod and potatoes — in this case, by whipping them with milk, olive oil, and garlic until luxuriously silky. Serve with slices of toasted baguette. Get the Recipe 16 of 16 Warm Piquillo and Crab Dip © Tina Rupp Instead of laboriously stuffing piquillo peppers, spread the crab mixture in a baking dish, top it with pepper slices, then broil it until it's warm and melty. Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit