We love seafood and eat it about twice a week on average.  Fish, shrimp, crab, or oysters…we love it all and it’s my favorite thing to play with for new recipes, especially fresh-caught fish and wild Gulf shrimp.  As coastal biologists, we use fish we caught ourselves throughout the year and our shellfish all comes from locally-owned seafood suppliers to help support local fisheries, but many packaged/frozen brands now offer the very same quality right from the store.

One of our favorite suppliers is a little place in Matt’s hometown up the coast which makes the BEST seafood appetizers I’ve ever had…crab and cream cheese stuffed jalapeños, crab dip, and oh man…their shrimp dip.  We grab some almost every time we’re up that way and I’ve been trying to come up with recipes to replicate it for years now.  In my efforts, this nugget of a recipe was created.  There’s only four (!) ingredients and the only cooking is to cook the shrimp so this dish is ready to go in only 20 minutes or so!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Seafood Nutrition Partnership. All opinions are 100% mine.

The four simple ingredients are cooked shrimp, cream cheese, mayo, and some pesto!  I like to use the mayo with olive oil and Neufchatel cream cheese to save a little bit of fat.  This dip is also a great way to use up leftover cooked shrimp and is even easier if you use store-bought pesto.

Use a food processor to mince your shrimp into pieces about 1/4″ or however fine you’d prefer it to be.  I’ve found this size makes the dip easy to eat and puts shrimp evenly throughout all bites.

Mix the pesto, cream cheese, and mayo until they’re thoroughly combined, then fold in the shrimp.  I like a good amount of shrimp in mine but definitely add it to your liking.

Our favorite way to serve the dip is alongside some little garlic and herb crostini but it’s good on crackers and even pita bread too.  Heck, it could probably even be used as a stuffing in some dishes too!  I’ll have to try that :)

Quick and Easy Pesto Shrimp Dip

Yield: 12 oz

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Quick and easy appetizer that only takes four ingredients!

Print

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
• 8 oz 1 package Neufchatel or cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp pesto
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Sautee shrimp over medium heat with salt and pepper until cooked through
2. Let shrimp cool then shred in a food processor, set aside
3. Combine cream cheese, mayo, and pesto until smooth
4. Fold in shredded shrimp until combined
5. Refrigerate before serving
6. Serve over crackers or crostini, about 1oz of dip on each.

Notes

Recipe can easily be doubled as needed
I prefer to use olive oil mayonnaise
Any type of pesto can be used, store-bought or homemade

   

Herbed Ricotta Polenta with Shrimp

Apple Pineapple Ceviche

Bacon Breaded Fried Shrimp

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•