Spicy Clam Dip Recipe (2024)

This recipe blows the 1950's Clam Dip recipe out of the water. It was a huge hit and was gone in 20 minutes. I used Tabasco for the heat, and fish sauce as suggested, and it was perfect.

To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld on war: clam dips are not made with the hot sauce you want; they are made with the hot sauce you have.

Yum - cannot wait to make this.NOTE: Use fresh grated mozzarella if you can. Tastes better. Pre-grated cheeses contain preservatives like potato starch and natamycin, meant to keep from clumping together in the bag, but can inhibit melting.

Made this for Preakness gathering. Only had 1 jar clams, so halved nearly all the ingredients except for adding a whole minced jalapeno & 1/3 cup minced onion (didn't have scallions). Added garlic powder & lemon zest because I can'r leave a recipe alone. This half-version served 6 easily. Didn't need extra clam juice & next time will omit the fish sauce because between that, the cheese, & the chips it was a bit too salty for my taste (didn't add any extra salt). Still, a big hit.

Cooked as written, and it was DELISH! Used fish sauce rather than clam juice, and Cholula for the hot sauce. It was gone before it had a chance to get cold! Next time, I'm going to add some marinated artichoke hearts and capers. Not that it will be better, but it couldn't hurt!

If you want to serve it cold the recipe says omit cheeses, but do you still bake it?

Not a fan, came out grainy and fishy for some reason.

I love this dip and have made it repeatedly over the past year for gatherings. I use minced clams, 2 cans of Snows. It’s always a big hit.

It was yummy as written but adding a few shakes of Old Bay improved it. Saved the leftover clam juice for clam linguine.

This was really good! But I would double the hot sauce and worchestershire sauce; I also used fish sauce, about 1.5x the amt.

Great for company

All clam dip recipes that add sour cream are not it: use cream cheese only; first beat Worcestershire and hot sauce in, then add clam juice until the dip has a sour cream consistency. More clam juice = more clam flavor.

I have made this three times now and it’s a fantastic recipe. I use Bar Harbor chopped clams which are excellent.

Used baby clams instead of chopped whole clams and gave the scallions a quick char before adding to dip. Used fish sauce and clam juice. Store didn’t have jalapeños so skipped that but would have used it. Absolutely fantastic. My guests couldn’t stop eating it even though it was pretty hot out of the oven.

Really good! I made 1.5X as much. I drained the cans a bit (reserving the liquid) and used a shredded Italian cheese blend (about 1/2 of the bag). I added back about 2 T of the clam juice, but it could have used more (chips broke off in the dip). Next time, I will use more of the clam juice and the other half of the cheese.

Next time I will double the recipe, this was gobbled up in no time, I never knew I had such greedy friends. The edges got a little crusty which everyone loved. I made no changes.

Have made this with 1 10 oz. can of clams instead of two 6.5 oz cans since that's what I had (which by the way equaled 1 cup of clams), added 1 tsp of Calabrian chile paste instead of jalapeño. Delish!

@Janet: I had the same question, but don't think there would be any reason to bake it if you want to serve it cold. As the recipe says, just skip the cheeses and mound the mixture into a bowl.

A big hit at our Memorial Day party!

Made this for memorial day and it was EXCELLENT. Used clam juice instead of fish sauce, sour cream, served with lays ruffles. It was enough dip for a hungry group of 4 adults and 2 toddlers, so if planning a big party consider doubling.

This was a huge hit! Made exactly as the recipe, with fish sauce. Can’t wait to make it again. I might substitute smoked clams, mussels, or oysters for the canned clams if that’s what I have on hand. Melissa Clark is awesome!