With the winter holidays are just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about what you want to serve to friends and family at upcoming celebrations. While main courses are typically heavy and labor-intensive, appetizers and starts should be light, easy to make, and delicious. Seafood is a great option for a holiday platter or dinner appetizer. Here are our top 10 seafood appetizer recipes to try this holiday season.
Smoked Salmon Mousse
This elegant and sophisticated appetizer comes together in just a few minutes. Combine smoked salmon, cream cheese, dill, and lemon juice in a blender. Serve on crackers or sliced cucumbers or as a tip.
Shrimp Dip
Eaten with crudités and crackers, shrimp dip is a sweet and creamy option for a low-cost appetizer. Combine cream cheese, green onions, mayonnaise, and either canned or freshly cooked shrimp in a blender.
Crab Cakes
This finger food is tender on the inside and delightfully crunchy on the outside. Combine crab meat with an egg, breadcrumbs, and your desired spices, then fry on a hot skillet until browned. Eat with toothpicks and serve with a light dipping sauce, like tzatziki.
Shrimp Cocktail
This classic appetizer is famous for a reason. Simple, delicious, and elegant to hold, shrimp cocktail is an easy dish to pull together at the last minute. Artfully arrange freshly cooked shrimp in cocktail glasses or on a platter. Mix together lemon juice, horseradish, and ketchup for an easy cocktail sauce.
Crab Dip
With shortages of king and snow crab, crab dishes may be difficult to come by this year. Luckily, imitation crab can stand in for this easy appetizer. Blitz together mayonnaise, cream cheese, lemon juice, spices, and imitation crab and serve with crackers.
Tuna Puff Pinwheels
Everybody loves a puff pastry hors d’oeuvres, and this one comes together in a snap. Spread canned tuna, green onions, and cream cheese over a store-bought puff pastry sheet. Roll into a log, then cut individual slices and arrange on a baking sheet. Cook until the pastry is golden brown and serve with toothpicks.
Seafood Salad Deviled Eggs
Deviled eggs are a classic appetizer for a reason. This salty spin on them combines a traditional deviled egg filling with a hearty seafood salad. Just combine your favorite seafood salad recipe with mustard, boiled egg yolks, and paprika, then spoon into boiled egg whites.
Bacon-Wrapped Scallops
Another classic appetizer, this dish combines salty, sweet, and savory flavors in a single bite. Wrap defrosted scallops in bacon and cook on a skillet until brown. For an added touch of flavor, sprinkle the tips with brown sugar and cook until the bites are sticky.
Ceviche
This classy Peruvian dish requires some planning, but it comes together in just a few minutes. Select your fish of choice: tilapia, sea bass, shrimp, scallops, mahi-mahi, or red snapper. Then, marinate it overnight in lime juice. This will cure the raw fish. Before serving, mux with onions, cilantro, avocado, tomatillos, and tomatoes. Serve with tortilla chips.
Oysters
A truly festive food, oysters are perhaps the easiest food to prepare. Serve on the half shell over ice and with slices of lemon.
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