Baked Buffalo Shrimp Dip

Yeah. I know.

It's amazing.

To me, if you put buffalo sauce on my arm, I'd at least take a bite to try it. I'm not EVER going to be the kid who says no to red, tangy, spicy, buttery sauce.

We had a version of this when we were at the beach and ate at Dead End Saloon - remember that? It was so amazing that we decided to make it at home!

BUT, I made this sexier version that has ONLY THREE TABLESPOONS OF BUTTER in the whole dish, compared to regular buffalo sauce that is half butter/half hot sauce.

You're welcome for being concerned about your butter intake.

Right.

This, though, is nice and light, so you can eat it with butter laden pull-apart bread. That's the point, right?

Thought so.

This is so simple, and totally delicious hot or cold, so you could definitely take it to your next tailgate.

Here's what you need:

1 lb peeled raw shrimp
1 small can tomato sauce (secret butter-reducing ingredient!)
3 tablespoons butter
¼ cup + hot sauce (this will depend on your preference)
½ cup blue cheese crumbles
bread, for serving (please use this pull apart bread)
celery and other raw veggies, for serving

This is embarrassingly easy, and you could make this WAY ahead of time and either cook it or reheat it right before serving - you can't mess it up!

Let's make the sauce first. In a tiny pan, add the butter and tomato sauce, then start adding hot sauce. I like things spicy, but if you aren't sure, add 1 tablespoon at a time, then stir and taste, until it tastes exactly as you'd like it to. ¼ - ½ cup hot sauce is where Jay and I can agree that it's just spicy enough that my tongue won't fall off and he's not whining too much that it's "bland."

Homie likes things spicy.

Once the sauce is mixed together and the butter is melted, turn it off - you could even do this in the microwave since we aren't actually cooking the sauce.

Preheat your broiler to LOW at this point too - if you don't have a low setting, 450F will be just fine.

Now, layer the shrimp in the bottom of a small baking dish - I find that one thin layer of sauce and shrimp works best to get a few crusty edges on the shrimp, but that's totally up to you! A deeper dish would work too. Try not to freak out.

Now, pour the sauce over the shrimp....

....and top the whole mess with blue cheese crumbles.

Zing. Raw shrimp, anyone? Is that better or worse than eating your own personal arm? Discuss.

Broil (or bake) the dip for 10 minutes until the cheese is slightly brown, the sauce is bubbly, and the shrimp is cooked through. Cooking time will ALL depend on how large your shrimp are and how hot your broiler is, so check it every 7 minutes or so to be sure the cheese doesn't burn.

Voila! Let this cool for at least 5 minutes so you don't get sued for removing the roof of someone's mouth, then serve with your favorite bread, crackers, or veggies.

Perfect.

I love this so much because you can use the cheapest shrimp available and it still tastes great. Pre-frozen, small, large, WHATEVER. And 3 tablespoons of butter? You'll maybe ingest 1 teaspoon of that if you're a nice person and share with others.

Look at how oozy the cheese and sauce are, and how perfect the shrimp are....ahhh.

Happy football-food season! I'm LOVING all of this.

This is so perfect that I included it in this week's Weekend Potluck. It's this cute thing where blogs from EVERYWHERE can submit recipes to share with others - it's so fun to check out new things!