I used to go to the same restaurant on my birthday every year and order the same appetizer. Shrimp and gorgonzola dip with pancetta bacon served with herbed crostini. I'd drink martinis, which I never do, and eat this appetizer. All of it. Every. Last. Crumb. And when I ran out of the crostini they would bring me their house made warm bread which was equally as delicious. While this warm shrimp dip was designed to be shared by a few people, I always made it my main course! It's so addicting!
Recreating This Shrimp & Gorgonzola Dip Was a Lot of Fun
I always wondered how they made it, so I started with making a list of the ingredients I knew (or assumed) were in it and filled in the blanks with the rest. I tinkered with it a while and landed on this delicious copy-cat recipe. It's a great hors d'oeuvre to serve at a dinner party or holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. I've made this a few times as a pre-Thanksgiving dinner treat, and it's been a hit!
I think it works great with herbed crostini, but it can also work with a warm crusty bread like a French loaf for dipping. I can tell you with certainty when you serve this appetizer plates will be licked clean. There will not be one scrap of food left. And if there is (unlikely) you can easily reheat this and have it for a snack the next day.
Shrimp & Gorgonzola Dip is Easy to Make
This is a one-pan appetizer that comes together fairly quickly and easily. A few tips to keep in mind:
- Pancetta can get expensive. You can substitute with bacon. Just cut about 5-6 slices of raw bacon and cook the same way you would cook the pancetta.
- The crostini should be made with the smaller French loaf you find in the bakery section of your local grocery store (see pic below).
- This appetizer is make-ahead friendly. You can make it the day before and reheat in the microwave... shhh... noone will ever know.
The Best Way to Peel Your Shrimp: Pinch, Pull, Peel
If you don't work with shrimp too much - no worries. It's best to make sure you buy deveined shrimp as a general rule. If you're buying it fresh, get it the day of or before you make this. If you're buying frozen shrimp, let the bag defrost overnight in the refrigerator.
An easy way to remember how to peel the shrimp: pinch, pull, peel. When you remove the shrimp tail do it with care. You'll want to gently pinch the tail at the furthest end. You'll be able to feel that little bit of meat in the tail and we want to keep that. Adjust your pinch grip and pull the tail gently off the shrimp while also leaving that tail meat intact. The rest of the process is very simple. The remaining shell is very easy to peel off from there.
Need Some More Ideas for Appetizer & Snack Things? I Gotcha Covered:
- Stuffed Mushrooms w/Sausage, Panko & Cheddar
- Crispy Thai Pork Toast
- Apple Brie Crostini w/Toasted Pecans & Drizzled Honey
- The Best Pan Fried Mozzarella
- Honey Butter Bourbon Shrimp
- Cute Little Mac & Cheese Mini Muffins
- Potato Bacon Croquettes w/Gorgonzola Bechamel
- Nana's Weird Hot Dog Appetizer
- Garlic Shrimp Crostini w/Romesco & Shaved Parmesan
- Brown Sugar Bacon Sticks Brushed w/Maple Syrup
Shrimp & Gorgonzola Dip with Pancetta
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 12 crostinis 1x
Description
This luxurious dip pairs beautifully with herbed crostini. Perfect appetizer for any type of gathering. Follow along with my instructional video – it’s so easy to make!
Ingredients
- 1 small shallot, diced
- 6 ounces gorgonzola cheese (one container)
- 2 ounces diced pancetta bacon (see notes 1 & 3)
- 10 large deveined and peeled shrimp (more if you want)
- ½ pint heavy cream (more if needed)
- 1 clove garlic, finely diced
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- Olive oil, as needed
- 12 crostini pieces (sliced French bread loaf)
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- salt & pepper, just a pinch here
Instructions
- Finely dice the shallot and garlic and set aside.
- Remove tails from the shrimp and peel and discard remaining shell.
- In one pan, add your shrimp and a small drizzle of olive oil (maybe one teaspoon or so) and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook shrimp on low to medium heat. They need approximately 2-3 minutes on each side. They’re done when they turn pink and shrink a bit.
- In another pan, cook the pancetta on low to medium heat until it gets crispy. About 5-7 minutes. There is a lot of fat and you’ll need to pour the excess into a small bowl. Be careful it's very hot.
- After the pancetta is cooked and you’ve drained the excess fat, add the shallots and garlic and stir to combine the ingredients. If your pan is a little dry, just add back a little of the fat you set aside.
- While pancetta, shallot and bacon are cooking give your shrimp a rough chop then add it to your pan and mix together.
- Add the gorgonzola cheese and heavy cream to the pan and give it a stir. Then cover, still on low to medium heat, for 5-7 minutes. The cheese should be mostly melted by then and if it’s not just cover and continuing cooking another minute or two. Some chunks of gorgonzola are fine.
- While the dip is cooking you can chop your parsley and set it aside.
- Next, get your crostini ready. Slice the French bread into 12 thin pieces. Lay out your bread on a toaster oven pan and brush with olive oil. Lightly sprinkle a little dried thyme on top of your crostini. Broil in your toaster oven for a few minutes until the bread is nicely toasted. Keep your eye on this so it doesn’t burn.
- Best way to serve this is put the dip in a serving dish, add a bit of the parsley and give it a stir. Spread the crostini around the dip. Use remaining parsley to sprinkle on top of dip. Should be served immediately.
Equipment
Serving Bowls-Colorful Patterns (set of 4)
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Mini Appetizer Forks (stainless steel)
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T-fal Non-Stick Pans (set of 3)
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- Pancetta is a bit expensive so if you don’t want to spend the money you can substitute with 5-6 strips of regular bacon. Dice the raw bacon into small pieces and cook the same way in a pan.
- Gorgonzola is typically sold in small containers near where the goat cheese and feta cheese are sold in grocery stores. The containers seem to come in 6 ounce portions which is why I presented this ingredient in ounces instead of cups.
- Pancetta is much saltier than bacon so keep this in mind. I bought a 5-ounce package and used just 2-2 ½ ounces or about half the small package. You could use the additional pancetta on top of a salad, homemade bread crumbs, or mac & cheese to name a few ideas.
- If you’re using frozen shrimp, take shrimp from freezer the night before and let defrost overnight.
- You can substitute regular onion for the shallot.
- If you don’t have dried thyme for the crostini, you could use dried basil or oregano.
- The shrimp bag said "large, raw shrimp, deveined 26-30." For this recipe, I don't think the size matters so much since we're cooking it and then chopping it up. If you want more shrimp than I used - you can certainly add a few more shrimp!
- For the French baguette, you'll want then thinner version at your local supermarket bakery section.
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