Christmas Seafood Casserole

  4.5 – 33 reviews  

A healthier take on a long-standing family favorite. In order to spread when poured, the batter must be sufficiently runny.

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 35 mins
Total Time: 50 mins
Servings: 4
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  1. 3 tablespoons butter
  2. 1 cup chopped onions
  3. 1 ½ cups chopped celery
  4. 2 ½ cups milk
  5. 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  6. 1 ½ teaspoons butter
  7. 4 ounces Cheddar cheese, sliced
  8. ½ teaspoon salt
  9. ½ teaspoon black pepper
  10. ¼ pound crabmeat
  11. ¼ pound lobster meat
  12. ¼ pound medium shrimp
  13. ¼ pound scallops

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish.
  2. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a skillet, and saute the onions and celery until tender.
  3. Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat, and mix in the flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons butter until well blended. Gradually blend the cheese into the mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. In a medium bowl, mix the onions and celery with the cheese sauce mixture. Toss in the crabmeat, lobster, shrimp, and scallops. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.
  5. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 25 minutes, or until the seafood is opaque and the surface is lightly browned.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 453 kcal
Carbohydrate 24 g
Cholesterol 162 mg
Dietary Fiber 2 g
Protein 36 g
Saturated Fat 15 g
Sodium 940 mg
Sugars 10 g
Fat 24 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Diana Dennis
I liked it but should have read the reviews first. Because it is quite soupy. I also added asparagus tips, thought that would have helped it be more solid. I’m going to put bread crumbs on top when I reheat, and serve over rice. But it did taste good!
Mark Buckley
SO good! Really flavorable. I served it with noodles, mushrooms, and cream of mushroom soup. This is already a new favorite at my house.
Vincent White
put into 4 casserole dishes for individual servings
Cheryl Allen
I have made this last 3 years.
Joshua Smith
added a little bit 1/2 tsp. of granulated garlic powder.
Scott Haney
This recipe was absolutely delicious! No imitation seafood used in this recipe! I made a couple of changes/substitutions. Instead of using milk and flour, I used heavy cream for a thicker, creamier constitution. And, instead of cheese slices I used shredded cheese to melt and blend faster, easier. This is more of a bisque than a casserole; so serve in a bowl. This is probably the best thing I’ve made!
Michael Riley
Really easy to make. I used shrimp & scallops and sautéed the onion a bit for a milder onion taste. This was a nice addition to our family seafood feast on Christmas Eve and everyone enjoyed it. But I would make this again anytime of year, not just a holiday. This is a good dish to take to a dinner party as well.
David Friedman
I followed this recipe to a “T”. It turned out great and was gone before everything else served for Christmas dinner. I read all the recipes and came up with a couple of things. Add flour to milk very slowly using a whisk to create the rue. Use only fresh seafood. Frozen tends to emit a lot of water. sprinkled with panko for a light crust. Thank you for sharing this recipe will make again.
Kristin Miller
As previously stated it was watery. I doubled and combined cheeses and served over fine noodles. I will make it again but will add spices to enhance the delicate flavors of the seafood.
Brianna Brown
I followed some review suggestions, adding mushrooms, green chilies & bell-pepper to the onion sauté but omitted chopped celery instead using dried celery & garlic powder. Also Used 1/2 & 1/2 cheddar cheese & velveeta cheese. It was served over corn bread with an ample amount of sauce. Used the adjustment button of 6 servings & it’s going to make delicious leftovers. My husband said it couldn’t have tasted better but next time it will! Half & half milk and green onions are going to knock it out the park. We opted for a pound of shrimp & crawfish, omitting the other seafoods. This will go into rotation for Christmas. Yummy x2. Can’t wait to make it again – with egg noodles. A beautiful casserole, browned really well after 40 minutes – topped with bread crumbs. Season up ’cause it needs that balance with the richness. Red pepper & black worked. Thanks for the recipe.
Kevin Simpson
I made this for Christmas Eve. I like it because it was fast and easy to prepare – I made it in the afternoon and refrigerated it until we were ready to eat, then popped it into the oven for half an hour before we sat down. I had read other comments about this dish being too cheesy and overwhelming the delicate flavors of the seafood, so I cut back on the cheese just a bit, and we used frozen seafood to make it. We served this dish with a choice of a baked potatoe or rice and it went beautifully well with both. It will be a Christmas Eve tradition from now on with us. I am going to cut back on the liquids and try it in my crockpot next time.
Kathleen Thompson
Easy way to thicken is to use potato flakes ( like in the box for making mashed potatoes ) they thicken and don’t interfere with the flavour at all
Dennis Hunter
While the flavor of this recipe is pretty good, as many other reviewers have stated, the end result is too thin and soupy. In the future, I will probably attempt to use heavy cream and/or more cheese to make the end result thicker. In terms of the flavor, I may add some cayenne pepper; though it offered a good flavor, it could have used some added zip.
Cynthia Miller
I made this last year for Christmas eve. Since then it has been requested from family for other special days. We serve this in phyllo patty shells. Phyllo makes everything better, in our opinion.
Brian Francis
I used 4 oz cream cheese instead of cheddar as one of the complaints was the cheddar overpowered the taste of the seafood. I also used seasoned bread crumbs on top and it made this seafood casserole more eye appealing and delicious. I would definitely make this again.
Jill Hopkins
This was great! A couple of different things, I used pepper Jack cheese slices instead and didn’t have any lobster meat but it wasn’t missed. Next time I make it, I plan to used breadcrumbs and try oysters and use oysters.
Carrie Delacruz
Try it served with puff pastry it’s even better! Sometimes our local stores don’t have the crab, you can substitute imitation and it still works. Do not however, substitute the lobster shrimp or scallops. Glad I found this, we had it done by an executive chef at a local dining establishment, and when he left, the recipe went with him! They only ran it as a special when he was working! He served in in layers over puff pasty pillows.
Mary Medina
This was good but not Christmas Eve good. I made it for a crowd. I think I was looking for something thicker & richer. But it is tasty.
Meagan Esparza
I took some reviewers’ suggestions and used 1/2 C heavy cream and 1/2 C milk, mixed with a can of cream of mushroom soup. I didn’t mix in any flour or butter, but did add some shredded cheddar cheese. I poured the “casserole” over cooked white rice and the family absolutely loved it. Reheats well too.
Misty Carter
Delicious recipe. I used one 10 oz. can of cream of mushroom soup and 10 oz. of creamo instead of the milk. I used 1 can of crabmeat, prawns cut into pieces and scallops. I agree this is a rich recipe so poured the casserole onto herbed rice instead of by itself. Will definitely make again.
James Ruiz
I used this as a base recipe and customized it quite a bit but got rave reviews at my last dinner party.

 

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