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The best and authentic Crab Rangoon recipe with cream cheese, crab and wonton wrapper. These Crab Rangoon are fail proof and much better than Chinese takeouts!
Table of Contents
Crab Rangoon Recipe
What is Crab Rangoon?
It’s an appetizer found in many Chinese restaurants in the United States.
Many people wonder if crab Rangoon is authentic and the answer is no. It is a classic American creation even though they are mostly served in Chinese restaurants.
These dainty appetizers are basically fried wontons filled with cream cheese, with real crab meat in the filling.
They are deep-fried to golden brown and usually served with a pink-color sweet and sour dipping sauce.
I first encountered them at a Chinese buffet restaurant in the Midwest. They have since become one of my favorite appetizers!
Other Recipes You Might Like
Fried Wonton Recipe
Chicken Wontons
Shrimp Gyoza
How to Make Crab Rangoon?
There are three few key ingredients in the recipe: cream cheese, wonton wrapper and crab meat.
First, you make the filling by mixing cream cheese and crab meat together.
Next, wrap the filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper. Make sure you seal it tight and there is no leakage.
Finally, deep fry until golden brown. It’s that easy!
Tips for the Best Homemade Crab Rangoon
For the best results, please follow the cooking techniques below:
Use square wonton wrappers to wrap the cream cheese and crab filling. You can get wonton wrappers at Asian supermarkets or food stores. You can also find wonton wrappers in many regular supermarkets now, for example: Whole Foods.
Use real crab meat for the cream cheese filling. You can use fresh crab meat, frozen crab meat or canned crab meat. If crab is not an option, you can use imitation crab meat sticks. Just cut and shred up the imitation crab meat before using.
Wrap the cream cheese and crab mixture using wonton wrappers. Do not overfill with too much filling.
Seal each wonton wrapper tight so there is no leakage. Pinch it up like a little purse and deep fry to golden brown.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Is There Crab in Crab Rangoon?
Yes! You can use either fresh crab, canned crab or artificial crab.
What’s the Difference between Fried Wontons and Crab Rangoon?
Fried wonton is a Chinese appetizer wrapped with wonton wrapper and filled with meat such as ground pork, chicken and/or shrimp.
The latter is a type of wontons with cream cheese and crab as the filling.
Can You Freeze Crab Rangoon?
Yes, once they are assembled and wrapped, you can freeze them in the refrigerator. Thaw to room temperature before deep-frying.
Best and authentic Crab Rangoon recipe with cream cheese, crab and wonton wrapper. These Crab Rangoon are fail proof and much better than Chinese takeouts!
4.52 from 260 votes
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By Bee Yinn Low
Yield 20pieces
Prep 15 minutesmins
Cook 5 minutesmins
Total 20 minutesmins
Ingredients
1cubeKraft Philadelphia Regular Cream Cheese(room temperature)
Mix all the cream cheese, crab meat, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Stir to blend well. Place about 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper.
Dab some water on the outer edges of the wonton wrapper and fold the two ends of the wrapper together. Fold the other two ends to make a tiny parcel pictured below. Pinch to seal tight and make sure that there is no leakage.
Heat up a pot of oil for deep-frying and fry the crab rangoon until golden brown. Dish out with a strainer or slotted spoon, draining the excess oil by laying the crab rangoon on a dish lined with paper towels.
Let the crab rangoon cools down a bit before serving them with sweet and sour sauce.
Notes
Use real crab meat if possible. Don't serve the crab Rangoon immediately after deep-frying as the filling will be too hot! To make the sweet and sour Crab Rangoon dipping sauce, please refer to mysweet and sour pork recipe.
Course: Chinese Recipes
Cuisine: Appetizer
Keywords: Crab Rangoon
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Crab Rangoon
Amount Per Serving (20 pieces)
Calories 26Calories from Fat 9
% Daily Value*
Fat 1g2%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Cholesterol 2mg1%
Sodium 69mg3%
Carbohydrates 5g2%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 1g1%
Protein 1g2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Of all the wonders of the modern American Chinese menu, crab rangoon is one of the strangest. It consists of cream cheese, sometimes sweetened, plus, usually, very small bits of imitation crab, stuffed into a wonton wrapper and deep-fried, served with a syrupy, neon sweet-and-sour dipping sauce.
In a small bowl, gently combine crab meat, cream cheese, green onion, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce (if using), and garlic powder. Layout 3 wonton wrappers at a time. Place 2 teaspoons of the filling in the center of each. Dab the edges with water and fold the two opposite corners together to form a triangle.
Wontons and crab Rangoon are, on the surface, similar dishes: They're both a form of dumpling (essentially, a dough pocket) stuffed with some kind of filling. However, crab Rangoon has a specific type of filling, while wontons have a little more wiggle room when it comes to what they're stuffed with.
Although the appetizer has the name of the Burmese city of Yangon, the dish was probably invented in the United States by Asian American chef Joe Young working under Victor Bergeron, founder of Trader Vic's.
I love Panda Express' Crab Rangoons and they're so easy to make! Oddly enough, they don't use crab or imitation crab in their original recipe. Feel free to add some though, it's delicious! My local Panda Express offers 3 for $2.35.
steps. In a mixing bowl, stir cream cheese, crab meat, sugar, MSG, soy paste, chinese five-spice, and scallions together until well-combined. Let cool down all the way. Cut spring roll wrappers to be about 5×5-inches.
It's mostly cream cheese, wrapped in dough and deep-fried to create bite-sized calorie bombs. Because they're small, it's easy to eat more than one. Finish an order of 4, and you're likely to get more than half the calories and fat you should have in an entire meal.
What is the difference between crab wonton and crab rangoon? Crab rangoon is a type of fried wonton, so they are really very similar. The difference is all in the filling. Traditional wontons are not ever filled with cream cheese (which is one of the main components in crab rangoon recipes).
The name "Crab Rangoon" is believed to be a nod to the traditional Burmese dish, "ohn-no khauk swe" or "ohn-no kaukswe," which is a soup made with noodles and chicken. "Rangoon" was the former name of Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar (formerly Burma), where the dish is said to have originated.
The cream cheese will be easier to mix if it is room temperature. Lump Crab Meat: You can use lump crab meat that is found in the refrigerated meat section of the grocery store, or you can also find canned lump crab meat! I recommend using real crab meat over imitation crab meat.
THE SECRET: At first glance, you might think Money Bags are the same as Chinese crab rangoon. It is only after a taste that you realize they are uniquely Thai. "People love the cream cheese taste," Piyassaphan says, "but it is the seasoning that makes them special.
Cursory online research will tell you that a dish resembling present-day crab rangoon first appeared on the menu of legendary tiki bar and restaurant Trader Vic's, though some sources hypothesize these stuffed crab puffs emerged around the turn of the century in British-controlled Burma.
Crab Rangoon is a crispy cheese-filled dumpling made from wonton wrappers (thin sheets of wheat dough.) These cheese wontons are traditionally served in American-Chinese Restaurants are commonly filled with cream cheese, imitation crab meat, scallions, and sugar.
One of the biggest clues in the makeup of crab rangoon that this dish is American over Asian in origin is the cream cheese. Cream cheese was a staple in 1940s and 50s America but this is not an ingredient you'll have found in China or Burma or Polynesia.
The cream cheese will be easier to mix if it is room temperature. Lump Crab Meat: You can use lump crab meat that is found in the refrigerated meat section of the grocery store, or you can also find canned lump crab meat! I recommend using real crab meat over imitation crab meat.
Manufacturers add in some artificial flavoring and sometimes ingredients like starch, sodium, and MSG to the paste, then shape it to mimic the flesh of a crab. So imitation crab is considered pescatarian, but it is not vegetarian or vegan. It's often used in place of crab because of its affordability.
Introduction: My name is Terrell Hackett, I am a gleaming, brainy, courageous, helpful, healthy, cooperative, graceful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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