Crab Rangoon is a very famous Chinese snack made with a cream cheese and crab meat filling filled inside wonton wrappers and then deep fried. Here is how to make these.
There is always a dish that once we eat in a restaurant, we tend to crave for it again and again.
Either we go in the same restaurant to enjoy it or we take a take out to enjoy it at the comfort of our home.
It happened with me when I tasted these Crab Rangoon in a Chinese restaurant a few years back. I loved it so much that I got one more packed to enjoy for my dinner.
Later I started craving them more and more, and thats when I decided to try them at home, and they came out just perfect.
Loaded with a delicious filling of soft cream cheese and the goodness of crab meat, this makes for a great party starter too.
These crispy fried wontons tastes great when they are hot and served along with a spicy and sweet dipping sauce and a side of spring onions.
This cream cheese and crab meat combination in a fried wonton is a bomb, and will surely be a favourite at your party table.
Make sure you make extra and store in the fridge, as your guests will not stop at one.
This popular appetiser is actually a fusion Chinese American recipe, as it contains cream cheese, an ingredient that doesn’t exist in Chinese and Southeast Asian cuisine.
Learn how to make homemade Crab Rangoon recipe, which is one of the most popular Chinese food appetisers on the menu of any local Chinese restaurants and take out.
Here are some Chinese Recipes, that you can make for your weekend meals – Egg Foo Young, Chinese Hot and Sour Soup, Chinese Spring Rolls, Indo Chinese Chilli Chicken, Darsaan and Mushroom Stuffed Buns.
What is Crab Rangoon?
These are traditional fried wontons that is filled with the mixture of crab meat and cream cheese.
This mixture is made with more flavourful by adding ingredients such as spring onions, cilantro, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, white pepper powder, sesame oil, cayenne pepper and salt.
This flavourful mixture is filled in the wonton wrappers and then deep fried to get crispy wontons.
You can even bake this wontons to give it a healthier twist, but if you want that restaurant style crispiness and texture, you have to deep fry them.
I generally prefer to deep fry my wontons as it gives the wontons a deep golden brown colour and crunch that can’t exactly be replicated in the oven.
These are great for parties, as you can make them much in advance. You can fill the wontons 4 hours in advance, store them loosely covered in the fridge until you want to serve i
You can fry or bake frozen wontons at the time when you are planning to serve it for your parties or weekend meals.
These delicious crispy wontons are served along with a delicious Asian dipping sauce that is made with the combination of Tomato ketchup, Sriracha hot sauce, Rice vinegar and Brown Sugar.
Mix everything properly and your dipping sauce is ready to enjoy with Crab Rangoon.
If you are looking for gluten free version, then you can use gluten free all purpose flour instead of the usual one.
History
While you find these Crab Rangoon in an Asian restaurant and is derived from an authentic Burmese recipe, these were probably invented in the United States.
Therefore, these cheese wontons are actually American Chinese and now a days also served in Thai restaurants.
It is said that these were a part of the menu of a Polynesian Style restaurant from 1956 that was run by a restaurant trader Vic’s.
During my visit to the US, while exploring various places of the country, I found that Crab Rangoon was bought by many individuals from the Chinese food joints.
Some of the kind people there also told me that it is their favourite appetiser and savouring it cheers them up after a demanding day!
Ingredients
Traditionally, the Rangoon are made with only crab meat that is flavoured with minimal spices.
But if you like the way they make in restaurants, then you have to mix the crab meat along with cream cheese, spring onions, cilantro, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, white pepper powder, sesame oil, cayenne pepper and salt.
I have used imitation crab meat as that’s what is available easily in Indian. But you can definitely use fresh meat if you wish to.
The outer layer is made with wonton wrappers, that are easily available in the market. And if you have a lot of time in your hand, then you can always make these Wonton wrappers at home from scratch.
If you can’t find fresh crab meat at your local grocery store’s seafood counter, you can always use frozen crab meat for this recipe too.
How to re heat these?
Crab Cheese Rangoon tastes best when served fresh after deep frying or baking them with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce.
If you need to reheat them up, place wontons on a baking sheet, preheat the oven to 150º Celsius and bake for 5 minutes.
In case you have an air fryer, you can also place your crab rangoon in there for a few minutes to crisp up.
Serving Suggestions
These can be served as an appetiser with your favourite dip such as Schezwan Sauce, Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce or even Mango Chilli Sauce.
You can also serve it as a side dish with your favourite Chinese and Asian gravies, Noodles and Rice.
How to fold them?
You can experiment with the way you want to fold your wontons. I just fill a small portion of crab and cream cheese filling in the centre and bring the ends together to make a rectangle.
Put some flour and water mixture on the edges so that it sticks to each other. Its very easy to shape them like this, looks nice and you can fit a lot of filling into this shape.
How to make these Baked?
Crab Rangoon is traditionally fried, but if you are looking to avoid the excess oil, you can bake them instead. Bake your rangoon at 200 degree Celsius for about 12-15 minutes.
But let me tell you, you won’t get that same crunchy texture, as you will get in the deep fried one. But it is always good to serve on a few calories.
You can also make these in Air Fryer with minimal or no oil.
Storage Suggestions
You can assemble the crab rangoon and then freeze them. Just before you want to serve these, thaw on counter for 30 minutes and then deep fry or bake.
Calories
One serving of crab rangoon, that is 2-3 pieces have 206 calories.
Pro Tips by Neha
While making the Rangoon, make sure that there is no air inside, otherwise it will break open while frying.
Keep the inside sealed and fold the wonton sheet into four cornered square.
Make sure the oil is neither too hot nor too low. As the low temperature oil can make your wontons oily, and the very high temperature might burn them.
If you are baking the these, make sure you have brushed them properly with oil.
Step by Step Recipe
Mix all purpose flour and water in a bowl and keep aside.
Mix crab meat, cream cheese, spring onion greens, soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, white pepper powder, sesame oil, cayenne pepper and salt to taste in another bowl.
Lay a wonton wrapper on the work surface.
Apply the flour and water mixture on all the sides.
Keep small portion of crab filling (2 tsp) in the center and bring the ends together to make a triangle.
Again apply some flour and water mixture on the closed end and bring the ends together to fold the wonton.
Make all the rangoons in the same manner.
Heat oil for frying in a pan. Deep fry the rangoons on medium heat until golden brown. Drain on a plate lined with kitchen tissue. Serve immediately with some sweet and spicy sauce.
Crab Rangoon Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour
- 4 tbsp Water
- 20-25 Wonton Wrappers
- 250 g Crab Meat
- 150 g Cream Cheese
- 3 tbsp Spring Onion Greens (Chopped)
- 2 tsp Dark Soy Sauce
- 1/2 tsp Fish Sauce
- 3-4 cloves Garlic (Grated)
- 1/2 tsp White Pepper Powder
- 1 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- Salt to taste
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- Mix all purpose flour and water in a bowl and keep aside.
- Mix crab meat, cream cheese, spring onion greens, soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, white pepper powder, sesame oil, cayenne pepper and salt in another bowl.
- Lay a wonton wrapper on the work surface.
- Apply the flour and water mixture on all the sides.
- Keep small portion of crab filling in the center and bring the ends together to make a triangle.
- Again apply some flour and water mixture on the closed end and bring the ends together to fold the wonton.
- Make all the rangoons in the same manner.
- Heat oil in a pan.
- Deep fry the rangoons till golden brown.
- Drain on a plate lined with kitchen tissue.
- Serve immediately with some sweet and spicy sauce.
Notes
swapna
Awesome work neha….I had tried the veg baked version of this..it taste yummy.so can we bake this too?
msnehamathur
Thnx Swapna. I am sure you can but I have not tried it myself.