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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.
The filling is made with a combination of cream cheese, crab meat or imitation crab meat, scallions or onion, garlic, and other flavorings. A small amount of the filling is wrapped in each wonton wrapper.
Make the Filling: Combine the cream cheese, crab meat, soy sauce, sesame oil, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, green onion, sugar and pepper in a medium bowl. Scoop the Filling: Spread about 1 heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese filling on top of each wonton wrapper.
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).
While actual crab is not the primary focus of crab rangoon, either imitation crab or the real stuff adds necessary flavor. The best shape for crab rangoon is a four-pointed star: It concentrates the filling and maximizes surface area for more crunch.
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.
They're common to find in Chinese restaurants in America. Panda Express cream cheese rangoons are very popular but it only has cream cheese instead of crab too.
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.
For a sweet crab Rangoon, I added about 3 teaspoons of powdered, or confectioners, sugar. I say 'about' because one of them was a little overly full. Drop in your mix and stir together. Sugar to taste, so taste the mix between teaspoons.
According to his granddaughter Eve, crab rangoon was the brainchild of Trader Vic's founder Victor Bergeron. He was playing with wonton wrappers in the kitchen one day when he thought to stuff them with crab meat and cream cheese and deep fry them.
It was known abroad as Rangoon until 1989, when the government of Myanmar requested that Yangon, a transliteration reflecting the Burmese pronunciation of the city's name, be used by other countries.
The name comes from Rangoon, now Yangon, which is the largest city in Myanmar, formerly Burma. I am finding slight disagreement on if Victor himself as claimed by his granddaughter Eve Bergeron (head of marketing and public relations) or if Joe Young, a Chinese-American barback at Trader Vic's did the actual creation.
Yangon (Burmese: ရန်ကုန်; pronounced [jàɰ̃.ɡòʊɰ̃]), formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma).
Just place the crab filling onto square wonton wrappers, fold them into triangles, pull up the other edges to seal, and fry them until golden brown. To make these in advance, freeze them on trays, then fry them from frozen just before your party.
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.
We find this recipe has the best flavor with either canned or lump crab meat. Imitation works but the flavor is not the same. To stretch the filling further, you can add up to 6 oz cream cheese. Drain the crab very well.
You can use either crab meat or imitation crab meat in crab rangoon (and restaurants may use either one as well). Imitation crab isn't crab at all; rather, it's a white fish paste often made from cod, mackerel, or barracuda. Like crab, it's full of lean protein.
The answer is not clear, as some restaurants will utilize canned crab for their crab dishes. Both are “authentic,” but one kind is superior in taste and quality. It depends on your expectations. If you are ordering from a restaurant, you should verify if they are using canned meat.
Crab Rangoon is a variation of the wonton that goes against the traditional pork filling. Crab Rangoon is often fully fried, making it crispy all around as opposed to having the softer, doughier texture that pan-fried or steamed wontons have.
Just like the name implies, imitation crab contains no crabmeat. Fish is, however, one of the main ingredients. It is made using surimi, which is a paste made of fish and a few other ingredients. Surimi is often made with pollock, which is also used to make fish sticks and breaded fish products.
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