Crab rangoon is a popular American Chinese appetizer made with cream cheese, crabmeat, and seasonings wrapped in a wonton and deep-fried. It’s not a common dish in China and has many variations, including a baked version and omitting the crabmeat. It’s often served with a dipping sauce.
Crab rangoon is a type of appetizer consisting of cream cheese, crabmeat, and seasonings wrapped in a wonton. Thought to have originated in America as an Asian delight, this dish is popular at parties and is a staple appetizer served in American Chinese restaurants, but it’s not a common dish in China. There are certain textures needed to make crab rangoon, but there are many variations of recipes, most of which involve deep frying the stuffed wonton with ingredients.
Most crab shrimp variations involve cream cheese and flaked or imitation crab meat along with shallots, or green onion, and seasoning. Seasonings vary to include garlic, steak sauce, soy sauce, seasonal salt, and onion powder. In most recipes the ingredients are mixed together and then spooned onto prepared wrappers. The wonton wrappers are then folded into triangles or flower shapes and fried in vegetable oil until golden brown.
There are variations of the recipe that include omitting the crabmeat and using only aged cream cheese, which makes the dish suitable for shellfish allergy sufferers, and cooking the filled wonton instead of frying, which omits the fat . Typically, the baked version uses a muffin pan to stabilize the wonton during cooking.
While crab rangoon is not an authentic Asian dish, this popular appetizer is almost always found on American Chinese restaurant menus and buffets. This dish is often served with a dipping sauce. There’s no standard dipping sauce, but popular options include sweet and sour sauce, soy sauce, and hot mustard. However, many people enjoy crab rangoon served simply, especially when well seasoned.
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