December 4, 2021

Better Than The Buffet Crab Rangoons

Name: Better Than The Buffet Crab Rangoons
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 25 min
Ingredients: 8 Ounces cream cheese (softened); 6 Ounces imitation crab meat; 2 Tablespoons green onion; 2 Tablespoons soy sauce; 12 Ounces wonton wrappers; ¾ Cup vegetable oil; ½ Teaspoon salt

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Better Than The Buffet Crab Rangoons are easy to make and packed full of flavor. They are the perfect finger food to make for any party appetizer. One of my favorite traditions that we started in my house is to cook our own Chinese food every New Year’s Eve. This a great starter recipe and the perfect way to ring in the New Year.

seven fried crab rangoons pictured on long red rectangle plate with a clear ramiken in the background filled with a dipping sauce

It’s almost that time of year again. We’re all gearing up to kiss another stressful year goodbye. You’re making your list and checking it twice. You’re shopping nonstop and solidifying your holiday plans. You are threatening your kids that if they don’t finish their mac and cheese that Santa will put them on his permanent naughty list. Your newsfeed is being bombarded with a combination of over-the-top holiday themed family photo shoots and annoying “new year, new you” enthusiasm. But the silver lining is that these things all point to New Year’s Eve being upon us.

I have loved New Year’s Eve festivities since as long as I can remember. It’s one of my favorite days of the year. It’s just a fun, hopeful holiday where there is no gift giving pressure. You eat delicious Chinese food and just happily celebrate with your loved ones.

I remember staying up late with my brother William and my Nana every single New Year’s Eve when we were kids. We would always gather around the TV right before midnight to countdown together and watch the ball drop. We would yell “Happy New Year” and toast with a glass of sparkling apple cider. My Nana was born and raised in Holland. In Holland, people bang pots and pans in the streets as part of their celebration. So she would let William and I do the same throughout the house. Those are some of my favorite memories. To this day, I always have a glass of sparkling cider with my oldest son, Aidan once the ball drops. And before I know it, the babies will be old enough to stay up until midnight with the husband and I.

Any successful New Year’s Eve celebration needs two things. You need a New Year’s Eve special to have on in the background (Hello, Ryan Seacrest!) and most importantly… you need to have some delicious Chinese food to snack on all throughout the night.

About eight years ago now, Anthony and I decided that the hours long wait time and hectic chaos of venturing out to get your traditional Chinese food dinner became too much. I love cooking (of course) and Anthony loves when we cook together. So we wanted to give cooking our own homemade Chinese food a try. Our recipes have grown and been perfected over the years.

These Better Than The Buffet Crab Rangoons are our masterpiece. Tonio and I absolutely love us some crab rangoons. We tried a few different frozen versions for our feast over the years to no avail. The reason we opted to give the freezer aisle a shot (which is usually a disappointment) was because our beloved crab rangoons seemed so difficult and impossible to make. We were wrong. This recipe was developed a few years ago and it has been very popular with everybody that’s tried it.

Better Than The Buffet Crab Rangoons Ingredients

This recipe could not be any more simple and quick to put together. Homemade Crab Rangoons are the perfect recipe for any beginner taking a stab at these Chinese appetizer staples.

Crab Rangoon Filling: The deliciously creamy and extremely flavorful filling only consists of four ingredients.

Cream cheese
Imitation crab meat

Green onion
Soy sauce

These ingredients work together seamlessly in this filling and compliment each other. The succulent sweetness in the imitation crab meat sings in this recipe. Richness from the cream cheese, umami from the soy sauce and the hit of freshness that the green onion brings make this a recipe that you will want to make again and again. Everything works together to support the beautiful flavor that you get from the imitation crab meat. And the crunch from the wonton wrapper shell gives the best flavor and texture to these babies.

Once your crab rangoons are assembled, you will simply fry them in batches in vegetable oil and you may add a little salt to taste after frying. This recipe could not be simpler to make. And following the assembly directions below will make the idea of making Better Than The Buffet Crab Rangoons more possible to you than ever before.

Shopping for the Ingredients

A big part of what I love so much about this recipe is that the ingredients are so readily accessible. Ingredients for this appetizer recipe shouldn’t be difficult to find right at your local grocery store.

Cream cheese: I always opt for a block of cream cheese when I hit up the old Market Basket. Allow it to soften and come up to room temperature for roughly 30 minutes. This ensures that everything will be as easy as possible to mash together for your filling.
Imitation crab meat: For me, I always find this readily accessible in the deli/ seafood area of my grocery store.

Green onion: Please use fresh green onion for this one. It’s necessary. Dried is just not the same in something like this. The white part is what you want to cook with and use in recipes. Reserve the green parts of the green onion for another dinner as a garnish. Cut off the bottom root and thinly chop the white part for your crab rangoon filling.
Wonton wrappers: Wonton wrappers are the only item that I can really anticipate being a tad tricky to find. But I’m sure if my store has them, then most stores carry them. In my store, they are in the vegan/tofu case in the vegetable area. My store happens to carry Nasoya All Natural Wonton Wraps which have worked out excellent for us. But I’m sure whatever brand your store carries will be just fine. Wonton wrappers are also very inexpensive so this recipe isn’t one that breaks the bank.

My Other Favorite Asian Recipes

–Better Than The Buffet Orange Chicken With Broccoli is a restaurant quality dinner that you can make right at home. The fried chicken paired with the broccoli, garlic, ginger and Orange Sauce make this an easy meal that you will want to add to your dinner rotation.

–Better Than The Buffet Chinese Pepper Chicken is a buffet staple. So simple yet so complex, this is an easy recipe that has so much depth of flavor. The pepper sauce is so rich and tasty that you won’t believe it comes together with only five ingredients.

–Very Easy Thai Cashew Chicken is simple, easy and quick. This recipe is garlicky, gingery and has a delicious depth of flavor. The sweet and salty sauce and toasted nuttiness of the cashews will make this meal a family favorite.

–Thai Peanut Chicken With Broccoli is spicy, salty and sweet. This quick and easy dinner comes together in under 30 minutes. And this gingery, garlicky, creamy dinner will become an instant classic.

Instructions

Chop the imitation crab meat and green onion finely. In a medium mixing bowl, add cream cheese, imitation crab meat, green onion and soy sauce. Mash together with a fork until fully combined.

mashed together crab rangoon filling in white mixing bowl. cream cheese, imitation crab meat, soy sauce and green onion are mashed together

Fill a small bowl with warm water for the rangoon assembly. Take a wonton wrapper and lay flat. Place about 1 tablespoon of the filling in the middle of the wonton wrapper. Use your finger and dip into the bowl of warm water and then moisten the edges of the wonton wrapper. Fold one corner to the diagonal corner forming a triangle. Pinch the edges to seal shut.

preparing crab rangoons on a black and white plaid plate. There is a prepared wonton wrapper with a tablespoon of the crab rangoon filling in the middle of the wrapper. a finger is adding warm water to the edges to prepare for folding over and sealing shut

preparing crab rangoons. the filling has already been added and warm water has been placed on the edges and the wonton wrappers are being folded in this photo. There are other crab rangoons in the background and they are all prepped on a black and white plaid plate

Heat a large skillet with the vegetable oil over medium heat. Fry 8-10 crab rangoons at a time. Fry for 3 minutes on each side. When done, transfer to a paper towel lined plate and add a little salt to taste.

eight crab rangoons being fried in vegetable oil in cast iron skillet

fried crab rangoons that have been removed from the skillet and transferred to a paper towel lined plate to absorb the excess oil

What’s your favorite part of celebrating New Year’s Eve? What are some of your Chinese food favorites? Let me know in the comments below. I really appreciate each and every person that looks at my blog and supports Spice and Sugar Mama! You are all amazing and I wish nothing but health and success in all of your endeavors for the upcoming year. I wish you and your family a great holiday season and the very happiest of New Years!