Chesapeake Crab Rangoon
Chesapeake Crab Rangoon- Putting a Maryland spin on a favorite appetizer then lightening it up by toasting it in the air fryer.
September 9, 2022 by Nicole Collins
Does anyone know how we could squeeze a couple more hours out of the day?
Anyone? ANYONE?
I’m telling you, the “recipe idea” to “time to recipe test” ratio is severely skewed in my world. I have soooo many ideas sitting in the vault but I just don’t have enough hours in the day.
There’s a max amount of recipes that I can test in a week for a couple reasons. The main one is time. But, the second main reason is simply that I don’t have enough mouths to feed on a regular basis.
If I have extra time and push the limits to squeeze in an extra recipe, I almost always end up with an issue. There’s only so much food that I can eat in a week! And because most of my recipes serve 4, guess who can only eat the same things back to back so many times.
Today’s recipe is one of those that almost got lost in the vault forever. But when an idea resurfaces a year later, you know it’s worth seeing through. So, that’s what we’re doing today.
Today, we’re making Chesapeake Crab Rangoon!
When I order Chinese takeout, I get crab rangoon with my order 100% of the time. I love it! But for today’s recipe, we’re going to take that same basic concept, add a little Maryland style spin on it, and lighten it up a bit by toasting it in the air fryer instead of the deep fryer. Just when you thought something couldn’t get any better…this happens!
My biggest complaint about crab rangoon is that the crab is usually nowhere to be found. It’s basically just a fried cream cheese wonton with a shred a crab. And though delicious, show me the crab! We’re not being stingy with our crab meat at all on this one. I want everyone to know that these are CRAB rangoons, so we’re going to use a whole half pound of lump crab meat in this one.
To dress up our crab in Maryland garb, we’re going to mix in some cream cheese, some Old Bay, and some shredded cheddar cheese. But, we’re not using any old cream cheese in these rangoons. We’re going to use whipped chive cream cheese. I love using this variation of cream cheese for a couple of reasons. For one, the oniony flavor is built right in so we get to save an ingredient. And for two, whipped cream cheese is already light and fluffy so we don’t need to let it come to room temperature first before we can use it.
Once our filling is mixed, we’re going take a scant tablespoon and pop it right into the center of a wonton wrapper. I actually like to use a tablespoon cookie scoop to do this so there’s no question about how much filling each wonton is getting. Plus, it’s super easy! Then, we’ll wet the edges of our wontons, fold them into either a pretty purse shape or a paper football shape, and they’re ready to go to the air fryer.
These only take about 5ish minutes to become perfectly golden and crisp, and they only need a spritz of cooking spray to help them do that. So layer them into a single layer, spritz, air fry, and done! You’ll probably have to do these in a couple of batches, but they cook so quickly that it’s not an inconvenience at all.
When it’s time to serve, you can eat them as is or you can serve them with a dipping sauce. Believe it or not, the standard duck sauce or sweet thai chili sauce both work great with these rangoons. I mean, you really can’t go wrong with oniony cream cheese, sweet crab, and savory Old Bay.
Alright, everyone! That’s all we have for today. Make sure you’re following me on Tiktok because I’m trying to get a video up with every new recipe now! If you’re a visual learner, that’s the place to be!
I hope you guys love this one as much as I do. Let’s eat!
Chesapeake Crab Rangoon
Serves: 42 Print
Ingredients:
8 oz lump crab meat, picked through for shells
8 oz whipped chive cream cheese
2 tsp Old Bay
½ tsp worcestershire sauce
½ cup shredded cheddar
42 wonton wrappers
Cooking spray
Duck sauce or sweet chili sauce, for serving (optional)
Directions:
Make the crab filling: Add crab, cream cheese, Old Bay, worcestershire, and cheddar to a mixing bowl. Mix well to combine.
Fill the wontons: Keep unused wonton wrappers covered when not in use. Using one wonton wrapper at a time, dip your finger in water, and trace the edges of the wonton to wet the edges. Using a 1 tbsp cookie scoop, scoop a scant tablespoon of filling into the center of the wonton. To make a purse shaped wonton, fold the wonton in half to form a rectangle, pressing just the left and right edges together to seal them and leaving the top edge open. Then, fold the sides into the center so that the 4 corners of the wonton meet in the middle. Press the remaining edges together to seal, pressing out any air from the center around the filling. Alternately, fold the wonton in half diagonally and press the edges to seal to make a triangle shaped wonton, pressing out any air from the center around the filling. Repeat with remaining filling.
Preheat air fryer to 350 degrees. Place wontons in a single layer in the basket. Spray the top side with cooking spray, and air fry for 5-7 minutes until the wontons are golden and crisp. Remove to a baking rack lined sheet, and repeat with remaining batches, as necessary.
Serve with duck sauce or sweet chili sauce, if desired. Enjoy!
Recipe notes:
*Check out my Tiktok (@theyummymuffin02) to see a video of how I folded the wontons into purses.
*Every air fryer cooks a little differently, so start checking your wontons at 5 minutes. I use the Ninja Foodi Grill, and mine were perfect at 7 minutes.
*I like to only stuff as many wonton wrappers as will fit in my air fryer basket at a time. Then, I’ll fill more wontons while the batch cooks in the air fryer. This help make sure the wontons don’t dry out while sitting and waiting for their turn to cook.
*These freeze really well. Cool completely, freeze, and store in a freezer safe bag or container. To reheat, bake at 375 degrees for about 5-7 mins until heated through. No thawing or additional prep required!
*This is the cookie scoop I used.
