I confess to having been down more than one TikTok rabbit hole in my life. I know I am not the only one. Scrolling through those short video clips is oddly compelling, right?

My TikTok feed is filled with bread bakers, cute puppies, home cooks, and the occasional hair color makeover or blind react. 

But all is not lost, because occasionally I find some really good ideas. Last week I came across a video showing how easy it is to make Crab Rangoon. WHAT!?! Now that is something I had to try. 

I don’t know why I thought that Crab Rangoon was harder than it actually is. Just a few simple ingredients, some wonton wrappers and a place to fry them. 

I started by mixing softened cream cheese, sugar, salt and Worcestershire sauce. Thinking back on it now, I would probably also add a bit of minced garlic and some chopped green onion.  To this I added some chopped crab sticks. This is imitation crab meat that I happened to have on hand from my recent attempt making California Rolls with Taylor. You could also use canned crab for this.

Stuffing and folding the wontons was easier than I thought it would be. Wet the edges of the wonton wrapper with water and put a generous teaspoon of filling in the middle. Pinch the opposite corners of the wonton together. Then do the same with the other two corners so that all 4 meet in the middle and you’ve formed a little purse. Make sure the edges are sealed or you’ll have a blowout. You can also check out this great tutorialI found for folding. 

I fried my crab Rangoon in this great little Fry Daddy deep fryer I got as a gift a few years ago. I don’t deep fry things very often, so it was a treat to be able to use this. My fryer does not have a heat setting, and honestly I didn’t use a thermometer. So cooking temp in the recipe is estimated. 

Here is a tip to test if your cooking oil is hot enough. Dip the handle of a wooden spoon or a chopstick into the oil. If the oil starts steadily bubbling, then the oil is hot enough for frying. If the oil bubbles very very vigorously, then the oil is too hot and needs to cool off a touch.

I cooked my crab Rangoon 3 or 4 at a time, for 2-3 minutes or until they were golden brown and crispy.  I found that I had to keep an eye on them and turn them occasionally so they would be brown on all sides. 

The recipe made enough so that we had a bunch for dinner one night, and there was enough mix left over for us to cook more for Taylor and her friend Levi as an after-school snack the next day. We served them with Sweet Thai Chili sauce that I found in the International section of my grocery store.  So yummy.  Next time I am going to try cooking them in my air fryer. I’ll update to let you know how that goes.

Enjoy!

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Quick and Easy Crab Rangoon

Prep Time: 15 min      Cook Time: 15 min      Total Time: 20 min
Yield: 18

Ingredients

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 5 crab sticks imitation crab meat, chopped (or you can use 6 oz. canned crab)
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp. chopped scallions
• 18 wonton wrappers
• Canola Oil for frying
• Water for sealing

Instructions

1. Preheat oil to 350° F. 
2. Gently mix cream cheese, sugar, salt, crab, scallions and Worcestershire sauce in a small bowl.
3. Place 1 tsp. filling in the center of each wonton.
4. Moisten edges of the wonton with water. Pinch opposite corners in half, then bring together in the center and seal.
5. Drop wontons into hot oil for 2-3 minutes or until brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels.
6. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.