Recipe for Crab Wontons at Life's Ambrosia

I have shared recipes for wontons in the past, first my Jalapeno Cream Cheese Wontons, then my Crispy Pork Wontons and most recently my Strawberry and Nutella Wontons. For this wonton recipe I thought I would go back to where my love affair with wontons started, the crab wonton. When you go to Asian restaurants these may be called anything from crab wontons to crab puffs to crab rangoon, but either way they are essentially the same thing. A mixture of crab or imitation crab and cream cheese wrapped in a wonton wrapper and fried until golden brown. If that wasn’t delicious enough, to add just a little something extra to this recipe I decided to throw in some fresh ginger, and green onions.

Usually when I order these at restaurants they use imitation crab but I figured since I live in the great northwest it seems fitting to use fresh dungeness crab meat. However, it can get pretty spendy so feel free to substitute canned crab or imitation crab if you would like. The flavor will be slightly different but it will still be delicious.

Makes about 20 wontons

You will need:

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 green onions, minced
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1/4 pound lump dungeness crab meat
kosher salt to taste
about 20 wonton wrappers
bowl water to seal wonton wrappers
about 2 cups canola oil for frying

In a bowl mix together cream cheese, onions, fresh ginger, crab meat and salt.
To make the wontons, place a teaspoonful of the crab mixture in the center of the wonton wrapper, dip your finger into the bowl of water and run your finger along the edges of the wrapper. Fold bottom corner of the wrapper over the filling and press all edges to close the wrapper, you’ll have a triangle. For presentation purposes, with the top of the triangle facing away from me, I folded up the left and right corners, but it is not necessary (Note: When making these use a damp paper towel to cover the wonton wrappers, otherwise they may dry out before you have a chance to fill them).
Heat 2 inches of oil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, fry wontons until golden brown and crispy, about 3 minutes on each side. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate, sprinkle with kosher salt.
Serve. I like to serve them with plum sauce for dipping.

As much as I wanted to eat all of them in one sitting, I figured my waistline wouldn’t respond well so I only fried up a few and froze the rest for future cravings. Just lay them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and place them in the freezer until frozen. After they are frozen transfer them to a freezer bag. When the craving strikes, just defrost a bag and pop them in the fryer.

Enjoy!

Responses to "Crab Wontons"

“
Mmm..sounds great. What other dipping sauces would go with this?
”

- zoe

“
These look like a fantastic excuse to splurge on real crab. I have no fine-motor skills, so I guarantee mine won’t be as pretty as yours, but I will give them a try because they look delicious.
Thanks for sharing :)
”

- Marta

“
Thanks Zoe! In addition to plum sauce, I like to use hot mustard. I hear that sweet and sour and soy sauce are also good options.
You’re welcome Marta! I hope that you enjoy them. Not all of mine looked this pretty btw. Its whats on the inside that counts ;-)
”

- Deseree

“
I’ll bet sweet-chili sauce straight out of the bottle would be great with this, too. I’m hoping to make them this weekend. They sound delicious, and yours look perfect!
”

- Lori (All That Splatters)

“
I totally forgot about sweet-chili sauce. It would be wonderful with these! I hope you enjoy them :)
”

- Deseree

“
Deseree, I made them this afternoon and they were great!! I blogged about them, linking to your site. Thanks so much for a wonderful and easy recipe!
”

- Lori (All That Splatters)

“
Lori- You’re welcome! I am glad that these turned out so well for you. I just checked out your post and your wontons look beautiful :)
”

- Deseree

“
Might have to try these, alas with canned crab. We looked at the prices of dungeness around here this past weekend and it was pretty dang high. We either eat fresh crab or canned, never the imitation stuff, just don’t like the taste.
”

- Mrs. L