Super Easy Crab Puffs Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is a crab puff the same as crab rangoon? ›

Crab puffs, aka crab rangoons, are a staple at most casual Chinese restaurants. They are made of crispy wonton wrappers stuffed with juicy crab meat and cream cheese. Although they aren't super authentic, they have become a popular appetizer to tack on alongside chow mein, broccoli beef, and other take-out favorites.

The filling is made with a combination of cream cheese, crab meat or imitation crab meat, scallions or onion, garlic, and other flavorings. A small amount of the filling is wrapped in each wonton wrapper.

Though, if you are wondering if crab meat in a can already cooked, the answer is yes. This does not speak on the quality, but rest assured, fresh meat is more desirable across-the-board.

I love Panda Express' Crab Rangoons and they're so easy to make! Oddly enough, they don't use crab or imitation crab in their original recipe. Feel free to add some though, it's delicious! My local Panda Express offers 3 for $2.35.

We find this recipe has the best flavor with either canned or lump crab meat. Imitation works but the flavor is not the same. To stretch the filling further, you can add up to 6 oz cream cheese. Drain the crab very well.

Can you eat imitation crab raw? Yes. It is pre-cooked, so you are able to eat it straight from the package. Many people use it as part of a larger recipe though, adding it to cream of crab soup, crab Rangoon or crab salad.

Since imitation crab is precooked, you can use it straight from the package for cold dishes, such as dips and salad, or add it to dishes you heat.

Imitation crab, as its name says, is a mock version of crabmeat. It's a highly processed food containing minced fillet, egg whites, salt, sugar, and other additives to make it look like real crab meat. It's more affordable, but less nutritious, than fresh crab meat.

One of the biggest clues in the makeup of crab rangoon that this dish is American over Asian in origin is the cream cheese. Cream cheese was a staple in 1940s and 50s America but this is not an ingredient you'll have found in China or Burma or Polynesia.

Cream cheese was popular in American households in the 1940s, but it wasn't used in China: The majority of the country is lactose intolerant, and its cuisine is virtually dairy-free. To confuse the dish's identity even further, Vic named it crab rangoon after the former name of the city of Yangon in Myanmar.

What kind of crab is used in Rangoon? ›

Crab meat: Look for canned lump white crab meat and drain it before you use it. You can also substitute imitation crab or leave it out entirely. Egg: An egg wash helps seal the wonton wrappers together. Wonton wrappers: Look for square wonton wrappers made with wheat (not rice) that measure about 3 1/2” square.

After you open a can of crab, drain the juice and rinse the meat off before using it for the best flavor and to remove any preservatives left on the crab.

Ingredients. Crabmeat, Water, Contains 2% Or Less Sugar, Salt, Citric Acid, Disodium Pyrophosphate (To Maintain Flavor And Firmness), Calcium Disodium Edta (To Preserve Color), Sodium Metabisulfite (Preservative).

Flaky, delicious white crab meat from the body of the crab, our White Crabmeat is a nutritious, convenient, and affordable meal you can easily whip up into a ton of impressively simple-to-make dips, hors d'oeuvres, and delectable dishes. Not too shabby, crabby.

Also known as Crab Puffs, Crab Pillows, and Cheese Wontons, these are essentially fried wontons stuffed with cream cheese and imitation crab (or sometimes real crab). They are crunchy and creamy, and they are prepared nearly the same at every restaurant. When and where did Crab Rangoons originate?

What is the difference between crab wonton and crab rangoon? Crab rangoon is a type of fried wonton, so they are really very similar. The difference is all in the filling. Traditional wontons are not ever filled with cream cheese (which is one of the main components in crab rangoon recipes).

Wontons and crab Rangoon are, on the surface, similar dishes: They're both a form of dumpling (essentially, a dough pocket) stuffed with some kind of filling. However, crab Rangoon has a specific type of filling, while wontons have a little more wiggle room when it comes to what they're stuffed with.

Wontons filled with cream cheese and imitation crab are named after the city – crab rangoons, whereas wontons just filled with cream cheese are often referred to as wontons – but they are used interchangeably. Wontons when not referred to as “cream cheese wontons” refer to dumplings like in my Wonton Soup.