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!