Gochujang Crab Rangoon

Hello Hello! Guest post here from Anika’s sister out in Denver. I’ve been thinking for a while about what food would be a fitting contribution to this incredible blog that features so many tasty and fun creations. I finally settled on a recipe that came out of quarantine cabin fever, a twist on one of my favorite treats: crab and cheese wontons (or, as my college roommates called them, Rangoon). This originated as a “what can I do with what’s in my fridge” recipe that I immediately loved, combining rich cream cheese with spicy gochujang. These are super easy to make, require only a few ingredients, and work in an oven or air fryer. Even better, you can adjust the filling to taste as you make it since none of the ingredients are raw/unsafe and add more or less spice!

You will need:

For the filling:

• Cream cheese
• Chopped Green onions or chives
• Soy sauce
• Gochujang
• Imitation or real crab flaked/chopped into small pieces

For the assembly

• Wonton wrappers
• Canola or vegetable oil spray (if you are not deep frying)

First, make the filling by combining all the filling ingredients. I usually start with about 8 oz of Neufchatel, 1 tsp of soy sauce, 2-3 (or often more…) tablespoons of gochujang, ½ cup of chopped green onion, and 8 oz of crab. You don’t want the filling to be too runny or it will be more likely to leak out of the wontons during cooking! Unfortunately, that happened a little to me on this batch since my local King Soopers only had this runnier “sauce” version of gochujang rather than that good stuff that comes in a tub.

Next comes the fun part: assembly! I have found that this particular folding pattern holds up best during cooking and is pretty easy to master.

You will want to set up a little workstation for assembly. Make sure you also have a bowl of water handy.

Place a spoonful of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Then, dip your finger in the water bowl and trace a border of water around the edges of the wrapper-this will allow you to seal the wrapper closed.

Carefully pull up two diagonal corners of the wrapper and seal them together in the middle.

Then, take the remaining two diagonal corners and bring them into the center as well, sealing the edges so that when you look down at your wonton you have an “X” shape in your folds. Make sure there is enough water to seal the wonton shut so the filling doesn’t leak out!

For baking/air frying:

Spray the assembled wontons with oil so they will crisp up nicely. Bake in an oven at 350 F for 15 minutes or in an air fryer at 375 for 6 minutes to start. I find these turn out amazing in an air fryer and lead to the least amount of filling leakage!

Enjoy these hot or cold the next day (if you don’t eat them all in one sitting, which I usually do).

Thank you, Anika and Jeff, for allowing me to post on your blog and for brightening our quarantine with some great recipes.