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Air Fryer Crab Rangoon is an easy winter weeknight meal or the perfect appetizer for your holiday entertaining. Crab Rangoon is a fan favorite and such a delicious finger food that your guests will love snacking on. Serve this appetizer with a sweet chili sauce or another of your favorite dipping sauces.
I don’t know about you but I love crab rangoon especially homemade crab rangoon. In my house when we get Chinese takeout we fight over every last one. They are really our favorite appetizers. Today’s Air Fryer Crab Rangoon, sometimes called crab puffs or cream cheese rangoon, are a great option to make at home.
You can control what goes into them and you can choose whether you fry them or use your air fryer. I love using the air fryer for this recipe because it is lighter than frying them in oil and still get crispy. Fresh wonton wrappers are filled with a creamy crab mixture with fresh lump crab, cream cheese, green onion, worcestershire sauce and soy sauce. The wonton wrappers are closed into triangles and cooked until crispy. If you enjoy crispy seafood appetizers try our Baked Crab Cakes with Garlic Aioli for an easy party appetizer.
If you like seafood recipes you also might like my Parmesan Crust Tilapia, Baked Lemon Cod or Mediterranean Salmon Bowl.
Recipe Ingredients
For exact ingredient amounts and instructions, see the full recipe card below.
- Wrappers: I like to use fresh wonton wrappers for crab rangoon but you also can use egg roll wrappers.
- Crab: If you can get fresh crab meat I find that works best and has the best flavor. If not, you can use canned crab or imitation crab.
- Cream Cheese: Cream cheese is added to create that savory, creamy crab flavor. You can also use a flavored cream cheese like herb cream cheese or chive cream cheese.
- Green Onion: Fresh green onions are optional but add flavor and are a nice addition.
- Sauce: Worcestershire and soy sauce add a salty, savory flavor to the crab rangoon. If you want to control salt you can use low-sodium soy sauce.
Ingredient Tip: I like to try to use real crab meat when possible. I often will find it near the seafood section in a cooler or in the seafood case. If you can’t use real crab you can also try canned crab meat, frozen crab meat or imitation crab meat. Just make sure the crab is cut into small pieces so it works well in the cream cheese filling mixture.
How to Make Crab Rangoon
Step 1: Create the Crab Mixture: Combine the crab meat, creamy cheese, garlic powder, green onion, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and sugar into a bowl and mix well.
Step 2: Add Crab Mixture to Wonton Wrapper: Lay the wonton wrapper on a cutting board or flat surface. Place 1 tsp. of the crab mixture into the middle of a wonton wrapper.
Moisten the edges of the wonton with a little bit of the water mixture {this helps keeps the wonton together during cooking}.
Step 3: Close the Sides: Close opposite corners together into a a star makings sure the corners are all closed together.
Brush each of the wontons with vegetable oil or you can use an olive oil spray to spray them.
Step 4: Air Fry: Preheat the air fryer at 400 degrees F for 5 minutes. Turn the air fryer to 350 degrees F and air fry for about 5-8 minutes or until the wontons are crispy and just turning brown.
Place the wontons on a large plate lined with paper towel to soak up any leftover oil. Serve warm with the sweet chili dipping sauce, green onions and cilantro.
Tip: If you want to fry the crab rangoon you can heat oil in a large skillet until it becomes hot oil to deep fry them. Add the rangoon in and cook for about 30-50 seconds until they are crispy working in small batches.
Storage Tips
- Refrigerator: You can store the cooked leftover crab rangoon in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: You can prepare these but not cook them and put them in the freezer. To make sure they don’t stick together you will want to put them on a baking sheet or tray and freezer them for 30 minutes before putting them in an airtight container or freezer bags.
Recipe FAQ
The wonton wrappers I use are almost always located in the produce section. I use the fresh wonton wrappers and find they work great for crab rangoon and other appetizers.
The best way to reheat Crab Rangoon so they don’t get soggy is to put them on a baking sheet or in the air fryer and cook them at 300 for about 4 to 5 minutes or until they are hot and crispy.
Make sure not to overfill the wonton wrappers with the crab mixture. If you overfill the mixture might come out the sides while cooking.
More Seafood Recipes
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Air Fryer Crab Rangoon
Ingredients
- 18 -20 wonton wrappers, available in our international aisle
- 6 ounces lump crab meat, drained
- 8 ounces cream cheese, heated in the microwave for 30 seconds or warmed on the counter
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 green onion, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- water , for closing the wonton wrappers
- Sauce , to dip like a sweet chili sauce
Instructions
- Combine the crab meat, creamy cheese, garlic powder, green onion, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and sugar into a bowl and mix well.
- Lay the wonton wrapper on a cutting board or flat surface. Place 1 tsp. of the crab mixture into the center of the wonton wrapper.
- Moisten the edges of the wonton with a little bit of the water mixture {this helps keeps the wonton together during cooking}.
- Close all of the sides together into a a star makings sure the corners are all closed together.
To Fry:
- Heat about 2-3 inches of vegetable oil in a large skillet until it is about 350 degrees. Fry as many wontons as fit in your skillet for about 30 – 45 seconds, making sure they don’t burn. My skillet fit about 6-7 wontons.
- Place the wontons on a large plate lined with paper towel to soak up any leftover oil. Serve warm with the sweet chili dipping sauce and fresh cilantro.
To Air Fry:
- Brush each of the wontons with vegetable oil or you can use an olive oil spray to spray them.
- Preheat the air fryer at 400 degrees F for 5 minutes. Turn the air fryer to 350 degrees F and air fry for about 5-8 minutes or until the wontons are crispy and just turning brown.
- Place the wontons on a large plate lined with paper towel to soak up any leftover oil. Serve warm with the sweet chili dipping sauce and fresh cilantro.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I think we are going to have to make these for every party we have going forward!
Can you freeze them without cooking?
Yes you can! Once they’re folded, simply place uncooked Crab Rangoon onto a baking pan or plate, flash freeze them for an hour, then slide them into a freezer bag or Tupperware container. This allows them to be stored together without sticking to one another. Hope you like them! 🙂
These look delicious. Could these be cooked and then frozen and reheated?
Yes! Just make sure you cool them all the way before freezing.