Americanized Chinese food, love it or hate? I used to love it! I guess I still kind of do, it just depends. One thing I always loved as a kid was Crab Rangoon. Our special occasions usually consisted of either ordering a pizza or Chinese food. I would always ask for Crab Rangoon as an appetizer to share, and it is so bad and so good! I had not had Crab Rangoon in very long time, but I have been lying in bed at night thinking about food (as usual), and I have been pondering all my childhood favorites which is when I decided to veganize Crab Rangoon.
This morning, vegan Crab Rangoon was born! Thank me later, and I promise you will. I went through a bunch of different possibilities of how to go about this, and settled on something so incredibly easy, I am pretty sure any one can handle it! I used a vegan cream cheese, instead of a homemade cashew cheese, because I wanted it to taste as authentic as possible. I added shredded carrots to make it look like bits of crab, and then mixed in a bit of kelp powder to give it a little seafood like flavor!
After I decided on all that, I also wanted to give it more flavor, and added sesame oil, soy sauce, agave and scallions. These little pockets of heaven are insane! I dipped them into soy sauce and rice wine vinegar, and a sweet chili sauce. I don’t know which I liked better, all I can say is, I didn’t mean to eat so many! Ahhhh!
This recipe can be made in about 15 or 20 minutes, is only 10 ingredients and one of the tastiest things I have had in a long time. I folded mine into triangles to make it an even easier recipe, but you can fold them however you want! I am so excited I get to relive my childhood, these are perfect and taste exactly like I remember the real ones tasting. Have fun kids, and kids at heart!
- 1/2 C. Vegan cream cheese, I used Daiya
- 1/4 C. Carrots, shredded fine
- 1 tsp. Kelp powder
- 1 tsp. Sesame oil
- 1 tsp. Agave nectar
- 1 tsp. Soy sauce
- 2 tsp. Scallions, chopped
- Dash of Salt and Pepper
- 12-18 Vegan wonton wrappers
- Oil for frying
- Small bowl of water
- In a medium mixing bowl, add all the filling ingredients and whisk, or beat with a hand mixer until fully combined.
- Heat about 1/2 an inch of oil in a frying pan on medium high heat.
- Assemble the crab rangoon by taking a wonton wrapper and placing about 1/2 tsp.-3/4 tsp. of filling in the center. Using your small bowl of water, wet all the edges of the wrapper and fold point to point making a triangle. Make sure all the edges are sealed together by pressing really well.
- Once the oil is hot, fry 2 to 3 rangoons at a time, fry for about 1 minute on one side, flip and fry for another minute on the other side until both sides are nice and brown.
- Serve immediately when all of them are done, I recommend serving with soy sauce and sweet chili sauce!
- You should be able to find kelp powder easily, in the International food section at the store. Or at any health food store.
- I found vegan wonton wrappers at my local Asian market, but if you don't have one, I have seen them at Whole Foods and other health food stores.
What brand of vegan wonton wrappers do you use? I’m having difficulty finding them!
I use Dynasty brand. I get them at my local Asian market, but I think you can order them on Amazon if need be.
I find them at Walmart. Who knew?!
I just made these and goodness gracious thank you for creating these beauties. It’s even more fantastic than I thought it would be! And it’s super easy, all around ~amazing~
These look amazing! By any chance do you think these could potentially be baked?
I do think they could be baked! I would try maybe at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes. I would just watch them and bake until they are brown!
I bet these would be Awesome in an Airfryer.
We just made these for Thanksgiving. Thank you for these simple and delicious appetizers. Next time we will need to make triple the batch as we ate them so quickly. Also. Great vegan cream cheese recipe. And. There were 6 of us. Only 2 vegans.
Hi! I have made these before and they have always been a favorite of mine! I would like to serve them at Christmas, but want to make them ahead of time if possible. Do you think it’s possible to freeze them and if so would you do that before or after you fry them? Otherwise do you think I could make them a few days ahead of time and just put them in the refrigerator assembled, but not yet cooked?
Hi what brand of kelp powder do you use?
I usually use Maine coast seasonings.
is the sesame oil in the recipe untoasted?
Would this be possible to make in an air fryer?