Until the fateful day on which I blogged this recipe, my relationship with cream cheese wontons had long been distant. When my family would indulge in the guilty pleasure that is a Chinese buffet (an American institution), I would see them in the steam trays next to the plump, pillowy dumplings and the fried sugar donuts. Which two things do you think I ended up putting on my plate? The reason for this? The cream cheese wontons were usually labeled, “crab rangoon,” which is basically a cream cheese wonton with imitation crab added to the filling. Not big on seafood as a kid, I avoided them all together. So yes. The first time a cream cheese wonton ever touched my lips (ha) was actually not that long ago. I have a friend who is quite well-regarded at his local Chinese takeout place in Manhattan’s Chinatown (I blame his routine $5 tips), and when we were picking up dinner one night, the proprietor threw in a free carton of these crispy fried cream cheese wontons. One bite, and I finally knew what I’d been missing. This recipe is super simple to make––you can serve your cream cheese wontons with the dipping sauce I’ve made here, or you can serve them with duck sauce (which, incidentally, has more to do with these than it has to do with duck).
You can also make these into those “crab rangoons” I was talking about, by stirring crab––imitation or the real thing––into the filling. On to the recipe!
Cream Cheese Wontons: Recipe Instructions
Make the wonton filling by combining the cream cheese, sugar, salt, and scallions.
Now it’s time to assemble the wontons. Yay!
Here’s how to do it: Take each wonton wrapper, and dampen the outer edges with a thin layer of water.
Place a teaspoon of the cream cheese filling in the middle…
And fold in half into a triangle.
Bring the two corners on the long side of the triangle together, and seal with another dab of water.
Continue until all the wontons are assembled. (Check out our step-by-step guide to folding wontons for more details!)
Heat a couple inches of vegetable oil in a small pot until it reaches 375 degrees F. Fry the wontons in batches––about 2 minutes per batch––until golden brown.
Definitely use a small pot for this and fry in multiple batches; you’ll use much less oil!
Make the dipping sauce by combining all the sauce ingredients, and serve with the wontons.
Enjoy these everyone! And for those of you who like this recipe and want to try something similar, or if you like a more substantial wonton filling, give this fried wonton recipe a try!
