Crab Rangoon Dip with Fried Wonton Chips & Vinho Verde
DAY 5: 20 Days of Game Day Dips
One of my personal favourites from 2024: Crab Rangoon Dip! This one screams game day, so of course I had to repost it for this game day series. It’s a total touchdown of creamy, crabby, cheesy perfection! Whether you're in it for the commercials or the game, it really won't matter once this dip enters the scene, because this dipified crab rangoon will no doubt steal the show.
What the heck is Crab Rangoon?
Crab Rangoon is an ‘Americanized’ Chinese appetizer that is by no means traditional Chinese food, but DAMN is it good! They’re basically little cream cheese and crab filled fried wontons and are usually served with sweet and sour sauce. Of course, I didn’t make Crab Rangoon. I made Crab Rangoon DIP, and the result was TO DIE FOR.
Wine Pairing
Pair this dip with a Vinho Verde Branco (aka white) from Northern Portugal. This dip is rich, creamy, and mouth-coating, which perfectly contrasts the light, fresh, and palate cleansing wine. The wine's hint of salinity also matches the salty crab, and the chives help to amplify some of those vegetal flavours in the wine.
What is Vinho Verde?
Vinho Verde is a light and refreshing wine from northern Portugal. While most would assume Vinho Verde is a grape (like Sauvignon Blanc), It’s actually the name of the place! Vinho Verde is a Portuguese DOC that translates to '‘Green Wine”, meaning young wine. It can be white, red, rosé, or sparkling, but is most commonly known as a light, low alcohol, white wine, with a touch of fizz! You’ll probably notice some short lived bubbles when you pour a glass and a prickly fizz on your tongue when you take a sip! This wine is always great value (AKA good quality at a very reasonable price) and it is the embodiment of fresh, with common flavours of zesty lime, tart green apple, and honeydew melon. It also tends to have a bit of salinity (or saltiness) to it from its proximity to the ocean, along with some subtle green vegetal flavours.
Why does this pairing work?
This pairing is all about the contrast and matching flavours.
Contrasting textures: The dip is rich, creamy, and mouth-coating and the wine is light, fresh, and palate cleansing, so having a sip between bites will keep you coming back for more!
Matching flavours: The saltiness of the wine matches the salty crab, and the chives help to amplify some of those vegetal flavours in the wine!
My Recommendations
Most Vinho Verde is great value, and because of the DOC quality standards, it’s hard to find a bad one! I LOVED the Portas do Oriente Vinho Verde, but if you can’t find it where you are, the Mapreco Vinho Verde is similar and equally tasty!
If you’re looking for an alternative (but similar) wine to pair with this dip, I would suggest an Gruner Veltliner, Picpoul de Pinet, Dry Riesling, Albarino, Soave, Verdejo, Chablis, Sancerre, or Prosecco (the links will take you to some of my go-to’s).
If wine isn’t your thing,
Consider pairing this with Junmai Daiginjo Sake, a crisp rice lager, sour beer, Singapore Sling cocktail, or non-alcoholic orange spritz!
Recipe: Crab Rangoon Dip with Fried Wonton Chips
Servings: 6-8
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Kitchen Stuff
Large heavy bottomed pot, like this 5-6 quart Dutch Oven
Ingredients
1 can crab meat
1 cup sour cream (14% recommended)
1 cup shredded Asiago cheese (reserve 1/2 cup for topping)
1/4 cup Kewpie mayonnaise
1/4 cup softened cream cheese
2 tbsp chives, chopped (reserve 1-2 tbsp for topping)
1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp white pepper
Fried Wonton Chips
2.5-3 quarts of neutral frying oil (e.g., grapeseed or vegetable oil)
Wonton wrappers, cut in halves or quarters
Toppings
Crumbled fried wonton wrappers
Chopped chives
Directions
For the Fried Wonton Chips
Fill a large heavy bottomed dutch oven or pot about half full with your neutral frying oil of choice and heat over medium-high heat. While the oil is heating up, prepare wonton wrappers by cutting them in half or into quarters.
If you’re using an oil thermometer, heat the oil until it’s 350-375 F (I recommend checking every few minutes - it shouldn’t take long). If you’re like me and you don’t have an oil thermometer, toss a small piece of the wonton wrapper in the oil to test if it’s ready. If the oil isn’t hot enough, it will sink to the bottom and will become oil-logged. If the oil is ready to go, it should start to bubble and sizzle immediately, quickly puff up, first turning white and then a golden brown.
Drop your wonton wrappers in the oil in small batches using a mesh or spider strainer. Watch closely as they brown, turning them around in the oil to ensure all sides fry evenly. Remove from the oil using your spider strainer when they’re a nice golden brown, place on a paper towel lined plate, and salt them immediately (doing this while they’re still hot helps the salt stick to them). Repeat with the remaining wonton wrappers and then set them aside while you make your dip!
For the dip
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Add all ingredients for the dip to a medium mixing bowl, keeping ~ 1/2 cup of shredded cheese and 1-2 tbsp of chopped chives aside for the topping. Mix ingredients together.
Transfer dip to an oven-safe baking dish, sprinkle the leftover cheese on top and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the dip is bubbling and cheese is melted.
Remove from the oven and garnish with chopped chives and fried wonton chip crumbles. Serve with your wonton chips and a chilled bottle of Vinho Verde!
ENJOY and let me know what you think!
xx Steph
Made this today and it's delicious!! I didn't;t have all of the ingredients on hand and didn't feel like the grocery store, so I substituted scallions for the chives and a handful of whatever cheese was in my fridge for the asiago. We had it with a crips New Zealand Sauv Blanc which was a nice balance to the cheesy umami of the dip. This is a keeper!!