What's The Difference Between Classic Wontons And Crab Rangoon?

Wontons and crab Rangoon are, on the surface, similar dishes: They're both a form of dumpling (essentially, a dough pocket) stuffed with some kind of filling. However, crab Rangoon has a specific type of filling, while wontons have a little more wiggle room when it comes to what they're stuffed with. Traditional crab Rangoon contains some variety of crab meat and cream cheese. Classic wontons, on the other hand, typically contain a mixture of shrimp and seasoned ground pork with garlic, but there are many different fillings too.

If you're on social media, you might have seen the crab Rangoon meme frenzy several years ago, which helped this dish gain popularity in the United States. The memes became so popular — and for no apparent reason — that there were even Reddit threads questioning why they came to be in the first place. The bottom line: These cheesy crab pockets are so delicious that they jokingly became a love language on the internet.

Dumplings are thousands of years old, and they've been a staple in Chinese cooking for just as long. Over the years, many different forms of dumplings have been created, including the wonton. There are two main ways a wonton sets itself apart from a traditional dumpling: its dough and its shape. Wontons consist of a much thinner dough than dumplings; both doughs are made from all-purpose flour and water, but wontons' thinner dough creates a distinction. Plus, wontons are shaped differently than dumplings, with wonton dough either tucked under itself into a rounded shape or folded into itself to create a square shape. Dumplings are a half-moon shape with many edges that tuck underneath each other.

Wontons can be filled with a variety of ingredients. Most commonly, it's some form of meat, but they can also be filled with vegetables. In China, wontons are almost always filled with pork, and varieties made with beef or chicken aren't common. Elements like garlic and chives can be added, too, and wontons can be pan-fried, fully fried, or steamed.

Crab Rangoon is a variation of the wonton that goes against the traditional pork filling. Crab Rangoon is often fully fried, making it crispy all around as opposed to having the softer, doughier texture that pan-fried or steamed wontons have. Inside, crab Rangoon is filled with imitation crab meat or real crab meat, and cream cheese; these two ingredients are the stars of the show and are what give crab Rangoon its signature taste.

While Crab Rangoon can be filled with real crab meat, imitation crab meat has a milder taste and a more affordable price point, so it's popular among Chinese restaurants. If you take a close look at your takeout order of Rangoon, you'll find that it's most likely made with imitation meat. Green onions are often added to the filling as well, and sometimes sweet and savory elements like soy sauce and sugar make an appearance. The wontons are then stuffed with the crab and cheese filling and fried until crispy.