Why is TikTok suddenly obsessed with crab rangoon?

TikTok can’t get enough of this American Chinese classic. Crab rangoon recipes and ASMR videos are taking over the app. 

Crab rangoon evolved from the influx of Chinese immigrants to America in the early 20th century. The initial wave of Chinese immigrants, during the Gold Rush, largely cooked traditional foods for their own communities. But later on, because of exclusionary immigration policies, fewer Chinese people were allowed to immigrate to the U.S. One of the exceptions was restaurant owners.

This caused a boom in Chinese restaurants in the early 1900s. Crab rangoon came from this bit of history as Chinese restaurants tweaked traditional dishes and added new ones to menus to suit American tastes. Today, the crab rangoon we know is a fried wonton with cream cheese and artificial crab meat inside. 

For some reason crab rangoon has become trendy on TikTok. It may be thanks to a few viral videos and because it’s actually quite easy to make now that you can get wonton wrappers at your local supermarket. The hashtag #crabrangoon currently has over 136 million views. 

TikToker @foodwithsoy shared her mother’s crab rangoon recipe which earned over 8.8 million views. 

Her mother combined imitation crab and cream cheese, with a bit of sesame oil, garlic powder and salt. 

Next, she moistened the edges of wonton wrappers and filled each with the mixture. Then she pinched each corner of the wrapper together diagonally. 

Finally, she deep-fried the crab rangoon at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for two minutes. And voila! She mad perfect crispy crab rangoons. 

“Huge homemade crab rangoon!” Gabby Einclerico said before taking a giant, crunchy bite as ASMR in one of her many crab rangoon videos.

“If I see one more TikTok, bro. I swear I wanna order some right now,” someone commented

Meanwhile, user Leon Zheng took the time to pay homage to his parents who are Chinese restaurant owners. 

“This is my dad. He makes dumplings all day long,” Zheng said. “This is my mom. She makes crab rangoons day and night.” 

@carson.conrad

If you see me devouring the whole tray of crab rangoons…yes you did #greenscreen #fyp #crabrangoon

♬ original sound – leeko Semaj

“When the buffet has the crab rangoon,” Carson Conrad wrote in a caption before tweaking in front of photos of crab rangoons. 

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