Baked Crab Rangoon Dip

The following recipe and photography is courtesy of Graham R. and his dog, Carl. For more of their delicious food ventures, visit them on Instagram @cookingwithcarrrl.

Whenever I grab Chinese takeout, I usually change up my order, but one item stays constant – Crab Rangoon! Those crispy wontons filled with creamy, crabby goodness always find their way into my to-go bag, so I transformed them into a mouthwatering dip paired with crunchy, homemade bagel chips for a real East-meets-West collaboration of flavors!

I don’t know about you, but nothing makes me crabbier than ordering a crab-based appetizer or entree only to find about a half an ounce of actual crab in the finished dish! I’d much rather make my own. That way, I can control how much of the good stuff goes in. Most crab dip recipes I’ve stumbled across call for a 2:1 ratio of cream cheese to crab meat. I find that ratio results in dips that taste predominately of melted cream cheese. After lots of testing, I’ve found that a 1:1 ratio allows the crab to be the centerpiece of the dip.

When I visit Heinen’s, their bagels are always on my shopping list. They carry blueberry, onion and a variety of others, but my favorite is the classic everything bagel. It’s rare that I don’t devour them within a couple of days, but if I happen to have some older bagels, I like to give them a proper makeover. A quick slice and a drizzle of seasoned olive oil is all it takes to make delicious bagel chips. Bagel chips are ideal for dips because they are very crunchy and won’t break, even when lifting the heaviest of dips. These also knock store-bought bagel chips out of the park, both in terms of flavor and price.

Enough talk, lets cook!