Cream Cheese Wontons (Easy Recipe)

If you’ve visited a Chinese restaurant, you’re likely familiar with cream cheese wontons.

Sometimes, they’re on the buffet, or you can always find them on the appetizer menu.

For a lot of people, no takeout order is complete without adding these to the mix!

Of course, cream cheese wontons are incredibly delicious.

You might even start craving them when heading to a restaurant isn’t an option. 

That’s where this recipe comes in. It’ll give you easy access to them whenever you want! 

Cream Cheese Wontons

Are you a foodie looking to mix up your snack repertoire? Or perhaps you just really love Chinese food.

Either way, cream cheese wontons are an excellent option. 

They’re more exotic than your typical chips and dip or pretzels. And they’re the perfect choice to delight a crowd. 

Each little morsel is full of flavor.

They combine the tanginess of cream cheese with the umami goodness of green onions.

Of course, there’s also the crunchy, deep-fried crust. 

It’s an easy pairing to love.

And despite what people think, they aren’t that hard to make.

The trickiest part is assembling the wontons. Luckily, that’s much easier than the directions make it sound. 

Ingredients 

There are two components to this recipe: the sauce and the wontons. Let’s check out the dipping sauce first. Here’s what you’ll need: 

• Honey. This adds the signature sweet component to your sweet-n-sour dipping sauce.
• Low-sodium soy sauce. Low-sodium is best because it helps control the saltiness in the sauce. Sweet and sour are the two notes you want to shine through, not salty.
• Hot sauce. The recipe calls for Sriracha, and it’s an excellent choice. If you’re not a fan, you can use another type of hot sauce. It just gives the sauce a bit of extra kick.
• Vinegar. You can use rice wine vinegar if you have it on hand. It provides the sour notes in the sweet-n-sour sauce.
• Sesame oil. Sesame oil adds that bit of Asian flavor that makes the sauce taste so good.

As for the wontons, you won’t need much. These seven ingredients are all it takes to make them: 

• Cream cheese. I like to use full-fat cream cheese. It gives the recipe a better taste. Be sure to let it warm and soften before trying to use it. 
• Hot sauce. As with the dipping sauce, the recipe calls for Sriracha. You can use whatever hot sauce you like best, though.
• Green onions. You only need the light and dark green parts of the onions. Be sure to chop them very finely; you don’t want any lumps or chunks. Discard the white bulbs.
• Egg wash. Make this with one egg and 1/2 a cup of water. This will help hold the wontons together before you fry them.
• Wonton wrappers. You can typically find these in any grocery store with an Asian food section. If your local store doesn’t have them, you can order them online.
• Vegetable oil. For frying.

Some people also add a little garlic powder to the filling. Give it a try if you want more umami flavor.

How to Make Cream Cheese Wontons

When you get ready to make these, be sure to make the sauce first.

You want to have it ready so that your wontons don’t get cold while you’re making it later. 

Making the sauce is simple. You combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Then, set it aside. Now, here are the steps for the wontons.

1. Mix the filling. You combine all the ingredients for the filling. (Cream cheese, onions, and hot sauce.) Mix them well so that the resulting filling is smooth, not lumpy.

2. Prepare the egg wash. In a second bowl, mix the egg and water. 

3. Assemble the wontons. This is the trickiest part. Still, following the detailed instructions below, you shouldn’t have any problems. 

Just remember to keep the wonton wrappers covered with a towel or plastic wrap.

Cover the assembled wontons the same way. Otherwise, they might dry out before you fry them.

4. Fry the wontons. Use a medium skillet, and heat the oil to almost 350 degrees. Fry them in batches of four to five at a time. 

5. Cool, then serve! Once all the wontons are fried, give them about 7-10 minutes to cool. That will ensure you don’t burn your mouth with the hot cream cheese.

Then, serve with the dipping sauce, and enjoy! 

Storage Recommendations 

You can store leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer. Here’s how: 

• Storage: Place the wontons in an air-tight container. Pop them in the fridge. They will only last a couple of days before getting soggy, though. 

• Freezing: You can freeze fried or not-yet-fried wontons. For fried ones, stick them in a freezer-safe, air-tight container. They’ll keep in the freezer for up to 6 months. 

If you haven’t fried them yet, freeze them on a sheet pan first. (They need about an hour to freeze solid.) Then, place them in freezer-safe Ziploc bags. 

They, too, will last about 6 months. 

• Reheating: If you have an air fryer, that’s your best option for reheating. Pop chilled ones in for just a minute at 350 degrees. 

Fry the frozen wontons for 4 to 5 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

If you don’t have an air fryer, you can reheat cooked wontons in the oven for a few minutes. Fry the uncooked ones following the directions below. 

Tips for the Best Wontons 

Here are a few final tips to keep in mind:

• Keep the wonton wrappers covered! I’ve said it already, but it warrants a repeat. The wonton wrappers will dry out rapidly. Keep them covered. 

• Use oils with high smoke points. Vegetable oil is best. Canola oil or peanut oil would also work.

• Fry in batches in order of assembly. I’ve already mentioned frying the wontons in batches to keep from crowding them. 

However, you should also fry them in the order you assembled them. That should hopefully keep them from drying out. 

• Don’t fry them in super hot oil. Keep the oil’s internal temperature at just below 350 degrees. If the oil is too hot, the wontons will burst open. 

• Don’t stress over folding the wontons. Below, I’ve given precise instructions on how to fold the wontons. Don’t stress over making them perfect. 

As long as you find a way to fold them where they stay together tightly, that’s all that matters.

Some people also like to add crab to the cream cheese mixture.

That’s perfectly fine! If you enjoy crab rangoons, you might want to throw it in.