Crab, Cream Cheese, Caramelized onion Nachos, stuffed mushrooms & dip

One recipe turned into 3 different appetizers

First the Nachos…  When I was young girl my mother and I used to go to a mexican restaurant named “Chi Chi’s”.  Everytime we went to this place, my mother ordered the Crab Nachos appetizer.  Even at 9 years old I wasn’t very impressed with fake crab meat & melted cheddar on top of a tortilla chip but it was something to munch on until the food arrived.  Chi Chi’s filed bankruptcy and closed it’s doors for good in 2004. But I have always remembered that dish.

My version taste more like, Crab Rangoon Nachos…

My son Daniel, LOVES imitation crab meat.  He would eat it straight out of the package.  I’m not a huge fan of the stuff but I do love crab rangoon.. even if it’s made with “krab” and since My mom stayed over last night, I decided to remake this memory dish for the family.  I was surprised my mom didn’t remember these right off the bat… I had to jog her memory bank.  YES, I remember. I loved those!!!.

Well mine are 1000X better than Chi Chi’s ever was.  OH MY.. These are addicting.. I must have said “ok, this is my last one” 5 times…

If you like crab rangoon you will LOVE this.. Heck, If you like cream cheese & tortilla chips you are gonna love them.

Here is what you’ll need: Cream Cheese, Imitation Crab Meat, Mayo, Cheddar Cheese, Caramelized Onion, roasted garlic & green onions for garnish…. and tortilla chips.

I also stuffed some of the filling in mushrooms & topped with cheese – DELICIOUS!

You will need caramelized onion and roasted garlic.  Click here to see the easiest way to caramelize onions without standing over the stove.

Yummy!

My husband is on this no-carb high protein atkins type diet so I just baked the filling in a small casserole dish and topped with extra cheese.  He LOVED it!

Here are some other TaylorMade Idea’s for this yummy filling.

Wonton wrappers: You could put the filling in a wonton wrapper, seal and then fry for a delicious crab rangoon.  Or boil them in a pot of salted water and you have a homemade like ravioli.

Flour Tortilla Shells: Crab Enchiladas –  Spread crab mixture onto flour tortilla shell and wrap on laying seam side down in a baking dish.  Make a basic white cream sauce and pour over the top.  Top with cheese.  Bake 350* for 20 min.

The possibilities are ENDLESS with this dish.

This Crab, Cream Cheese & Caramelized onion Nachos recipe is easy to make and OH SO YUMMY!.

If you are serving for a large crowd.  You could bake the dip in a casserole dish and serve with tortilla chips for dipping

There wasn’t one single chip left.  The kids played rock, paper, scissors for the last one on the plate.

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I’m able to put this together in a short amount of time because I always have roasted peppers, caramelized onions and roasted garlic on hand.  It’s easy to do and saves me TONS of time in the kitchen and adds incredible flavor to any dish.  I wrote a post on roasting the easy way.. You can see it here: How to roast peppers & caramelize onion, the easy way.

No worries if you don’t have them on hand.. I have written the recipe from start to finish…