Homemade wonton soup! These wontons are filled with a juicy pork and prawn / shrimp filling and will knock your socks off. With step by step photos and a recipe video, you’re going to be a Wonton Wrapping Master in no time! Added bonus: Best standby freezer meal ever and super healthy (350 calories for a bowl!)
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Wonton soup
If you’ve ever had store bought frozen wontons or wontons from a good value Chinese place that probably uses frozen wontons, you will be amazed how different homemade ones are. The main difference is the texture of the filling – because homemade wontons are made with just pure fresh ingredients, NO mysterious fillers!
I think wontons are one of those things that many people don’t think to make, assuming they are really tedious and take ages. But they don’t!! The wonton filling takes minutes to make (literally – 5 minutes) and wrapping the wontons is quite fast if you use my method!
About this Wonton recipe
I used to use my mother’s Wonton recipe, because it’s the one I have used all my cooking life. Then a few years ago, I came across this Wonton Soup recipe by my friend Maggie from Omnivore’s Cookbook, a wonderful authentic Chinese food blog.
I’ve learnt so much about authentic Chinese cooking from Maggie who was born and raised in China and only recently moved to the States. She takes such great care with her recipes, if you love Chinese food, I think you’ll be as delighted to discover her blog as I was. 🙂
So I think my mother was a bit disgruntled when I told her I was using Maggie’s Wonton filling for this post because it’s better than hers. I sent her away with samples, and she agreed that Maggie’s Wontons are fantastic, but didn’t admit it was better.
It IS better. Sorry mum! Maggie’s has better seasoning! 😉
Wonton filling
There are many types of wonton fillings, but I’d say that pork and shrimp/prawns are the most common. Then there are all sorts of additions, including mushrooms, water chestnuts, chopped up Asian greens and even carrots.
With all the possible variations out there, and not knowing which recipes are actually “real”, you can be confident that this is authentic because I have used Maggie’s recipe exactly as it is written.
Wrapping Wontons
This is where Maggie and I differ. If you click over to Maggie’s recipe, you will see that she uses trapezium shaped wontons wrappers (I had to Google that!!!). I use plain square ones because they are readily available here in Australia, even in supermarkets (Woolies, Coles). Once cooked, they look pretty similar.
So here is how I wrap wontons. This is a fast way of wrapping wontons because you can lay out 10, even 20, and do them all in one go, rather than doing them one by one, because they are wrapped on the work surface rather than in your hand.
My Way of Wrapping Wontons
The above is the way I usually fold wontons because I like the way the “tails” flap around like noodles once cooked. Yes, I’m a 7 year old at heart.
But to me, the flappy wonton skins are part of the Wonton Soup experience. 😂
The better way for freezing (more compact)
However, when I know I’m going to be freezing all or most of them, I wrap them in a more compact way so they fit better inside containers. This is the way the frozen wontons in Asian grocery stores are wrapped.
The photo on the bottom right is a container of frozen wontons I bought to show you how they are sold. Also so I could make some and smugly say how much better homemade is!
Asian Grocery Store Way
Both wonton wrapping methods are just as easy, and you can do them in batches rather than holding them one by one. But you can see how much more compact the Asian Grocery Store Way is compared to My Way in the photo below. The Wontons at the top are the compact Asian Grocery Way, the ones on the bottom are My Way with more flap page once cooked.
This is what mine looks like once cooked. See all that wonton wrapper flappage? YUM.
Don’t get too hung up about how neat your wontons are. Once cooked, they mostly lose their shape, so just make sure that your filling is well sealed inside. And even if the filling falls out, you still get the same flavour, so don’t fret!!!
Tip: As tempting as it is, do not bunch them up like a money bag otherwise you end up with a thick wad of wonton wrapper that won’t cook through.
Broth for Wonton Soup
Wontons are served in a clear Chinese chicken broth. Sometimes with just wontons, sometimes with wontons and noodles, called “Combination Long and Short Soup” on Chinese restaurant menus. “Short” refers to the wontons and “Long” refers to the long noodles!
If I am at an Asian store, I usually pick up Chinese chicken broth which is more yellow but just as tasty as Western chicken broth that is available at supermarkets. However, I usually make this with ordinary Chicken broth using the same soup broth recipe as my Chinese Noodle Soup.
So….what do you think??? Have I convinced you to give homemade Wonton Soup a go? I promise it is WORTH IT! They taste absolutely incredible. You will be amazed!
– Nagi x
PS Homemade wontons are so fantastic for standby meals to keep in your freezer because you can throw in whatever veggies you have and voila! You have a complete HEALTHY meal!
More great dumplings of the world
Potstickers (Chinese pan fried dumplings)
Gyoza (Japanese dumplings)
Shumai (Japanese steamed dumplings on my mother’s site, RecipeTin Japan!)
Browse the Yum Cha recipe collection
Watch How To Make It
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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Wonton Soup
Ingredients
- 50 – 60 wonton wrappers (Note 1)
Wonton Filling
- 200 g / 7 oz lean pork mince (ground pork)
- 200 g / 7 oz peeled prawns / shrimp , roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger , finely grated (1.5″ / 3cm piece)
- 2 shallots / green onions , finely chopped (5 tbsp)
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine) (Note 3)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sesame oil, toasted (Note 4)
Broth (for 2 servings)
- 3 cups / 750 ml chicken broth (Note 5)
- 2 garlic cloves , smashed (6)
- ⅓” / 1 cm piece of ginger , sliced (optional, but highly recommended)
- 1½ tbsp light soy sauce (Note 2)
- 2 tsp sugar (any)
- 1½ tbsp chinese cooking wine (Note 3)
- ¼ – ½ tsp sesame oil
To Serve
- Shallots / scallions , finely chopped
- Bok choy , quartered, or Chinese broccoli cut into 10cm /4″ lengths (optional)
- 40 – 50 g / 1.5 – 1.75 oz dried egg noodles per person , (optional) (8)
Instructions
Wontons:
- Place Filling ingredients in a bowl. Use a potato masher to mash until fairly smooth – about 20 mashes. Don’t turn the prawn into a complete paste, small chunks are good.
Wrapping (See photos and video):
- Use My Way (better Wonton Soup experience!) or the Asian Grocery Store Way (easier to pack for freezing).
- Lay Wontons on work surface. Use 2 teaspoons to put the Filling on the wontons. Work in batches of 5 if starting out, up to 15 or 20 if confident. Brush 2 edges with water. Fold to seal, pressing out air. Brush water on one corner and bring corners together, pressing to seal.
- Place wrapped wontons into a container with a lid as you work (so they don’t dry out).
Cooking/Freezing:
- To cook: bring a large pot of water to boil. Place wontons in water and cook for 4 minutes or until they float. Remove with slotted spoon straight into serving bowls. Ladle over broth.
- To freeze: Freeze uncooked in airtight containers. Cook from frozen for 6 to 8 minutes. IMPORTANT: Do not freeze if you made this with defrosted frozen prawns. (Note 11)
Broth:
- Place Broth ingredients in a saucepan over high heat. Add white ends of scallions/shallots if leftover from Wonton filling.
- Place lid on, bring to simmer then reduce to medium high and simmer for 5 – 10 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse. Pick garlic and ginger out before using.
- If using vegetables, blanch in the soup broth and place in serving bowl.
Assemble Soup:
- Prepare noodles according to packet directions (if using noodles). Place in serving bowl with cooked wontons and blanched vegetables.
- Ladle over soup. Serve!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This wonton recipe was originally published in September 2016. Updated for housekeeping matters in 2018 – no change to recipe!
Life Of Dozer
Little impromptu home video I put together of Dozer with the gang at the beach!
Just wonderful, not just the flavour but the instructions for shaping the wontons. Last time I made wontons they looked like something the cat threw up. Thanks for both your books & your website which have made my meals much more interesting
I have never made wonton soup or dumplings until yesterday. I was satisfied with this recipe Nagi! (I cannot count how many recipes of yours I’ve tried at this point! Lol!) 🙂
Enjoyed making wonton fillings! It was easy and froze some for future use.
Here are some of the things I did differently:
1. No prawns & Chinese cooking wine. Instead I used pure ground pork & mirin. Still good!
2. No real chicken broth so I opted for the powder. It tasted slightly different but still worked.
3. The flavor of the broth was too plain at first. I know wonton soup should taste “light”, but it was too light for me. Therefore, I added chili paste (similar to sambal oelek) according to my liking and also more soy sauce.
4. Boiled the wontons in the broth itself because I wanted to incorporate more taste in the filling, as well as in the broth.
The result turned out okay and we enjoyed it for dinner 🙂 Will definitely do it again!
**5. No other greens available, so I just put fresh spinach on top 🙂
Great, easy to follow instructions.
I got everything ready to serve and my guest is stuck on the motorway.
So it all has to stand for an hour?
I presume I can pop everything in the soup just to reheat. Then into bowls and ladle soup over?
This was hands down the best Wonton soup recipe.
Absolutely delicious. The wontons are so easy and flavoursome. I made them with pork only but will have to make them with pork and prawn next time
Perfect short soup…now called wonton soup…
Restaurant quality…better than that!
Thank you Nagi…
Made this tonight and it was wonderful! I may have done something completely naughty – I used the pot sticker filling recipe instead as I don’t like prawns. The entire dish was really yummy!
Just curious why you boil the wontons in water and not in the stock 🤔 ps can’t wait to make your recipe 👍🏻
I just boiled mine yesterday in the stock to incorporate the flavors from filling to the broth and vice versa. It worked!
Loved this recipe! I used a salted Shaoxing wine and all purpose soy sauce so I actually omitted the extra salt and watered it down a smidge and it was just right! Thank you for sharing this recipe 🙂
I used this recipe specifically for the broth…and it is nothing short of spectacular. Time and patience is not in my side for whipping out homemade wontons so I used frozen. Worked perfectly. This will be my go to for wonton soup. It’s incredible!
I recently went to China and had wonton soup whilst there. I was so disappointed. I was expecting it to be as good if not better than what I make at home with your recipe. This recipe is simply the best, better than the Chinese. It’s official.
Wow! Just made this for dinner and has to be one of my faves so far.
So delicious. A fun dish to make with the family
Thank you once again for your vast culinary knowledge, expertise and excellent ability to explain and instruct.
The wontons were delicious and just like eating in a restaurant in China. Fantastic.
Better home made than buying thankyou
I have loved almost every recipe from your website. I also have your cookbook! Grateful for your work as it’s helped me learn to cook better. I LOVE wonton soup. For this recipe, I used my own homemade Chinese chicken stock. I had around 16 cups of stock so I scaled it to your broth recipe. I found the sugar was way too much. Next time I’ll have to taste as I go. I also think the filling had too much sesame oil. I found that folding them like your stock photo (golden nugget shape), not your video, yielded better results for me texture and taste-wise. This is a great base recipe for a proper Chinese noodle soup though!
Excellent recipe, tastes amazing. Prep time is off, not sure how to get 20 min unless you’re using child labor. Took me minimum 2 hours. Good rainy day recipe.
I’ve just finished making the wontons, yep, 2 hours is accurate! Or maybe we’re just slow?!
like this recipe…just wish you had said how long to cook the broth…
I had the craving for Wonton soup and this was perfect! exactly what I wanted 🙂
I don’t eat pork & didn’t have prawns handy so instead I subbed in 16 oz ground beef it was delightful. I’m going to have to dbl the recipe next time and freeze some for when i get the wonton craving. Great recipe!
Ground chicken and chives is another good option!
Are used the broth base only and she did with frozen potstickers. I also added Julie and carrots and Napa cabbage. I haven’t been feeling well and wanted to refreshing flavors.
So I will comment on the broth
WOW ❤️. I followed every thing exactly, but I had to use Ozeki dry sake because that was the best I found in my three nearest supermarkets. It worked!
This is exactly the flavor profile I was craving and as another person stated I don’t have to look anywhere else for a Chinese soup broth base.
I’ve never had the confidence to make a Chinese tasting dish other than stir fried rice, so I’m super excited to find this. Can you tell! Thank you for sharing