Wonton Soup

With its small, slippery dumplings and flavorful broth, wonton soup is comfort food at its best. Our wonton soup recipe includes pork-and-shrimp wontons with silky wrappers that bob around in a soothing chicken broth with tender baby bok choy. You can bulk up the soup with a copious amount of wontons or make a lighter, healthier version with more of the leafy greens.

Making wontons is a process, but it’s worth the effort. Gather with family or friends for a dumpling-wrapping session. The filling comes together easily, and once you get into the rhythm of wrapping, you’ll surprise yourself with how quickly you’ve mastered it. Make a large batch of wontons to stock your freezer; that way, you’ll always have some available for a quick snack or meal.

What is wonton soup?

Wonton soup is a classic soup recipe with a light broth and small, bite-sized dumplings. The thin, smooth wheat-based wrappers surround savory fillings, the most common of which are pork or a mix of pork and shrimp. The meat is seasoned with a dash of Shaoxing wine, fresh green onions, fragrant ginger and nutty sesame oil. Coarsely chopping the shrimp allows you to see and taste them in the filling.

How to Make Homemade Wontons

The main tip for successful wonton wrapping is to set up your workstation before getting started. Stay organized by dividing the filling into two or three containers, and setting one container in a bowl of ice to keep it chilled as you work (store the others in the fridge). Keep the wrappers covered with a damp towel or storage wrap so they don’t dry out as you assemble. Have a sheet pan or two lined with parchment or wax paper, or lightly dusted with flour to land the wontons.

Wrap one wonton at a time until you get into a rhythm. Then, create an assembly line by placing two (or more) wrappers before you. Top each with a scoop of filling and moisten the wrappers. Wrap up the filling and transfer the wontons to the sheet pan.

Wonton Soup Ingredients

• Pork: Ground pork is the most common meat used for a basic wonton filling, but you can also use ground chicken if you prefer.
• Shrimp: Another common addition is chopped shrimp, which makes wontons more luxurious. Use uncooked fresh or frozen shrimp that has been cleaned and deveined.
• Green onions: Green onions add color and a fresh flavor to the filling. It does double duty as an optional—but highly recommended—garnish in the broth. Smaller, slender green onions are sweeter and more delicate than larger ones.
• Gingerroot: Fresh ginger is a common aromatic in Chinese dishes. Minced ginger is more easily incorporated into the filling, and a chunk of ginger used to flavor the broth is easier to fish out.
• Soy sauce and salt: Soy sauce provides umami, while salt adds a cleaner, purer salty flavor to the filling and broth. We like to use reduced-sodium soy sauce to keep the salt content in check.
• Shaoxing cooking wine: Shaoxing wine, used to flavor the filling and broth, is a slightly sweet Chinese rice wine with briny notes. This pantry staple adds fragrance, umami and complexity to marinades, sauces and braises. Look for ones that are amber in color and not clear. Store it in a cool, dry place for up to a year or in the refrigerator if you want to store it longer. Dry sherry or sake are suitable substitutes if the recipe calls for a small amount and you can’t find Shaoxing wine or don’t want to buy a whole bottle.
• Sesame oil: Sesame oil provides a rich, nutty flavor and aroma. Look for sesame oil labeled as toasted or roasted.
• Pepper: Ground peppercorns add another flavor to the filling. You can use white or black pepper; white pepper has an earthier and sharper flavor than its black counterpart.
• Wonton wrappers: Wonton wrappers are thin, square sheets of dough made from wheat flour, salt, water and sometimes cornstarch, egg or yellow food coloring. Be sure to use wonton wrappers, not dumpling, egg roll or spring roll wrappers. Look for them in the refrigerated section (wonton wrappers sold in Chinese markets are often thinner than the ones in American grocery stores and will make more delicate wontons). Avoid packages that show broken pieces or torn wrappers—they’re old and dried out. It’s helpful to buy more than one package if the one you purchased is dried out. You can always throw the other package in the freezer.
• Chicken broth: Chicken broth is the customary base for wonton soup. To control the saltiness, use reduced-sodium chicken broth or homemade chicken broth if you have it. Avoid chicken broth with herbs or spices that don’t jive with Asian flavors.
• Sugar: We sweeten the soup with sugar to balance it out.
• Baby bok choy: Bok choy is a Chinese leafy green with mild-flavored, tender leaves and a crisp, smooth, sweet stem. You’ll find bok choy in all sorts of stir-fry and soup recipes. Look for bright-colored leaves and firm stems. Wash it well, as dirt likes to hide in the stems.
• Hot chili oil: The optional hot chili oil provides a nice spicy kick to the soup. Chili oil and chili crisp are different, but you can use chili crisp if that’s what you have. Adjust the spice level to your taste.

Directions

Step 1: Make the filling

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In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the ground pork, shrimp, green onion, ginger, soy sauce, wine, sesame oil, salt and pepper.

Editor’s Tip: Unlike the gentle handling of meatloaf and meatballs, mix wonton filling until it becomes almost a paste.

Step 2: Wrap the wontons

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Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of a wonton wrapper. (Cover the remaining wrappers with a damp paper towel until you’re ready to use them.) Moisten the wrapper edges with water.

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Fold one corner diagonally over the filling to form a triangle, and press the edges to seal.

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Pull the two opposite corners together, forming a boat. Moisten the corners with water and pinch them to seal. Repeat.

Editor’s Tip: A finger works just as well, if not better, than a brush when it comes to moistening the wrappers. Press out any air pockets when sealing the triangles. Leave space between the wontons on the sheet pan so that they don’t stick. If you’re not cooking them immediately, transfer the pans of wontons to the freezer.

Step 3: Flavor the broth

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In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, bring the chicken broth to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add ginger, soy sauce, wine, sugar and salt; cook until flavors have melded, 10 to 15 minutes.

Editor’s Tip: Smash the ginger to extract more flavor. If you give it a good scrub, you can even leave the peel on.

Step 4: Cook the bok choy and wontons

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Add bok choy and prepared wontons.

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Cook them until they’re tender, three to four minutes.

Editor’s Tip: For a clearer soup, cook the wontons in a separate pot of boiling water and transfer them directly to the bowls. Stir the broth or water gently while adding the wontons to prevent them from sticking to each other or the pot.

Step 5: Serve

Discard the ginger. Distribute the wontons into serving bowls, then pour hot broth and cooked bok choy into each bowl. If desired, garnish the wonton soup with green onion and hot chili oil.

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Wonton Soup Variations

• Change the protein: For a more basic and budget-friendly filling, substitute the shrimp with more pork. You can also swap ground chicken or turkey (preferably dark meat) for the pork.
• Change the veggies: Add chopped napa cabbage or mature watercress (not the baby leaves in bags).
• Add more umami: Add chopped fresh shiitake mushrooms or soaked dried shiitake mushrooms. Dried shiitake mushrooms have more umami than fresh ones.
• Make wonton noodle soup: Cook a package of wonton noodles (found in the refrigerated section of Chinese markets) in a separate pot of boiling water until they’re just al dente. Drain and divide the noodles among the bowls. Proceed with cooking the wontons.

How to Store Wonton Soup

You should eat wonton soup right away. When stored, the wontons will soak up the broth, becoming waterlogged and mushy, and the bok choy will get soggy. If you do have leftover wonton soup, separate the broth from the solids and store them in separate containers for up to four days.

Can you freeze wonton soup?

As with saving leftover wonton soup, you can freeze cooked wonton soup, but the textures will change and not be as enjoyable. Instead, freeze the cooled broth in a freezer-safe container, thaw it in the refrigerator before reheating it, and add the wontons later.

You can freeze uncooked wontons as long as they’ve been handled properly. Because the shrimp was probably frozen, don’t leave the uncooked wontons at room temperature for over two hours. Once the wontons are assembled, put the sheet pans into the freezer. Once the wontons are frozen solid, transfer them to resealable freezer bags or other freezer-safe containers. They’ll last up to three months in the freezer.

How do you reheat wonton soup?

If you separated the broth and solids, reheat the broth in a saucepan, then add the wontons and bok choy and heat them until they’re warmed through. To make wonton soup from frozen, reheat the thawed broth in a saucepan until it’s boiling. Do not defrost the wontons; drop them straight into the boiling broth or water and add a few additional minutes to the cooking time. Let the frozen wontons cook for a few minutes before adding fresh bok choy.

Wonton Soup Tips

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What can you serve with wonton soup?

Wonton soup is a filling meal on its own. Adding noodles can make it into a bona fide full meal. If you serve a smaller portion of the soup as a starter to a larger meal, round it out with other Chinese food recipes like a big platter of chicken fried rice or chicken chow mein, or a pot of white rice and cashew chicken with ginger.

How else can I serve the wontons?

It’s worth your time to make a double batch of wontons for another day, especially if you’re planning a party or gathering. Instead of adding them to soup, you can deep-fry wontons and serve them as finger food with Thai sweet chili sauce, Chinese hot mustard or even a copycat McDonald’s sweet and sour sauce.

What can I do with leftover wonton wrappers?

Leftover wonton wrappers freeze well as long as they’re wrapped tightly in storage wrap and placed in a resealable freezer bag. You can also go to town and make some of our other recipes using wonton wrappers, like crab rangoon.