Wonton Soup for the Soul
Wonton soup ranks in the top 5 of all my all-time favorite soups. We have a rich history dating back many years; when I would stay home from school on a “sick day” (aka I don’t want to go to school day) the thing that healed my ailments the fastest was an order of Mongolian beef and wonton soup.
Now that I’m an adult and can cook like a champ, I had to master a solid wonton soup recipe. It still isn’t mastered however this is a damn good start, let’s get to wrappin’ yo!
“We’re not against wraps, we’re not against wrappers but we are against those frozen wontons”…
Master chef tip: you can make fried wonton strips for garnish with your leftover wonton wrappers.
Wonton Soup for the Soul with Fried Wonton Strips
Prep time: 45 min | Cook time: 30 min | Total Time: 75 min | Servings: 8
Ingredients
Broth
8 cups chicken stock (2 boxes)
2 cups water
2 Tbsp soy sauce
dash of sesame oil (optional)
4 slices of skin on ginger root
3 smashed garlic cloves
3 green onions, cut in half long ways (don’t over think this, just cut them to expose flavor)
1/8 tsp white pepper
salt to taste (start with 1/2 tsp salt)
Wontons
1/2 lb. ground pork (our market does not always have ground pork, we’ve substituted de-cased bratwurst before, and it worked great!)
1 tsp soy sauce
1.5 tsp Shaoxing Wine (you can substitute with Sherry)
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp pealed, minced ginger root
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 chopped green onion
Dash of white pepper (black will suffice if you don’t have white)
Store bought wonton wrappers. We prefer white, thin Shanghai style compared to the yellow, thicker Hong Kong style – both work!
Garnish (all optional, get creative)
Chopped green onion
Baby spinach leaves
Water chestnuts
Fried wonton strips
Siracha hot sauce
Sesame seeds
Equipment
If you need any of the equipment below simply click on the picture for a quick link to purchase. As an Amazon Associate, we earn a small amount from qualifying purchases from our website links. This is at no additional cost to you. We only provide links to products we use and recommend. We appreciate your support for our growing website, it allows us to buy groceries to create more recipes for you.
Food processor (we use this one)
Directions
Make the broth
1. Place all of the broth ingredients in your dutch oven. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat, cover and let it simmer 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let it sit covered while you make the wontons. If this task seems daunting, stop cooking and Google Chinese restaurants near me.
Make the delightful little wontons
1. Place all of the wonton ingredients in your food processor except for the wonton wrappers (I shouldn’t have to write that). Pulse, stir, pulse, stir until you have a nice, smooth mixture. If you don’t have a food processor you can mix by hand in a bowl, the food processor gives the filling a denser texture however both options make great wontons.
2. Set up a wonton making station. Place your wraps under a moist towel with a small bowl of water and your wonton filling nearby. Also have a larger plate or flat dish nearby with another moist towel to cover it, this is where your cute little delightful wontons will rest after being wrapped.
3. Eazy-E once said it’s hard to teach someone to wrap and the best are born with it. Although that carries some truth, I don’t fully believe that. I’m going to do my best to instruct however I’d recommend taking a look at our pictures and video for reference. Pull a wonton wrapper from under the moist towel and place it on the counter with one of the four pointed ends of the square pointing back at you. Scoop roughly a teaspoon of filling into the center of the wrap.
4. Using your finger, paint the two edges of the wrap that are opposite of you with water from your water bowl (this is the glue that will bind the wonton). Take the corner of the wrap facing you and fold it over onto itself so you have a triangle. When sealing the wonton, try to press as much air out as possible so it’s just filling in the wrap. This will help keep it whole when boiling.
5. Holding your triangle wonton with the folded side facing you, paint one of the corners with water and gently pull around the opposite corner on top of the painted corner. What you should have is a delightful, awesome little wonton.
6. Take that wonton and place it on a plate covered by a moist towel to keep them from drying out as you work. Repeat this until you are out of filling.
Make Wonton Strips (optional)
1. Take the block of leftover wraps, cut it into four even pieces vertically and then repeat horizontally. At this point you will have a bunch of small wonton squares.
2. Heat vegetable oil to 350°F in a medium to large pot and drop the squares in the oil until they start to brown (1-2 minutes).
3. Using your skimming spoon, take them out of the oil and place them on a paper towel.
Let’s make wonton soup!
1. Using your skimming spoon, remove the solid pieces of green onion, ginger and garlic from your broth.
2. Bring the broth to a boil and carefully add the wontons into the boiling broth. The wontons are cooked when they float to the top, about 3 minutes. You can keep them boiling for 5-10 min total to make sure all the flavors meld together however you will reach a point where the wonton wrap will become soft. I’d say 5-6 minutes and you are good.
Prep your soup bowl
1. Place a few baby spinach leaves and water chestnuts in the bottom of the bowl.
2. Ladle in wontons and broth.
3. Garnish the top with the chopped green onion and fried wonton strips. If you like some heat, grab that bottle of Siracha and make it your own.
You’ve just made wonton soup – enjoy it while it’s hot!
