It’s Chinese Wonton Noodle Soup time! A great dish to make for the Beijing 2008 Olympics! This is recipe 5 in the series (see links at the end for the other recipes)
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Wrapping Wontons Videos
I’ve got two for you – I was on CBS on Tuesday – this was a BLAST! A 4 minute cooking segment cooking wonton noodle soup…but in not in a kitchen…here’s the video:
(link is right above photo when you get to CBS site)
And my regular segment on ABC7 Chinese Wonton Noodle Soup 
just click on the “featured video” right below the recipe name. And yes, I flubbed saying the number eight in Mandarin! It’s “baa” not “baat” (which is how I say it in Cantonese).
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Wonton Noodle Soup Recipe
I love making wonton noodle soup with my kids! Gather your guests in the kitchen and have them help you fold the wonton. The key to making wonton is to not overfill the dumpling and to make sure that the wonton is sealed tight.
Wonton Wrapper
The wrappers come frozen – just defrost in refrigerator overnight or on the counter for 40 minutes. Do not soak in water or defrost in microwave. Once the package is opened, it’s important to always keep them covered under a damp towel, as the edges will dry out, making it very difficult to work with.
Freezing Wonton
If you’d like to freeze wonton (great idea for super easy quick meal) – lay the wrapped wonton in a single layer. Freeze and when frozen, gather them up and place them in a freezer bag. If you don’t freeze them in single layer, you’ll end up with a big, massive clump of wonton and you’ll have trouble prying them apart.
To cook frozen wonton, the instructions are exactly the same. Put them in the boiling broth FROZEN. Do not defrost. Cooking time will be longer BUT – that’s the beauty of my cooking method.
Boiling Wonton
Put away your timer! Let me explain. I’m sure you’re used to watching the clock when boiling pasta. Instead of watching the clock, I’m having you do this Chinese style. Boil your pot of soup. Add dumplings. When it comes to a boil, add 1 cup of room temp broth. When that comes to a boil, add another cup. When boiling again, it’s done. So if you’re adding FROZEN wonton, 10 wonton or 50…the water will come to a boil as it’s ready – thus it’s sort of self-timing.
Adding broth a little at a time like this prevents your delicate dumplings from breaking and bursting in rapid, hard boiling water. So how many wonton to cook at a time? Well – that depends on how big your pot is, how much soup you have.
For the Wonton Noodle Soup recipe below, I’d cook them in 3 separate batches – so that you don’t crowd the wonton.
Wonton Noodle Soup Recipe
Serves 4
1/2 pound ground pork
2 stalks scallion, finely minced
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 pound wonton wrappers, at room temperature, covered with a damp towel
1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1/4 cup cool water (cornstarch slurry)
2 quarts chicken broth
8 ounces dried wonton noodles (or thin, egg noodles)
1/2 pound bok choy, leaves separated and washed well
1 teaspoon sesame oil
chili garlic sauce (optional)
In a large bowl, combine the pork, scallion, soy sauce, rice vinegar, cornstarch, sugar and sesame oil. Mix well. Put a scant teaspoon of filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper, brush cornstarch slurry on all edges. Fold over to form a triangle, press to secure edges, encasing the filling. Brush cornstarch slurry on one tip of the triangle. Bring two corners together and press to secure (though my kids often just leave them as triangles.) Place on clean, dry plate in one layer and cover loosely with plastic wrap to prevent drying. Repeat with remaining.
In a large stockpot, add all but 2 cups of the broth and bring to a boil. The 2 cups of reserved broth should be room temperature or just slightly chilled. Turn the heat to medium-high and add the wontons. Bring pot back to a gentle boil. When it reaches a boil, add 1 cup of the reserved broth. Bring back to a boil and again, add the remaining 1 cup of reserved broth.
Keep the heat on the pot on (you still need to cook the noodles and bok choy) while using a spider or sieve to scoop up the wontons and distribute amongst the bowls. Cook the noodles in the pot according to the package instructions. Add the bok choy to the pot during last minute of cooking noodles and let simmer, until cooked through. Ladle broth, noodles and bok choy to bowls. Drizzle just a few drops of sesame oil in each bowl.
Serve with chili garlic sauce if desired.
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Other great recipes!
Ground Beef with Beijing Sauce Over Noodles
Stir Fried Shrimp, Eggs and Peas + Stir Fry Secrets
Pan Fried Shrimp and Pork Potstickers
Xiao Long Bao – Steamed Shanghai Soup Dumplings
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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Hi there
I have question about freezing the wontons. I am going to use the store bought wonton wrappers. When making wontons I am going to defrost overnight in the refrigerator. Can I again freeze the defrosted wonton wrapper wrapping the meat?
Hi Rashmi – Yes you can!
P.S. I did add some “Accent” (I know bad), a can of mushrooms, splash of Soy Sauce, green onion and, the Sesame Oil to the broth.
This is so Right!
Made this for the crew (4 guys & me) for a Monday Night dinner. Adjusted it for 6 & had one blooper (put in 1 1/2 Tbsp. of Rice Vinegar) instead of 1 1/2 tsp. I was aiming for 🙂 But just the same it recieved raves. The wonton meat was restaurant quality. The wonton prep after putting in a full day as a nurse is probably a stretch but that’s……. “How I roll & the family is used to waiting for greath things.” Kinda of thinkin you could just drop the meat in the broth & the wonton wrappers (maybe sliced in strips) to make it happen a little faster. Either way No Regrets : )
I tried your recipe. OMG … the wontons are amazing. I did add shrimp, scallops, and Asian meatballs. Thank you for the recipe.
What’s the difference between wonton wrappers and dumpling skins?
Thanks so much for this simple recipe. I like how it does not involve the use of egg. I did add a few pieces of shrimp to the wonton filling to add texture. Also for the broth i added vegetables like sliced carrots, snow peas, shitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, shrimp, sliced water chestnuts, and baby corn. Easy and simple to do as always. And since it makes so many i now have plenty to freeze for the future.
These looks very tasty!
I have tried to make wontons before and they would always fall apart when it came time to cook them. Now I know why. Its the slow-boil technique. I made a batch tonight and they came out intact. Thanks for the tip. My Mom would use the slow boil technique for her pork and cabbage dumplings but it never occured to me to use the same technique on wontons too. Thanks again.
Hi Jaden,
This recipe rocks! My husband was impressed. Here’s my version:
http://javafoto.com/wp/?p=1074#comments
I never thought I could make anything so special. I followed your advice and made a bigger batch of wontons and stored them in the freezer.
-Charlotte
approximately how many wontons would the recipe yields? i need to make for 30 people and i can’t figure out how many pounds of meat.
It makes about 50 wontons ~jaden
I made them the other week, the first time I’ve made wontons. I always thought they were hard to make, but these were so easy & soooo satisfying on a winter’s night.
Oh and I wanted to ask, I didnt use cornstarch but what is it for exactly? and do you have a trick to prevent the wonton dumplings to break?
Thanks
I wanted to give a try to wonton soup for a while, and having some wonton wrappers leftovers I decided to go for it!
I go to your blog once in a while and for some reason, I thought I could trust your recipe… I guess it is the amazing pictures 🙂
I was right! It tasted so good! I still cant beleive I made my own wonton soup! It was one of the very rare time when I was actually happy with myself (i am always very critical when it comes to my cooking).
I mixed the filling with half shrimp and half pork, and added scallions at the end.
Now I will try other recipes from your database!
I have made this recipe twice so far and it is soooo delicious!!! I have always enjoyed the wonton soup that you can get at asian restaurants, but this soup is a million times tastier! The only modification I made was that I used chopped napa cabbage instead of the bok choy since I didn’t have any on-hand. Also, the second time I made it I didn’t have any dried wonton noodles so I used 2 packages of top ramen noodles without the seasoning packets; still very good!!!
Thank you for the wonderful recipe. I am so glad that I discovered your site and I will continue to try your recipes!
Nope honey, I sure don’t. Isn’t there an online tool you can use to input the ingredients?
Looks great and I can’t wait to try it. However, I am doing weight watchers and trying to count points. Any ideas on the nutritional info per serving on this? I only need to know the calories, fat grams, and fiber. Thanks!
This looks absolutely amazing… I want some.
my… makes me hungry… very helpful tips, will definitely take note of them… thanks for sharing… 🙂
Great noodle soup. When I eat on chowking I always order a waton noodle. It’s delicious.
http://www.foodista.com
Sarah: I like adding a bit of black vinegar to the filling to give it a more fuller flavor. The black vinegar is mild, round and the acid will brighten up flavor of the wontons. You can divide your filling in half and try with and without!
Yummy ! That’s my favorite soup ! It looks and is -for sure- so delicious !
Hello! I was about to make some wonton for dinner tonight and then saw your recipe. Just wondering, what is the purpose of the rice vinegar in the pork mixture? I’ve not come across this, so I am really curious to know. Thanks for the recipe!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! The wontons look great and so many things you can do with them!
What great timing! We finally polished off this metric ton of homemade wontons that my folks had stuffed in our freezer, and I was faced with the prospect of buying *gasp* wontons at the supermarket!
Can’t wait to make these!
That is some gorgeous looking soup. Beautiful wontons.
you should be in Foodnetwork, Jaden! Hope somebody will discover you!… Yummy wontons.. now I’m craving it.. totally your fault!
I love wonton soup! I’ve never had it with noodles, too. How great is that! Best of both worlds! And adding bok choy … YUM! Can I have a bowl, please? Better make it a gallon. 🙂
I love wonton mien, sooooo good. Slurp. I especially love the ones in Hong Kong, where the dumplings are filled with crunchy prawns and no pork and other crap.
I also learned from my uncle in Hong Kong recently how to make prawns crunchy. Very easy! 🙂
how to make the wonton prawn crunchy…i love them when i get a good cruchy bit on the prawns
http://rasamalaysia.com/how-to-make-shrimps-crunchy/
Just made something like this the other night…I still haven’t got the nerve to make my own wontons though your fantastic video will be my inspiration! I buy mine from these two fab Chinese girls who make their own wontons, dim sum, noodles, etc, etc and sell them. Hubby does not know how much of our food budget goes to these lovely ladies! But I’ll try my hand at them now! Rains have started here and soups will be back on the menu 🙂
Jaden, the tampabays10.com video only works with Windows Media Player.
I’ve never made wontons before, but there are so many good tips here (and it looks so damn good!). I have to try this soon. For instance, I like the idea of using a cornstarch slurry for a sealant (after a disastrous weekend experiment with deep frying some pastries that one after another burst open and ruined all of the oil).
I LOVE the arm gestures!
A bit off topic – but I LOVE the shape of that bowl. Gorgeous.
I like making wontons with pork mince and pressing a whole small prawn into the centre. It’s a lovely surprise to bite into!
I love wontons! And I will try your soup! Thanks for the recipe!
My same friend I taught how to make potstickers love wontons too. Her step-father could eat twelve in a sitting, her husband well over two dozen! This was with soup, noodles and lots of choy! Well they were also Kung Fu instructors and tend to burn a lot of calories after a full day of teaching. We even got them huge ceramic soup toureens from a restaurant supply house to hold their monster bowls of wonton soup. Good times, good times. Now someone come over and help me knock the love of wontons into my kid’s head. He’s got something against meat wrapped in pasta, or shaped into balls.
I love wonton soup and it has been ages since I had a bowl. Thanks for the cooking tips and I too am glad about freezing for when you are in a pinch.
Thanks for the recipe. I love that you’re doing old favorites.
That wonton soup looks great!
Hiya! I make these all the time. They’re a great kiddie meal, aren’t they? Since you use frozen wonton wrappers, does that mean that fresh wrappers aren’t available in your area? If so, that’s too too bad. In Vancouver, even our local Safeways and other big chain stores have fresh wrappers, rice rolls and noodles. Mind you, that might have something to do with the fact that Vancouver has a huge Asian population. Fresh is so good because sometimes I can’t think ahead enough to defrost stuff! I like your timing method for boiling them. Good idea!
I wish I could try it ! I love wontons and I bought wonton squares this week end 🙂
Spectacular , as usual , Jaden!
beautiful photo Jaden, the green really pops!
got it tivo’d!
Yummm. Just have to make me some of this this week. I have some homeade stock uin the frrezer, the noodles. Just need to make some wontons!
Ooh this reminds me so much of HK … i need a bowl right now … !
great recipe! can you sub shrimp for pork? even better, can you give us a recipe for har gow?
You’re right, that’s one fun soup to make for Opening Ceremonies. I’ll have to think up a menu… and perhaps SK will be my inspiration!!
That’s one smokin’ hot picture of that wonton soup. How’s the cookbook testing coming along?
Happy almost birthday, a most auspicious event!
I love the tip about freezing them. That makes it super easy to find something to eat on those nights when dinner isn’t happening.