Easy Homemade Wonton Soup

Hello and welcome, Everyone! To celebrate Lunar New Year on Friday, February 12, how about some Wonton Soup with homemade wontons? I won’t lie, wontons take time, but if you have a helper it’s a fun activity to do together. If you don’t have a helper (I did not) it’s a meditative experience, so settle in and go with it! I promise that because you made the wontons yourself, this will be the best wonton soup of your life – a perfect way to welcome the Year of The Ox.

Wonton Filling

We are using ground pork, ginger, garlic, cilantro, green onions….this filling is fragrant, rich and super flavorful! First let’s get the cabbage prepped. Once sliced and salted, the cabbage will sit for about 10 minutes, during that time we can get the rest of the filling ingredients measured and prepped.

Going left to right below, we have green onions, cilantro, beaten eggs, sesame oil, soy sauce; then right to left, we have grated ginger, ground pork, and the drained cabbage.

Let’s mix all of these ingredients together with our hands!

Folding the Wontons

Prep your wonton station with the wonton wrappers, a small dish of water, and the bowl of filling. I found it helpful to have a second bowl of water and a towel to the left so that I could rinse my left hand between dumplings. Directly to the right, place a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Also place a small bowl with flour near the sheet tray. This is to dip the underside of the wonton into the flour before setting it on the sheet tray. The wontons will get a little sticky as they sit, so this prevents them from sticking to the parchment.

Take a wonton wrapper and position it like a diamond and place a scant tablespoon of filling in the center.

Then wet your finger and trace a line of water along the top triangle of the wonton wrapper.

Fold up the bottom corner of the wonton wrapper over the filling and press the wrapper edges together.

Then, dampen the two long corners with a little water and fold them together, press to seal. Dip the underside of the wonton in a little flour and lay on the sheet tray.

Repeat this until all the wonton wrappers are filled, or until you run out of filling. I doubt you will run out filling if you’re using just one package of wrappers. I had enough filling leftover to freeze and save another batch. Once you’ve made all the wontons, cover with plastic wrap while we make the broth.

Wonton Soup Broth

This broth is very simple and comes together quickly. Chicken broth, green onions, ginger, a little sesame oil and soy sauce. Combine everything in a dutch oven or large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Add wontons to broth and simmer for 4-6 minutes, until the filling is cooked through. Stir gently to keep them from sticking together. I added about 15-17 wontons and then froze the rest. Add as many wontons as you’d like. You can freeze the wontons you don’t use now: lay them in a single layer on a small tray and place the tray in the freezer for two hours, then transfer them to a Ziplock bag.

I wanted to have some greens in the Wonton Soup, so I added a small handful of raw baby spinach to each bowl and ladled the broth and wontons over the spinach. The hot broth will wilt the spinach perfectly.

Top with chili oil or chile crunch, add some cilantro leaves or more scallions, and that’s it!

This Easy Homemade Wonton Soup is the best Wonton Soup I have ever had! Made more delicious by the effort and care that went into making the wontons. This is a special dish. One to be shared and enjoyed with friends and family. Perfect for the Lunar New Year, also maybe even a great cooking project to share with your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day!

San Francisco’s Chinatown

San Francisco’s Chinatown is the largest such districts outside of Asia and the oldest in North America. Whenever I would want to “get lost” in San Francisco, I would walk Chinatown’s 30 city blocks, inevitably spending hours perusing the many shops selling Chinese cookware and dim sum serveware.

The Chinese New Year celebrations in San Francisco are among the world’s best, outside of China. All weekend preceding the parade, I would wander the streets of Chinatown: around every corner there would be parade participants practicing their lion dances, mini parades with dragons and dancers. Drums pounding and the popping of firecrackers are the soundtrack to the weekend. The acrid firecracker smoke, the aromas of barbecue pork, steamy bao buns and Chinese Five Spice fill the air. I can’t imagine what the celebrations will be like this year, but I have my memories and photos to remind me of years past.

Thank you all for joining me today for Easy Homemade Wonton Soup, and for walking with me through my memories of celebrating the Lunar New Year in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Pin and share this recipe on Pinterest, give me a follow while you’re there, too! If you’re interested in other easy, Asian-inspired recipes, try my Crispy Rice Bowl. Take care and be well everyone! xo Kelly

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Easy Homemade Wonton Soup

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Dinner, Main Course – Chinese

By Kelly Djalali – Serves: 4-8

Prep Time: ~1.5 Hours – Cooking Time: 4-6 Minutes – Total Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

Homemade wontons take time, but they're so worth the effort. With ground pork, ginger, garlic, cilantro, green onions, this filling is fragrant, rich and super flavorful. The broth comes together in minutes; it compliments the wontons with ginger and scallions, but lets the wontons be the star of the show.

Ingredients

• Wonton Filling
• 1/2 medium head Napa Cabbage (about 1 pound)
• 1 tbsp. Kosher Salt
• 1 lb. Ground Pork
• 1 bunch Green Onions, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
• 1 bunch Cilantro, minced (about 3/4 cup)
• 3 tbsp. Soy Sauce
• 3 tbsp. Fresh Ginger, grated on a microplane or finely minced (~2-inch piece)
• 2 tbsp. Sesame Oil
• 2 large Eggs, beaten
• 1 (12-ounce) package Square Wonton Wrappers
• Soup Broth
• 8 cups Chicken Broth
• 1 tbsp. Fresh Ginger, grated
• 2 tbsp. Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp. Sesame Oil
• 2 Green Onions, thinly sliced
• Handfuls of Fresh Raw Baby Spinach, if desired
• Sprigs of Cilantro, Chile Crunch or Chili Oil, and more green onions for topping, if desired

Instructions

Wonton Filling

1

In a large bowl, salt the sliced cabbage, massage and let sit for 10 minutes.

2

Place cabbage in a thin dish towel or cheesecloth and squeeze to drain off as much liquid as possible.

3

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl with your hands.

4

Prep your wonton making station with wonton wrappers, filling, a small bowl of water to dampen the wonton dough edges, a small bowl of flour to dust the bottoms of the folded wontons and a sheet tray lined with parchment to place the folded wontons.

5

Take a wonton wrapper and position it like a diamond and place a scant tablespoon of filling in the center.

6

Then wet your finger and trace a line of water along the top triangle of the wonton wrapper.

7

Fold up the bottom corner of the wonton wrapper over the filling and press the wrapper edges together.

8

Then, dampen the two long corners with a little water and fold them together, press to seal. Dip the underside of the wonton in a little flour and lay on the sheet tray. Repeat until all wonton wrappers are filled and folded.

Wonton Soup Broth

9

Add chicken broth, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil and green onions to a large stock pot or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes.

10

Add desired number of wontons to the broth and simmer for 4-6 minutes, until the filling is cooked through.

11

If using spinach, add a handful of fresh raw spinach to each bowl before ladling broth and wontons.

12

Top with cilantro, more scallions and Chile Crunch, if desired.

Notes

Freeze leftover filling in a Ziplock Freezer bag. Freeze leftover, uncooked wontons in a single layer on a tray for 2 hours, then transfer to a Ziplock bag for longer term freeer storage.