Classic Chinese Pork Wonton Soup-The Ultimate Comfort Food

Pork Wonton Soup for Cold Weather

On cold days, there is nothing you crave more than a huge bowl of piping hot, steamy, soup. Especially pork wonton soup. And even better if it’s homemade.

The Asian in me really comes out during the fall and winter months because I am eating pho at least once a week.

Beside pho, you can try other Vietnamese noodle soups:

Bun bo hue- a spicy lemon-grass flavored beef and pork noodle soup

Bun rieu- noodle soup in a garlicky tomato and crab + pork meatball infused broth

Chinese chicken noodle soup- big chunks of chicken with rice noodle, fresh gingery broth, with cilantro and green onion.

If you just drooled a bit, then you are on the right track. These are delicious Vietnamese noodle soups that will add significantly to your noodle soup game!

Speaking of delicious noodle soup, homemade pork wontons soup is something that is a labor of love, but is so comforting and delicious. It will be worth every painstaking effort that you take to wrap these delicious dumplings.

For other winter comfort foods, check out:

French Beef Burgundy Stew
Albondigas Soup
Chinese Sticky Rice with Preserved Meats

Making Pork Wonton Soup in Bulk

Whenever I make dumplings or wontons of any kind, I make them in bulk. They are quite the undertaking and require lots of elbow grease….well, finger grease is more like it. Fine motor skills are very important in wonton wrapping and you might find your palm cramping after an hour or two of wrapping.

What if I am bad at wrapping?

I laugh every time I think of myself wrapping anything-dumplings, spring rolls, wontons. I was notoriously bad at wrapping anything in my family.

You see, I am not exactly known for being graceful or precise with my motor skills. So I’ll often bump into furniture, stub my toes…yes, I am a very dangerous person to have in the kitchen.

But I couldn’t stay away from the kitchen. No matter how many burns I would get on my hands; no matter how many times I accidentally nicked my fingers, I would come right back to the kitchen. With time, I have become more skilled at wrapping wontons. Although my husband Ray will tell you that I often scare him with my moves in the kitchen.

With that, have some faith in yourself. When you’ve practiced enough, you will get better and better! Please see tutorial below for step-by-step instructions.

How to fold pork wontons

1. Take a wonton wrapper and place it with a corner pointing down toward you (it will look like there is a kite on your plate). Place ~1 tbsp of filling onto the top half of the wonton. Take the eggwash with your finger and spread it along the top edges of your wonton wrapper.

2. Then fold the bottom half up and over the top half, pushing out any excess air. Use your fingers to press down firmly on the edges to create a tight seal. You should end up with a triangle with the base on the bottom.

3. Take the two corners on the left and right, and fold one over the other until they slightly overlap. Press down firmly to create a strong seal. Repeat.

4. Repeat and you will get a beautiful plate of wrapped pork wontons. Tada!

How do I eat pork wontons?

There are many ways to eat wontons. Most people boil them and serve them with either a sauce or flavorful bone broth soup. Sometimes people deep fry them, but that is not traditional.

How do I make flavorful soup?

I feel like Asians were the OG bone broth lovers way before it became cool. Asian broths are not to be taken lightly. They are simmered for hours on end to extract every ounce of flavor from the ingredients you place into the pot. Lots of aromatics, bones, and meats go into the soup to give it tons of flavor. The soup that I made for this recipe was flavored with dried shrimp, which packs a strong umami salty bite, and pork neck bones.

Dried shrimp is a very common Cantonese ingredient and is treated like an aromatic similar to garlic. It adds a nice rich funkiness to the broth. But I realize that dried shrimp is not everyone’s cup of tea. So feel free to omit.

Common ingredients are:

• ginger
• garlic
• rice wine
• some kind of meat
• some kind of bone
• salt
• fish sauce or salt

Can I use pre-made wonton wrappers for pork wontons?

Yes! Yes! Yes! Buying pre-made wonton wrappers is a huge time saver. I have never made my own wonton skins. The fun part is that you can use them as a quick ravioli wrapper as well if you are short on time.

How do I make Chinese pork wonton filling?

In any Chinese meatball dish, picking up the ball of meat and slamming it back into the bowl is essential in creating the perfect texture. This and the addition of a glutinous component-usually corn starch. Chinese meatballs are springy and bouncy. They do not fall apart or melt in your mouth like Italian style meatballs. So make sure you give your meat mixture a few good slams into the bowl before you start filling your wontons.

Pro tip: Always cook and taste part of your meat mixture to check for spices and seasoning before stuffing it into the wonton wrappers. You do not want to spend hours on a large serving of food, only to discover it was under or over seasoned.

What a total bummer. Prevention is key, folks!

Do the same for your burgers, meatball mixtures, meatloaf, ravioli fillings and whatever marinated mixture you make.

Making Shallot Oil

This last one is more of a tip of life. Make shallot oil. Lots of it! It will add a burst of flavor to all of your Asian dishes. Many Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, and Thai dishes have this as a garnish, but it is so much more than that. It packs so much caramelized rich flavor that it acts more as a spice or seasoning. Do it. You’re welcome. 🙂

Price Comparison

When you buy a bowl of pork wontons soup, it usually costs between $8-12 depending on the restaurant you are at. While you may not save much money in making these yourself, they will almost always taste better when you make homemade pork wontons. Why? Restaurants tend to put less of the good stuff-shrimp, pork, and filling overall. Asian restaurants also tend to put too much MSG in their pork wontons soup rather than pulling out the flavor stops that we do in this recipe.

Without further ado, here is the recipe.

Pork Wontons Soup

Classic Cantonese pork wontons soup dish topped with shallot oil.

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Prep Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian

Servings 12 people

Ingredients

  

Wontons

• 2 lb ground pork
• 1 lb raw shrimp rough chopped or roughly ground
• 1 head garlic minced
• 2 inch piece of ginger minced
• 1 bunch green onion or garlic chives cut into ½ inch pieces
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp xiaoxing or rice wine
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 packages wonton wrappers
• 1 egg beaten
• 3 tbsp water

Pork Broth

• 2 lb pork neck bones
• 1 handful dried shrimp
• 2 tbsp fish sauce or to taste
• 4 quarts water
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp salt

Toppings

• 1 bunch bok choy boiled
• 1 bunch green onion chopped
• 1 handful cilantro chopped

Shallot Oil

• 2 shallots chopped
• 1/2 cup oil

Instructions

 

Pork Broth

• Bring a large pot of water to boil. When water is boiled. Add in pork neck bones. Allow to boil for 5 minutes until a brown foam forms on top. Then throw out the water and rinse out the bones until they are clean.
• Boil 4 quarts of water for broth. When the water is boiled. Add in cleaned pork neck bones. Add in dried shrimp, garlic, fish sauce, and whole garlic cloves. Allow to simmer on medium for 1-2 hours.

Wontons

• Prepare meat mixture by adding in pork, shrimp, garlic, ginger, garlic chives, salt, pepper, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, and sugar. Place ground beef, spices, soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Use hands to mix together all ingredients.
• Pick up a handful of the meat mixture, lift slightly above the bowl, and then throw it back into the bowl with force. Repeat at least 5 times. Set meat mixture aside.
• Prepare eggwash for wonton wrapping by adding a beaten egg to water in a bowl. Beat well.
• Fold dumplings according to instructions above.
• Boil another pot of water. When water is boiling, add in wontons and allow to boil ~7-10 minutes. Remove wontons from water when they begin to float to the top. Set aside.
• After wontons are cooked, place bok choy in the water to boil for 2-3 minutes until slightly softened. Set aside.

Shallot Oil

• Heat a pot of oil until it begins to slightly smoke. Then turn fire on medium.
• Add in shallots to fry. Stir occasionally until shallots become golden brown.

Assembly

• Place boiled wontons into a bowl. Ladle in boiled pork broth. Top with boiled bok choy, cilantro, green onion, and shallot oil.

Keyword pork wontons soup, wontons

Happy cooking! Tag me on Instagram @jennskitchendiary if you’ve made this dish! Would love to see how it turned out.