Wonton Soup

This Wonton Soup is easy (I have a shortcut!) light, hearty and comforting bursting with the most flavorful, juicy wontons you have to taste to believe. 

Bring your favorite restaurant Wonton Soup into the comfort of your own home where it tastes 1000X better and is completely customizable!  This Wonton Soup is loaded wontons stuffed with juicy pork, ginger, garlic soy sauce, green onions, etc. swimming in a garlic, ginger, soy spiked broth.  You also have the option of adding shrimp, bok choy, mushrooms and carrots to your soup for a veggie packed meal.  I’ve included step by step photos, easy to follow instructions, and how to freeze wontons for an easy meal any night of the week!

up close of easy wonton soup recipe in a white bowl


 

Homemade Wonton Soup Recipe

Wonton Soup is one of my absolutely favorite soups.  I love how fresh yet richly soothing it is at the same time.  I love the layers of textures and flavors in one bite from the juicy, plump dumpling followed by the hot aromatic broth.  It is the type of soup that you wish you could recreate at home because it is soooooo good.  And now you can.

Nothing is better than fakeout takeout at home from Laksa, Beef and Broccoli to Mongolian Chicken to Wonton Soup!  This Wonton Soup might taste laboriously delicious, but I promise the filling takes less than 5 minutes to whip up in your food processor!  All that is really left to do is assemble the wontons, and as soon as you make a couple, you will have them mastered and the task will fly by.  You can even enlist the help of your kiddos OR pull them out of the freezer you have made earlier.  Either way, the end result is HOMEMADE Wonton Soup made with only the freshest ingredients, no fillers, just flavor.

up close of authentic wonton soup recipe in a white bowl

Wonton Wrappers

Wonton Wrappers should easily be found at any grocery store, and definitely at specialty Asian markets.  At my grocery store(s), the wonton wrappers are located near the produce, at the end of the aisle in the refrigerated section.  You will need approximately 38-42 wonton wrappers for this Wonton Soup recipe so be sure to check how many are in the package before you buy them.  Depending on the brand of wontons wrappers you purchase you will need one or two packages.

easy, authentic, homemade wonton soup recipe in a white soup pot

What is wonton soup made out of?

Wontons originated from Northern China but the filling varies from region to region.   I’ve stuck with the most common winner of juicy ground pork and seasoned it with plenty of aromatics.  The filling is soooo flavorful, I could eat it with a spoon and SO good, I’ve adapted it slightly to use in my homemade Potstickers recipe.  If you want to taste the filling before it’s been wrapped, you can microwave a little bit to sample  – addicting I tell you – and even more tantalizing when its wrapped in a tender wonton and cooked in seasoned broth.

For this Wonton Soup recipe, we are going to stuff our Wontons with:

  • shiitake mushrooms
  • green onions
  • ginger
  • garlic cloves
  • ground pork – lean is fine
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • reduced sodium soy sauce
  • sesame oil
  • rice wine vinegar
  • rice wine (NOT rice wine vinegar)
  • Asian chili sauce (optional)
  • salt
  • pepper

You can leave the garlic and ginger peeled but whole and you don’t need to chop your green onions or mushroom either because of my shortcut below.

The only ingredient you might have a question about is rice wine.  I explain this in all my posts because I tend to always get questions about it.  Rice wine is NOT rice vinegar- DO NOT switch them out.  Rice wine adds a sweetness and depth of flavor.  Rice vinegar, on the other hand will add an acidic flavor.  I use “Kikkoman Aji-Mirin: Sweet Cooking Rice Seasoning” which is commonly found in the Asian section of most grocery stores or you can Amazon it.  I highly suggest you google image before you head off to the grocery store so you know exactly what you are looking for.  The best substitute for rice wine is pale dry sherry.

top view of homemade wonton soup recipe

How to Make Wonton Filling

You are going to LOVE my wonton filling shortcut!   Instead of chopping all of the veggies, I use the same shortut I use when I make egg roll filling – we add everything whole to the food processor – no chopping!  This method makes our wontong filling come together in minutes!  WINNING!

To make Wonton Filling:

  • Add mushrooms, green onions, ginger and garlic to food processor.
showing how to make wonton filling for easy Wonton Soup by adding ginger, garlic, mushrooms and green onions in a food processor
  • Pulse until finely chopped.
showing how to make wonton filling for Wonton Soup by chopping ginger, garlic, mushrooms and green onions in a food processor
  • Add ground pork, egg yolk, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, rice wine vinegar, Asian Chili sauce, salt and pepper.
showing how to make wonton filling for Wonton Soup by adding ground pork, soy sauce, egg to food processor
  • Pulse until combined but not pasty.
showing how to make wonton filling for Wonton Soup by mixing ground pork, eggs, ginger, sesame oil, garlic green onions, mushrooms, soy sauce together

How easy was that?!

How to Wrap Wontons

Wrapping Wontons is easy!  There really is no right or wrong way to wrap your wontons as far as the shape goes because they will mostly loose their shape once cooked.  We just want to assemble them in such a way that they stay sealed.      Here is my easy method:

  • Working on a flat, dry surface, lay out 4-6 wonton wrappers.  Keep remaining wontons covered with plastic wrap or in a large freezer bag.
  • Place 2 teaspoons of filling in the center of each wrapper.  I use a heaping ½ tablespoon for convenience and eye ball it.
showing how to wrap wontons for best wonton soup by laying wontons on a flat surface and topping with 2 teaspoons of filling
  • Working with one wonton at a time, brush the top 2 sides of wonton with water with your finger.
showing how to wrap wontons for wonton soup by brushing the top 2 sides of wonton with water with a finger.
  • Bring 2 opposite corners of the wonton together (2 dry, 2 wet) to form a triangle and enclose the filling, pinching edges of the wrapper together to firmly a seal, pressing out any air.
showing how to wrap wontons for wonton soup by bringing 2 opposite corners of the wonton together (2 dry, 2 wet) to form a triangle and enclose the filling, pinching edges of the wrapper together to firmly a seal, pressing out any air.
  • Moisten opposite corners of the long side of triangle and fold them down.
showing how to wrap wontons for wonton soup by Moisten opposite corners of the long side of triangle and fold them down
  • Then fold the edges across one another then pinch to seal together.
showing how to wrap wontons for wonton soup by crossing edges of wontons then pinching them to seal together.
  • Place finished wontons on parchment paper and cover with a damp paper towel or damp towel.
wrapped wontons on a baking sheet ready to go into authentic Wonton Soup
  • Assemble remaining wontons in the same manner.
showing how to wrap wontons for wonton soup

Tips to Prevent Wontons from Tearing

There are a couple tricks to keeping wontons sealed:

  1. Make sure your wonton wrappers don’t become brittle at any point.  You will want to keep any wrappers you are not immediately working with under a damp cloth or in a sealed bag.  Once the wonton wrappers are filled, you will want to keep them under a damp cloth.
  2. Don’t use too much water to seal the wontons.  Too much water will cause the edges to not stick together.  Only lightly dampen one edge and fasten it to a dry edge.
  3. Once you finish filling a batch of wontons and remove them to parchement paper, wipe your work area with a paper towel so it is dry every time you start making a new batch of wontons.
  4. Don’t overcook your wontons.  Wontons easily tear when they overcook.  You will want to remove them from the broth as soon as they are cooked to serving bowls and then ladle broth to the individual bowls (and not let them sit like the pic below – it is strictly artistic 🙂 )
side view of easy wonton soup in a white soup pot

Wonton Soup Broth

The broth is warm, comforting, soothing and the perfect bath for our wontons.  The Wonton Soup Broth consists of:

  • garlic:
  • ginger
  • scallions
  • low sodium chicken broth
  • low sodium soy sauce
  • rice wine
  • brown sugar

Make sure you use low sodium chicken broth and low sodium soy sauce or else your broth will taste to salty.

We start making our broth very first so it can simmer and develop flavor while we prep our wontons.

  • You will saute carrots (optional),  ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes in a large soup pot/Dutch oven.
showing how to make easy wonton soup by cooking carrots before adding wonton soup ingredients
  • Add chicken broth, soy sauce, rice wine, and brown sugar and bring to a boil then reduce to a gentle simmer while you make your wontons.
wonton soup broth in large white soup pott
  • I prefer to cook my wontons directly in the broth because both the dough and the filing absorb the flavorful broth while they cook, rendering the filling mega juicy.  Whether you choose this method or boil your wontons in water, you will want to remove them as soon as they are cooked so they don’t continue to absorb liquid and become soggy and fall apart.
showing how to make easy wonton soup recipe by cooking wontons in the broth

What Vegetables are in Wonton Soup?

Wonton Soup is delicious in its simplicity or the hot, savory broth creates a flavorful base for other add-ins such as shrimp, noodles or vegetables.     For this Wonton Soup recipe, I’ve added my favorites of shrimp, carrots, mushrooms, bok choy and green onions.  You can easily swap the bok-choy for spinach, or add/swap in bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli, snow or snap peas.

spooning a wonton in easy wonton soup recipe

CAN I USE FROZEN WONTONS TO MAKE WONTON SOUP?

The star of this Homemade Wonton Soup is the wonton filling but if you don’t have time to make your own wontons, you can make semi-homemade Wonton Soup and use frozen wontons.   Make the broth according to directions and add frozen wontons when specified.  The frozen wontons will take a few extra minutes to cook.

CAN I MAKE EXTRA AND FREEZE THE WONTONS?

Freezing the wontons creates a fabulous easy-dinner option for all those busy nights.  To freeze wontons:

  • Place assembled, uncooked wontons on a parchment-lined baking sheet/plate (whatever will fit in your freezer) without touching.
  • Loosely cover with plastic wrap.
  • Freeze wontons until solid, about 1 hour.
  • Transfer wontons to a freezer bag.
  • Cook wontons directly from frozen in hot broth.

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up close of easy wonton soup recipe in a white bowl

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up close of authentic wonton soup recipe in a white bowl
easy, authentic, homemade wonton soup recipe in a white soup pot

Wonton Soup

Bring your favorite restaurant Wonton Soup into the comfort of your own home where it tastes 1000X better and is completely customizable!  This Wonton Soup is loaded wontons stuffed with juicy pork, ginger, garlic soy sauce, green onions, etc. swimming in a garlic, ginger, soy spiked broth.  You also have the option of adding shrimp, bok choy, mushrooms and carrots to your soup for a veggie packed meal.  I’ve included step by step photos, easy to follow instructions, and how to freeze wontons for an easy meal any night of the week!
Servings: 6 – 8 bowls
Total Time: 45 minutes
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

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Ingredients

Wontons

SOUP

  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • 2 medium carrots sliced
  • 2-3 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
  • 9 cups low sodium chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 pound medium shrimp peeled, deveined, tails removed (optional)
  • 4 oz. baby bella mushrooms sliced (optional)
  • 3 Scallions chopped
  • 4 heads baby bok choy chopped into bite-size pieces (approx. 3 cups) (optional)

Instructions

Broth

  • In a Dutch oven or soup pot, heat 2 teaspoons sesame oil over medium high heat. Add carrots, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes and sauté for 1 minute. Add chicken broth, soy sauce, rice wine, and brown sugar and bring to a boil then reduce to a gentle simmer. Simmer on low for 20-30 minutes while you prep your wontons.

Wonton Filling

  • Add mushrooms, green onions, ginger and garlic to food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add ground pork and all remaining filling ingredients and pulse until combined but not pasty.
  • Assemble: (SEE PHOTOS IN POST):
  • Fill a small bowl with cool water. Lay out a baking sheet size sheet of parchment paper (to lay finished wontons on).
  • Working on a flat, dry surface, lay out 4-6 wonton wrappers. Keep remaining wontons covered with plastic wrap or in a large freezer bag. Place 2 teaspoons of filling in the center of each wrapper (I use a heaping ½ tablespoon for convenience and eye ball it).
  • Working with one wonton at a time, brush the top 2 sides of wonton with water with your finger.
  • Bring 2 opposite corners of the wonton together (2 dry, 2 wet) to form a triangle and enclose the filling, pinching edges of the wrapper together to firmly a seal, pressing out any air.
  • Moisten opposite corners of the long side of triangle and fold them down then and across one another then pinch to seal together.
  • Place finished wontons on parchment paper and cover with a damp paper towel or damp towel. Assemble remaining wontons in the same manner.

Soup

  • Bring soup broth to a boil. Add shrimp, and mushrooms to soup then gently add wontons using a slotted spoon. Cook for 4 minutes or until they float and pork filling is cooked through. Remove wontons with a slotted spoon straight to serving bowls (it is okay if you get some veggies/shrimp with your wontons). I use about 6-8 wontons per bowl.
  • Add bok choy and green onions to soup and cook 1 minute.
  • Ladle soup over wontons and serve immediately. Do not let wontons sit in broth before serving or they will become soggy and fall apart.

Notes

TIPS TO PREVENT WONTONS FROM TEARING

There are a couple tricks to keeping wontons sealed:
  1. Make sure your wonton wrappers don’t become brittle at any point.  You will want to keep any wrappers you are not immediately working with under a damp cloth or in a sealed bag.  Once the wonton wrappers are filled, you will want to keep them under a damp cloth.
  2. Don’t use too much water to seal the wontons.  Too much water will cause the edges to not stick together.  Only lightly dampen one edge and fasten it to a dry edge.
  3. Once you finish filling a batch of wontons and remove them to parchement paper, wipe your work area with a paper towel so it is dry every time you start making a new batch of wontons.
  4. Don’t overcook your wontons.  Wontons easily tear when they overcook.  You will want to remove them from the broth as soon as they are cooked to serving bowls and then ladle broth to the individual bowls.

CAN I USE FROZEN WONTONS TO MAKE WONTON SOUP?

The star of this Homemade Wonton Soup is the wonton filling but if you don’t have time to make your own wontons, you can make semi-homemade Wonton Soup and use frozen wontons.   Make the broth according to directions and add frozen wontons when specified.  The frozen wontons will take a few extra minutes to cook.

CAN I MAKE EXTRA AND FREEZE THE WONTONS?

Freezing the wontons creates a fabulous easy-dinner option for all those busy nights.  To freeze wontons:
  • Place assembled, uncooked wontons on a parchment-lined baking sheet/plate (whatever will fit in your freezer) without touching.
  • Loosely cover with plastic wrap.
  • Freeze wontons until solid, about 1 hour.
  • Transfer wontons to a freezer bag.
  • Cook wontons directly from frozen in hot broth.

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34 Comments

  1. Dee says

    Made this today and it was fabulous! The broth was so flavourful and the wontons were a real treat. Amazing recipe, thank you for sharing!

    • Jen says

      You are so welcome! Thanks for taking the time to comment Dee! I’m so pleased you loved it!

  2. Victoria says

    Omitted ginger from the filling to not have an overwhelming flavor, and it was perfect! Flavorful and delicious!

    • Jen says

      Thanks so much for taking the time to comment Victoria, I’m so pleased you loved it!

  3. Mitzi says

    Made this for supper. It was amazing and so full of flavour.

    • Jen says

      Thanks for taking the time to comment Mitzi – I’m thrilled you loved it!

  4. Megan says

    Are the mushrooms absolutely necessary, or is there something else I could swap them for?
    Also how would you recommend storing leftover wonton soup? I know you said they would fall apart so I’m wondering if you would store them outside of the soup? I think this would be great for heating up for lunch the next day!

    • Jen says

      Hi Megan! If you omit the mushrooms, you will need to up the amount of other filling ingredients to make up for the lost mushroom volume or decrease the liquid ingredients slightly so they aren’t overpowering. As far as storing, yes you definitely store them outside of the soup. I hope that helps!

  5. Alexandra Elizondo says

    If you wanted to make this ahead do you just fold wontons and freeze but make soup and then reheat altogether later?

    • Jen says

      To freeze, follow the instructions for freezing the wontons in the notes and freeze the broth separately. I would thaw the broth in the refrigerator then add the frozen wontons to the hot broth without thawing them first. I hope that helps!

  6. Phuong says

    Would you recommend storing the broth and wontons separately when refrigerating leftovers?

    • Jen says

      Yes, otherwise the wontons will become too soggy.

  7. Finley, L says

    Hi so I don’t eat meat but I was invited to an Asian themed dinner party next month and this looks amazing and super easy. But my question is do you cook the pork before you put it in the wonton wrappers? Or does the wonton soup base cook the pork? Thank you for making a visual guide that was clever. Blessings

    • Jen says

      Sorry for the delay Finley as I’ve been in Italy for two weeks. You don’t cook the pork before you add it to the soup. The hot broth will cook it in just minutes. If you are brining this to a party, make sure you add the wontons to the broth just before serving or the will get super soggy and fall apart. Enjoy!

  8. Andre says

    Made this yesterday. Utterly magnificent! Thank you so much! Couldn’t believe it was possible to make this at home.
    Haven’t got the hang of folding the wontons yet, but this is purely aesthetic, they stayed together and the taste was incredible. Looking forward to trying some of your other recipes.

    • Jen says

      Thank you Andre! I’m so pleased you loved this Wonton Soup! I hope you have fun exploring my recipes!

  9. Jafani says

    It’s nice that you gave a bit of a background on what wontons are made of. This is a perfect dish for the rainy days at home

    • Jen says

      thanks so much Jafani! I hope you love it as much as us!

  10. Christopher says

    This Wonton recipe is out of this world, I am the my mother’s favorite chef. The flavor is so AMAZING and I added some other vegetables(bean sprouts, snow peas) to the soup and I’m a huge fan that will always use this recipe. Thank you very much for sharing it.

    • Jen says

      Thank you so much Christopher, I’m thrilled this wonton soup recipe was such a hit! I love that you’re your mother’s favorite chef – with good reason!

  11. Melanie says

    If I’m making this for someone who doesn’t have alcohol in anything, what could be substituted for the rice wine/sherry?

    • Jen says

      I would use white grape juice, enjoy!

  12. Pam says

    Hubby & I made this tonight. We have never made wonton soup before, so it was fun to learn how together! It turned out SUPER DELISH! And we have 2 containers & a bunch of wontons going into the freezer for 2 more dinners. Now, I must go check out more of your recipes. Thanks for sharing!

    • Jen says

      You’re so welcome Pam, I’m so glad you both loved it and what a fun recipe to make together!

  13. Vivian says

    Ok I cheated and used frozen chicken veggie pot stickers but delicious. Cook pot stickers longer and leave them in when you add Bak choy. Definitely make it again. Tx

    • Jen says

      Cheating is totally fine! I’m so pleased you enjoyed it!

  14. Stacey says

    I made this tonight for dinner. Instead of pork, I used ground chicken. Instead of mushrooms , I replaced it for zucchini in the filling since I’m not a fan of mushrooms. It was absolutely amazing! I will definitely be making this again. It took a while for me to get the hang of the wontons but overall it turned out great.

    • Jen says

      Yay Stacey! I am so happy you enjoyed it and were able to get the hang of the wontons! Your substitution of zucchini sounds delicious! I hope you have a great weekend and find more recipes to enjoy!

  15. Sarah Hughes says

    I just made this soup. Far and away the best wonton soup ever! I’ll never buy from a restaurant again. I did sub in frozen wonton, during to time. Winner!

    • Jen says

      Thank you so much, Sarah! I am so happy this is a winner and I’m thrilled you love it!

  16. Marie Brown says

    Absolutely delicious even with store bought wan tons. Short on time but next time I’ll definitely try to make the wontons. This is definitely a do over.

    • Jen says

      Yay! I’m thrilled it was such a tasty experience!

  17. Jason says

    Absolutely amazing. My daughters and wife loved it. Was the perfect pick me up after being sick. Works well with frozen wontons but I can’t wait to try it homemade. We have dived t this Monkey Brain Soup and it immediately went into our family recipe book.

    • Jen says

      I’m so glad it was just the thing for a recovery meal! Happy to hear it will be a repeat!