Wontons
These juicy, homestyle Cantonese wontons are comfort for the soul!
Cooking Summary
Ingredients: (detailed list)
- Main Ingredients: scallions, wonton wrappers
- Shrimp Ingredients: shrimp, cornstarch, white pepper
- Pork Ingredients: pork shoulder, cornstarch, salt, white pepper, sugar, oyster sauce, water, chicken bouillon, sesame oil
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Top 3 Mistakes
- Mincing the pork into paste:
Chop the pork into small pieces, but stop short of turning it into fish-ball-style paste. A little texture in the meat is intentional and gives these wontons their characteristic chew.
- Skipping the meat marinade:
Mix the meat thoroughly with its marinade and give it the time the recipe calls for. This preparation helps the seasoning coat the pieces before the fast cooking stage begins.
- Leaving the wrappers unsealed:
Close each wrapper carefully and check the edges before cooking. Follow the recipe’s sealing method so the filling stays inside instead of escaping into the water or pan.
Overview
If you've never had wontons, they’re basically juicy, chewy balls of minced meat folded inside thin sheet of doughs.
Wontons are a quintessential Chinese dish with a ton of variations, both in folding techniques and fillings, throughout the different regions of China. In Cantonese, it's pronounced wàhn tān, which roughly translates to "swallowing a cloud." They're a staple of Cantonese cooking, and in cities like Guangzhou and Hong Kong, it's almost impossible to NOT run into a restaurant or food stall that sells a cheap, heartwarming bowl of wontons or wonton noodle soup.
Wontons are like a warm hug in your mouth, and they'll always remind me of my childhood. Growing up, my parents almost always served me a hot bowl of Wonton Noodle Soup for breakfast before school. This recipe will always be near and dear to my heart, and I hope my kids get to experience the same warmth and love that I felt eating this all the time.
Ingredients
Why this recipe
Most wontons recipes online are tested only a handful of times. My dad used to make this dish multiple times a day, every day, for 60+ years and can make this in his sleep.
I know you'll love it as much as our community does! This recipe has over 1.8M views, 33.1K likes on YouTube.
What are wontons made of?
Wonton filling can be made from a variety of ingredients and each family has its own preferences and go-tos. My dad makes his filling in classic Cantonese style using pork and shrimp.
To flavor the filling, our wonton recipe calls for cornstarch, salt, sugar, white pepper, oyster sauce, water, chicken bouillon, sesame oil. Check the ingredient list above to see precise amounts. Don't forget that you can scale the recipe up and down!
What is the best cut of pork for wontons?
My dad uses pork butt, also known as "Boston butt” or "pork shoulder,” and this seems to be among the most popular cuts for wontons.
It’s ideal to use more fatty cuts, so some other options would be the pork neck end or pork belly.
Try to avoid using leaner cuts like pork loin or pork chop.
Selecting wonton wrappers
We talk about this at great length in our video, but for a quick overview, you'll want wrappers that are square, thin, and yellow.
What's the difference between potsticker wrappers and wonton wrappers?
The dough for both types of dumpling wrappers is generally the same: wheat flour and water. Many wonton wrappers also contain egg, which turns the wrapper yellow. Because potstickers are usually pan-fried and steamed, the wrappers are thicker to stand up to the more exciting cooking process. They’re also usually in round circles.
On the other hand, wontons are usually dropped into a big pot of boiling water or deep-fried, so the structural integrity of the dumpling is not as much at risk. They're usually thinner and square-shaped.
Where do you buy wonton wrappers?
You'll find wonton wrappers in the frozen or refrigerated section of the grocery store. If there is a large selection, they may have their own section. If not, you might see them near the tofu. They're commonplace enough now that even if you don't have an Asian grocery store nearby, your general supermarket may stock them!
Finding Asian ingredients
Some of these ingredients can be hard to find in a typical grocery store.
If you don't live near an Asian market, most or all of what my dad uses in this recipe can be found on Amazon:
- Kikkoman Sesame Oil - https://geni.us/kkmsesameoil
- Kikkoman Oyster Sauce - https://geni.us/kkmoystersauce
These links are affiliate links, which means that if you use our links to purchase these ingredients, Amazon pays my family a small amount for the sale - at no extra cost to you. If you use these links, we really appreciate the support!
How to make Wontons
We'll chop our scallions (2 pieces) into small pieces. Most (or all of it) will go into the filling, but we can optionally save some for garnish later.
We'll start by cutting our pork shoulder (12 oz) into slices, then into strips, and then into small bits. We don't want to mince them excessively into fine bits like our fish ball recipe - we want a bit of chewiness to it.
Then, we'll rinse the pork in water and gently massage it to get some of the myoglobin (redness, more bloody/irony flavor) out.
Drain the pork with a colander, and let it continue to drain passively as we move on to the next step.
Assuming the shrimp you bought was peeled and deveined, we'll chop our shrimp (4 oz) into roughly fingernail-sized bits.
Then, we'll add cornstarch (1 tsp) and white pepper (1 dash).
The cornstarch acts both as a sort of glue to hold the filling together, and also helps to seal in the moisture and juices inside of the meat.
Mix the shrimp around for about 15 to 20 seconds to make sure they're all evenly coated.
Before we marinate the pork, we'll want to squeeze as much water out of it as we can. Press the pork firmly against the colander repeatedly.
Then, we'll mix cornstarch (2 tbsp), salt (1 tsp), white pepper (0.50 tsp), sugar (1 tsp), oyster sauce (1 tbsp), water (2 tbsp), and chicken bouillon (1 tsp) into a bowl. Mix it with a spoon until it's homogeneous.
Add the pork, and mix the bowl thoroughly for about 30 to 45 seconds.
Add sesame oil (1 tbsp), and mix for another 30 seconds.
Add the shrimp and green onions to the bowl but DON'T MIX them together yet. We'll cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the filling for at least 30 minutes to let the meat absorb the marinade. If you start folding immediately, then the wrappers will be too wet.
Refrigerating overnight is fine too, with an absolute max of 2 days (or the filling will become too dry).
Wet a spoon with some water, and proceed to mix the pork, green onions, and shrimp together for about 30 to 60 seconds until everything is evenly mixed.
The wet spoon helps prevent the filling from sticking to it.
I should preface by saying there are A LOT of different methods of folding wontons out there. In our video, my dad explains two easy methods to try.
In general, as long as your filling is tasty and the wrapper isn't breaking or falling apart, then my dad says not to stress too much about the wrapping.
Start with the wonton wrappers (14 oz).
Add about 1 tsp of filling to the center of the wrapper.
For this first method, we'll dab a bit of water on the 4 corners. Then, we'll take the opposite ends and fold the wrapper into a right triangle. Next, we'll fold each of the 45 degree corners into the 90 degree corner. Pinch the top to fully enclose the wonton.
If you don't use all of your wrappers, seal the wrappers in a plastic bag, and place them in the freezer.
For the second method, all we need is a spoon. After putting about a teaspoon of filling in the center of the wrapper, we'll press our thumb and index fingers into a hole and drape the wrapper over the center of hole.
Add about 1 tsp of filling to the center of the wrapper.
Then, with our spoon, we'll press the center of the wrapper into the hole. Finally, we'll close the wonton by pressing the tops of the wrapper with our thumb and index finger.
If you don't use all of your wrappers, seal the wrappers in a plastic bag, and place them in the freezer.
After folding, you can cook them immediately and skip this part.
However, if you made a bunch of wontons like my dad, then to freeze them, you'd lay them on a tray, place them in the freezer for 3 to 4 hours, and once they're about half frozen, you can place them in a bag to take up less space. If you freeze them right away, then the skins will all stick together.
To cook frozen wontons, we'd just need to defrost them for 1 to 2 hours before cooking.
Next, we'll bring a pot of water to a boil to start cooking our wontons.
Once boiling, add the wontons to the pot.
Chef's Tip: Stir the wontons with chopsticks to prevent them from sticking to the pot (which causes breakage).
After placing our wontons in, our stove is set to high heat until the pot returns to a boil. Once it's at a boil, set the stove to medium heat.
In total, we're boiling our wontons for about 4 tp 5 minutes.
- Once the wontons are floating, my dad recommends adding some cold water (optional). This happened about 3 minutes into the process after the pot returned to its first boil.
- After adding the cold water, we let the pot return to another boil, which took us about 2 minutes.
- They're generally done once all of the wontons start floating and the filling is cooked through.
We'll transfer the wontons out of the pot to stop them from cooking. Call your loved ones over! It's time to eat :)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there alternatives to oyster sauce? I am vegetarian/gluten-free.
If you're vegetarian or need to stay away from gluten, we have three alternatives for you!
Vegetarian Oyster Sauce
Since oyster sauce is made out of oyster extract, here are some alternatives that have a similar taste without using the actual oyster:
- Wan Ja Shan Vegetarian Mushroom Oyster Sauce
- Lee Kum Kee Vegetarian Stir Fry Sauce
- Lee Kum Kee also sells a bigger container of this
Gluten Free Oyster Sauce
Wok Mei has a gluten-free oyster sauce, but it still contains oyster extract, so it's not vegetarian friendly.
Vegetarian + Gluten Free Oyster Sauce
Unfortunately, we don't know of a vendor that sells an oyster sauce that caters to both dietary restrictions, so you'll need to DIY the sauce.
Mix equal parts gluten free soy sauce and gluten free hoisin sauce. This isn't exactly the same as oyster sauce, but it's pretty close.
What's the difference between potstickers and wontons?
Potstickers are steam-fried dumplings, while wontons are traditionally boiled and eaten in broth-based dishes, like Wonton Noodle Soup. Wontons can also be fried.
Are wontons healthy?
Yes, it is! You can make sure that you make the healthiest version possible by choosing good quality proteins and good quality produce.
Reducing the amount of condiments and seasonings will affect the flavor of the dish, so we recommend sticking to the amounts we've noted in the recipe. Instead, you can opt for low-sodium versions of chicken bouillon if necessary.
When you eat the wontons, the healthiest preparation is to boil them in water or a healthy broth.
Restaurant or instant versions may not be as healthy when they include additives and preservatives, but because you're making the wontons from scratch, you have full control over the ingredients.
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Made with love ❤️
We started Made With Lau to celebrate Cantonese culture and honor the legacy of our wonderful parents, Jenny and Chung Sun Lau.
Our hope is that these recipes and stories help you spread the joy, love, and nostalgia that I felt growing up.