Cozy up to a quick and easy Shanghai Wonton Soup made with homemade shrimp, pork and spinach wontons in a simple nourishing broth. With our step by step photos and video, you will be a wonton wrapping pro in no time.
Soup Season Comfort Food
Do you know that feeling you get when you take a sip of your mom’s homemade chicken soup or Chinese Beef Noodle Soup.? You feel cozy, safe and healed from whatever ails you right away. That is exactly how you will feel after a delicious bowl of Shanghai Wonton soup (also referred to as húntun, 餛飩, 馄饨). There is something magical about the simple broth flavored by the wontons.
When you take your first bite of the tender Shanghai wonton you will taste the mix of fresh ginger, garlic, shrimp and pork. Then, the delicate flavor of the broth, sesame oil and a freshness from the sliced green onions. It's a must try soup recipe and way better than take away.
How Many Wontons Can You Eat?
Five? Ten? Twenty? This recipe makes about forty dumplings. If you have growing teenagers or big eaters, be prepared to double your recipe. Personally, I have seen my super skinny Chinese girlfriends pack away about 25 dumplings in one sitting. Be prepared and err on the safe side and make extra as everyone loves Shanghai Wonton Soup.
What are Wonton Wrappers Made Of?
Wonton wrappers are super thin sheets of pasta made with eggs, water and flour. They are cut into squares. You can find these in the refrigerated section of your grocery store or Asian market. If you are feeling ambitious you can make them from scratch. On the other hand, Dumplings are made with just flour and water and are just a wee bit thicker. If you enjoy dumplings, be sure to try our Spicy Pan-Fried Beef Bao.
Freeze Shanghai Wontons
You sure can! Freeze the wontons BEFORE you cook them.
- As you form your wontons, be sure to place them on a sheet pan dusted with a little cornstarch or rice flour.
- Place them uncovered and not touching each other inside the freezer.
- Once they are frozen solid, remove the wontons from the tray and place in a freezer safe baggie or container.
- They can be frozen for up to 2 months.
- From this frozen point, your wontons can be boiled or made into Shanghai Wonton Soup.
How to Wrap a Wonton
It’s a relatively simple process to make Shanghai Wonton Soup. Be sure to check out our quick video down below and you can follow along to learn how.
You start by dabbing a little water all around the edges of your wonton wrapper.
Then place about 1 heaping teaspoon of filling inside the wrapper in the middle. Do not overfill as that will be problematic during the cooking process.
Next, close and seal the wonton wrapper in half. Be extra careful to get out any air and make sure the wrapper is sealed all the way around so that no filling bursts out during the cooking process.
Next fold over lengthwise so it looks like a little nun’s cap or an old fashion nurse’s hat.
Dab a little extra water around the edges and then pinch close to form the cute little wonton.
Recipe Tip
Keep a damp towel over your wonton wrappers and stuffed wontons, so they do not dry out. If the wonton wrappers get dry, they are very difficult to fold up and may crack.
Lucky Chinese New Year Soup
The Chinese New Year (CNY) feast takes many days to prepare and lasts about 15 days. Now that is a lot of celebrating. Be sure to check out our 10 Fun and Easy Chinese New Year Recipes. These are some of the traditional Chinese New Year foods served on New Year’s Day and throughout the festivities:
- meat dumplings for good luck
- tangerines for good fortune
- apples for peace
- sweet rice cakes for more wealth every year (Sweet Sticky Rice Chinese New Year Cake, Niangao, 年糕)
- fish for plenty
- veggies with long noodles for long life
- chicken for wealth
- mustard greens for a green year for farmers
- soup means everything better than last year
- oranges for money and wealth
- shrimp for abundance
Huntun (馄饨)
So today we are going to combine three auspicious meals in one. Wontons (a thinner type of dumpling also known as huntun-馄饨 in Chinese) for good luck, soup to make everything better than from last year and shrimp for abundance. Let’s enjoy some tasty lucky Shanghai Wonton Soup. This Chinese recipe is from our dear friend Lynn Li from Shanghai.
More Delicious Chinese Recipes
Chinese Eggplant with Spicy Pork
Beef and Peppers in Black Bean Sauce
How to Prepare Wood Ear Mushrooms
Wood Ear Mushroom Vegan Stir Fry
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Shanghai Wonton Soup
Ingredients
Wontons ingredients
- 40 wonton wrappers
- 3 cups Chinese Greens
quickly boiled and then run under cold water to stop the cooking process (Chinese Chrysanthemum, spinach or Chinese watercress may all be good substitutes) - ½ pound ground pork
(minced) - ½ pound shrimp
peeled and deveined minced - 2 green onion
minced - 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine
or dry sherry - ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
or sugar alternative - optional - ½ teaspoon white pepper
or to taste - 2 teaspoon ginger
fresh finely grated - 2 cloves garlic
peeled and minced - 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 egg
- water
little bowl (to seal the edges of the wonton) - 1 tablespoon rice flour or cornstarch or a sheet of waxed paper (to prevent the wontons from sticking on the baking sheet)
- Water
for boiling wontons - Salt
add to water to boil wontons - 2 cups Cool water (to bring your water temperature down)
Soup Base Ingredients
- pasta water
from cooking wontons (approximately one cup per person) - 2 spring onions
chopped - optional - salt to taste
- white pepper to taste to taste - optional
- sesame oil 2 drops per bowl of wonton soup
Instructions
- Flash boil the Chinese greens or spinach and then run under cold water to stop the cooking process. Squeeze the water out of the vegetables and dice finely and set inside a medium mixing bowl.
- In the same bowl you put the chopped Chinese greens put in minced pork, green onion, soy sauce, rice wine, salt, white pepper, ginger, garlic, egg and sesame oil and mix well.
- Dip your fingers into the water bowl and place a little water around the edges of one wonton wrapper. Make sure you cover the rest of your wonton wrappers with a damp tea cloth, so they don’t dry out while you are stuffing the wontons
- Place a heaping teaspoon of pork mixture in the middle of the wonton. (Do not overfill the wonton or otherwise it will burst open during the cooking process)
- Fold the wonton wrapper in half and make sure you press tightly around the edges of where the pork mixture is, so you have a good seal.
- Fold the wonton over so it looks like a little flying nun hat and then fold the two ends on top of each other to seal. The finished product should look like a nurse’s cap or maybe even a flying nuns cap depending on your technique.
- Place your finished wontons on a baking sheet lightly rice floured/corn starch or waxed paper lined baking sheet to prepare for the soup. Alternatively, wontons can be frozen and used later. (If you decide to freeze some, freeze them flat on a baking sheet and once they are frozen you can transfer them to a plastic baggie. This prevents them from sticking together.)
- How to cook your wontons: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add about 6-10 wontons to your pot. (depends on the size of your pot) Make sure there is enough room for them to move about freely. The wontons will cook for a total of 5 - 8 minutes or until they rise to the top and the filling is cooked through. (VERY IMPORTANT! During the boiling process, add about ½ cup of cool water about every 2-3 minutes so that the water does not boil intensively and break apart your wontons- total of around 1.5 cups. You will add the cool water 3 times. Do NOT let your wontons boil vigorously as they may burst. Your goal is to bring them up to a boil and then add a little of the cool water to bring the temperature down. Then bring it up to a boil a second time and then add a little of cool water. For the third and final time you will add a little cool water and bring it up to a boil. Remove your wontons from the pot with a slotted spoon. Repeat this process with the remaining wontons.
- To serve, place somewhere between 5 - 10 dumplings in a large bowl (depends on how hungry you are) and then ladle with 2 ladles of pasta water over the dumplings. Simply add some salt to taste, chopped green onion, white pepper and a little drizzle of sesame oil.
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
andylmoore says
Kung Hei Fat Choi. I lived in Hong Kong for eight years, so brought back some nice memories. Thank you.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks Andy for stopping by. Gong Hei Fat Choy and I love your cooking website. Looking forward to keeping in touch. Take care, Bam
Wholesome Cook says
Thanks for the dumpling recipe and of course sharing a few things about the Chinese new year's traditions.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Your welcome Martyna. Take care
katyarich says
Hola Bam now is my time to envy you, I just love this chinese soup....looks spectacular
.....and I love your nails.....looks great!!!!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hola Katy, thanks for the complement but I was the photographer during those step by step shots. Those beautifully manicured nails are my dear friends, Lynn. Take care
wok with ray says
What a delicious looking soup! Those pork dumplings are amazing.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks Ray and Happy Lunar New Year.
Asmita says
I love clear soup with these dumplings. I think I will be eating dinner at a Chinese restaurant tonight, I am craving this soup and this kind of food. I love the step by step pictures, really beautiful.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Actually the clear broth soup is so simple but really light and yummy. Thanks for stopping by.
Kay aka Babygirl says
Oh my... that just looks amazing. I love how the wontons came out and the soup just looks so delicious. I would definitely enjoy Chinese new years with these dishes.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks! My friends Lynn and Yi can make like 50 perfect ones in a minute. I think they may have done this a few times before....
thebigfatnoodle says
You'll laugh when you read this. My very first post and recipe is about these dumplings, folded in exactly this way because my mum is Shanghainese! I'm actually make some more this weekend in preparation for CNY.
Healthy World Cuisine says
M̀h'gōi or maybe xie xie (thank you) very much for the mention on your website today. Your Chinese New Year Shanghai wontons and other treats sound wonderful. Please extend a greetings of Xian nian kuai le on to your family. Take care
Zoe @ Pantry and Fridge says
Fabulous!! I love learning of other cultures. I think they all looked beautiful! 🙂
Happy Chinese New Year!! 😀
Healthy World Cuisine says
Happy Lunar New Years to you too Zoe!
Zoe @ Pantry and Fridge says
I also wanted to thank you for being one of my biggest supporters 🙂
You have really helped me to keep going, and I wanted you to know I appreciate you very much.
Your blog is inspiring and I hope to be able to make one of your delicious creations soon.
Thanks for commenting as often as you do. I really love reading what you have to say.
Keep up the cooking! I'll keep reading!
Zoe
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hey Zoe, I just realized something.. Did you used to have 2 websites one for your photography and one for your cooking? I tried to take a look at your photography site and no longer available? You are a very talented photographer! Thank you for all of your support and kind words. Take care, BAM
Anonymous says
Yea, I used to post photography to a blog but actually am my own worst critic so decided I didn't like the site and deleted it :/ Thank you for saying so, though. 🙂 I post all my pictures to InstaGram (WebstaGram.com) now 🙂 under Zoe_Wright instead of to a blog. I'm not sure why I'm more comfortable with it, but I am.
Cheers Bam!
Baking with Sibella says
Bobbi, this is great! I very much enjoyed reading the recipe and looking at the photos! Your blog truly is a window into the Chinese culture for us who have never experienced it!!! Happy New Year! 🙂
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks Sibella. I am glad you enjoyed reading a little about the culture. I think learning about others food, language and cultural is one of my favorite things to do. Of course I guess of all 3 a very big emphasis on the food. Take care
Joanne Ozug says
OH!!!!! MY!!!!!! This looks so good. Off to the store to get some wonton wrappers!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks Joanne. It is actually a very simple and tasty soup. Perfect for these cooler days. Take care
Geni - Sweet and Crumby says
Your wontons are amazingly beautiful and are making me very hungry. That bowl of soup is just filled with goodness and love. I am so happy that you detailed making the wontons. I can't wait to try and with your step-by-step photos and instructions, I think I can do it!
zestybeandog says
So beautiful! What a lovely soup! I could use some "good luck" soup!
Healthy World Cuisine says
I think we could all use a little luck in our busy lives, we best make it a double order of soup. Take care
promenadeplantings says
Fab photos of making wontons, it gives me a really clear idea of how to make them. wishing you a happy new year 🙂
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks. I had a wonderful time making wontons with my friends. Great learning experience.
thecompletecookbook says
What fun you are having at the moment with all the celebrations for Chinese New Year. Enjoy!
🙂 Mandy
Healthy World Cuisine says
Very busy in Hong Kong as you know it has the densest population in the world. Even busier and crazier than usual this week.
gardenfreshtomatoes says
Great photos and instructions!
Happy New Year!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks Marie! I know you don't celebrate this Lunar New Year holiday in Rhode Island but maybe you can tell work you need the week off anyways. I love Asia so many holidays!!
gardenfreshtomatoes says
Since 'work' for me is all at home now, I'm not sure that's going to fly... 😉
And, I'm always up for a good party!