Homemade Wonton Soup is the best way to satisfy any craving for Chinese food without having to leave the house.
Tender homemade wontons are filled with seasoned pork and simmered in a ginger, soy, sesame broth.
Big batches of wontons can be made ahead of time and frozen for a quick meal in minutes.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
What is Wonton Soup?
A steaming bowl of wonton soup is the starter for a stir fry or or sweet and sour chicken and rice.
Wonton soup is a staple of Chinese cuisine with tender wontons in a seasoned chicken broth. Wontons are like an Asian equivalent of ravioli or tortellini with a tender dough folded around a spiced meat mixture.
The wontons in my recipe are filled with ground pork, as it has lots of flavor and a hearty texture. Replace it with finely chopped shrimp, ground chicken or turkey, or even ground beef.
Wonton Wrappers
You can find wonton wrappers at most grocery stores, often in the produce area or near the fresh chow mein noodles. If you don’t see them, ask the grocer, as most stores do carry them. Although I always buy them, you can also make homemade wonton wrappers.
Wonton wrappers are flat squares of fresh egg noodle dough and can be easily pinched, folded, or cut into various shapes for different uses. In this wonton soup recipe, they’re filled and boiled, but they’re great served crisp as little cups for jalapeño popper wonton cups or filled and fried as crab rangoon.
How to Make Wontons
There are many, many ways to fold a wonton. I love the look and ease of folding them into this shape! Folding wontons is easy but does take a lot of time. I make big batches and freeze them (cook from frozen).
- Spoon a teaspoon of filling into the center. Do not overfill.
- Moisten the edges with a few drops of water.
- Fold into triangles, pressing the edges into a tight seal.
- Squeeze the two edges of the triangle together and seal with a bit of water.
How to Make Wonton Soup
Once the wontons are prepared, the rest is of this soup recipe is really easy!
- Simmer the broth and seasonings for a few minutes.
- Remove the ginger and garlic and reduce heat.
- Gently simmer the wontons in the broth.
Serve in bowls or cups garnished with chopped green onions or chives. Remember to handly the wontons gently to prevent them from tearing! If you’d like to add veggies and shrimp to turn this into a Wor Wonton Soup, these wontons work well for that, too!
How to Store
Leftover wonton soup can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. I remove the wontons from the soup with a slotted spoon and store them separately.
To prepare ahead of time freeze the uncooked wontons.
- Fill wontons and place them in a single layer on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Place uncovered in the freezer. When frozen, transfer to freezer bags.
There is no need to thaw the wontons before cooking. Prepare the soup broth as directed and add the wontons from frozen. Begin timing the cooking from when the broth returns to simmer.
Take Out Fake Outs at Home
This Wonton Soup recipe is a favorite starter! Here are other take out favorites we love to make at home.
Did your family love this Wonton Soup? Leave us a rating and a comment below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 30 wonton wrappers
Wonton Filling
- 8 ounces ground pork
- 2 green onions finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 =½ teaspoons cornstarch
Broth
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 2 cloves garlic whole
- 2 slices fresh ginger approx. ¼-inch
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 green onions sliced
Instructions
Wontons
- In a large bowl add pork, green onions, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, grated ginger, and cornstarch. Mix well to combine.
- Place 1 teaspoon filling in the center of a wonton wrapper. Moisten the edges of the wonton wrapper with a little bit of water and fold in half to create a triangle. Moisten the two longer tips, bring them together, and press.
- Dip the bottom in a bit of flour and place on a parchment lined pan. Repeat with the remaining wontons.
Soup
- In a large pot, add the broth, garlic, sliced ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce to a simmer, and cook uncovered for 10 minutes.
- Remove garlic and ginger and discard.
- Add the wontons to the soup and simmer for an additional 4-6 minutes or until pork is cooked through. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Soup
Cuisine Chinese© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
I love love love wonton soup. I often order 2 quarts of it from a couple of neighborhood Chinese restaurants. They are very generous and give lots of dumplings with my order. But what I really love is the broth. I made the broth from your recipe today, to add to my left over dumplings from my order. Delicious! Thank you. I don’t know that I will ever be ambitious enough to make your dumplings which I’m sure would be delicious, but I will be making your broth often!
So happy to hear that Kristin! And that’s the perfect solution – Leftover delicious dumplings and homemade broth!
My family loves this recipe! I have made it over and over . This recipe is a great foundation to understanding how to make it. Each time I follow the recipe and I add something different each time. It is not that bland. Soy sauce has so much sodium that instead of adding salt I might increase the soy sauce .
I don’t have fresh ginger how does ground ginger convert
Typically you’d want to substitute about ¼ teaspoon of powdered ginger for each teaspoon of fresh. Enjoy the recipe Beverly!
Just made this today and my family gobbled it up! It is a great recipe. Thank you. Tastes delicious.
You’re so welcome JoAnn! So glad you love this wonton soup!
Hi Holly, my daughter and I have started a tradition of making these annually for both our households so we’re just gearing up now to make them again. I love your clear photos on how to shape the wontons. They are delicious and we look forward to enjoying this soup again this winter. We add bok Choy and green onions and I think this year we’ll add thin rice noodles since we enjoy this as a main meal. Thank you for sharing your recipes. May you be richly blessed this holiday season.
I love that tradition, Karen! That sounds like such a fun thing to do with your daughter. We wish you both all the best this holiday season too!
I’ve made clam dip for many years from my Mom’s recipe. This one is even better! Love the addition of clam and lemon juices! YUM!
very bland just tasted like chicken soup with dumplings in them
This recipe was very well received. I added some grated carrots and some napa cabbage but otherwise made it as directed. I used homemade chicken stock so it had more flavor than the canned stock.
The method was great, but our broth was quite bland. I think tripling the ingredients other than the broth would probably have made for enough flavor for us. But such an easier recipe than I could have ever anticipated! I’ll definitely be making it again.
We followed the recipe to a T and found it to be quite bland(the soup and the meat inside the wontons). Everyone here is raving about the flavor but it was underwhelming to us.
Sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy the soup as much as we do Trice. The soup and meat can easily have additional seasoning added if you prefer. Thank you for trying it.
Do you use cooked or raw pork?
This uses raw pork, it will cook in the soup.
Absolutely delicious. My kids thought it was better than our local Chinese restaurant’s wonton soup. That’s a high bar. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful recipe. I am certain this will be in hot rotation in our household.
I have never made wontons before and tried your soup today for lunch – I absolutely love this recipe! Everything is so straightforward, all ingredients available… The soup just tasted exotically delicious and the hubs loved it too. When he saw me making up the additional wontons, he said oh can we please have this for dinner tonight too. ❣️ THANKS SO MUCH! this is a keeper or keepers.
Also, much appreciate your tip on making and freezing the wontons for a quick and wonderful meal in a jiffy.
So happy to hear that you both love the soup Barb! Thank you for sharing, and you are very welcome!!
Delicious. I love wonton soup but have never made it. I would rather help local small businesses in my area. Once seeing this recipe I could not resist the attempt. It turned out amazing and full of flavor. Thank Holly. Keep the great recipes coming.
You’re very welcome Melynda!
Loved it! Is the nutritional information per serving or for the whole recipe? Thanks
The nutritional information is per serving (for ⅙th of the recipe, about 1⅓ cups broth and 5 wontons).
LIKE THE RECIPE……………….
Looks great!
I LOVE TO COOK ,AND I DO MAKE SOUPS MYSELF. BUT WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE WAS YOUR WON TON SOUP NAVER MADE THAT, I WILL HAVE TO TRY IT,THANK YOU VERY MUCH Bruce.
You’re welcome Bruce. It’s SO good!
I dont have any ginger at all and no fresh garlic,
l have garlic powder only.
hi Holly, I just looked at your recipe for home made chinese broth. You said to use chicken broth along with other ingredients. My question is do can I use canned broth.
You can use homemade chicken broth or canned or boxed. Enjoy Luann!
I made this today. We both loved it though my wontons weren’t shaped exactly right; but tasted good. I used chicken stock that I saved from stewing chicken. But since I don’t always have that on hand, can you use canned chicken broth? Thank you.
Absolutely Mary! Enjoy!
This was the best wonton soup I have every eaten! I used ground chicken instead of pork the taste was amazing! Cannot wait to serve it again!
I add book choy, carrot, chinese cabbage, and bean sprouts to mine.. makes it heartier..