Wonton Mein (Wonton Noodle Soup) Recipe

Wonton mein, also known as wonton noodle soup, is pure comfort food. Learn how to make these pork and shrimp dumplings served with noodles, vegetables, and a flavorful broth for a complete meal.

Disclaimer: Please check that all ingredients are suitable for your allergies and be sure to ask your medical care team regarding any allergy related questions (I do not share medical advice). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

What are Wontons?

Wontons are pork and shrimp filled dumplings, which I included as a recipe in the Chinese Instant Pot Cookbook. Thin squares of wheat dough are filled with a spoonful of seasoned ground pork and chopped shrimp and then sealed and boiled until cooked.

Wonton soup, also known as wonton tong, is a handful of wontons in broth that is a side dish or appetizer. If you add noodles to it, then a little bowl of wonton tong becomes a big bowl of wonton mein. I always want my wonton mein with extra veggies (wonton mein ga choy) so that it’s a complete meal.

Nut-Free and Dairy-Free Wontons

Wonton mein is typically a nut-free and dairy-free recipe which means that there’s potentially hidden egg, soy, shellfish, sesame, and fish. Sometimes people might add egg as a binder in the filling or to seal the wraps. The wheat-based fresh egg noodles and wraps might contain egg also. The filling would be seasoned with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and/or sesame oil, all of which can be omitted or substituted with other ingredients. I recently learned that dried flounder powder might be used to season the broth. Since all of these ingredients are prepared in advance, the recipe are not adaptable on demand. Learning how to make them is the best way to enjoy!

My mom always added minced rehydrated shiitake mushrooms in our wontons. I couldn’t figure out why my son didn’t like wontons until I considered the possibility he might be allergic or intolerant of mushrooms. This recipe is also mushroom-free.

Main Ingredients Needed

Wonton Wraps

I always buy New Hong Kong Noodle Company’s fresh noodles and wraps. I remember their original store in San Francisco’s Chinatown and the only products they make are wheat noodles and wraps, some products with eggs and some without eggs (assume they’re made on shared equipment). If you need an egg-free wonton wrap, check Nasoya brands.

Fresh Egg Noodles

Wonton mein is usually served with fresh egg noodles. You will find them in the refrigerator section of an Asian supermarket. The noodles will have a fine dusting of flour on them and the plastic packaging should be dry. I gently fluff them up and loosen and separate the strands before cooking in boiling water briefly before serving.

If you can’t buy fresh egg noodles or are allergic to eggs, feel free to substitute with any Asian style noodle you can eat.

Ground Pork

I love it when I can buy ground pork that is vacuum sealed. They stay fresh longer and freeze well in 1 pound packages. It’s super convenient to have on hand whenever I have fresh wonton wrappers. Freshly ground pork is nice less costly but also more perishable. It has to be cooked within 1 or 2 days. If you don’t eat pork, you can substitute with other ground meats, poultry, or fish paste.

Shrimp

I like using frozen raw shrimp because they’re very consistently fresh. Since I chop the shrimp into smaller pieces anyways, I buy small to medium sized shrimps (for example 41-50 count per pound). It’s less work to chop and less expensive than the extra jumbo shrimp that I buy to cook Easy & Low-Fat Chinese Salt and Pepper Garlic Shrimp Recipe. If allergic to shrimp, feel free to omit the shrimp, use more pork, or substitute with minced mushrooms or other vegetables.

Chinese Veggies or Iceberg Lettuce

Select your favorite Chinese vegetable, wash, and parboil for 30 seconds to 1 minute until bright green. Strain and set aside until ready to assemble wonton noodle soup bowls. You can use baby bok choy, yo choy, napa cabbage, or iceberg lettuce. You can also serve spinach, although I recommend stir frying spinach with a little bit of oil.

How to Make an Easy Broth for Wonton Soup

Traditional wonton soup is usually a pork bone broth simmered with shrimp shells, strained, and then simmered with some chicken seasoning and dried flounder powder. It might be difficult to find dried flounder powder and then verify allergen cross contact. I like to simplify recipes for everyday meals and also for food allergies.

Use prepared chicken broth, homemade chicken broth, or the poaching liquid from making Cantonese-Style Poached Chicken. If you happen to have some raw shrimp shells, simmer for 10 minutes and then strain.

Wonton Wraps vs. Filling Math

My favorite brand of wonton wrappers makes two varieties, medium wraps and thin wraps. Both types are sold in 16 ounce packages, with about 60 count medium wraps and 80 count wraps thin wraps. Wontons made with medium wraps are sturdier and easier to wrap, freeze ahead, and cook. The thin wraps are more delicate and easier to seal.

• This recipe makes about 50+ wontons using medium wraps. That will give you some wiggle room in case any of the wraps tear or stick together. And if you have extras wraps, just cut them into bite size strips and cook them as extra noodles.
• If you want to use thin wraps and use up all the wraps at once, you will need approximately 1.5x more filling ingredients (multiple each ingredient by 1.5).

I like using the thin wraps but then I had about 30 thin wraps leftover. Of course, I made another batch of filling the next day to use up the rest of the wraps. You can probably guess that I had extra wonton filling leftover, which I used to make Stir-Fried Rice Noodle Rolls with Pork & Tofu. Another way I use up extra wonton filling is to stir fry it and add it to Sharon’s Special Sticky Rice Recipe.

Wonton Wrapping Tips

I place a wonton wrap on a work surface and add a small spoonful of filling (2 teaspoons, about the size of grape) in the center. Then dip a finger in a bowl of water and wet the eges of the wrapper. Fold one corner to an opposite corner to form a triangle, gently release any air bubbles, pinch the edges together. Wet the left and right tips and bring them up to the center and then fold down. The wonton will look like an envelope, place folded side down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

• Be sure to press the edges of the wrapper together so the wonton doesn’t fall apart.
• Don’t overfill the wontons otherwise the wrapper might tear and the wonton will fall apart.
• It’s easier to wrap an underfilled wonton. Try to stick to a consistent size so all of your wontons will finish cooking at the same time.
• Keep the wraps in the package as you assemble the wontons so the wraps don’t dry out. Use dry fingers to take a few wraps out at a time. I find it helpful to have a paper towel nearby to dry my fingers as needed.
• When you feel ready to speed up the wonton wrapping process, you can work on a few at a time. Lay out 4-6 wrappers at once. Add a spoonful of filling to each wrapper, check for consistency. And then wet the edges and wrap them one by one.
• As you gain more experience you can wrap larger wontons (cherry tomato sized) next time, but be careful not to overfill and tear the wontons.

How to Cook and Serve the Wonton Mein

After you finish wrapping the wontons, you will prepare the broth for serving by straining and discarding the shrimp shells and reheating it. Parboil the vegetables in the broth for 1-2 minutes, set aside.

You will also need to have large soup or serving bowls (3 to 4 cup capacity) ready for each person. Bring the large pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles for 30 to 60 seconds max and then use a pasta server to place about 1 cup of noodles in each bowl. Set aside any extra noodles for anyone who wants seconds.

Lastly, you will cook the dumplings. Gently keep the water moving so that the wontons don’t stick together or stick to the pot. Start the timer when one wonton floats and then cook for 5 minutes at a gentle boil. In the meantime, start adding the veggies to the bowl.

How to Freeze Extra Wontons

Sometimes you or your family can’t eat 50+ wontons in one sitting, especially when you are cooking for 1, 2 or 3 people. Depending on each person’s appetite, plan on making 8-10 wontons per person and just wrap what you need. If you wrap until you run out of filling or wraps, then you need to either cook them or freeze them ASAP.

You can freeze wrapped but uncooked wontons. They’re super easy to cook on demand, you don’t even need to defrost them! If you have room in your freezer, arrange the uncooked and wrapped wontons on a parchment paper lined rimmed baking tray and arrange them on the tray without touching each other. Freeze for 2-3 hours until they’re frozen solid and then transfer them into freezer bags.

I don’t have room in my freezer for a baking sheet! I use paper cake plates (approximately 6 inches diameter) and arrange the wontons on the plates without touching, stack the plates inside a gallon sized freezer bag, and freeze.

Allergy Aware Wonton Noodle Soup with Veggies

This recipe is free of peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, and fish as written.

People with a wheat allergy might want to use tamari sauce instead of soy sauce. If you have GF Jule’s all purpose flour, you could try GF Jule’s recipe for wonton wrappers, I haven’t tested her recipe. I have made wonton skins from scratch, they’re totally delicious but very work intensive. You can substitute the fresh egg noodles with zoodles, gluten free rice ramen, or other gluten free noodles which you enjoy.

If allergic to eggs, I’ve adapted the filling to be egg-free. Nasoya seems to make a vegan wonton skin, made without eggs. But it’s been awhile since I’ve contacted them and they’ve removed allergen info from their website. I’ve seen other premade wonton skins that don’t have egg in the ingredients.

I like to season the wontons with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. You can always omit any of those ingredients and season with salt or soy-free soy sauce or mushroom “oyster” sauce. Check What’s in Nut Free Wok’s Cupboard if you need more ideas. Unfortunately there isn’t a great substitute for sesame oil, although I think sunflower seed butter is a very close (dilute with 1 tablespoon water and soy sauce so that it’s easy to mix).

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Wonton Mein (Wonton Noodle Soup) Recipe

Wonton mein, also known as wonton noodle soup, is pure comfort food. Learn how to make these pork and shrimp dumplings served with noodles, vegetables, and a flavorful broth for a complete meal. See the blog post for allergy adaptations.

Course Dinner entree, Main Entree

Cuisine Chinese

Keyword wonton mein, wonton noodle soup, wonton noodle soup with vegetables

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 5

Author Sharon Wong (NutFreeWok.com)

Ingredients

• 1 bunch scallions finely chopped, divided
• 1/2 pound shrimp (1 pound if you want shrimp as pictured) raw, deveined, reserve any shells
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper plus more for table
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 16- ounce package wonton wraps medium, 60 count
• 1 16 ounce package fresh egg noodles or equivalent
• 1 pound green leafy vegetables 3-4 baby bok choy or yo choy stems per serving, 1 iceberg lettuce, etc
• 4 cups broth chicken or vegetable
• 2 cups water

Instructions

1. Finely chop the scallions. Reserve about 4 tablespoons for garnish, transfer the rest into a medium mixing bowl.
2. Peel and devein the shrimp. Reserve the shrimp shells for the broth. Chop the shrimp into pea-sized pieces. Transfer to the mixing bowl.
3. Add the ground pork, oyster sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, and white pepper and stir until the sauces look evenly distributed. Then add the cornstarch and mix in a circular direction until the mixture looks like a lumpy paste. Return to the refrigerator to marinate.
4. Place the fresh egg noodles in a large bowl or a plate and use your fingers to separate the noodle strands so they’re not clumped together. Set aside

5. Fill a large pot halfway with water, cover with a lid, and bring to a boil on low heat while you wrap the wontons. Later, you will use this pot cook the noodles and cook the wontons.

6. In a medium sized pot, add the broth, 2 cups water, and shrimp shells. Bring to a boil, simmer on low for 10 minutes and turn off the heat.

7. Place a wonton wrap on a work surface and add a small spoonful of filling (2 teaspoons, about the size of grape) in the center. Use a finger to wet the eges of the wrapper. Fold one corner to an opposite corner to form a triangle, pinch the edges together. Avoid any air bubbles, gently squeeze them out before you seal the last edge. Wet the left and right tips and bring them up to the center and then fold down. The wonton will look like an envelope, place folded side down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

When ready to cook the wontons and assemble the bowls

1. When ready to assemble the wonton noodle soup bowls, use a slotted spoon or fine mesh strainer to strain the shrimp shells and discard. Reheat the broth, parboil the veggies, transfer to a bowl and set aside. Keep the broth warm. (Optional, if you want to have shrimp in the bowl as well, cook the shrimp in the simmering broth until they turn pink, remove from the pot and set aside until the last step.)

2. Bring the large pot of water to boil on medium-high heat, add the noodles, cook for 60 seconds, and use chopsticks or a pasta server to transfer about 1 cup of cooked egg noodles into each soup bowl and any extras into a serving bowl.
3. Wait for the water to return to a boil, stir the water in a circular motion, and add the wrapped wontons into the pot. Give the wontons a gentle stir so that they don’t stick to the pot or to each other. When you see the first wonton start to float, start a timer for 5 minutes. Watch the pot and adjust the temperature to medium so that the pot doesn’t boil over.

4. While waiting for the wontons to finish cooking, arrange about 1/2 cup of the cooked vegetables on the noodles. When the wontons are ready, add 8-10 wontons to each bowl, add 2-3 ladles of broth, cooked shrimp if using, and garnish with chopped scallions. Optionally serve with a few drops of sesame oil and/or more white pepper at the table.

Related Recipes

• If you like Chinese dumplings, you might like making Chicken & Corn Potstickers with Homemade Wrapper Recipe.
• I also have a Pan-Fried Pork and Shrimp Dumplings (Potstickers) recipe that’s delicious.
• Another quick and easy variation of a dumpling in soup recipe is using frozen potstickers in a soup recipe.
• Since wonton mein is pretty much a complete meal, you might enjoy an easy dessert such as Better For You Butter Mochi, a Hawaiian dessert.
• On a warmer day, you might like making An Experiment with Nut-Free Almond Tofu. Both are super easy desserts to make.
• Or you can enjoy a Dragon Fruit Salad with Watermelon, Strawberries, and Blueberries for a healthy and special dessert.

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