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Homemade Pork Wontons are a yummy Chinese chopstick food that make for a great ‘treat’, aka appetizer/munchie or even a main dish on a Friday or Saturday night which is exactly what we did! These wontons have all the great flavor of Chinese takeout and are way better than any store bought!
This was my first time making Chinese Wontons and I had no idea how easy they were to make. The most difficult part was the folding of the wontons and preventing the wonton sheets from getting too dry.
These wontons were so tasty and easy to make that I might never buy from a store again (unless from an Asian Market). In fact, David and I did a side by side comparison of and mine were the clear winner, hands down!
I hope you enjoy and cheers 🥂!
Some Notes
- Pork Filling Spices – For my filling, I combined pork, onion, ginger, chives, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, rice vinegar, Chinese Five Spice and white pepper. Most recipes call for scallions, but since we’re in quarantine, I didn’t have any available. However, I did have fresh garden chives, which worked well. If you don’t have Chinese Five Spice, never fear because you can substitute with Hoisin Sauce or make your own Chinese Five Spice with cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise, and Sichuan peppercorns. If you don’t have white pepper, ground pepper will work.
- Preparing the Pork Filling – I opted to cook my filling before stuffing the wontons. While most recipes don’t call for this step, I was making my wontons in advance of serving, so I decided to take the extra step. Two, the quality and taste of the wonton did not suffer in the least bit. You can certainly combine all ingredients together without cooking; i.e. pork, onions, garlic, ginger, chives (or scallions), oyster sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, Chinese Five Spice and white pepper; and simple stuff the wontons with that mixture.
- Folding the Wontons – I’d watch some YouTube videos to get comfortable with the wonton folding techniques. I want with the Triangular Ingot and the Ruffled Purse. I prefered the Ruffled Purse because you could include more of the filling and you’ll definitely find your favorite fold very quickly when you stuff and fold!
- Keeping your Wonton Wrappers Moist – I hate the word moist associated with cooking 😉, but you need to keep your wonton wrappers moist because it prevents the wontons from breaking. I suggest using a damp paper towel or dish towel to create the moisture needed.
- Cooking your Wontons – I prefer steaming over frying with a light crisp! I used a nonstick pan with ~1/2 inch of water with a bit of sesame oil (this helped prevent the wontons from sticking to the pan) and steamed for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, I removed the steaming water from the pan and crisped the bottom of the wontons, which added texture and extra goodness. You certainly could fry, but steaming with a light crisp was my preference.
- Garnishing and Dippers for your Wontons – For garnishing, I went with fresh chives because I had them. I would suggest scallion as that’s more common, but chives are certainly a good substitute. For dippers, we went with Hoisin and Sweet Chili Garlic Sauce. Soy sauce with some chili garlic sauce would also work well, have fun with your dippers!
- Freezing the Wontons – A package of wontons typically includes 50 wrappers and this recipe is just enough for 45-50 wontons (you’ll likely tear a few wrappers). If you’re like me, you might want to freeze some for another Friday or Saturday munchie and wontons are very easy to freeze. To freeze the wontons, place them on a parchment paper lined plate and place them in the freezer (cover with plastic wrap to lock in the moisture) until completely frozen, ~1 hour. Once frozen, transfer them to a plastic bag. The frozen wontons can be cooked directly from frozen, just add 1 to 2 minutes to the cooking time.
Pork Wontons
These wontons have all the great flavor of Chinese takeout and are way better than any store bought!
Servings 45 wontons
Ingredients
- 50 wonton wrappers
- EVOO
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 medium sized onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, smash and chopped
- 2 tbs ginger, smashed and chopped
- 2 TBS fresh chives or scallions, chopped
- 2 TBS oyster sauce
- 2 TBS light soy sauce
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- ½ tsp Chinese Five Spice
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- Sea salt, for seasoning
- 2-3 dashes sesame oil
Instructions
Cooking the Pork Filling
- Begin by warming EVOO in a nonstick pan. When the pan and oil are warm, add the onion and cook until fragrant. Once fragrant, add the garlic and ginger and saute until the onions are translucent.
- Now add the pork to the aromatics and cook until the pork has some color.
- Next add the chives (or scallions), oyster sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, Chinese Five Spice and white pepper and combine together. Cook together for a few minutes and once the pork mixture is cooked, taste to see whether you need to add a touch of salt.
- Set aside the pork filling and allow to cool down slightly before stuffing the wontons.
Preparing the Work Surface for Creating the Wontons
- For the work surface, I would suggest a small bowl of cold water and a few damp paper towels or cloths for the wonton wrappers because you don't want them drying out. I would also line a baking sheet with parchment paper for the finished wontons.
Folding the Wontons
- Now begin building the wontons. As you create the wontons, place the finished wontons on the parchment paper and cover with a damp towel or cloth. Note: I'd watch some YouTube videos to get comfortable with wonton folding techniques. Also never fear if the wonton fold isn't perfect because they will still be delicious.
Cooking the Wontons
- Add ½ inch of water and a couple of dashes of sesame oil to a nonstick pan and warm to medium. Once little bubbles form on the pan surface, add your wontons and be careful not to overcrowd the pan or the wontons will stick.
- Add a cover to the pan and steam for ~10 minutes.
- Once the wontons are becoming translucent, remove any remaining water from the pan and allow a crisp to form on the bottom of each wonton.
Serving
- Serve warm and garnish with chive or scallion. Enjoy with your favorite dipping sauce and cheers 🥂.
