The Best Cantonese Wonton Noodle Soup

With Lunar New Year coming up, I’ve been craving some good ol’ fashioned Cantonese food. Wonton noodle soup (or wonton mein) is one of my husband’s comfort foods. We love going to Mike’s Noodle House or King Noodle on cold, rainy days (a.k.a. every day in Seattle). As you might have seen in my homemade gyoza post, any sort of dumpling making at home is going to be somewhat of a  labor-intensive process. BUT, it is so worth it. I went to bed still thinking about my noodle soup and excited to eat it again the next day. Because there’s some time and effort involved in this recipe, I’m going to break it down for you in a big of a longer blog post than normal. So if you’re ready to commit to making fantastic pork and shrimp wonton noodle soup at home, this post is for you!

Ingredients For Pork and Shrimp Wontons

Aside from condiments like soy sauce, which hopefully you already have at home, there aren’t that many ingredients. I use a combination of pork and shrimp for my wonton fillings. However, you can make the ratio of pork to shrimp whatever you like. I typically buy about an equal weight of both, one half to one pound each. There’s a lot of flexibility in the filling, which is why the ingredient list shows a range in quantities. One thing you must do, however, is to buy whole shrimp with the heads on. Yes, you’ll need to peel and devein them yourself, which is more work. But you’ll need the shrimp heads for the broth. Being that I’m still a busy person, I opted to buy the wonton wrappers and noodles instead of making those from scratch. Of course feel free to go all out and make those as well.

Making the Cantonese Wonton Filling

The basic ingredients for the filling are pork, shrimp, and one egg. To this you can add whatever spices or condiments you like. I typically add just a DROP of sesame oil, a splash of soy sauce, a pinch of salt, sugar, and pepper, and grated garlic and ginger, about the size of one clove each. I use light soy sauce, but really, just use what you have. Most times, I don’t measure here. I add ingredients until the mixture smells good. If you’re new to dumpling making, you can take a small teaspoon of filling, microwave it for ten seconds or until cooked, and taste it to try it out. Blend all ingredients in a food processor, stand mixer, blender, or even by hand. You’re ready to fold!

How to Fold Wontons

There are many ways to fold wontons. The easiest way is to scoop a teaspoon of filling in the middle, pull up the corners and pinch the edges together into a triangle. That is a completely acceptable, albeit potentially rustic looking, wonton. However, if you want to make yours a little prettier, I’ll show you how I do mine.

Place your wonton wrapper square on a plate, with a teaspoon of filling in the middle. This filling expands when it cooks, so do NOT try to overstuff your wonton. Wet the sides of the square with water. Fold the bottom corner up to form a triangle.

Then, wet the two bottom corners of your triangle and pinch those edges together. That’s it!

Pork and Shrimp Broth for Wonton Noodle Soup

Honestly, the broth is the make-it-or-break-it point of this recipe. A lot of recipes I’ve seen use chicken stock or pork stock. While they both taste good, they don’t taste quite right, when I compare them to my memories of slurping down noodles at Mike’s Noodle House. By all means, if this is all you’ve got, then feel free to use chicken or pork broth. But now that you know there’s better out there, don’t you at least want to know how it’s done?? Don’t you??? 😉

Now, the internet claims that the most authentic broth needs dried fish powder, but I’m too practical to go searching for fish powder just for one recipe. Instead, my recipe uses a combination of pork and shrimp for the broth, which I find to be just right in flavor and not too difficult to make. I bought pork bones for a couple bucks at our local Japanese market and used the shrimp heads leftover from the wonton filling. I used my trusty InstantPot to cook them in about two quarts of water for 45 minutes at high pressure. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can still make broth the old-fashioned way, simmering for a couple hours on the stovetop. 

Assembling Your Noodle Soup

Alright, your broth is ready and your wontons are folded. Bring some water to a boil and blanch whatever veggies you want in your soup. Then, boil your wontons in batches; it only takes about 4-5 minutes to cook through. Finally, cook your noodles. You are ready to assemble your bowl of wonton noodle soup!

Pour some broth into a bowl. To each individual bowl, add condiments to taste! I add a splash of light soy sauce and a few drops of sesame oil. If you want some spice, add some chili oil. You could also add some white pepper or salt if you’d like too. The fun is that you can really customize how salty or spicy you want your soup to be. Once you’re satisfied with your soup, add in the vegetables, wontons, and noodles. At long last, you’re done! Eat and enjoy!

Whew. Writing up this whole blog post has been almost as much work as making the wonton noodle soup itself. I know this recipe is like a marathon of cooking compared to my other posts, but I do hope you give it a try. Until next time!