Living way out in the country has lots of positives – being near a good Chinese takeout restaurant is not one of them. I’ve been trying to use my Instant Pot to cook with more often, instead of using it only for rice, potatoes or hard boiled eggs, or making yogurt. I bought a couple Instant Pot cookbooks, including Simple Comforts by Jeffrey Eisner, the guru of Instant Pot cooking.
The wonton recipe was one of the first recipes I decided to make from the book. We love Chinese food, but the one restaurant near us leaves us wanting something more (or eating less of it, as the case may be). And since we always get wonton soup, trying to make it was a no brainer. Now, I could have made this long ago on the stove top, I just never thought of it. And certainly this recipe could be made with a large soup pot on a burner instead of with the instant pot. I just started to follow the book this time ( I may try it on the stove top next time).
I adjusted the amount of liquid ingredients higher than the original recipe, and I added in a teaspoon of Better than Bouillon Chicken (I love this stuff, so much flavor! I have many of the different varieties). The original recipe uses some thinly sliced chicken tenders; I had a leftover breast of chicken in the freezer, so I just shredded that up.
Shaoxing wine is also important. Although sherry wine is often substituted for it, the Shaoxing really makes homemade Chinese food taste the Chinese takeout. It’s easily available online, in case you are not near a large metropolitan area where store have large international sections in the markets (like me!) or nearby Chinese grocery stores. It’s not expensive, and since a recipe typically uses only a couple tablespoons, the bottle lasts a long time in the pantry. It does not need to be refrigerated.
I used the lesser amount of ground pork listed in the recipe, simply because I had it frozen in 3/4 pound packages in my freezer. Even with that, I made about 40 wontons, and you only need about half for this soup. I froze the rest in 2 containers, for 2 smaller batches of soup. The filling is much like that of pot stickers, except no cabbage (maybe I’ll try those next!).
Forming the wontons takes a bit of practice, but it’s really not hard. I wrote simple directions in the recipe. I found that I needed to really wet my fingers to run water around the edges to make them sticky enough to seal. And press down hard to really seal the edges around the center. I folded per Jeffrey in the book, but I also found this website by the Woks of Life, who have 3 different folds shown. I used my smallest cookie scoop and used about 3/4 of a scoop per wonton. Too much filling will let the meat will ooze out, and may keep the wonton skin from sealing. Making the wontons is the most labor and time intensive part of the recipe, but, as I said there will be plenty left for next time. The wontons could be made whenever you have the time, and freeze all of them, ready to go when you want soup.
The preparation and wontons takes the most time. The actual cooking, 15-20 minutes total. And only 1 minutes under pressure!
Wonton Soup (Instant Pot)
Real Wonton Soup at home, but it takes just like takeout! Use and Instant Pot or stove top.
Ingredients
Wontons
- .75 – 1 pound ground pork or chicken or turkey, even shrimp
- 1 large shallot finely minced
- 4 scallions white & light green parts, finely minced (save green tops for soup)
- 4 Large mushrooms finely chopped – shitake, white, cremini, baby bella
- 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 2 tbsp sesame oil regular or toasted
- 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 ½ tsp mined ginger or squeeze ginger
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 pkg fresh or frozen wonton wrappers
Soup
- 1 pound chicken tenderloins sliced into thin strips or leftover cooked chicken, shredded
- 2 quarts chicken broth
- 1 quart water
- 1 ½ tsp grated ginger or squeeze ginger
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp chicken better than bouillon
- 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 5 oz baby spinach
- Greens sliced scallions used above
- Chow mein noodles if desired
Instructions
Wontons
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Combine all the wonton ingredients except for the wrappers. Mix well for 1-2 minutes to fully incorporate.
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Lay a wrapper in front of your like a diamond. Using cold water, and your finger, wet all the edges. This will glue ends together. Put a small ball, about a teaspoon worth, in the middle. Fold the bottom point up to the top, making a diamond, and seal all edges. I found it easiest to start at the top and seal downward, pushing all the air out from around the meat. Push down edges to seal well, take one bottom point and fold toward the middle of the bottom, and wet top slightly, fold over the other bottom point (Do it over a finger) and seal onto the first point.
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Put finished wontons into a dish to hold them. Once done, cover with a lid or plastic wrap to prevent drying.
Soup
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Add all the soup ingredients except for the spinach and scallion greens. Stir well to combine, and hit Sauté (adjust to high) on the Instant pot. This takes about 10 minutes. Turn off.
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Once the broth is hot and bubbling, add about 20 wontons. Cover with the spinach. Close up and pressure cook for 1 minute. Quick release once done. Don’t be surprised if the wonton’s look puffed up when you pull off the lid.
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Stir very gently as wonton’s are fragile. Sprinkle with scallions. Use a large spoon or ladle to remove a couple wontons to a soup bowl, and add broth. Sprinkle with chow mein noodles, if using.
Recipe Notes
The wonton’s cooked in the pressure cooker are quite delicate and silky smooth to the mouth.
To achiever thicker, firmer wontons, like from a restaurant, only add them after pressure cooking and turn back on sauté to simmer them for 4-5 minutes.
Or eliminate using the Instant Pot and just cook the soup on the stove in a large pot or Dutch oven.
This makes a lot of wontons. The rest can be refrigerated if using immediately or frozen. Keep in an airtight container.
Please try this wonderful soup, then let me know how you like it!
