Classic recipe for simple pork wontons. Ground pork is seasoned with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. Add an egg to bind, and ginger, garlic, and green onions for more flavor. Mix and wrap. Boil and eat!
Pork Wontons
Hooray for pork wontons! Wonton fillings options are endless. There's pork and shrimp, pork and chive, pork and cabbage, pork and kimchi, and many wonderful vegetarian options.
Then there is the classic "just pork" wontons, which is what we are making today!
It is a simple recipe that calls for ground pork plus pantry ingredients like soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, and green onions. And one egg to bind the filling. Mix everything together in a bowl, and then assemble and fold the wontons.
Wonton making is a fun family/group project, but also something I enjoy doing on my own. Put on a good podcast, set up your wonton assembly line and start folding.
Ingredients
Filling ingredients
- Ground pork - Aim for fattier (not lean) ground pork
- Soy Sauce - We use Kikkoman or Aloha brands in Hawaii. You can also use a low sodium soy sauce.
- Oyster Sauce - A must! Oyster sauce is a very popular ingredient in many local recipes. Look for Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce.
- Sesame Oil - Also an essential ingredient that shows up in many local recipes. We like Kadoya Sesame Oil.
- Egg - Purpose of the egg to help bind all the filling ingredients together.
- Ginger, minced
- Garlic, minced
- Green onions, finely chopped
- White Pepper (optional) - White pepper is optional but I always include it, I love that earthy heat it adds to the filling.
Wrapping ingredients and items
- Square wonton wrappers
- Small dish of room temperature water (to dip your finger in so that you may moisten the edges of the wonton wrappers).
- A big plate or board to put the wrapped wontons.
How To Fold Wontons
There are a bazillion different ways you can fold wontons. Our go-to method is the "ingot" style. It's simple, fast, and looks good.
Place the filling in the center, fold to form a triangle. Then bring the two bottom/long corners together. Press and seal. For a step by step visual guide to this method, check out How To Fold Wontons post.
How To Eat Wontons
These are the most popular ways to eat and enjoy wontons:
Boiled And Dipped In Sauce
Boil (boiling instructions in the next section below) the wontons and pair them with a wonton dipping sauce. Three wonton dipping sauce options:
Easy Dipping Sauce
For a quick and easy dipping sauce, mix together equal parts:
And then just dip each wonton in the sauce and eat! You can also opt to place the wontons in a bowl/plate and drizzle the sauce over.
Classic Dipping Sauce
For a classic dipping sauce, please check our Wonton/Dumpling Dipping Sauce recipe. It's still made from all pantry ingredients but with the addition of fresh garlic and green onions.
The classic dipping sauce requires a few more ingredients than the easy dipping sauce, but is very much worth the effort.
As with the easy dipping sauce, you have the option of dipping each wonton in the sauce, or placing the wontons in a bowl/plate and drizzling the sauce all over. Top with extra green onions and sesame seeds if you'd like ^_^
Sesame Sauce With Chili Oil
Sesame sauce is one of my favorite wonton sauce pairings! Make rich and silky sesame sauce to drizzle over the boiled wontons. Check out our full recipe post about Pork Wontons With Sesame Sauce.
Wonton Soup
Who doesn't love wonton soup! Next time you get a roast chicken (which we often do from Costco Hawaii heheh), save the carcass and use it to make chicken broth.
Then use that broth to make wonton soup! To make the soup, just bring the broth to a boil and slide in a few wontons. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Then add a splash of sesame oil and pinch of salt.
Spoon the wonton soup into bowls and finish at the table with chopped green onions and white pepper.
Simple and comforting ^_^
How To Cook Wontons
There are many ways to cook wontons. You can boil, steam, deep fry and steam-fry. Check out this post on how to cook wontons and dumplings.
99% of the time, I end up boiling dumplings. It's fast and easy and most importantly...onolicious!
To boil dumplings, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Slide in the dumplings and cook for 3 minutes (for fresh / just wrapped dumplings) and 5 minutes (for frozen dumplings).
If you want to get detailed about boiling (many people insist this is the only way to boil it "right"), bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Slide in the dumplings. Once the water comes back up to a boil, add in one cup of cold water. Once the water comes back to a boil again, add a second cup of cold water. Do this one more time (three cups of cold water in total). Then the dumplings are ready to eat!
Questions and Tips
Mix/stir the filling in one direction. I go clockwise. This helps to make the filling more sticky and keeps the meat more juicy. It takes a little longer but is a definite must-do.
Yes! We use dumpling filling and wonton fillings interchangeably.
Yes. Cabbage (chop thin, salt for 15 minutes and squeeze out excess water before using) and chives are popular options.
Pork Wontons Recipe
See below and enjoy ^_^
Pork Wontons
This is a classic recipe for simple pork wontons. Ground pork is seasoned with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. Add an egg to bind, and ginger, garlic, and green onions for more flavor. Mix and wrap. Boil and eat!
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 egg
- 1 1-inch knob ginger, minced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 stalks green onions, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon white pepper (optional)
- 50 square wonton wrappers
Instructions
- Make the wonton filling. Combine all the ingredients (except for the wonton wrappers!) in a mixing bowl.
- Mix everything together in one direction (I go counter clockwise) until evenly combined.
- Arrange your wrapping station. On a table, lay out the wonton wrappers, a small dish of water, the filling, and a plate/board to put all the wrapped wontons.
- Wrap the wontons. Put a small spoonful (about 1-2 teaspoons) of the filling in the center of the wrapper.
- Dip your finger in the water dish and moisten the edges of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half to form a triangle. Dip your finger in the water dish again and moisten one of the bottom corners. Bring the two bottom corners together and press to seal.
- Boil for 3 minutes. Drain onto a plate. Serve with a dumpling dipping sauce* and eat hot! Enjoy ^_^
Notes
*Two choices for a dumpling dipping sauce. Make a quick dipping sauce by mixing together equal parts soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Make a classic dipping sauce using this dumpling dipping sauce recipe.
Try adding finely chopped water chestnuts if frying. Don't know how it will go with boiling.
This looks delicious! I've never boiled wontons before, it sounds so easy and healthy. Do you think these could be boiled ahead of time and eaten for lunch the next day, or best to do it fresh? Thank you for all your recipes! I've made a few so far.
Thank you, Kristen! Best to boil the dumplings only right before you eat. (You can technically boil the night before and reheat in the microwave, but the quality will not be nearly as good.) Definitely try to boil right before if you can! So happy you are enjoying the recipes ^_^
- Kathy
Hi Kathy: Yup, wontons are one of my favorite foods. But these days, being the lazy guy that I am, I just buy the frozen ones from Costco. They are pretty good, but obviously not as good as home-made. I normally put the boiled wontons in my wor wonton mein soup, but I also like them deep fried. In fact, I actually love deep fried gau gees even more!
Keep the great recipes coming!
Hi Alan! The Costco ones are great! We've had the Ling Ling potstickers and the newer mini chicken wontons, they come in handy for sure. Am craving gau gee BIG TIME. Been getting gau gee takeout, but planning to make some at home soon ^_^ Enjoy the weekend!
- Kathy
If you make gau gees, don't forget to fry them once before freezing. Then fry a second time when you are going to eat them. They freeze better and are more crispy when you eat them if you do it this way!
Ooo good tip! Thanks, Alan 🙂