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Learn how to make this delicious vegan wonton soup recipe from start to finish for a warming and hearty meal. It leaves you with a satisfying feeling of sitting in a busy Chinese restaurant, slurping a soup!
Table of Contents
Wonton soup is a popular Chinese dish. To make it, filled wonton dumplings are cooked in water and served in a tasty broth! It’s a delicious, warming, and satisfying appetizer or weeknight dinner!
What are Wontons? A wonton (also spelled wantan, wuntun, or wenden) is a type of Chinese dumpling. To make them, paper-thin wonton wrappers are filled with finely chopped ingredients (often a mixture of cabbage, protein, mushrooms, and other vegetables) and folded beautifully by hand.
Wontons are either steamed in a wooden basket and served with a dip as an appetizer, or boiled in water/broth and served as wonton soup. Another popular Sichuan dish is red oil wonton, a spicy and slightly sour dish served in chili oil.
This recipe teaches you how to fill, fold, and cook wonton dumplings to turn them into vegan wonton soup! The vegan wonton filling consists of tofu, shiitake mushrooms, and vegetables. Served in a delicious vegetable broth enriched with fresh ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil. It’s perfect if you garnish it with bok choy and scallion!
I love this Chinese dish because it is warming and features many delicious flavors. You can serve it as an appetizer or enjoy a larger portion for dinner. Chinese Wonton soup is often made with meat, but this recipe is meatless, making it suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Suggestion: Prepare a large batch of wontons and freeze most of them. You can defrost wontons one by one directly in boiling water and have a super quick meal on the table within minutes!
You can either make homemade wonton wrappers or buy them frozen in almost any Asia Shop for a vegetarian wonton soup. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Follow my recipe to learn how to make vegan wonton wrappers!
Hint: Store-bought wonton wrappers from the Asia Shop contain egg and are therefore not suitable for vegans. If you are vegan and prefer buying them, I suggest using gyoza wrappers instead. They are eggless and thus suitable for vegans. But you must know that gyoza wrappers are round, not square, so you must be a bit creative when folding them. 😉
There are different ways to fold wonton. I’ve tried several methods for you and show you what I think is the easiest in the recipe.
🛒 Ingredients
See recipe card for quantities.
Wonton Filling:
- Wonton Wrappers → Follow this recipe to prepare homemade wonton wrappers or use store-bought wonton wrappers. You can get them frozen at the Asian Shop.
- Firm Tofu → Protein source. Feel free to swap tofu with vegan minced meat for a slightly different texture.
- Napa Cabbage, Carrot, Scallion → Those finely sliced vegetables make the filling perfect. Feel free to adjust the veggies. You could use minced onion, bean sprouts, or leek.
- Shiitake Mushrooms → Use either fresh or dried. Dried shiitake mushrooms need to be soaked in hot water first to soften.
- Ginger, Garlic → Add more flavor to the filling. If you like, you can also add chopped lemongrass.
- Soy Sauce, Rice Vinegar, Toasted Sesame Oil → For seasoning.
Wonton Soup:
- Soup broth → Vegetable Broth, Ginger, Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil, and Black Pepper (or white pepper) is used for aromatic broth.
- Bok Choy → Soup Greens.
👩🍳 Visual Step-by-Step Instructions
This visual step-by-step instruction will help you along the way – definitely recommended if you’re a cooking beginner! → Watch the recipe video to see how easy it is to make at home! 🤓
- Follow this recipe to prepare homemade wonton wrappers or use store-bought wonton wrappers (you can get them frozen in any Asian Grocery Store). → Frozen wonton wrappers should be thawed in the sealed package (to prevent them from drying out) for approximately one hour at room temperature.
- Place shiitake mushrooms in a bowl, cover with boiling water, and soak for 20 minutes. Drain and finely slice!
- Cut napa cabbage leaves in half lengthwise and finely slice into thin strips. Put in a colander, mix with 1 tsp salt, and drain for 20 minutes.
- Place shiitake, napa cabbage, and all remaining filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
- Fill & Fold Wonton: Place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of the wonton wrapper. Moisten the edges of the wrappers with a wet finger, then fold in half to create a triangle. Moisten one side corner of the triangle with water, then bring the two corners together and seal.
- Wonton Soup: Add vegetable broth, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, and pepper to a small saucepan, bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Bring a second pot of water to a boil. Cut bok choy in half or separate individual leaves from the stalk and simmer in boiling water for 2 minutes. Set aside. In the same boiling water, add as much wonton you are planning to serve, and cook for 2-3 minutes. → I recommend 6 to 8 wontons per person!
- Arrange wonton and bok choy in two serving bowls. Pour over wonton broth and sprinkle with scallion!
🥟 Variations
- Sesame – sprinkle toasted sesame seeds over the soup!
- Spicy – drizzle the soup with chili oil for a spicy finish!
- Cilantro – garnish with chopped cilantro for extra flavor!
🫙 Freezing Instructions
The recipe makes approximately 40 wontons. However, if you prepare the wonton soup as in the recipe, you won’t need all of them. You can freeze the remaining wontons so that you always have homemade wontons at home whenever you are craving a quick wonton soup.
I always prepare a larger batch, as the filling and folding is time intense. Therefore, I prefer to do the heavy work just once in a while! 🤓
How to Freeze & Defrost Wontons:
- Place a parchment paper or aluminum foil in your freezer.
- Freeze wonton in a single layer! → To prevent them from sticking together!
- Let them freeze for 2 hours.
- Transfer to a freezer bag once frozen and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Place frozen wontons (do not thaw them first) in a pot of boiling salt water and cook for 3-4 minutes.
🍶 More Asian Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Wonton Soup
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Ingredients
- 40 wonton wrappers see notes
Wonton Filling (Makes 40 Wontons)
- 6 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 2 heaped cups (180 g) napa cabbage finely sliced
- 1 tsp salt
- 3.5 oz (100 g) firm tofu crumbled
- 1 carrot grated
- 1 scallion finely sliced
- 1 inch piece ginger grated
- 1 clove garlic grated
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
Wonton Soup (Serves 2)
- 2 cups (480 ml) vegetable broth
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- a pinch pepper
- 1 bok choy
- 1 scallion only green part, finely sliced
Instructions
- Follow this recipe to prepare homemade wonton wrappers or use store-bought wonton wrappers (you can get them frozen in any Asian Grocery Store). → Frozen wonton wrappers should be thawed in the sealed package (to prevent them from drying out) for approximately one hour at room temperature.
- Place shiitake mushrooms in a bowl, cover with boiling water, and soak for 20 minutes. Drain and finely slice!
- Cut napa cabbage leaves in half lengthwise and finely slice into thin strips. Put in a colander, mix with 1 tsp salt, and drain for 20 minutes.
- Place shiitake, napa cabbage, and all remaining filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
- Fill & Fold Wonton: Place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of the wonton wrapper. Moisten the edges with a wet finger, then fold in half to create a triangle. Moisten one side corner of the triangle with water, then bring the two corners together and seal.
- Wonton Soup: Add vegetable broth, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, and pepper to a small saucepan, bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Bring a second pot of water to a boil. Cut bok choy in half or separate individual leaves from the stalk and simmer in boiling water for 2 minutes. Set aside. In the same boiling water, add as much wonton you are planning to serve, and cook for 2-3 minutes. → I recommend 6 to 8 wontons per person!
- Arrange wonton and bok choy in two bowls. Pour over wonton broth and sprinkle with scallion!
