Is it soup season yet? If you loved my warming pork and shrimp wonton soup, you should also definitely make my homemade beef wontons served with a savory soup base. Devour on small pillows of moist seasoned beef wrapped around a chewy wonton skin. The soup is flavored with green onions, coriander, seaweed, light soy sauce, and many more!
All About Beef Wontons
Wonton (馄饨) is a beloved dish in Chinese cuisine famous for its chewy translucent wonton skin and flavorful filling, making it a delightful type of dumpling. Its filling is diverse, from pork and shrimp wonton to shrimp wonton and pork wonton. You can cook a wonton in various ways, such as boiling, steaming, frying, and even air-frying like my Air Fryer Wontons (Fried Pork Dumplings) recipe.
In this beef wontons recipe, I cooked the wontons in boiling water. The wontons are filled with ground beef seasoned with salt, cooking wine, white pepper powder, and baking soda. For the soup, I used a few scoops of boiled water from the boiled wontons and added green onions, coriander, seaweed, light soy sauce, chicken bouillon powder, and shallot oil.
Where To Get Wonton Skin
Of course, we can’t make beef wontons without the wonton skin or wonton wrapper. You can purchase these in Asian stores or the international aisle of most grocery stores. For your information, wonton skins are usually kept in the refrigerated section of the store.
If you can’t find wonton skins, that’s okay! In fact, it’s easy to make these with a few pantry ingredients. You will need some eggs, water, flour, and cornstarch.
Some recipes even make it eggless, just water, flour, and cornstarch. Learn how to make your own wonton skin with my recipe, How To Make Authentic Wonton Wrappers. In this short recipe, you will knead, rest, and shape the wonton skin dough.
Essential Tips To Know About Wonton Wrappers
The success of your wontons will also depend on how well you handle the wonton wrappers. The only thing you want to avoid from happening is breaking or tearing the wonton wrappers. So, I listed a few tips on what can cause these to break and some do’s and don’ts to follow.
- A watery filling can cause it to break. Remember, the filling should be moist but not runny. You can make it less runny by adding cornstarch or flour. When the wonton skin is soaked in a runny filling, it will cause it to weaken and tear. The wontons should still be dry on the outside before being dropped in boiling water to cook.
- Keeping it exposed or on a wet surface will damage the wrapper’s consistency. Do not place the wrapper on a wet surface since this will cause it to weaken and tear eventually. On the other hand, exposing it to dry conditions for too long will cause the wrappers to stiffen. Once it becomes too stiff, you won’t be able to fold or shape the wontons. It will only break or crack since it is not soft anymore for folding. To keep it soft and moist, cover the wrappers with a damp paper towel. In this way, you can keep the wrappers from drying out.
- Insufficient sealing can make the wontons burst open. Aside from tearing, you also want to prevent the wrappers from bursting open during boiling. This will only happen when the wontons are not sealed properly. The proper way to seal wontons is by making sure the edges are pinched and stuck together. There should be no big or small openings. If you are having trouble making the edges stick, it helps if you smear the edges with a dab of water before pressing. In this recipe, I folded the wontons using the Ingot Wonton style. Check out my guide, 5 Easy Ways To Fold A Wonton, to learn more about proper folding and folding styles.
- Air pockets and overloaded filling can cause it to burst open. Aside from improper sealing, another reason why a wonton can burst open is overloading it with too much filling. The wonton wrappers should only have about 1 to 2 teaspoons of filling. This is the best amount of filling to have ample space for pinching the edges for sealing. Besides, wontons are made to be small and do not typically come in large sizes. As you seal the wonton, you should also remember not to leave air pockets. Push out as much air as possible, or these air pockets may cause the wontons to inflate and break during boiling.
- Sticking to the surface or to other wontons can break it. Apart from wet environments, wontons sticking to the surface can potentially break the skin. That is why you will notice that your wonton wrappers are coated with cornstarch to prevent them from sticking together or on any surface. After assembling the wontons, it is best to place them on parchment paper or a surface dusted with cornstarch or flour. In this way, the wontons won’t stick and tear once you pick them up. Another situation where the wontons might stick is when there are too many wontons in the pot for boiling. If the pot is overloaded with too many wontons, it won’t have enough space for them to move around without sticking to each other.
- Defrosting frozen wrappers is a must. Freezing wrappers is an excellent way to extend the shelf life. Make sure to keep it in an airtight container or freezer bag to prevent freezer burns. When you are ready to use the wrappers, these should be completely thawed to bring them back to a soft consistency. As mentioned, a stiff wonton wrapper will make it hard to fold and will only crack or break when you try to fold it.
The Ingredients For Beef Wontons With Soup
Now that you know more about handling wonton wrappers, let’s talk about the main ingredients to make beef wontons with soup. Listed below are the ingredients for the filling and soup base, as well as alternative suggestions to consider. Be sure to read my tips and suggestions below before starting the recipe.
Pork And Shrimp Wontons
- Beef: Any beef cut will do, as long as it can be blended into a ground filling. I cut 500g of beef into cubes before placing it in the food processor for grinding. You can use sirloin, short rib, brisket, or steak.
- Salt: Enhance the flavor by adding salt, such as sea salt, kosher salt, or table salt.
- Cooking wine: There is a slight sweetness and brininess to Chinese cooking wine that makes the filling even better. Swap cooking wine or Shaoxing rice wine for dry sherry, broth, vinegar, or alcohol-free wine if you need an alternative.
- White pepper powder: White pepper powder imparts a musty and earthy taste with mild heat. You can swap this with black pepper powder. However, black pepper is hotter and leans more on woody and piney flavors. Use pepper powder or freshly cracked peppers.
- Baking soda: Baking soda adds a light and fluffy texture to the filling. You can substitute this with baking powder or self-rising flour.
- Ice water: Ice water makes the filling firmer and smoother as it cools the mixture during mixing. You will need about 180g of ice water. Just fill a glass or bowl with water and a few cubes of ice.
Soup Base
For the soup base ingredients, you can adjust the amount according to your taste. I used chopped green onions, fresh coriander leaves, seaweed, light soy sauce, chicken bouillon powder, and shallot oil. These ingredients are mixed with a few scoops of boiled water from the boiled wontons.
- Green onions: Green onions add a mild sweetness and onion taste. Substitute this with chives, shallots, white onions, yellow onions, or red onions.
- Coriander: Fresh coriander leaves impart a tart and lemon-like taste. Use fresh coriander leaves and roughly chop them. You can swap fresh coriander with coriander powder, parsley, mint, or basil.
- Seaweed: Use any type of seaweed, such as wakame, kombu, nori, and sea lettuce.
- Light soy sauce: Add a savory salty taste and umaminess with light soy sauce. You can also use regular soy sauce, dark soy sauce, tamari, liquid aminos, coconut aminos, or gluten-free soy sauce and adjust the amount to taste.
- Chicken bouillon powder: Chicken bouillon powder is a flavor boosting ingredient that adds chicken and salty flavors. You can use powder, broth, or cubes. Alternatively, beef cubes, vegetable powder, or Italian seasoning mix works with the recipe.
- Shallot oil: This adds a sweet and slight caramelized taste. Make this at home with my Perfectly Crisp Fried Shallots In Oil You can use just the oil or the fried shallots as well as a soup topping.
- Boiled wonton water: For extra flavor, use the boiled water from the boiled wontons. Scoop out as much as you want and adjust the rest of the soup base ingredients accordingly.
Other Ways To Serve And Cook Beef Wontons
If you have leftover uncooked beef wontons and want to make it totally different, there are a few ways to do this. Aside from making it into a soup, you can also serve it on its own and pair it with a delicious dipping sauce. You can cook beef wontons by steaming, frying, baking, or air-frying.
Here’s how to do it:
- Steam the beef wontons similar to my Shrimp Wontons Recipe (Steamed Method). Once the water boils, steam for 10 minutes or more. If you don’t have a steamer, you can still steam without a steamer in 5 ways: pan with steamer rack, microwave, pan with sieve, rice cooker, and instant pot.
- Air-fry the wontons for 12 minutes or more at 200°C (392°F). Refer to my Air Fryer Wontons (Fried Pork Dumplings)recipe for more tips.
- Deep-fry the beef wontons in a cooking pot with heated oil until golden brown and crispy.
- Bake the beef wontons at 200°C (392°F) for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown and crispy.
After cooking the beef wontons, you can enjoy it as is or with a dipping sauce. You can make a spicy dipping sauce with a mix of red chili flakes, sesame oil, sesame seeds, garlic, and black vinegar or a ginger sauce with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar, hot sauce, and sesame oil. Chili oil, chili garlic, or soy sauce with sesame oil are other excellent dipping sauces to pair it with.
Looking for a recipe to make dipping sauces? Follow my Four Dumpling Sauce Recipes, which are also perfect for beef wontons. The sauces I share in the guide are garlic-flavored dipping sauce, chili-infused dipping sauce, sesame dipping sauce, and hot wasabi dipping sauce.
How To Store Beef Wontons In The Freezer
If you have leftover beef wontons, these can be stored in the freezer to cook for later. However, you can’t just stuff everything in one container or else they will all stick together. So, make sure to follow these steps when storing wontons in the freezer to preserve the quality and texture.
- Prepare a wide container or tray and line it with parchment paper. You don’t want the wontons to stick to your container and cause them to tear when taken out.
- Line the wontons with ample space between them. Do not stack them or make them stick to each other.
- Cover the container or keep it in an airtight container like a freezer bag.
- Freeze the wontons until completely frozen and rock solid.
- Once the wontons are fully frozen, you can remove and stack them in a smaller container for freezing. In this way, you don’t have to worry about the wonton skins sticking together.
Ingredients And Kitchenware For Beef Wontons
Prepare a food processor for blending and a cooking pot for boiling. Apart from these kitchenware, you will also need a knife and chopping board, mixing bowl, serving bowl, and a stirrer. The ingredients to prepare are the following:
Beef wonton
- 500g of beef (diced and ground)
- 1 tsp of salt
- 2 tbsp of cooking wine, I use Shaoxing Wine.
- 1 tbsp of white pepper powder
- 7g of soda
- 180g of ice water
- Wonton wrappers
Soup base (adjust to taste)
- 10g of green onions
- 10g of coriander
- 10g of seaweed
- 1 tbsp of light soy sauce
- A dash of chicken bouillon powder
- 1 tbsp of shallot oil
7 Steps To Make Beef Wontons With Soup
This recipe calls for 7 simple steps. Basically, the steps include making the beef filling, assembling the wontons, boiling the wontons, and seasoning the soup. You can watch how I did it through my tutorial videos on Instagram or TikTok!
If you loved this wonton recipe, try making other wonton variations, such as pork wontons, air fryer wontons (fried pork dumplings), and crab rangoon (crab & cream cheese wontons). Remember to tag me @kitchenmisadventures to share your comments and suggestions. Follow these steps for the best beef wonton soup:
- Clean, dice, and grind the beef in a food processor or blender.
- Add salt, cooking wine, white pepper powder, soda, and ice water in the food processor and blend.
- Refrigerate the beef filling for 30 to 60 minutes until it firms up. Making the filling firm makes it easier to scoop and transfer in the wonton wrappers.
- After refrigerating, fill the wonton skins with about a teaspoon of beef filling.
- Fold and seal the edges of the wrapper by following the Ingot Wonton Fold. Make sure there are no openings and the air is pushed out.
- Prepare a pot with water and bring to a boil. Once it boils, boil the assembled beef wontons. Cook until the wontons float and become more translucent.
- In a serving bowl, add chopped green onions, coriander, seaweed, light soy sauce, chicken bouillon powder, and shallot oil. Then, pour a few scoops of the boiled water and carefully place the boiled beef wontons.
Homemade Beef Wontons Soup
Ingredients
Beef wonton
- 500 g of beef diced and ground
- 1 tsp of salt
- 2 tbsp of cooking wine I use Shaoxing Wine.
- 1 tbsp of white pepper powder
- 7 g of soda
- 180 g of ice water
Wonton wrappers
- Soup base adjust to taste
- 10 g of green onions
- 10 g of coriander
- 10 g of seaweed
- 1 tbsp of light soy sauce
- A dash of chicken bouillon powder
- 1 tbsp of shallot oil
Instructions
- Clean, dice, and grind the beef in a food processor or blender.
- Add salt, cooking wine, white pepper powder, soda, and ice water in the food processor and blend.
- Refrigerate the beef filling for 30 to 60 minutes until it firms up.Making the filling firm makes it easier to scoop and transfer in the wonton wrappers.
- After refrigerating, fill the wonton skins with about a teaspoon of beef filling.
- Fold and seal the edges of the wrapper by following the Ingot Wonton Fold. Make sure there are no openings and the air is pushed out.
- Prepare a pot with water and bring to a boil. Once it boils, boil the assembled beef wontons. Cook until the wontons float and become more translucent.
- In a serving bowl, add chopped green onions, coriander, seaweed, light soy sauce, chicken bouillon powder, and shallot oil. Then, pour a few scoops of the boiled water and carefully place the boiled beef wontons.
