The Best Chicken Wonton Soup Recipe You'll Ever Make

I'm Mandy, welcome to Souped Up Recipes. Today, we're making the best chicken wonton soup. It's rich, aromatic, and filled with comforting homemade flavors that always leave a lasting impression. Every time I serve it to my friends, they immediately ask for the recipe. That's how good it is. I used to think about keeping this one a secret, just in case one day I want to open a restaurant, but since I don't have any plans like that for now, I figured let me just share it so everybody can enjoy. The real magic lies in the caramelized scallion sauce. It is deeply fragrant and infuses the wonton filling and the broth with a beautiful, savory taste. You will need a quarter cup of vegetable oil, three tablespoon of diced shallots, and I have one and a half cup of diced scallions here, but I will only add one cup and reserve half cup for later. Besides that, you will also need three tablespoon of diced garlic. Quickly rinse it under running water. Why? When the garlic is crushed and chopped, it will release a type of chemical called mecaptans, which makes your knife and cutting board sticky. This chemical is what we are trying to rinse off because it will bring a bitter taste after deep fried. No need to dab the garlic with paper towels because a little bit of moisture will protect the garlic from burning. Turn the heat to medium. You don't have to stir it constantly, just stand next to the stove and move the spatula every 30 seconds. This will take 10 to 18 minutes. At first, you think there's not enough oil, but as the moisture evaporates, the volume will go down. Then you have to switch the heat to low so that you don't burn anything. Once all the aromatic bits are golden brown, push them to the side and scoop out two to three tablespoon of oil. Don't scoop out everything because we need some oil to make the wonton filling juicy. Now we're gonna add two tablespoon of soy sauce, two tablespoon of oyster sauce, and one teaspoon of dark soy sauce. Stir to condense the sauce a little bit. Turn off the heat and let it cool on the side. We're gonna move on to the chicken. I'm using leg quarters today. Remove the backbone by using a pair of heavy-duty scissors. Next, lay it skin side down. Touch it with some pressure to locate the tibia bone inside the drumstick and the femur bone inside the chicken thigh. Get a sharp knife to slice it open and clean up the tissues to expose these two bones. Tuck your thumb and forefinger under each bone and loosen up all the muscle groups. Stick the tip of the knife under and cut off the connection around the joint. Then cut the end of the drumstick. Now you should be able to pull the chicken meat off entirely. It is totally fine to use boneless and skinless chicken thigh. I choose chicken leg quarters because I want to make this recipe budget-friendly. Also, the bonus of using chicken leg quarters is these bones, skins, and fat, and you can make a quick broth with them. This is totally optional. If you choose to use boneless and skinless chicken thigh from the beginning, then you don't have these scraps. Don't worry, you can use store-bought chicken stock instead and it will not affect the taste of the wonton soup. Render the chicken fat over medium-low heat for a few minutes or until you get some oil out of it. Add the chicken skins and bones. Fry over medium heat for about five minutes or until everything is nicely charred. Add six to eight cups of water or stock if you have any, three scallions, two shallots, two inches of ginger, crush it with a cleaver, and half teaspoon of ground black pepper. Bring it to a boil. We're not making the time-consuming kind of broth, so we're just gonna let this simmer on the side for however long we work on the rest of the ingredients. Cut the chicken leg meat into bite-size pieces, then grind it using a food processor. Combine it with the cooled scallion sauce along with half cup of diced scallions. I know we already fried tons of scallions. Why add more? Well, fresh scallions and caramelized scallions taste different. Using both of them creates multi-level of flavors. Set the filling aside. Quickly cut four ounces of carrot and four ounces of celery. Actually, carrot and celery are not common ingredients that we put into wonton soups, but I find that various vegetables really make the soup luscious and nutritious. If you wonder, what do Chinese people normally put into wonton soup, it is baby bok choy, so I also prepared some. If you don't like it, just skip it. Use a sieve to remove all the solid ingredients from the pot. Once done, I like to switch to an oil strainer, which not only can get the smallest impurities, but also removes most of the oil because chicken leg quarters are quite fatty. Add the carrot and celery and let them cook for 10 more minutes. I reserved the bok choy to add at the end because if they are cooked too long, they will lose the green color. If your wonton wrapper is previously frozen, you should defrost it in advance by leaving it on the countertop for a couple of hours or in the fridge overnight. I'm sure most of you already know how to wrap wontons, but today I want to show you a new trick, which is ridiculously fast. Use your biggest piping tip. Put it into a piping bag along with all the filling. Yes, you didn't hear me wrong. I have many piping bags for multiple purposes. I use it to make rice noodles, make casing-free sausages, and wrap wontons. Just squeeze a little bit filling onto a wonton wrapper. Fold the top corner, then follow with two side corners. Give it a tight pinch and you're done. If you can't fold with one hand, you can also put the wrapper on a cutting surface, squeeze some filling on, and fold one corner over. Use two hands to gather the wrapper and pinch tightly. Using this method, you should be able to wrap 50 wontons within five minutes. Wonton is freezer-friendly, so I recommend you to double or triple this recipe and freeze the extra. Whenever you want to eat wontons again, no need to defrost, just directly boil them and you will be able to enjoy a warm bowl anytime with zero fuss. Okay, once all the wontons are wrapped, the carrot and the celery should be cooked to soft as well. Add some salt to taste. Add the wontons and cook for about three minute. Then the water should come back to a boil. Add half cup of cold water and continue cooking for another three minute. Adding cold water is a technique in China known as dian len shui. It helps lower the temperature slightly to keep the water at a gentle simmer. If the water boils too viciously, the delicate wonton wrapper can easily tear. Last, toss in the baby bok choy and blanch for 30 seconds. Once all the wontons are cooked, you'll notice the best part of this recipe, the caramelized aromatic filling begins to infuse the soup, releasing an incredible aroma that fills your kitchen. Don't be surprised if your neighbors come knocking, wondering what smells so good. But the real surprise comes with that first bite. The flavor doesn't just sit on the surface. It comes from deep within each wonton, rich and savory. This wonton soup is also hearty, comforting, and absolutely delicious. I hope you give this a try soon. As always, the printable recipe link is in the description. Go check it out. Don't forget to like and subscribe to my channel for more easy and delicious Chinese food. Thank you for watching and I'll see you next time. Bye!