This easy shortcut wonton soup base is perfect when you want an extremely quick meal. A little of this and that from the pantry (see our 10 Essential Chinese Pantry Ingredients list) makes wontons you fished out of the freezer taste like they’re floating in a tasty broth, when the soup was actually made in minutes!
This is what I do when I don’t have prepared stock on hand but still want a quick and tasty bowl of wontons. It’s also what my family and I did when times were tight and there wasn’t money for bones or meat to make soup.
This recipe includes the simplest version, as well as some additional add-ins to make it taste like you put in far more effort than you actually did!
The Power of Soy Sauce
There’s the old stereotypical view around Chinese cooking that soy sauce saves all. That of course, is not necessarily the case. There are many Chinese dishes that don’t involve soy sauce! That said, in this case, it is the key ingredient.
A small drizzle of a good soy sauce into some boiling water makes for the start of a really delicious simple wonton soup base.
When you add some sugar, sesame oil, salt and white pepper to taste, and maybe a sprinkling of scallions, the result is a delicious base for wontons. (Or even noodles—see our Yang Chun Noodle Soup recipe.)
Wonton Recipes!
If you don’t already have some wontons in your freezer, check out these wonton recipes and resources:
- Simple Wonton Soup (our most basic wonton recipe)
- Mom’s Chicken Wontons (ideal if you have ground chicken on hand or don’t eat pork)
- San Xian Wontons (packed with flavor from pork, chicken, and shrimp)
- Shanghai Wontons (smaller parcels in super thin wrappers)
A Cheap, Cost-saving Kitchen Hack
These days, the price of anything is enough to make your eyes pop out of your head. So we’re all for saving money on a carton of stock.
This recipe really stretches your ingredients far! And when you haven’t planned ahead to thaw out homemade stock from the freezer or to buy it from the store, this recipe means you can still enjoy a piping hot bowl of wonton soup.
I can’t count the number of times that I’ve fallen back on this recipe when cooking quick lunches for the family, fixing an afternoon snack, or making a late night dinner for myself and Bill. I hope this recipe helps save you some time, money, and headache, just as it has for me!
SHORTCUT Wonton Soup Base: Recipe Instructions
While your wontons are boiling, prepare your serving bowl. Add the light soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, chopped scallions, and white pepper.
As desired, add the optional ingredients in to taste, like the cilantro, lard, dried shrimp flakes, mushroom powder, dark soy sauce, and chili oil.
When the wontons are done cooking, add add the boiling water. (If you’re feeling super lazy, you can even use the water the wontons were cooked in—unless it is very starchy.) Also add the wontons.
Stir, and season with salt to taste if desired. Serve!
Shortcut Wonton Soup Base
Ingredients
Main Ingredients (for 1 serving):
- 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon scallions (finely chopped)
- 2 pinches white pepper
- 2 1/2 cups boiling water
- salt (to taste)
Optional add-in's (for 1 serving):
- 1 tablespoon cilantro (chopped)
- 1 teaspoon lard
- 1 pinch dried shrimp flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon mushroom powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dark soy sauce (optional)
- chili oil (to taste)
Instructions
- While your wontons are boiling, prepare your serving bowl. Into the bowl, add the light soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, chopped scallions, and white pepper.
- As desired, add the optional ingredients in to taste, like the cilantro, lard, dried shrimp flakes, mushroom powder, dark soy sauce, and chili oil.
- When the wontons are done cooking, add them to the bowl, and then add the boiling water (if you’re feeling super lazy, you can even use the water the wontons were cooked in—unless it is very starchy). Stir, and season with salt to taste if desired. Serve!
Very helpful. Thx…a little surprised there wasn’t a dried mushroom.
I nominate The Woks of Life for Nobel Prize!
Hahaha…you are too funny.
I wonder how this would work as a poaching solution for seitan…
Hi Dave, that should work :-)
Much thanks for the various angles on won ton and the soup base. Not one to rush cooking, I know it’s all in the prep and quality. Your guide is straight forward for Beginners, time-saving for the rushed seasoned cooks. Quite enjoy your YouTube lessons!!!
Thank you so much, George :-)
I thought I was the only one who did this. What I also do is, when frying mushrooms and onions for any dish, the mushrooms emit liquid when adding salt and other spices, so I drain some of that liquid and add it to a container I keep in my freezer. This container of mine is filled with salt water from tinned tuna, liquid from tinned beans, etc. So when I need a bit of “oomph” in my cooking I add a bit of my frozen “stock”. Sounds crazy, but it works.
Wow, Amazing. Here is a soup that uses mushroom juice that you might find interesting.
Sounds delicious and full of umami. Will definitely give it a try.
Thank you, Glynis.
Another great kitchen hack. I have used this broth since learning it in Thailand 52 years ago. I typically slice pork and bok choi with it 4+ times a week for a snack dish. Sometimes with quick made egg noodle. Keep writing about your food adventures!
Nice, I have to make myself some snack dishes too :-)
I love so many of your recipes! Your Cantonese Wonton Noodle soup is my favorite. Just tried your husband’s Shanghai Shrimp and noodles with char sui pork. The very best recipe ever! Thank you for sharing your family’s expertise while making authentic tasting Chinese dishes do-able for folks like me.
You are so welcome :-) Thank you so much for trying our recipes.
I love how all your recipes and instructions are authentic to a real Chinese family. Your recipes remind me so much of my grandmother’s great cooking. Thank you! Your simple broth for wonton was what my grandmother often did for wonton. To add flavor, she did use lard from Chinese roast pork (which she got from Chinatown deli) to the broth.
How clever! I grew up on this simple soup base. My grandmother used to call it soy sauce soup, 酱油汤.
I grew up using chicken broth for wontons so when my wife made this for me it kind of blew my mind how simple and tasty it was. Now it’s our go-to for a quick lunch or dinner. We always use the water the wontons were cooked in to get some extra flavor.
Look at that, it’s so basic and so popular :-)
I used to be able to buy these fantastic bouillon cubes by Telma; Israeli, concentrated low sodium. Now I always have jars of Better Than Bouillon in my fridge; makes great broth for pennies and in seconds.
Very true. Thank you for the good tip :-)
My mom always made wonton soup base with green onions and ginger lightly sautéed then simmered for a few minutes. Sometimes there would be garlic but not always. It’s amazing what a fragrant broth you can get with just simple ingredients like you have done here. Thanks for the inspiration, I think I’ll make wonton soup this week!
Lovely! All moms have that magic touch :-)
Judy, thank you for this recipe. This is just what we did too when our food dollars did not stretch to meat or bones. More important, I am so glad to remember my heritage as the granddaughter of immigrants (some undocumented) who did everything they could to keep the family fed and healthy on very little money. I am so proud to be their descendant and so grateful for their sacrifices.
Well said, Pamela. This simple soy sauce soup deserves a place in our culinary history :-)