If you are a fan of Chinese dim sum, you shouldn’t skip fried wonton! The crispy wonton skin after frying and the smooth, flavorful fillings of fried wonton will satisfy your taste buds. Frying wonton is also very easy and quick. Follow the below steps.

What is Fried Wonton?

Fried Wonton is a type of Chinese dumpling which has a square, yellow wrapper made of wheat flour, egg, and water with a ground pork/shrimp/chicken filling, being fried until golden brown. Different from soft steamed/boiled wonton or wonton soup, fried wonton is crunchy outside and soft and smooth inside. Wonton skin after frying can be as crispy as fried rice paper and fried potato slices.

Tips for Crispy Fried Wonton

For crispy, even golden-brown fried wonton, here are some tips I learned from my experiences making this dish:

Types of wonton skin: you can make wonton skin yourself or buy premade wonton skin from Asian food stores. In my opinion, if you have a pasta machine at home to achieve the thin, even, and smooth wonton skins, it’s perfect to use them for fried wonton dishes. In case you don’t have one, I suggest buying premade wonton skins. It’s because the crispiness of fried wontons belongs to the thinness of wonton skins. Also, store-bought wonton skins are usually drier than fresh ones.
The cookware: Similar to fried dishes from fried banana, chicken or pork, to achieve crispy fried wontons, you should deep or near-deep fry them. There is various cookware to deep-fry, like a frying skillet, cast iron skillet, saucepan, or pot. However, my recommendation leans towards using a Dutch Oven. While pans and skillets can be used, their shallowness poses a risk of oil splattering across the stove, potentially causing harm if you’re not cautious. The Dutch oven, being a cast iron pot, offers significant advantages. It not only minimizes oil splatter but also ensures even heat distribution and maintenance during frying. Additionally, it’s more efficient in terms of oil usage.
Dry wonton skins: After shaping wonton, it’s recommended to let the wonton skins dry. Dried skins will save frying time and reduce oil splattering. To dry wonton, let them rest in the fridge for 15-30 minutes without wrapping in plastic wrap or closing container’s lid.
Fry on low heat: Remember to fry wontons on low to medium heat only, and always keep your eyes on them. Gradually frying them will result in a very even and crispy wrappers and make sure the fillings inside are cooked thoroughly.

The Most Suitable Shape for Fried Wonton

Basically, you can fry every shape of wontons. However, to save the oil as well as cooking time, I suggest making flat wonton shapes. If you have a specialized frying basket, the shapes won’t matter anymore. You can refer some wonton shapes here.

Fried Wonton Recipe

With Fried Wontons, I use the same wonton recipe as wonton soup and steamed/boiled wonton. You can follow this recipe for 25-30 wontons:

Wonton Fillings

500g (17.6 oz) ground pork, or 250g (8.8 oz) ground pork & 250g (8.8 oz) ground shrimp
20g (2 3/4 tbsp) cornstarch
5g (1 tsp) salt
5g (1 tsp) sugar
A pinch of ground pepper
1 egg (medium size, ~50g)

This amount of filling goes along with 20-30 wonton skins.

Wonton Dipping Sauce

Ketchup, chili sauce or sweet chili sauce

Instruction

Step 1. Mixing Wonton’s Filling

This version includes ground pork, cornstarch, and egg. If you would like to replace ground pork with shrimp, just replace the amount of ground pork with peeled, ground shrimp. A mixture of ground shrimp and ground pork is another option; you can mix at the ratio of 1:1. For example, instead of 500g (17.6 oz) ground pork, use 250g (8.8 oz) ground pork and 250g (8.8 oz) ground shrimp. Mix them until well combined into a unified block.

Step 2. Shaping Wontons

Place a small amount of filling in the center of the wonton skin (pic 1). Moisten the edges with water, then fold the square skin into a triangle (pic 2). Fold each corner of the right triangle (pic 3) and press gently to ensure the filling is securely encased by the skin (pic 4). Refer other wonton shapes here.

Step 3. Frying Wontons

In a non-sticky pan/cast iron pan/Dutch oven, add a large amount of cooking oil so that it can cover at least half of your wontons. Turn on the medium or high heat to boil the oil. Once the oil starts boiling, reduce to low heat and add wontons in. Fry in 7-10 minutes, depends on the size of your wontons and the heat, so always keep your eyes on the pan.

After frying, place fried wontons on paper tissues to absorb the excess oil. Serve fried wontons with chili sauce, sweet chili sauce or ketchup.

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