Crispy Shrimp & Pork Wontons

These crispy wontons are perfect for finger food or an appetizer. Crispy on the outside, juicy and flavourful on the inside, they are simply irresistible.

I make wonton noodle soup a lot - it's one of my favourite lunches.

My wonton noodle soup recipe makes a lot of extra wontons. While I usually freeze them for later, I have recently started making an extra little treat: Crispy fried wontons!

These little parcels of joy are a huge hit with the family. Crispy on the outside, delicious and flavourful on the inside. They are irresistible and everyone always ends up eating too many!

Now I often make wontons especially for frying instead of just using up surplus. They make the perfect finger food, and my kids even like any leftovers in their lunch boxes.

Looking for more Chinese finger food? Serve these up with Spring Rolls, Pulled Pork Bao Buns, Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings and some Traditional Chinese Dumplings.

Jump to:

• Why you'll love this recipe
• Ingredients
• How to make Crispy Wontons
• Air Fryer Wontons
• What sauce to serve with wontons
• Freezing Wontons
• Love Chinese Food? You will also love these recipes!
• Crispy Shrimp & Pork Wontons

Ingredients

My wonton filling recipe uses both pork and prawn. However, my kids prefer just pork wontons, so if you don't have prawns (or don't like them), you can easily just leave them out and replace with extra ground pork.

Make sure you get square wonton wrappers. I buy these in my local supermarket, but you may need to get them from an Asian grocery store.

The ones I buy look like this:

Exact quantities are listed in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Minced/ground pork - you can also substitute with ground chicken for chicken wontons.
• Prawns/shrimp - peeled and finely chopped
• Green onions - finely chopped
• Ginger - grated
• Soy sauce
• Vegetable oil
• Salt
• Wonton wrappers - Square shaped.
• Oil for frying - use a flavourless oil with a high boiling temperature, eg. vegetable oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, light-flavoured groundnut oil.

How to make Crispy Wontons

There are three steps to making these wontons: Making the filling, assembling the wontons and frying the wontons.

Step 1: Make the wonton filling

Making the filling is as simple as tossing all the ingredients in a bowl and mixing them together.
I use my hands to quickly and efficiently mix it all up.

Now you just need to set it aside to marinade - I suggest an hour minimum to allow the flavours to bond.

Step 2: Assemble the wontons

Don't be put off making this dish because you think that folding wontons is difficult. It's not at all! My 12-year-old helps me make these all the time. If she can do it, so can you!

For frying wontons, I prefer to use the triangle folding method - it creates extra flaps of wonton skin that crisp up beautifully.

FYI: For my wonton noodle soup, I prefer to use the rectangle method as they are a bit neater - if you want to try that, you can read the instructions over on my wonton soup recipe here.

How to fold a wonton:

Start with the corner of the wonton wrapper facing towards you.

Add a tablespoon of filling in the middle of the wrapper.

Dip your finger in water and wet the top edges of the wrapper. Now fold the corner nearest you up and over the filling to create a triangle.

Now fold the bottom two corners around the wonton and press together. Wet the corners and give them a gentle squeeze to help them stay together.

Step 3: Fry the wontons

The best way to cook wontons is to fry them. If you have a deep fryer, this would be ideal.

Otherwise, do what I do and cook them in a wok or saucepan.

To do this, heat around 2 inches of oil (so if you use a saucepan, this will require less oil than a wok - it also creates less mess!)

You can check when it is ready by dipping the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil. Bubbles will appear around the handle when the oil is hot enough.

Cook the wontons 4 or 5 at a time. Don't crowd the pan.

Turn them over regularly to encourage even browning. Once they are golden brown and crisp, use a slotted spoon or strainer ladle to transfer them to a plate lined with kitchen paper to help soak up any additional oil.

Serve while still warm.

Air Fryer Wontons

If you love your air fryer, then you can have a go at making air-fried wontons. I have to admit though, that I tried this and I didn't love the results. They definitely taste better when you fry them in oil.

On the surface they look pretty good. However, if you take a closer look in the picture below, you'll see the fried wontons (on the left) have little bubbles on them, where the wrapper has puffed up, giving them a lovely light, crunchy texture.

The wontons cooked in the air fryer (on the right) have a more dense, baked consistency that just doesn't do it for me.

However, if you want to give it a go, spray them with oil and put in the air fryer for around 10 minutes, turning them over after 5 minutes.

What sauce to serve with wontons

You can try this easy sauce for wontons. Just mix together the following ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Chinese vinegar (black vinegar)
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon chili sauce or chili oil

Alternatively, you can serve them with:

• Plum sauce (like in the picture above)
• Sweet chilli sauce
• Soy sauce
• Gyoza sauce
• Chilli Oil

Freezing Wontons

If you want to freeze some of these for later, it is best for freeze them before you cook them.

Lay out the wontons on a tray and freeze. Then transfer to a freezer bag or airtight container. They will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.

To cook, no need to defrost. They can be cooked from frozen.

Love Chinese Food? You will also love these recipes!

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