Wonton-Less Soup

Making dumplings can be a bit time consuming. With having to make the filling and then fill and fold dumplings, it’s definitely more of a weekend project. So what do you do when you get a craving mid-week for that delicious wonton flavor? Now you can make this delicious Wonton-Less Soup in half the time!

New take on an old favorite

Don’t get me wrong, traditional wonton soup has a special place in my heart. When I first became interest in cooking, this was one of the first recipes I made. It’s so good, my dad requested I made it every few weeks! Back then I was around 12-years-old so I had lots of free time! Today however, I definitely don’t always have as much time as I would like.

This Wonton-Less Soup has all the familiar flavors of a traditional wonton soup you’d eat in Chinese restaurant, without having to fill and fold dumplings! Adding noodles in place of wonton wrappers gives this soup more body, making it a great option for a filling lunch or dinner.

Noodles instead of dumplings

I personally like to serve this with soup with gluten free noodles from Lotus Foods. I stumbled upon this brand years ago right after college while looking for healthier options for my ramen addiction. Back then I could only find their products in local health food stores. Now I see their products in store everywhere, like Meijer, Costco, Whole Foods, and of course online! For this recipe I personally like their Millet & Brown Rice Ramen, but any of their noodles would work fine. No, this isn’t sponsored and my household isn’t gluten free. Just sharing which noodles I personally use in this recipe in case you want to use them too!

Don’t be afraid to make changes

As always, substitutions are always encouraged! Any kind of noodles will work so use what you have! If you’re not into pork, ground chicken would be my next choice. Don’t forget to serve it with a few toppings! I recommend green onion, cilantro, and sriracha. Let me know how you like this soup in the comments below! Enjoy!

Wonton-Less Soup

All the familiar flavors of wonton soup without all the work. This soup easily comes together in 30 minutes!

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Total Time 45 mins

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 1 lb of ground pork or chicken
• 8 oz of sliced mushrooms
• 8 cups Chicken bone broth
• 1 Tbs minced ginger divided in half
• 1 Tbs minced garlic divided in half
• 6 green onions chopped, greens & whites separated
• 10 oz bag of Millet & Brown Rice Ramen Cakes 4 cakes
• 1 tbs Toasted Sesame Oil
• 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes or Sriracha you can add more if you want it spicy!
• 3 tbs Soy Sauce
• 1 tbs Rice Wine Vinegar
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cilantro optional
• olive oil

Instructions

 

Start the soup

• Preheat large stockpot over medium heat. Add 2 tbs of cooking oil and sliced mushrooms. Sauté 8-10 minutes until mushrooms are soft, stirring occasionally .
• Add the whites from green onions to pan and cook another 3 minutes stirring frequently.
• Add in half of the minced garlic and minced ginger to the pot and stir constantly for 1-2 minutes. Pour broth into pot, turn up heat to medium high and bring to a boil.

Make the meatballs

• While waiting for soup to come to a boil, gently combine ground meat, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes or Sriracha, rice wine vinegar, and remaining garlic and ginger in medium bowl.
• Roll mixture into 20 even sized meatballs, about 1-1/2 to 2 tablespoons each. Once soup comes to rapid boil gently drop in meatballs one by one until all have been added.
• Turn heat back down to medium and cook 15 minutes. Taste and add salt & pepper if needed.

Cook the noodles

• Cook according to package directions and divide into 4 serving bowls.

Finish & Serve

• Divide soup among 4 bowls; 5 meatballs and about 2 cups of broth per bowl. Garnish with green onions, cilantro, and Sriracha! Enjoy!

Notes

You can make the meatballs ahead of time!

Mix and roll the meatballs up to 24 hours ahead of time. Still add them to the soup one at a time so they’re not all over each other.

You may need to add an extra cup of broth or water if you boil for longer to make up for lost liquid.

You can have dumplings and noodles! Dumpling wrappers can be found in most grocery store. Just follow the package directions for filling and folding. Cook them them the same way in the soup as you would the meatballs.