If you’re like me, what’s the best part of the Wonton soup? THE WONTON FILLING! That little pocket of flavor is what makes the soup so delightful. The downside? They only give you 2 or 3 Wontons in an average portion- bummer! It’s just mainly all broth.

My husband and I had some leftover cabbage and whatnot and wanted to make a soup. Hmmm… what else to we have? Frozen ground pork? Why, yes. Stuff to make stock? Yes again! Ginger? Duh. Oh, what about Won Ton wrappers?! Ohhh yeah.

So, Won Ton soup without actually making won tons was the winner. Fancy folk would call it “Deconstructed”, even.

First things, first. The broth is key. If you have a sub par broth, you’re going to have a sub par bowl of soup. And, that’s just sad. This broth uses all the standard broth veggies that I normally use, with the addition of Ginger and Cabbage. So, you have onions, carrots, celery, leeks, green onions, garlic and then throw in some cabbage and ginger. For the meat, I use a Ham Hock in this broth. We’ll add Chicken Broth to the finished product so there’s a nice depth of flavor. I chose a Ham Hock because it gives a great flavor, but doesn’t really shed any meat. I didn’t want meat in the broth this time. Broths are so easy and pretty fun to make. You don’t even have to peel anything, cut it once or twice, throw in a pot, cover it with water and let the magic happen. If you’ve never made chicken stock with a leftover chicken carcass, or better yet a leftover TURKEY carcass, you are really missing out.

While the stock was doing its thing, I made my Wonton meatballs! So fun. Granted it took forever to make all those tiny little balls, it was totally worth it.   Perfect size for the kiddos and just plain fun to eat. The flavors for the balls were simple- ginger, garlic, scallion, soy sauce. I added the smallest amount, like a drop or 2, of toasted sesame oil as well. I don’t know if I just have some crazy sesame oil, but my stuff is SO strong it can easily ruin a dish if you use too much. I added a little cornstarch and an egg yolk to give it a nice texture. I made mine into about the size of a large marble. Something that would fit nicely on a spoon.

Once your ham stock is done, drain out all of the veggies and preferably strain it through a fine mesh strainer to get out all the little bits. Add it, along with a quart (4 cups) of Chicken Broth, to a large stock pot and bring to a boil. Add in leeks, water chestnuts, and your meat balls. Let simmer 10-15 minutes. Add in the strips of Won Ton wrappers and let simmer another 5-10 minutes. Then finish it off by ladling into bowls and topping with some Napa Cabbage and more scallions.

It was a really fun dish to make and even more fun to eat! I don’t know if it was the little meatballs or the Wonton “noodles”, but I look forward to having this again. The kids liked it too so win win!

This is such a fun soup to make AND eat! I hope you try it out. Let me know how it goes!

Happy Noshing!