The Salt and Stone: Wonton soup - quick and easy to make to your own preference

For years, I would watch The Food Network while I made dinner in the evenings. I would come home from work, catch the tail end of the news and then flip to Food Network while I pulled things out of the refrigerator to scrounge together a meal. You would think the beauty of the food presented on the television would deter me from the very simple (often overcooked, slightly unappetizing) meal in front of me; but oddly it never did.

I loved watching cooking shows, and I’m sure all those hours spent watching food tv, has something to do with why I love to cook so much to this day. Do you remember the show, Semi-homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee? Her show centered around gussying up pre-prepared foods for special occasions. She could throw together a dinner party with a fancy cocktail from stuff you had in your pantry.



She was a genius. This week’s recipe made me think of that show because it very much falls into the category of semi-homemade. Wonton soup is the easiest and truly quickest ‘homemade’ meal you can throw together on a weeknight.

Packed with veggies and flavor, its a recipe I rely on when I want to eat at home and I have about 15 minutes to make it happen. The beauty of this recipe is there’s hardly any chopping or measuring. All the ingredients go in a pot and a few minutes later, dinner is ready.

Pre-shredded carrots and cabbage sauté for a few minutes in a big pot before you throw a bag of frozen wontons or dumplings in with it. Boxed chicken stock and some baby spinach go in next and in a matter of minutes you have a healthy, nutrient dense pot of soup ready to be devoured. We spend a lot of evenings out in the wind watching lacrosse and baseball, and while the sunshine and warm days feel amazing as the Valley welcomes in spring, the evenings tend to be cold and windy.

A pot of soup, full of bright fresh flavors and topped with a bit of spicy chili crisp for maximum deliciousness is exactly the meal I crave when I finally come inside. This version of wonton soup is my go-to, everyone at my house eats it; but it bears mentioning, there are a dozen variations you could do to make this recipe to your preference. If it was just me eating this soup, I would have added mushrooms to the pot along with the carrots and cabbage.

Also, when baby bok choy is available locally, I will use that instead of baby spinach. I like the chicken and cilantro wontons from Costco, but I’ve used frozen dumplings and pot stickers in other batches and they’ve worked great. Wonton soup is best served immediately and doesn’t hold up all that well cooled and stored in the fridge.

This recipe makes four servings. Wonton Soup • 2 tablespoons sesame oil • 3 1/2 cups shredded carrots and cabbage (store bought coleslaw works great) • 1/2 small yellow onion, diced • 2 cloves garlic, minced • 1 tablespoon ginger, minced • 2 32-ounce boxes low-sodium chicken broth • 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce • 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar • 30 frozen wonton/dumplings of choice (chicken, pork or vegetable) • 3 cups fresh baby spinach • 1/4 cup green onions, minced, white part removed • Spicy chili crisp, to taste • Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish In a large dutch oven, heat sesame oil over medium-low heat. Add the shredded carrots and cabbage to the pot, stirring to combine.

Saute the vegetables for two to three minutes, until they begin to soften slightly. Add the garlic and ginger along with the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Stir again to combine.

Add the wontons or dumplings to the pot, stirring to incorporate with the vegetable mixture and then add the chicken broth. Reduce the heat to low and let the wontons cook until they float to the top of the soup, about three to five minutes. Stir in the baby spinach and then remove the pot from the heat.

Add the green onions and stir gently to combine. To serve, ladle generous portions into a shallow bowl. Garnish with a spoonful of chili crisp and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.

Enjoy! • Andrea McCoy’s Salt and Stone column and recipes appear weekly in Explore..