Easy Recipe for Making Ground Beef Wontons at Home (2024)

Wontons are flour-based wrappers filled with various meat and vegetable mixtures that are then deep-fried until crispy. Ground beef wontons are an easy appetizer to make at home, but can also be enjoyed as a meal or even a snack.

Wontons are also a popular food item at Japanese Obon festivals in the West, a Buddhist tradition that dates back more than 500 years. Wonton plates are often sold as a meal with rice, salad, and tsukemono (pickles).

You’ll find that wontons are folded in a number of ways, but most Japanese wontons are often folded into simple triangles. This shape is not only easy to make but also quick to prepare, which is important if you are preparing large quantities.

Easy Recipe for Making Ground Beef Wontons at Home (1)

"This is an easy starter wonton recipe. The simple folded shape makes for an easy, fun project to do with the kids. The filling can be altered to taste, adding scallions, using sesame oil, etc. A soy-and-vinegar dipping sauce is typically served with these, as the acid plays nicely with the fried wrappers." —Rick Horiike

Easy Recipe for Making Ground Beef Wontons at Home (2)

A Note From Our Recipe Tester

Ingredients

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped, about 1/2 cup
1 small celery stalk, chopped, about 1/4 cup
1 pound extra-lean ground beef
1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
1/8 teaspoon black pepper, or more to taste
Cold water
1 (12-ounce) package wonton wrappers
2 to 3 cups canola oil, for frying
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Steps to Make It

Gather the ingredients.
In a large pan, add olive oil and sauté chopped onions and celery until translucent. Lightly season with salt and pepper.
Add ground beef, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until browned and cooked through.
Line a mesh colander with paper towels and drain beef mixture for about 5 to 10 minutes to remove excess oil. This also allows the filling to cool prior to wrapping.
Prepare your work station with a small bowl of cold water, wonton wrappers, and a tray for the finished wontons.
Put a wonton wrapper on your work surface and place a heaping teaspoon of the meat mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper.
Dip your finger in the water and moisten two adjoining edges of the wonton.
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Fold dry edges over meat mixture and seal with moistened edges, pressing firmly and sealing the triangular-shaped wonton closed. (When sealing, try and minimize the amount of excess air inside the wonton. Air will cause the wonton to "puff up" when fried.)
Repeat with more wontons until all of the mixture is used.
Heat canola oil in a medium pot on medium-high. The ideal frying temperature is about 375 F. If you do not have a thermometer, test the oil with a small piece of uncooked wonton wrapper and if the wrapper quickly bubbles and floats to the top, then the oil is ready.
Fry no more than 4 wontons at a time so as not to crowd the pot. It only takes about 30 to 40 seconds on each side to fry the wontons to a golden color.
Remove wontons from oil and drain on paper towels.
Once wontons have cooled slightly, serve, with or without a dipping sauce.

What's the Difference Between Wontons and Dumplings?

Wontons are basically fried dumplings that are filled with a mix of vegetables and meat, typically ground beef or pork. Wontons wrappers are typically thinner and made with wheat flour, whereas dumplings can be made from potato or wheat flour. Both can be boiled, steamed, or fried.

Variation

Feel free to substitute ground chicken, turkey, or pork as lower-fat alternatives. You can also fill wontons with shrimp or even crab and cheese.

How to Serve Wontons

While these wontons can be enjoyed as is, sometimes they're served with a dipping sauce. A simple sauce that is very easy to prepare is a mixture of equal parts ketchup and Japanesetonkatsusauce. Another easy sauce idea is using a bottled jar of duck sauce (which is similar to a mixture of apricot preserves) and savory ingredients such as garlic,soy sauce, vinegar, and chili.

How to Store Beef Wontons

Like many fried foods, wontons are best the day they are made. However, they can be stored in the fridge for 2 to 3 days and reheated in a frying pan on the stove top in hot oil, so as to crisp up.

If you would like to make the filling ahead of time, it is good for up to two days in advance, and can be cooked and frozen ahead of time as well.

Beef Stew With Dumplings

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
477	Calories
43g	Fat
13g	Carbs
11g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 10to 16
Amount per serving
Calories	477
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 43g	55%
Saturated Fat 4g	19%
Cholesterol 27mg	9%
Sodium 280mg	12%
Total Carbohydrate 13g	5%
Dietary Fiber 0g	2%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 11g
Vitamin C 0mg	1%
Calcium 14mg	1%
Iron 2mg	9%
Potassium 164mg	3%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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