This paleo, Whole30, gluten-free, and keto version of wonton soup is so dang delicious, you won’t even miss the wonton wrapper! It’s the perfect Asian-inspired soup to chase the chills away!
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A comforting twist on a Nomster favorite!
My recipe for Wonton Meatballs is a Nomster favorite on the blog because it captures all the flavors of this classic Chinese takeout dish without the tediousness of folding up any dumplings. It’s so popular that we decided to add it to our latest cookbook, Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go!
Although my Wonton Meatballs taste great out of an air fryer or oven, lots of folks continue to ask me how to transform them into wonton soup. I get it—sometimes nothing satisfies as much as a steaming bowl of soup!
How to turn Wonton Meatballs into Wonton Soup!
Yes, you can plop the already-baked or air fried wonton meatballs into a bowl of soup, but I think they taste better if the meatballs are gently cooked in a rich chicken stock infused with ginger. Cooked this way, the bite-size balls develop a more tender texture and the resulting one-pot dish is more reminiscent of the wonton soup my mom cooked for me as a kid.
Ingredients
Almost all of the ingredients for my Wonton Soup can be purchased at a well-stocked grocery store!
- Dried shiitake mushrooms*: You don’t need to buy the fancy dried shiitake mushrooms for this recipe because you’re chopping them up for the meatballs. If you don’t have any dried shiitake mushrooms, you can use fresh shiitakes.
- Shrimp: Because you’re chopping up the shrimp, you don’t have to buy expensive large shrimp. I normally use frozen and pre-peeled small shrimp for this recipe. If you have a shrimp allergy, you can leave it out and use more ground pork. Also, some folks like to use scallops in place of shrimp.
- Ground pork: The traditional ground meat to use in wontons is pork, but you can substitute ground dark meat turkey or chicken in this recipe.
- Fresh herbs: Minced cilantro and scallions/green onions are mixed into the wonton meatballs. If you’re not a fan of cilantro, just use scallions.
- Coconut Aminos: I use this in place of soy sauce to help season the meatballs.
- Diamond Crystal brand kosher salt*
- Paleo-friendly fish sauce: I always use Red Boat fish sauce because it’s the best!
- Ground white pepper*: Adds a slight peppery bite to the wonton meatballs.
- Toasted sesame oil: It imparts a subtle toasty flavor to the meatballs and to the soup.
- Avocado oil: Coating your hands with a little avocado oil makes it a lot easier to form round wonton meatballs.
- Chicken broth: You can use homemade broth or your favorite store-bought brand. My favorite store-bought brands are Roli Roti’s Butcher’s Bone Broth or Bonafide Provisions.
- Ginger: I use fresh ginger to season the broth but I don’t add it to the meatballs ’cause it’ll make the texture mushy!
- Baby bok choy: My favorite vegetable to use in this wonton soup recipe is baby bok choy, but you can substitute other veggies like baby spinach or broccoli instead.
*You can also substitute ¾ teaspoon of my Umami Stir-Fry Powder for the dried shiitake mushrooms, Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and ground white pepper. See the instructions in the “How To Make This Wonton Soup Even Faster” section below.
How to make paleo, keto, and Whole30 wonton soup
Make the wontons meatballs
If you haven’t already, rehydrate your dried mushrooms. (Pro tip: Soak them in a bowl of water in the morning so they’ll be plump and tender by the time you’re ready to make dinner.)
Once you’re ready to cook, squeeze the water out of the mushrooms. Cut off and discard the stems, and finely mince the caps.
Finely chop the shrimp until it turns into a chunky paste—you don’t want big chunks of shrimp in your wonton meatballs.
Transfer the chopped shrimp to a large bowl. Add the pork, mushrooms, scallions, cilantro, coconut aminos, salt, fish sauce, white pepper, and sesame oil.
Use your hands to squeeze and mix the meatball mixture until a sticky and tacky mass is formed. (Alternatively, use a food processor to chop and combine the ingredients.)
Form a little patty and cook it in a small skillet over medium heat or microwave it on a microwave-safe plate for 30 seconds. Taste it and season with more salt if needed. (Not ready to cook just yet? You can refrigerate the meat mixture for up to 12 hours.)
Form the wonton meatballs
Using a medium disher, portion out 20 equal blobs of the mixture.
Rub a little oil on your palms, and roll the meat into uniform-sized balls.
Make the soup
In a large pot, bring the chicken broth and ginger to a boil over high heat.
Season the broth with fish sauce and salt to taste.
Add the baby bok choy to the broth and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until tender-crisp.
Remove the bok choy with a slotted spoon or tongs and divide it into four soup bowls.
Add the wonton meatballs to the broth and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes or until fully cooked. You can stab the middle of a meatball with an instant-read thermometer and it should read 145°F. The resulting meatball texture should be bouncy and light.
Turn off the heat and stir in the toasted sesame oil.
Divide the meatballs into the four serving bowls with baby bok choy and ladle the soup on top.
Garnish with sliced green onions and slurp up a bowl of homemade wonton soup!
How do you store leftovers?
If you have leftover wonton soup, you can keep it in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can reheat it in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering and the meatballs are cooked through. Alternatively, you can microwave in an Anyday bowl for 90 seconds on high power or until heated through.
How to make this wonton soup even faster!
Don’t have any dried shiitake mushrooms or too lazy to chop everything by hand? No problem! If I want to make these meatballs in a flash, I substitute ¾ teaspoon of my Umami Stir-Fry Powder for the dried shiitake mushrooms, Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and ground white pepper. Also, I use my food processor to chop and mix all the meatball ingredients. The resulting meatballs will have a more uniform texture, but they’ll still taste amazing!
Don’t forget that you can stock up on all my Nom Nom Paleo spice blends online on Amazon or at The Spice Lab and you can save 15% with the one-time code: letsgo.
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2022).
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Wonton Soup (Paleo, Keto, Whole30, Gluten Free)
Ingredients
Wonton Meatballs
- ¼ ounce dried shiitake mushrooms soaked in water until rehydrated
- ½ pound raw shrimp shelled and deveined
- 1 pound ground pork
- 2 scallions finely chopped
- ¼ cup cilantro minced
- 1 tablespoon coconut aminos
- ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon Red Boat fish sauce
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
- ¼ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- Avocado oil
Soup
- 6 cups bone broth or chicken broth
- 1 inch fresh ginger peeled and cut into thin coins
- 1 teaspoon Red Boat fish sauce
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 pound baby bok choy ends trimmed and cut lengthwise in half or in quarters
- ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
Instructions
Make the Wonton Meatballs
- If you haven’t already, rehydrate your dried mushrooms. (Pro tip: Soak them in a bowl of water in the morning so they’ll be plump and tender by the time you’re ready to make dinner.)
- Once you’re ready to cook, squeeze the water out of the mushrooms. Cut and discard the stems and finely mince the caps.
- Finely chop the shrimp until it turns into a chunky, sticky paste.
- Transfer the chopped shrimp to a large bowl. Add the pork, mushrooms, scallions, cilantro, coconut aminos, salt, fish sauce, white pepper and sesame oil.
- Use your hands to squeeze and mix the meatball mixture until a sticky and tacky mass is formed. (Alternatively, use a food processor to chop and combine the ingredients.)
- Form a little patty and cook it in a small skillet over medium heat. Taste it and season with more salt if needed. (Not ready to cook just yet? You can refrigerate the meat mixture for up to 12 hours.)
- Using a medium disher, portion out 20 blobs of the mixture. Rub a little avocado oil on your palms and roll the meat into uniform-sized balls.
Make the soup
- In a large pot, bring the chicken broth and ginger to a boil over high heat. Season the broth with fish sauce and salt to taste.
- Add the baby bok choy to the broth and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until tender crisp. Remove the bok choy with a slotted spoon and divide into 4 soup bowls.
- Add the meatballs to the broth and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes or until fully cooked. You can stab the middle of a meatball with an instant-read thermometer and it should read 145°F. The resulting meatballs should be bouncy and light.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the toasted sesame oil. Divide the meatballs and soup into the four bowls. Garnish with scallions.
Video
Notes
- Substitute ¾ teaspoon of my Umami Stir-Fry Powder for the dried shiitake mushrooms, Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and ground white pepper.
- Also, use a food processor to chop and mix all the meatball ingredients. The resulting meatballs will have a more uniform texture, but they’ll still taste amazing!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious. Perfect for a full day and night of non-stop rain. I’ll make this again.
I made this recipe yesterday. It took ages to make (including the broth from chicken bones) but it was well-worth it. I added chives before adding the soup to the bowls, which was how my parents made wonton noodle soup. Personally I did miss the wraps for wontons though. haha
Michelle,
I have fresh Shitaki mushrooms. Is okay to use them instead of the dried? We just had one of your other recipes using Shitaki and I have left over mushrooms.
Yes! Dried shiitake mushrooms do taste better and I definitely recommend trying them next time!
I have a food sensitivity to mushrooms. 🙁 What else could I use to get that umami flavor profile? Thanks for your help!
You can leave it out! There will be plenty of umami synergy from the pork, shrimp, coconut aminos, and fish sauce!
Made this for dinner and it probably took 30 minutes start to finish for me. I did make some subs to make life easier: 1) umami seasoning instead of the mushrooms and white pepper 2) extra pork because I did not have shrimp on hand. I also used my food processor to chop it all up as recomended and I thought it went pretty well. This recipe was delicious and filling, would definitely make again!
This is my type of soup! I halved the recipe for two, used baby bella’s instead of shiitake in the meatballs, and added a habanero to the broth. I made broth from a rotisserie chicken and used that. This was phenomenal – such a comforting bowl of soup!
This is an absolute flavor bomb. I’ve made it several times now. For my personal taste I started to add additional ginger and garlic. Green onion, mint, basil and cilantro are added at the table. This is a dish of delish!!! Thank you bc it is in our permanent rotation!
Was afraid I’d miss the wrappers (I LOOOOOVE dumplings!) but decided to trust Michelle and…
Excellent!
As usual.
Thank you. Once again.