And the jackfruit frenzy continues! After vegan okonomiyaki, potstickers, and rillettes, here comes jackfruit wonton soup!
Yes, jackfruit is life-changing. It has an incredible texture and is bland enough to absorb any flavor that comes its way. These awesome wontons are filled with pulled jackfruit, sweet potatoes, red bell peppers, and sautéed shiitakes. They are infused with Asian flavors like ginger, garlic, and lime and come with a citrusy, spicy broth that is both warming and refreshing at the same time. Ready? Let’s make wontons!
It starts with the filling. Sautée some garlic and ginger together, then add finely diced sweet potatoes, red bell peppers, and shiitakes. Once the sweet potatoes are soft, you add the pulled jackfruit and seasonings: almond butter, soy sauce, white rice vinegar, and a generous pinch of ground chili.
For even more flavor, I can recommend adding a pinch of five-spice powder if you have it on hand. It gives a subtle anise flavor to the filling.
Once your jackfruit filling is ready, it’s time to make wontons! I won’t lie; it’s the most time-consuming step of the recipe, but I swear it’s worth it. Place two teaspoons of the filling in the center of a wrapper and fold it. There are many ways to fold wontons: into triangles, pouches, rectangles, etc. I went with a simple tortellini shape.
The most important tip I can give you is to really make sure your wontons are fully sealed, and the filling is enclosed tightly. If it’s not and there is too much air inside the wontons, they will fall apart during cooking. I learned it the hard way.
To wonton folding experts out there, I know. I still need to work on my folding skills.
The broth is easy and requires only 7 ingredients. Soy sauce for that umami flavor, lime juice for freshness, toasted sesame oil for nuttiness, and chili oil to make things spicier. I also added maple syrup to balance the acidity of the lime. You basically combine all the ingredients together in a saucepan and warm over medium heat. Once hot, add the cooked wontons and optionally sautéed bok choi. Serve, and enjoy!
This flavorful soup is great for a healthy dinner, whether it is hot or cold outside. The broth is warming but refreshing at the same time, thanks to the addition of lime juice. Wontons make the whole dish more filling, and jackfruit adds a nice meaty texture.
Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe!
Hot & Sour Jackfruit Wonton Soup
Ingredients
Jackfruit Wontons
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- 1 tsp ginger freshly grated
- 1/4 cup sweet potato finely chopped
- 1/4 cup red bell pepper finely chopped
- 1/2 cup shiitakes finely chopped
- 1 20-ounce can young green jackfruit
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp almond butter
- 1 tbsp white rice vinegar
- 1/8 tsp ground chili
- 1/8 tsp five-spice powder optional
- 18-20 vegan wonton wrappers store-bought or homemade, see notes
- add-ins: sautéed shiitakes, bok choi or spinach optional
Hot & Sour Broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp white rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil toasted
- 2 tsp chili oil
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp green onions chopped
Instructions
Jackfruit Wontons
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the garlic and grated ginger. Sautée for 1-2 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Add sweet potatoes, red bell peppers, and shiitakes, and sautée for 6-8 minutes or until tender. Stir regularly to make sure the vegetables don't stick to the bottom of the skillet.
- Drain and rinse the jackfruit. Cut off the hard core parts. Transfer to a plate or cutting board and roughly mash it with a fork until you get a texture similar to pulled pork.
- Add the jackfruit to the skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Pour in the soy sauce, almond butter, white rice vinegar, ground chili, and five-spice powder if using. Stir well to combine and cook for one more minute. Remove from heat and let cool a few minutes.
- Bring a large pot of water to a low boil. In the meantime, prepare the wontons.
- Place a wonton wrapper on a cutting board. Using your finger, slightly wet the edges with water. Place about 2 teaspoons of the jackfruit filling in the center of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half over the filling to form a triangle, press down the edges to seal. Give it a good pinch, making sure your wontons are fully sealed. Otherwise, the wontons may fall apart during cooking and the filling will escape.
- Moisten one bottom corner of the triangle with water. Bring together the left and right corners and press to seal. See photo to check how they should look like. There are many other ways to fold a wonton, use your favorite one. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.
- Once your wontons are ready and the water boiling, carefully drop the wontons into the boiling water. Lower the heat to a low boil, and cook for 2 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the broth.
- Drain the wontons and transfer to the serving bowls filled with the hot broth. Top with red pepper flakes, green onions, and optionally sautéed shiitakes and bok choi.
Hot & Sour Broth
- Combine all the ingredients except the green onions in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat, add the chopped green onions and divide into 3 serving bowls.
Notes
- If using store-bought wontons, make sure to brush them with water first to remove the coat of flour that prevents them from sticking to each other. If using homemade, you don't need to do that as the wrappers will be more sticky.
These dumplings look so good and I recently had jackfruit for the first time. It really does provide that sort of pulled pork consistency that has been missing from a vegetarian diet for so long. While I am not vegetarian, my wife is and I do my best to accommodate us both. Also, meandering in my local Asian market, I saw a whole one. What ugly specimens, but have you ever cleaned a fresh one? I wonder how hard it is to clean and process to get to the point where it is edible.
Thanks Ben! You are right, the texture of jackfruit is very interesting, especially for new vegans who are trying to replace meat with a plant-based alternative.
I never bought a whole jackfruit, that thing looks too scary 🙂 You would have to buy a green one, not a ripe one and I believe it’s a lot of work to open/clean it. I think there is a video on Youtube that shows how to do it, if you ever feel brave enough to start this project!
I had this wonton soup last night for supper. Considering the amount of work that went into making the jackfruit wontons, I’m only going to give this recipe three stars. Also, you must understand, Thomas, that I use to be a trained, professional ‘cooker’. so I tend to improvise a lot with any given recipe, to save time and money. For example, instead of using chili powder, I just used some oil that I had leftover from a jar of hot cherry peppers from Italy. This worked fine. Further, I am what you might call a transitional vegan, a.k.a. half-assed vegan, so for the broth I used chicken broth. After adjusting the broth for saltiness, I threw in a few frozen peas, added the wontons, then finished off with a garnish of some diced tomato and diagonally sliced green onions before serving.
The jackfruit was new to me, and it does have an interesting texture. I might experiment further with this fruit to make a vegan, pulled pork sandwich, or as a burrito filling. Cheers.
Hey Charles,
Thanks for the feedback! I have to agree that making wontons is a bit time-consuming 🙂 I appreciate you took the time to share your tweaks!
I just made this and it was SO GOOD!
Thanks for the feedback Mila! Glad to hear you liked it 🙂