History

Wontons are generally thought to have started in northern China before splitting into regional styles across the country. Shanghai's chaipan huntun street vendors, believed to have arrived with migrants from Anhui province, once sold the dish from bamboo carrying poles fitted with a small stove, and newspaper adverts already listed cai rou huntun on Shanghai menus in the 1930s and 1940s. The Shanghai style leans on freshness rather than boldness: pork mixed with bok choy or shepherd's purse for natural sweetness, in a broth simmered with pork or chicken bones and finished with egg crepe strips and dried seaweed.

Book a food experience

Tours, tastings and classes from the cities on this page, bookable on GetYourGuide.

Browse every bookable food experience

Common allergens: Gluten, Egg

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 40 minTotal 1 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 300g bok choy or shepherd's purse
  • 300g minced pork
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 spring onions, finely chopped, plus extra to serve
  • 1cm piece of ginger, minced
  • 40 wonton wrappers
  • 1 litre pork or chicken stock
  • 1 egg, beaten thin and fried into a crepe, sliced into strips, to serve

Method

  1. Blanch the bok choy or shepherd's purse for 30 seconds, then rinse in cold water, squeeze dry and chop finely.
  2. Mix the minced pork with the egg, soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine and sesame oil, stirring in one direction until sticky.
  3. Fold in the chopped vegetables, spring onion and ginger.
  4. Place a teaspoon of filling on each wrapper, moisten the edges, fold over and pinch the corners together into a pillow shape.
  5. Bring the stock to a simmer and season lightly with salt.
  6. Cook the wontons in a separate pot of boiling water until they float, then lift into bowls of the hot stock.
  7. Top with the egg crepe strips, extra spring onion and a few drops of sesame oil.

Tip from the editors. Cook the wontons in plain water, not the serving stock, or the starch will cloud the broth before it reaches the bowl.

Where to eat cai rou huntun (pork and vegetable wontons)

Cai rou huntun (pork and vegetable wontons) in Shanghai

Er Guang Wonton ★ 3.8

¥ NoodlesOld CityUntil 02:00

Er Guang Wonton on Huangjiaque Road in Shanghai serves pork wontons in clear broth or dry with sesame sauce, plus a crisp pork chop, from 07:00 until 02:00.

OrderPork and vegetable wontons in broth and the deep-fried pork chop.

TipThe dry wontons dressed in sesame paste or chili oil are worth ordering alongside the soup version.

Directions

All Shanghai signature dishes →

More cities are in research. Want cai rou huntun (pork and vegetable wontons) covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.

Browse all dishes →