How To Store Cooked Wontons

Store Cooked Wontons

If you love Chinese cuisine the wonton will not have gone unnoticed to you. The simple dumpling which is served steamed, fried or in soups. Wontons are so popular they are available to buy ready to cook in many places in the world. Whether you buy your wontons or make your own you’ve surely had leftover wontons after cooking. The good news is the rules for storing cooked wontons are the same as the rules for storing other cooked dumplings. Wontons, like many other Chinese dishes, are diverse and have a deep history, which we should probably understand first before discussing how to store cooked wontons.

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What Are Wontons?

A wonton is a type of Chinese dumpling which has many different varieties of flavours and cooking methods depending on the regional cuisine styles of China. Traditionally wontons contain pork mince in a wrapper that is made of a simple mix of wheat flour, eggs and water. Wontons can be fried, steamed or added to soups and broths. You may sometimes come across wontons being pronounced as hun tun (Mandarin) or wun tun (Cantonese). Wontons are made by placing the filling in the centre of the wrapper which is anything from square to circular and using a folding or pinching technique to close the wonton. In the folding process, the air is pushed out to prevent tearing of the thin wonton skins during cooking. Now we can discuss the storage of cooked wontons. One thing to note is that how the wontons are initially cooked will determine how you can store them.

 

In The Refrigerator

The first port of call for storing cooked food is the refrigerator which happens to do a good job of storing cooked wontons. How you prepare the wontons for the refrigerator will depend on how the wontons were cooked. First things first, regardless of the cooking method make sure you get those wontons refrigerated within 2 hours of removing them from the stove or pot. If your wontons are cooked in the soup you will want to store them in soup and that is possible in the refrigerator. It’s best to use a plastic container with an airtight lid to do this. You will get 2-3 days to keep your wontons in the fridge before using them. For steamed wontons, you can also store them in the refrigerator in a similar container though you also have the option of resealable freezer bags. One thing to make sure of is that the wontons have completely cooled and drained before putting them in the storage container lest they stick to each other. For best results place on a tray with parchment paper and cool in the fridge. Spray with a little oil just to coat them once cooled then place in your storage container or resealable bag. If your wontons are fried you will have the easiest time storing them as these will not stick together. What you may want to do is drain them on a paper towel before putting in your storage container or freezer bag. You could also store them with the paper towel in the container. With fried wontons, it is just best to make sure they have completely cooled before putting them in the storage containers. With all these methods you’re looking at storing your cooked wontons for 2 to 3 days.

 

In The Freezer

If you want to keep your cooked wontons for a little longer or are just not sure after how long you intend to use them you’ll be pleased to know you can store cooked wontons in the deep freezer. You will have to take a little extra caution when storing cooked wontons in the deep freezer while paying mind to how they were initially cooked. You will use a two-stage process for boiled and steamed wontons while fried wontons do not need as much preparation. You will need a tray that can safely go in the freezer to get you started. On this tray, you will place your wontons making sure they do not touch. You can place parchment paper on the tray and spray the wontons with cooking oil before freezing. Allow the wontons to stay overnight in the freezer to completely freeze them especially on the outside. If you have a quick freezer you can pop them in there for faster results. Once they have frozen take the tray out of the freezer and place the wontons in a freezer bag. For best results use regular freezer bags to hold single serving sizes of the cooked frozen wontons and then place the individual serving bags in inside a heavy-duty resealable freezer bag. Label this freezer bag with the date of freezing the wontons. Stored in this manner your wontons can keep indefinitely but it is best to use them within 4 months. With fried wontons, you won’t need to make as much of a fuss about freezing them. It’s best to store them in single-serving sized freezer bags inside a heavy-duty resealable freezer bag. The heavy-duty bag is to guard against freezer burn which will dry out your wontons. The single-serving size bags allow you to thaw your cooked wontons in servings without thawing and refreezing the others which is not recommended. Wontons will keep in the freezer for up to 4 months.

 

How To Tell If Wontons Have Gone Bad

If you’ve refrigerated or frozen your wontons and want to know if they’ve gone bad there are a few things to look out for. Firstly lookout for any moulds or spots on the wrappers. These are sure signs of bacterial growth on or in the wontons. You should also feel the wrappers of wontons. If the wrappers have hardened (except in the case of fried wontons) then your wontons may have gone bad.

 

You can store cooked wontons in the fridge and expect to keep them for 2 to 3 days. This works for wontons cooked in any manner including in soup. You have the option of freezing wontons and you can get up to 4 months though this is best done with steamed wontons.

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