Are Wontons Gluten-free?

Find out what wontons are, what they’re made of, and if they’re safe to eat on a gluten-free diet. Plus if wonton wrappers are gluten-free.

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Have you been to a restaurant lately that served wonton soup or fried wontons as an appetizer? This popular dumpling is loved, because frankly, they’re so good. Little purses of pork or shrimp filling wrapped in a delicious and delicate wrapper that’s been boiled in soup or fried until crispy.

If you follow a gluten-free diet, you probably know that most foods that have a wrapper or dough of any kind needs to be reviewing for gluten since it’s often made with flour.

If you’re like me, you like to dig into foods ingredient by ingredient and layer by layer to review ingredients and determine what ingredientsmay make a food work or not work for a gluten-free diet.

That’s exactly what we’re going to do in this post. We’re going to dive into what wontons are, what they’re made of, and talk about the different layers of wontons to decide if they will work for a gluten-free diet or not.

If you love wontons, get ready to learn how you can enjoy them on a gluten-free diet.

What are wontons?

Wontons are Chinese dumplings that are made with a meat filling and a thin wonton wrapper. Wontons are usually steamed, boiled, or fried before serving. They’re often served as appetizers or in soup.

What are wontons made of?

Homemade wontons are usually made of a meat, seafood and/or vegetable filling, soy, fish, or oyster sauce, sesame oil, and wonton wrappers.

The filling of wontons are generally pork or shrimp, but other meat or seafood can also be used. This filling is seasoned with a variety of flavorings, like soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger, and red pepper flakes.

Wonton wrappers can be made at home, but most folks who make homemade wontons use store-bought wrappers to save on time. Wonton wrappers are made with flour, eggs, water, and salt.

Store bought wontons you can get in the freezer section may also contain more ingredients in the form of seasonings and preservatives.

What is gluten?

Gluten is a protein found in most wheat products, and acts as the “glue” that helps to hold wheat, barley, kamut, spelt, farro, durum, bulgur, rye, and semolina together to maintain their shape.

You can find gluten in whole grains, but also in many processed foods as well. If you purchase wheat bread, there will be gluten in it, because wheat by nature has gluten.

Many processed foods have hidden gluten in them in the form of gluten or wheat derivatives. These are also in the form of flavorings, binders to keep ingredients together, or other additives.

Are wonton wrappers gluten-free?

Most wonton wrappers that are sold at stores or found in most restaurants are not gluten-free, as they contain wheat flour or wheat gluten.

That said, if you make your own wonton wrappers at home, you can easily substitute wheat flour or wheat gluten for a gluten-free ingredient instead. There are also a few gluten-free wonton wrapper brands that you can search for online or in stores to make your own gluten-free wontons at home.

Read on: Gluten-free wonton wrappers

Read on: Gluten-free egg roll wrappers

Are wonton fillings gluten-free?

For the most part, we can assume that wonton fillings are not gluten-free because most contain soy sauce. Traditional Chinese soy sauce uses wheat as an ingredient, making it not good for a gluten-free diet.

If you make your own wontons at home, you can opt to swap out the traditional soy sauce for a tamari soy sauce. Tamari soy sauce tastes almost the same as Chinese soy sauce, but this Japanese version uses no wheat ingredients making it gluten-free.

Read on: Is tamari gluten-free?

Generally speaking, no, wontons are not gluten-free. Wontons that you buy at restaurants and even in the freezer section of a grocery store are very likely to contain gluten from the wonton wrappers or the soy sauce used in the filling. These should be avoided on a gluten-free diet.

That said, you can definitely make your own gluten-free wontons at home. Use one of these gluten-free wonton wrappers and make a homemade filling using gluten-free tamari soy sauce as a flavoring.

Read on: Are egg rolls gluten-free?

If you love wontons and have been wondering if this soup dumpling is safe for your gluten-free diet, I hope this post has helped you get the answers you’re looking for. Wontons are generally not considered gluten-free, but they can be made that way if you make them yourself at home.

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