Fried Chicken Wontons Recipe Trini Style

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Nothing beats fried crispy snacks as a late night Friday treat. These fried chicken wontons are tasty and simple to make. Serve them with your favorite condiments like ketchup, garlic sauce, or pepper sauce.

For more fried treats, check out these shrimp wontons, veggie spring rolls, and fried korean chicken bites recipes and find more Trini chicken options here.

fried chicken wontons fresh out of fryer

What you need for this Trinidad chicken wontons recipe

For this recipe, I used:

  • boneless, skinless chicken breast
  • store-bought wonton skin wrappers
  • Caribbean green seasoning with chadon beni, garlic and pepper
  • onions
  • sweet peppers
  • cilantro
  • chadon beni (or culantro)
  • salt
  • flour
  • oil for frying
  • water for folding

You can eliminate the sweet peppers and fresh herbs from this recipe. Or you can add many other optional seasonings and ingredients. Flavor the chicken filling how ever you like. Consider adding:

  • BBQ sauce
  • oregano
  • all purpose seasoning
  • Chinese seasoning
  • garlic powder
  • celery powder
  • soy sauce
  • chili sauce

This list can go on and on but I’ll stop right here.

How to make these chicken wontons

Here I’ll explain what I did for this batch of wontons. But, the recipe for the filling changes often based on which fresh herbs and veggies are bearing in my garden. So, make the filling your own.

Step 1: Since I use frozen wonton wrappers, I usually take them out of the freezer a few hours before starting to cook the chicken.

Marinate the chicken

Step 2: I use boneless, skinless chicken breast from the store for this recipe. I rinse the meat out and toss in a little flour before rinsing again. The flour removes the ‘fresh’ smell and taste from the meat. If there are any small pieces of fat, cut them out. Rinse the meat again.

Step 3: Mix in salt and Caribbean green seasoning to the chicken. Cover and allow to marinate for at least 4 hours to overnight.

Usually, I batch clean and season the chicken breast. This makes prep work a whole lot easier for a wide range of chicken recipes. So, all I have to do is defrost the chicken from the freezer.

Pre-cook the chicken

You don’t have to precook the chicken for making chicken wontons because they will cook in the hot oil when frying. Personally though, I prefer to pre-cook the chicken to guarantee it is cooked all the way through.

There are a number of ways to pre-cook the chicken.

Step 4A: You can cut the meat into smaller 2-inch pieces and sauté with a little oil. When the chicken turns white and the liquid it releases boils off, you can mix in the other filling ingredients. Cook for a few minutes and set aside.

Step 4B: Another way I pre-cook the chicken is by griddling the meat. Griddling adds a delicious smokiness to the chicken but it can dry the meat out so you have to be cautious when cooking. To griddle, place the griddle pan on medium heat and brush oil onto the pan. Leave to heat up for 10 minutes or so.

raw chicken breast on griddle pan

Next, place the whole chicken breast in the pan. It will slowly turn white and release its natural liquid. When the meat is fully cooked on one side, it will release from the pan and be very easy to flip over. Turn the meat and allow to brown on the other side.

grilled chicken breast

Remove from the heat and set aside.

Cook the veggies

Step 5: Since I griddled the chicken breast whole, I cooked the veggies separately. So, to a small pot on medium heat, add oil and leave to heat up. Then, stir in onions and cook until translucent (about two minutes). Once that’s done, add the sweet peppers and fresh herbs. Cook for another two to five minutes. When done, set aside to cool.

Step 6: With the cooked chicken breast cooled, cut into half inch pieces and mix with the cooled veggies.

Step 7: At this point, you can add some of your optional ingredients. Sometimes I add in BBQ sauce and other seasonings so you can make this chicken wontons recipe your own here.

chicken filling for wontons

How to wrap wontons for frying

At this point, the frozen store-bought wonton wrappers should be at room temperature, soft and pliable.

There are a few ways to fold the wontons – I make little boat-shaped ones or flat ones.

Step 8A: For the boat-shaped ones:

  1. dunk the wrapper into a small bowl of water, shaking off the excess.
  2. place a small dollop of the chicken filling in the center of the wrapper.
  3. fold the diagonal ends together, pressing all the edges together.
  4. push the center of the filling upward.
  5. pull the two lower ends towards each other, squeezing them together.
  6. place on a plate or tray to dry.
  7. move the wontons after a few minutes to prevent them from sticking.
chicken wontons boat shape

Step 8B: For the flat wontons, simply repeat the first three steps (wet the wrapper, place the filling, and fold along the diagonal). Next, fold each of the lower edges onto the filling like the photo below. That’s it. These are flatter so you will need less oil for frying; however, they will take up more space in the pot so you will have more batches to make.

chicken wontons flat shape

Fry the chicken wontons

Step 9: While filling and folding the wontons, place a large pot on medium heat. Add vegetable oil, enough to deep fry the wontons. Leave to heat up for 10 to 15 minutes. Place a bamboo skewer in the oil and if bubbles form around the skewer, the oil is ready for frying.

Step 10: Add in the wontons. It only takes a few seconds for the wrappers to puff up and float to the surface of the oil. Flip them and allow them to develop a nice golden brown color on both sides.

frying chicken wontons

Remove from the oil and place on thick napkins to soak up the excess oil. Serve hot alongside your favorite dipping sauces, fries, and more.

Fried chicken wontons recipe

Trinidad-style fried chicken wontons

Nothing beats fried crispy chicken wontons as a late night Friday treat. These wontons are made with griddled chicken, veggies and Caribbean herbs. Serve them with your favorite dipping sauce like ketchup, chili sauce or garlic sauce.
Prep Time4 hours
Cook Time40 minutes
Total Time4 hours 40 minutes
Course: Snack
Cuisine: Caribbean, Chinese
Keyword: chicken wontons
Servings: 50 wontons
Author: Ros Singh

Ingredients

Chicken filling

  • 3-4 boneless (skinless chicken breast)
  • 2 tbsp green seasoning (with chadon beni, garlic, chive, pepper)
  • 1 onion (chopped)
  • 1 sweet pepper (chopped)
  • 1 tbsp chadon beni leaves (chopped)
  • 1 tbsp cilantro or celery leaves (chopped)
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • flour to wash the chicken

Wontons

  • 30 store-bought wonton wrappers
  • water for folding
  • oil for deep frying

Instructions

Filling

  • Clean and wash chicken with flour. Rinse again.
  • Mix in green seasoning and salt.
  • Cover and refrigerate to marinate for four hours to overnight.
  • Place a griddle pan on medium heat.
  • Brush the pan with oil.
  • Leave to heat up for 10 minutes.
  • Place the chicken breast on the hot pan.
  • After 6-8 minutes, check if the chicken releases from the pan, leave until it does.
  • Flip the chicken.
  • Cook for another 6-8 minutes.
  • Remove from the heat and set aside.
  • Once cool, dice into 1-inch pieces.
  • Place a small pot on medium heat.
  • Add oil and allow to heat up.
  • Toss in onions and cook until translucent (2 minutes).
  • Mix in sweet peppers and fresh herbs.
  • Cook for another 2 – 5 minutes.
  • Set aside to cool.
  • Mix diced chicken with cooled veggies.

Wontons

  • Place a large pot on medium heat.
  • Add enough oil for deep frying. Leave to heat up.
  • Place a wonton wrapper into water.
  • Remove and shake off the excess.
  • Place a dollop of the chicken filling in the center of the wrapper.
  • Fold and squeeze its diagonal edges together. Squeeze all edges.
  • Push the center of the filling upward.
  • Pull the two lower ends to each other and squeeze to seal.
  • Or fold the two lower corners onto the filling and squeeze.
  • Set aside to dry out on a non-stick tray.
  • Lift the dried wontons after a few minutes to prevent sticking and tearing.
  • When the oil is hot, add the wontons.
  • Flip over when the wontons rise to the top and start browning.
  • Continue flipping to ensure even browning.
  • Remove from heat.
  • Place on napkins to soak up the excess oil.
  • Serve hot.

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