Dumplings · FFET10294
Hong you chao shou (red oil wontons)
Thin-skinned pork wontons boiled and tossed in chili oil, soy sauce, vinegar and garlic, called chaoshou in Sichuan.
A deep white porcelain bowl holds pale, thin wrappers around ground pork, with scallion, minced ginger and garlic in glossy red chili oil coating the wontons and pooling below, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the bowl.
Boiled, steamed and pan-fried dumplings, wontons and other filled dough foods.
Red oil wontons are a Sichuan snack of thin-skinned pork wontons boiled and dressed in a chili oil sauce. In Sichuan, wontons are called chaoshou, a name from the fold in which 2 corners cross like folded arms. The dish's date remains unknown; a 2025 secondary article gives 1941 as the opening year of Chengdu's Long Chao Shou, a date for the shop, not the dish.
What
Red oil wontons are small pork wontons whose skin is thinner than that of ordinary wontons, boiled and tossed in a sauce of chili oil, soy sauce, vinegar and garlic. They are also known as hong you hun tun, and are often served with sesame paste and chili oil.1,2,4,5,6,7
When
The dish's date remains unknown. References to wonton in Tang, Song and Qing texts come only from the cited entry's general account of wonton; a secondary article dated August 13, 2025 gives 1941 as the opening year of Chengdu's Long Chao Shou, a date for the shop, not the dish.2,3
Where
Red oil wontons are a Sichuan snack, mainly associated with Chengdu and its Long Chao Shou shop. Opened at Yuelaichang by Zhang Guangwu and several colleagues from the Nonghua teahouse, Long Chao Shou moved to Xinjichang in the 1950s and to the south end of Chunxi Road in the 1960s, and is still operating.1,2,3
How
Minced pork is mixed with scallion, ginger and seasonings for the filling. The wontons are wrapped, boiled for about 2 to 5 minutes depending on the recipe, and tossed in red oil sauce; some recipes add 1 spoonful of cooking water. The sauces in 3 recipes differ: 1 uses light soy sauce, chili oil, sesame paste, sugar and garlic; 1 uses chili oil, sweet soy sauce and Chinkiang vinegar; and 1 uses chili sauce, Chinkiang vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil.5,6,7
Why
In Sichuan, wontons are called chaoshou, a name from the fold in which 2 corners cross like folded arms.4
Impact and influence
As of August 13, 2025, Long Chao Shou in Chengdu was still operating.3
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the simpler version I make at home: a plain filling, a sauce mixed in the bowl, and the boiled wontons tossed straight in. The sauce amounts follow the earlier signed recipe, with 3 tablespoons of light soy sauce, 6 tablespoons of chili oil, 1 teaspoon of sesame paste, 2 teaspoons of sugar and 2 cloves of garlic, and so do the roughly 170 g of pork and about 18 wontons. I added 1 tablespoon of Chinkiang vinegar, an amount of my own choosing that draws on the later recipe. The seasonings in the filling, the cooking time and the way I check doneness are my own. Of the other two recipes, one uses Chinkiang vinegar in its sauce and the other is adapted from an Asian cookbook; I borrow just their sauce combinations for comparison. The conversion of tablespoons to milliliters is mine.
Ingredients
- Ground pork about 170 g
- Scallion, for the filling 1, chopped
- Minced ginger 1 teaspoon
- Light soy sauce, for the filling 1 teaspoon
- Cooking wine 1 teaspoon
- Salt a small pinch
- Water, for the filling 2 tablespoons (30 ml)
- Wonton wrappers about 18
- Light soy sauce, for the sauce 3 tablespoons (45 ml)
- Chili oil 6 tablespoons (about 90 ml)
- Sesame paste 1 teaspoon
- Sugar 2 teaspoons
- Chinkiang vinegar 1 tablespoon (15 ml)
- Garlic 2 cloves, minced
Steps
- Mix the pork with the scallion, ginger, 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce, wine and salt, stir in the 2 tablespoons of water a little at a time, and stir in one direction until sticky.
- In a large bowl, stir together the garlic, the 3 tablespoons of light soy sauce, the sesame paste, the sugar and the vinegar, then add the chili oil and set it aside.
- Put a small spoonful of filling in the middle of each wrapper, fold it into a triangle, then bring the two corners toward the middle, cross them and pinch them together, which is the chaoshou fold. Cover the unused wrappers with a damp cloth so they do not dry out.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the wontons in batches, nudge them apart, and cook for about 3 minutes after they float.
- I lift one out and cut it open: the filling is done when no pink is left, and if it is still pink I cook them a little longer.
- Lift the wontons out, drain them briefly, put them into the bowl of sauce with a spoonful of the cooking water, toss, and eat hot.
Tips
- I do not like it too hot, so I begin with half the chili oil, toss, taste and then decide whether to add more; this is my own habit.
- The three recipes give different cooking times, about 2 minutes, 2 to 3 minutes and about 5 minutes, so I decide by cutting one open and not by time alone.
Allergens: wheat, soy, sesame