Our easy baked wonton cups are the perfect blank canvas for your favorite fillings! We show you how to transform wonton wrappers into crispy cups, plus delicious filling ideas for them.
Wonton wrappers are not just for dumplings! We love creating these fun and easy party appetizers using baked wonton cups as the shell. They’re perfect for a swanky cocktail party but easy enough for a casual get-together.
We’ve been making baked wonton cups for years and have found many ways to fill them. I’ve listed our favorites below. You might also enjoy these chili lime shrimp wonton cups and our mini fish tacos which swap tortillas for baked wonton cups. I also use similar wrappers (just a bit larger) to make our crispy chicken spring rolls!
Key Ingredients
- Wonton Wrappers: I use square wonton wrappers to make little cups. Wonton wrappers generally come in a few different thicknesses. If you have the choice, go with thin or medium.
- Oil: I brush my wonton wrappers with a little oil so they crisp and brown nicely in the oven. Avocado oil or olive oil is great.
- Salt: This is optional, but I like lightly seasoning one side of the wrappers with a bit of salt.
- Fillings: There are many options for what to serve inside wonton cups. I have shared a handful of fun and delicious ideas below.
How to Make Wonton Cups
It’s really easy to transform store-bought wonton wrappers into mini cups. To make the cups, brush wonton wrappers with oil, lightly season with salt, and then press into mini muffin cups. Bake them until golden brown and crisp. They take 8 to 10 minutes in a 350°F oven, but watch them closely as they will burn quickly.
While the wontons bake, you can get the fillings ready. In addition to our mini fish tacos and these easy shrimp wonton cups, I have a few more suggestions for what to add to wonton cups:
- Smoked Salmon Wonton Cups: Fill your baked wonton cups with diced cucumber, a little fresh dill, a small spoonful of crème fraîche or sour cream, and smoked salmon.
- Goat Cheese Wonton Cups: Fill your baked wonton cups with whipped goat cheese, a little fig jam, toasted walnuts, and a leaf or two of fresh thyme.
- Crab Rangoon Cups: Add a spoonful of the creamy filling from our crab Rangoon recipe made with cream cheese and crab meat.
- Pulled Pork: Add some of our slow cooker pulled pork and then top it with my favorite coleslaw. Add one spinach leaf to the bottom of each cup to prevent the bottom from becoming soggy.
- Carnitas: Fill them with these crispy carnitas and garnish with diced white onion and lime juice.
- Spinach and Artichoke Dip: Add a spoonful of our easy spinach and artichoke dip. Since this has a lot of moisture, add one leaf of baby spinach to the bottom of the cup to prevent the bottom from becoming soggy.
- Buffalo Chicken Dip: Add a spoonful of our hot buffalo chicken dip. Since this has a lot of moisture, add one leaf of baby spinach to the bottom of the cup to prevent the bottom from becoming soggy. You can do the same with our smoked salmon dip or this hot crab dip!
- Guacamole and Shrimp: Add a spoonful of homemade guacamole to each cup, then top with a roasted shrimp.
Easy Baked Wonton Cups
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
These baked wonton cups are the perfect blank canvas for your favorite flavors! To ensure you have enough cups for all your delicious fillings, bake a few extra wonton wrappers. Some may close up during baking, so it’s always good to have a few spares.
You Will Need
24 wonton wrappers
1 ½ tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil
Salt
Directions
1Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Set aside a mini muffin pan.
2Lightly brush wonton wrappers on both sides with oil. Lightly season one side with salt.
3Press the wonton wrappers into the cups, spreading back the corners and pressing the bottoms to make a defined cup.
4Bake until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Keep a close eye on them as they bake to make sure they are not over-browning.
5Transfer to a rack and let cool.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Baked wonton cups will keep, unfilled, in an airtight container for up to a week. For the best results, fill them right before serving.
- Filling tips: If you have a wet filling, consider placing one baby spinach leaf on the bottom to act as a layer between the filling and the wonton cup. This prevents the moisture from making the bottom of the wonton cup soggy.
- Nutrition facts are estimates.
The shrimp wontons were a big hit at my pampered chef party and charcuterie favorite with my clients.
Do you think spinach dip would hold up in the wonton cups okay?
I make a spinach artichoke with the wontons and they are a huge hit.
Hi Rebecca, You may want to slip a baby spinach leave underneath the dip. This would prolong the length of time the cups will stay crisp.
Brushing with some butter or olive oil is a great idea. You could also add some seasoning to the wrappers before baking, too.
My one question, what is the hint to keeping the cups open while baking? Most of mine collapsed into the center. I thought of using shot glasses, but I didn’t think they could take the heat…or maybe baking weights? got an idea?
Hi there, Baking weights would work, you could also place a small piece of aluminum foil or crumpled piece of baking parchment paper into the middle since they won’t be baking long.
Your idea of either crumpled aluminum foil or baking parchment worked. Today, I used the Reynolds brand that combines both of them. Easier to cut into small triangles to crumple and hold the shape. Made mini pizza cups this time for a church fellowship, pepperoni slices, a spoonful of mild salsa, and a 1/4 inch piece of mozzarella cheese stick. A little sprinkling of dried parsley completed the top. Half of the 52 cups were browned spam, salsa and cheese. So some of them got a surprise! Everyone loved them, I must make them more often, they said. If they knew how easy it was to combine. Thanks for being a springboard for ideas.
I won 2nd prize with the salmon wonton cups today in my department’s contest!!! Yippeee!
I lost to a vegetable pizza, but I think my won ton cups were prettier, and the salmon with the cucumber and the whipped cream cheese were delicious. the delicate dill fronds definitely made it festive. Thank you, for your inspiration. My other win was 1st place last Summer with Spam cups. I won a free t-shirt. Love your site. Thanks for giving me so much enjoyment!
So pretty! I am making this appetizer to take to a party tonight and will be traveling with them. Can I cook the wontons earlier in the day and add the filling right before serving?
You can make the wonton cups before your party. Just cool them before putting them in a sealable plastic bag to take with you. You should be fine to make them 3-4 hours before your party. Have a great time!
found your lovely recipe and am making it tonight for a christmas eve party! sadly my shops had sold out of dill and thyme so will have to hunt them out today. so excited i hope mine look as good as yours
oh, my my my! you guys are Awesome! figs are in season, I just caught some king salmon today and I have the feeling that the Farmer’s Market in the morning with have fresh walnuts AND a nice selection of cucumbers! Boo YA!
Thanks for the idea and the great pictures. They were a hit! I like the two options together…different yet both great and complimentary…and fun to prepare. Thanks again, you came through in a pinch!
Thank you for this post! I made some wonton cups yesterday ;-).
Great idea! Totally making these for my cocktail party this weekend.
Had 40 minutes to shop for the items, get home, and prepare. And pulled it off! Thawed the Salmon on the car dashboard with the defrost on high. Set the oven when walked in door and went to work. I fixed 2 plates of 9 in 18 minutes and they were a hit at our schools holiday party. Keep this idea!
Jason – We LOVE that you used the defroster in your car!! Thanks so much for letting us know and we are so glad everything worked out well … plus, we will forever have the image of someone driving by with salmon defrosting on their dashboard!
What a great idea! I love these for Christmas hors d’oeuvres… and so versatile!
apps for friday
so pretty!
Thank you 🙂 And thanks again for the tasty kitchen mention!
Caught this on Tastespotting and had to hop over. So cute! I’ve made sweets like this using a layer of thinly-rolled brioche dough, but never thought about something as simple as wonton wrappers. Maybe tortillas would work for mini taco?
Stacy, rolled brioche dough is a great idea, we are planning to try that one soon! I bet tortillas would work really well for mini tacos or maybe we could even try the wonton wrappers again, but skip the pre-bake, just add ingredients to the wrappers (maybe beans and a little cheese) and then bake everything in the oven at once.
Darn, I just tossed a package of won ton wrappers. These look delicious.
Hope your holiday was very merry.
I love the simplicity, and they are so pretty. Delicious!