Easy vegetable and cream cheese baked wontons! Big crowd-pleaser and no need for deep-frying. Can be prepped and frozen ahead.

Photography Credit: Lisa Lin

Making dumplings is a big tradition in my family. When I was young, my mother would wake me up early on Sunday mornings to make dumplings with her and my grandmother. We would spend an hour or two filling and shaping dumplings, and then cook them for brunch for the rest of the family.

It was a lot of work, but I always got first dibs on the freshly made dumplings!

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Now that I live away from my family, I still try to keep that weekend dumpling-making tradition alive.

If you have never made dumplings before, these vegetable and cream cheese baked wontons are a great place to start. The filling comes together quickly and folding the dumplings is quite simple compared to other, more elaborate dumplings.

Plus, there’s no deep-frying involved!

Store-bought wonton wrappers are so convenient. For this recipe, buy square-shaped wonton or dumpling wrappers. Technically, you could make the wontons with circular wrappers, but you won’t get the same pyramid shape that you see in the photos.

Store-bought wrappers are usually dusted with flour or another starch to prevent them from sticking together in the package. I feel that once baked, this tends to make the wontons quite dry.

You can keep this from happening by brushing all the wontons with a thin layer of oil right before baking. You don’t need a lot of oil, just enough to moisten the wrapper on the outside. You can also use cooking spray to apply the layer of oil.

Because these wontons are baked (as opposed to deep-fried), most of the crunch will come from the golden brown “X” on the top of the wontons. Using whisked eggs to seal the “X” makes this part extra-crunchy!

These baked wontons taste great all on their own, but I have included a quick recipe for a soy sauce and vinegar dipping sauce that you can serve alongside, if you like. If you want something on the sweeter side, try a sweet chili sauce.