Ditch the takeout and whip up a restaurant-worthy recipe for Spicy Chicken Wontons.

If you tune in to Instagram Stories, you’ll find me at dim sum hotspot Din Tai Fung once a week. I have become the unofficial mayor of the international eatery, most often frequenting the Orange County and San Diego locations.

So it comes as no surprise to me that one of the most common DM’s I get is, “What should I order at Din Tai Fung?” Well, folks, you’ve come to the right place because I have tried almost every item on the menu and narrowed down all of my favorites.

My normal order is below, however I will say that I like to try one new item at each visit (hence why I’ve sampled nearly the entire menu). How else would I find the best of the best that Din Tai Fung has to offer?

Without further ado, if you’re dining at Din Tai Fung, you absolutely must order the following:

• Sweet and Sour Pork Baby Back Ribs
• Sautéed String Beans with Garlic
• Sautéed Broccoli with Garlic*
• Kurobuta Pork Xiao Long Bao (a.k.a. the world-famous soup dumplings)
• Kurobuta Pork Bun
• Jidori Chicken Fried Rice*
• Jidori Chicken Wontons with Spicy Sauce (See where this is going?)
• Jidori Chicken Fried Noodles

The asterisk above denotes a very important caveat: Those are the items I like to douse with the slightly-spicy potsticker sauce. So even though I don’t order the potstickers themselves, I always ask for two sides of the potsticker sauce. It’s not overwhelmingly spicy, but it does add a whole new element.

So let’s talk about the Spicy Chicken Wontons at Din Tai Fung. They are a real beauty of a dish that’s served with the wontons and a few thinly-sliced radishes atop a bed of the sauce. You then mix it all together tableside before digging in.

I’ve done my best to recreate Din Tai Fung’s spicy chicken wontons without breaking the bank or making you hunt for hard-to-find ingredients.

The wontons themselves are very easy to assemble, it’s just all about repetition. The great news is this makes a big batch, and they freeze and reheat like a breeze.

Once you whip up the sauce, adjust the spiciness and other flavorings to your taste. Prefer more heat? Add a bit more chili paste. Need a touch more sweet to balance the heat? Add another pinch of sugar.

This is a DIY Din Tai Fung copycat recipe that will leave you skipping the long lines and ditching the delivery for homemade wontons that can easily be swapped for noodles in your go-to broth-based soup recipe.

Craving more? Subscribe to Just a Taste to get new recipes, meal plans and a newsletter delivered straight to your inbox! And stay in touch on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.