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This simple Potstickers Recipe is easy to master once you gather all the ingredients, and leaves lots of room for improvisation. Making your own dumplings from scratch can be a fun and delicious way to celebrate the weekend, just be sure to make extra to freeze for last-minute dinners.
Pot stickers, or jiaozi, earn their name because as they cook, they stick to the sides of the wok or pan. This was probably an accident, discovered by a forgetful cook who let the water in the wok dry up and came back to find crispy bottom dumplings instead of soft ones. Sometimes kitchen accidents can be a good thing, especially because pot stickers are universally loved today.
Traditionally, pot stickers are made of ground meats and an assortment of savory fillings: mushroom, ginger, garlic, onions, and cabbage. They have fairly thick, often homemade wrappers that crisp up nicely on the outside while staying soft with a juicy filling inside.
One fantastic feature of this recipe is that you fry a small patty to test the seasonings for your filling before committing to a full batch of potstickers. What a great idea! That way you know they taste good before you make them.
Depending on what’s available to the region or what’s on hand, there’s a lot of delicious variety from dumpling to dumpling. This recipe makes it easy for you to get creative, too.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Ginger: Store the whole root in the freezer, as-is and grate it when you need it. Some grocery stores also sell tubes of grated ginger in the produce area and it works perfectly here.
- Red chili flakes: Consider omitting these if you’re feeding children or add more if you love the heat.
- Pork: Or substitute ground turkey, chicken, or beef.
- Mushrooms: I love the flavor of fresh shiitake mushrooms here, but you can substitute white button mushrooms for a milder flavor.
- Mirin: Mirin is a Japanese cooking wine that is widely available at grocery stores, Target, and Walmart. If you can’t find it, substitute 2 tablespoons dry white wine OR rice vinegar AND 1 teaspoon sugar for the 2 tablespoons mirin in this recipe.
Step-by-step instructions
To make the ginger sauce:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together hot water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, sesame oil, Sriracha, and garlic. Add red chili flakes to taste to the mixture (I like ½ teaspoon) and set aside.
To make the potstickers:
- In a large bowl, add pork, cabbage, mushrooms, scallions, soy sauce, cornstarch, ginger, sesame oil, mirin, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Mix well to combine (I like to use my hands while wearing gloves, but a sturdy spatula works too). You will have about 3 cups of filling.
- To test the seasonings in your filling (and important step to be sure it is properly seasoned), scoop a teaspoon-sized ball of filling, flatten into a patty, and fry in a dry skillet until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Taste and add more salt and pepper if desired (I usually add another ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper, or 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper total). Fry a second teaspoon of filling if you want to double-check your seasonings.
- On a clean work surface, arrange 8 wonton wrappers (keep remaining dumpling wrappers covered with a damp kitchen towel or paper towel to prevent them from drying out). Brush the edges of the wrapper with water, then repeat with the rest of the batch.
- Place 1 tablespoon filling in the center of the wrapper (I like to use the OXO small scoop, a #70 portion scoop). Fold the wrapper in half to enclose the filling and creat a half moon shape, and pleat the outer edge, pressing damp edges together to seal firmly. Transfer to a plate under the damp kitchen towel while preparing the rest of the potstickers.
- In a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon oil until shimmering. Add 12 pot stickers, flat bottom down and in a single layer. Sear until golden brown on the bottom, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Pour ¼ cup broth in the pan, cover, and let steam until all the broth evaporates, the pot stickers are tender but still firm, and the filling is cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Cook the remaining pot stickers and broth in three more batches. Garnish with thinly sliced green onion or sesame seeds. Serve with the ginger sauce.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes about 48 potstickers, enough for 12 servings, 4 dumplings per serving.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat potstickers in a skillet over medium heat by adding a few tablespoons of water and steaming until heated through.
- Freezer: Arrange potstickers on a plate or tray and freeze individually until frozen solid. Then, transfer to a freezer bag. Label, date, and freeze for up to 1 month. To cook from frozen, arrange them flat-side down in a pan. Add a splash of water, cover with a lid, and cook until the potstickers are heated to 165 degrees with a browned bottom (no need to thaw).
- More potsticker sauce: If the ginger sauce doesn’t sound appealing, try hoisin sauce or chili sauce.
- Shrimp Potstickers: Substitute finely chopped raw shrimp for the ground pork, or mix shrimp and pork together for shrimp and pork pot stickers.
- Chicken Potstickers: Use ground chicken or turkey in place of the pork.
- Vegetarian Potstickers: To make these potstickers vegetarian, use 1 cup of dried shiitake mushrooms and ½ cup of shredded carrot in place of the pork. Use water or vegetable broth for the steaming.
- Kimchi Potstickers: Mix it up and make a Korean potsticker by adding some drained and minced kimchi to the filling, with the pork or without.
- Lamb Potstickers: Use ground lamb and ground coriander seeds in place of ground pork.
Frequently Asked Questions
To pleat a filled potsticker, after folding the wonton wrapper into a half-moon, pinch the edges together at one end of the arc. Then, using your thumb and index flnger, and starting from the sealed end, make 4 or 5 pleats, or tucks, along the arc to enclose the filling completely. As each dumpling is formed, press the bottom gently against your palm to flatten it slightly.
A dumpling can refer to just about any cuisine’s version, including Polish pierogies and Italian ravioli, but pot stickers are a more specific type of Chinese dumpling distinguished by a specific method of cooking, a fry-pan-fry method that keeps things crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside.
Gyoza, another type of Japanese potsticker, was inspired by the Chinese version and brought to Japan by soldiers stationed in Manchuria during WWII.
There are almost infinite ways to eat these delicious dumplings. They’re great as an appetizer with a bracing cocktail or ice-cold beer, but they’re just as good as a main course with some steamed veggies and rice.
If you’re feeling ambitious, try making several different kinds of potstickers and you’ll have a culinary adventure every night of the week!
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Potstickers Recipe
Ingredients
For the ginger sauce:
- 3 tablespoons hot water
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger peeled and minced (see note 1)
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- red chili flakes to taste (see note 2)
For the potstickers:
- 1 pound ground pork (see note 3)
- 1 cup green cabbage thinly sliced
- 3 ounces shiitake mushrooms minced (about 1 cup, see note 4)
- 2 scallions thinly sliced (about ¼ cup)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger peeled and minced
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons mirin (see note 5)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 48 wonton wrappers
- water for brushing the wonton wrappers
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil or avocado oil or peanut oil
- 1 cup chicken broth divided
Instructions
To make the ginger sauce:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together hot water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, sesame oil, Sriracha, and garlic. Add red chili flakes to taste (I like ½ teaspoon) and set aside.
To make the potstickers:
- In a large bowl, add pork, cabbage, mushrooms, scallions, soy sauce, cornstarch, ginger, sesame oil, mirin, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Mix well to combine (I like to use my hands while wearing gloves, but a sturdy spatula works too). You will have about 3 cups of filling.
- To test the seasonings in your filling (and important step to be sure it is properly seasoned), scoop a teaspoon-sized ball of filling, flatten into a patty, and fry in a dry skillet until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Taste and add more salt and pepper if desired (I usually add another ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper, or 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper total). Fry a second teaspoon of filling if you want to double-check your seasonings.
- On a clean work surface, arrange 8 wonton wrappers (keep remaining wrappers covered with a damp kitchen towel or paper towel to prevent them from drying out). Brush the edges of each wonton wrapper with water.
- Place 1 tablespoon filling in the center of the wrapper (I like to use the OXO small scoop, a #70 portion scoop). Fold the wrapper in half to enclose the filling, and pleat the outer edge, pressing damp edges together firmly. Transfer to a plate under the damp kitchen towel while preparing the rest of the potstickers.
- In a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon oil until shimmering. Add 12 pot stickers, flat bottom down and in a single layer. Sear until golden brown on the bottom, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Pour ¼ cup broth in the pan, cover, and let steam until all the broth evaporates, the pot stickers are tender but still firm, and the filling is cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Cook the remaining pot stickers and broth in three more batches. Serve with the ginger sauce.
Notes
- Ginger: Store the whole root in the freezer, as-is and grate it when you need it. Some grocery stores also sell tubes of grated ginger in the produce area and it works perfectly here.
- Red chili flakes: Consider omitting these if you’re feeding children or add more if you love the heat.
- Pork: Or substitute ground turkey, chicken, or beef.
- Mushrooms: I love the flavor of fresh shiitake mushrooms here, but you can substitute white button mushrooms for a milder flavor.
- Mirin: Mirin is a Japanese cooking wine that is widely available at grocery stores, Target, and Walmart. If you can’t find it, substitute 2 tablespoons dry white wine OR rice vinegar AND 1 teaspoon sugar for the 2 tablespoons mirin in this recipe.
- Yield: This recipe makes about 48 potstickers, enough for 12 servings, 4 dumplings per serving.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat potstickers in a skillet over medium heat by adding a few tablespoons of water and steaming until heated through.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Restaurant quality! Yum!
These are my hub’s absolute favorite when we go to Chinatown! Can’t wait to make them tonight. It looks way easier than I thought!Â