chinese food/chinese take out/comfort/recipes

Homemade Pork and Garlic Chinese Potsticker Dumpling Recipe

Posted July 10, 2018 by Stephanie

Homemade Pork and Garlic Chinese Potsticker Dumpling Recipe | www.iamafoodblog.com

Homemade Pork and Garlic Chinese Potsticker Dumpling Recipe | www.iamafoodblog.com

Homemade Pork and Garlic Chinese Potsticker Dumpling Recipe | www.iamafoodblog.com

Homemade Pork and Garlic Chinese Potsticker Dumpling Recipe | www.iamafoodblog.com

Homemade Pork and Garlic Chinese Potsticker Dumpling Recipe | www.iamafoodblog.com

I love dumplings of all kinds but potstickers hold a special place in my heart because they’re the dumpling I grew up eating. I have many fond memories of my family sitting around our round jade green laminate kitchen table, a giant plate of potstickers in the middle, all of us stuffing our faces.

Nowadays I probably eat gyoza more – which are technically the Japanese version of potstickers – but since I’m not the greatest at making gyoza, the dumplings I make at home the most are potstickers. If you haven’t had potstickers before, maybe you just haven’t heard them called potstickers. Essentially they’re just Chinese dumplings, pan-fried; fried dumplings are literally called pot stick in Chinese. I mean, I love boiled and steamed dumplings too, but there’s just something about that combination of crispy pan-fried dumpling skin, juicy meaty insides, and the tender noodle-y un-fried dumpling tops.

Dumplings are really, really easy to make at home, as long as you have a source for dumpling skins. Luckily, there are tons of Asian grocery stores around that sell pre-made dumpling skins. Or, it’s pretty straight forward to make your own. Once you have that out of the way, it’s just a question of mixing together meat, vegetables, and seasonings. Pop the filling into the dumpling wrappers, squish/fold them together and you’re gold. You could have a giant dumpling making party, make hundreds of them, and freeze them for future dumpling cravings.

These particular potstickers are filled with pork and napa cabbage. It’s a pretty classic combo flavored with garlic, ginger, soy, shaoxing, and toasted sesame oil. I added some crunchy wood ear mushrooms in there for some textural interest, but they’re optional. From there it’s a quick fry and steam cooking method and you’ve got a plate of potstickers just begging to be dipped into soy and chili oil.

Happy dumpling-ing!

PS – If you need more dumpling recipes check out these and these!

Homemade Chinese Dumpling Potsticker Recipe
makes about 40-50 dumplings, depending on size


  • 1 lb finely minced napa tossed with 2 teaspoons salt, then drained and squeezed
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
  • 1/4 cup sliced wood ear mushrooms, rehydrated, optional
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 2 teaspoons ginger, minced
  • 2 teaspoons light soy
  • 2 teaspoons shaoxing
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • dumpling wrappers, as needed

To salt the napa, toss the minced napa with salt and let sit for 10-15 minutes. The napa should be very wilted. Rinse and then squeeze out as much water as possible.

In a large bowl, mix together the napa, pork, green onions, mushrooms and garlic. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, ginger, soy, shaoxing, toasted sesame oil, sugar, and salt. Mix throughly into the meat mixture.

Wrap the potstickers: place 1 tablespoon of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Lightly moisten the edges of the wrapper with water, fold over into a half moon shape and pinch the edges to seal. You can also pleat/fold the dumplings: start by folding the dumpling skin in half and pinching. From the middle, fold over/ pleat one side of the dumpling skin and push against the back skin to secure. Repeat until you reach the edge the pleat the other side.

To cook: in a nonstick pan, over medium heat, heat up a touch of oil. When hot, lay the potstickers in the pan, in one layer. Cook, until slightly browned, then add 2-4 tablespoons of water and cover and cook for 3-4 minutes. When the water has cooked off, lift off the lid and continue cooking until the bottoms are brown and crisp. Enjoy hot, with soy sauce and chili oil!

To freeze: space out uncooked potstickers in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until solid. Transfer to freezer bags. Cook from frozen adding a couple of minutes to the covered cooking time.

Note: You can buy potsticker wrappers at your local Asian grocery store, they’re round and might be labeled gyoza or dumpling wrappers.

10 Comments

  1. Lia says:

    Do you have any tips for flipping the cooked gyozas over in 1 connected piece? (like your cover photo) I always try but they always make a mess and won’t stick together!

    1. Stephanie says:

      hi lia!
      i use a plate and hold it over the pan and then flip. i’m going to be doing a in-depth post on how to cook dumplings so i’ll probably go into more detail there, but i just kinda flip them out, like how you turn out an upside down cake. hope that helps a bit? :)

  2. Hi Stephanie,
    I love potstickers, but just never thought of making my own — I guess I thought they’d be super complicated. Excited to try these and I will look for dumpling skins, but love the option to make my own!

    1. Stephanie says:

      yay! i hope you try it out :) and if you don’t, frozen store bought potstickers are almost just as good :)

  3. Oddree says:

    Thank you for this recipe! Your potstickers look amazing. This may be a dumb question but how do you achieve that spiderweb-like crust?

    1. Stephanie says:

      hi!
      i’m going to be doing a how to cook frozen dumplings post soon with detailed instructions, but essentially it’s a cornstarch water slurry you add when you are steaming the dumplings. after you lift off the lid, you let the slurry cook down into a lacy crispy “cake” of sorts. most people call them dumpling wings :)

  4. Mia says:

    Do you cook the ground pork before mixing the filling?

    1. Stephanie says:

      hi mia,
      no, it’s raw when you put it in the wrappers :)

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