If you love gyoza but don’t love folding up tiny dumpling pockets, smash gyoza are for you!
All the juicy, umami flavors of a gyoza, but open-face, extra crispy, and ready to eat.
What are smash gyoza?
Smash gyoza is another way of saying deconstructed gyoza. If you’ve seen the smash Big Mac tacos floating around TikTok, smash gyoza are essentially the same idea: gyoza filling pressed onto dumpling wrappers then cooked open faced. From there, you serve them up like little tacos, folding them up around rice, kimchi, or whatever you like. Essentially they’re gyoza flavors in a new format: smash taco style.
How to make smash gyoza
- Prep. Toss the chopped cabbage with a sprinkle of salt and let it sit and soften for 5-10 minutes. When soft, squeeze out any excess water. Finely chop the ginger and garlic and slice the green onions.
- Mix. In a large bowl, mix together 2 tbsp water with 1 tbsp cornstarch, then add ground meat, the prepped cabbage, ginger, garlic, green onions, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and a bit of salt. Mix well. I like using food prep gloves to really get in there.
- Cook. Heat up a bit of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Use a spoon or a cookie scoop (cookie scoops are great at evenly portioning out the filling) to add 1-2 tbsp of the gyoza filling to the pan, leaving space in between.
- Top. Add gyoza wrappers directly to the tops of the gyoza filling.
- Smash. Use a spatula, ramekin, or bottom of a heat proof glass to press down on the gyoza wrapper, smashing the filling onto the pan, pushing down so the filling goes to the edges of the gyoza wrapper.
- Steam. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water to the hot pan and cover to steam for 1-2 minutes. Lift the lid off and let the excess water cook off.
- Flip. Flip the smash gyoza over to crisp up the gyoza wrapper. When the gyoza wrappers are slightly golden and a bit crisp, it’s time to eat!
- Enjoy. Serve them up open-faced and enjoy dipped in soy sauce and rice vinegar OR fill them with a spoonful of rice topped off with some kimchi, then fold up like a taco and eat.
Smash gyoza ingredients
- gyoza wrappers – they sell these at the grocery store, usually in the fridge department, near the tofu, but if they don’t have them you can make your own (recipe here). You can also use wonton wrappers or even small flour tortillas.
- ground pork – I love ground pork in gyoza because it’s super flavorful, but you can use any kind of ground meat like chicken or turkey. Typically there aren’t a lot of ground beef gyoza in Japan, but feel free to try it!
- cabbage – finely chopped cabbage is going to make the filling nice and juicy. You’ll want to salt, then squeeze and drain the cabbage slightly so the gyoza filling isn’t soggy.
- ginger and garlic – finely chopped or grated ginger and garlic are going to add so much flavor to our smash gyoza. If you need to, you can substitute in ground ginger and garlic, but in this case, I really recommend fresh.
- green onions – thinly sliced green onions add a bright freshness.
- soy sauce and toasted sesame oil – these are our main flavorings, along with a bit of salt. Toasted sesame oil adds nuttiness and flavor.
- cornstarch – a little bit of cornstarch is going to bind our filling together and make it super smooth and easy to smash.
What are gyoza?
Gyoza are Japanese dumplings: ground pork, cabbage, and seasonings wrapped up in a thin noodle-y like wrapper. Dumplings are one of my all time favorite foods ever and gyoza is one of those perfect iterations. Read more about gyoza here.
How do you eat smash gyoza?
You can eat them open-faced, dipping them in your favorite dumping sauce, or you can top them with a bit of rice and some kimchi and fold them up like a taco. Really, there’s no wrong way to eat smash gyoza. As long as they get in your mouth, you’re good to go!
Who invented smash gyoza?
The first instance of smash gyoza was on Instagram from @cooking_with_kiara10. They’re a mash up of gyoza and big mac smash tacos. She jumped on the smash taco trend but gyoza-fied it. She doesn’t have any specific recipe, but it’s a basic gyoza filling smashed onto a gyoza wrapper, fried, then steamed. Genius!
Gyoza dipping sauce
Gyoza aren’t gyoza without a dipping sauce. The standard mix is soy sauce, rice vinegar, and Japanese chili oil aka rayu. To start, try 1 tbsp rice vinegar mixed with 2 tsp soy sauce and chili oil to taste. That being said, go ahead and play with the proportions and mix it to taste.
What to serve with smash gyoza
Happy smashing!
xoxo Steph
PS – If you have a blackstone grill, these guys are AMAZING on it. Smash away!
Smash Gyoza
Ingredients
- 1.5 cup cabbage finely chopped
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp ginger minced
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 1/2 cup green onions sliced
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1.5 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 40 gyoza wrappers
Instructions
- Toss the chopped cabbage with a pinch of salt in a large bowl and mix well. Let rest for 10 to 15 minutes, the squeeze out and drain as much of the extra water as possible.
- Mix together 2 tbsp water with the cornstarch add to the ground pork. Add the ginger, garlic, green onions, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and prepped cabbage. Mix until incorporated.
- Heat up a bit of oil in a large, non-stick frying pan (one that has a lid) over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, use a spoon (or cookie scoop) to add 1-2 tbsp balls of gyoza filling into the pan.
- Immediately add gyoza wrappers on top of the filling and smash, using a ramekin, glass, or flipper to press down on the gyoza wrapper to smash the filling flat onto the pan.
- Cook until the meat is slightly golden, about 1-2 minutes, then add 1-2 tablespoons of water to the pan, cover and steam for 1-2 minutes.
- Lift the lid off the pan and flip the gyoza over to crisp the other side of the dumpling wrapper. When golden and crisp, remove from the pan and enjoy folded with rice and kimchi!
yum a different kind of dumpling for me, yay, love these flavors, open faced or closed, thank you!
Tastes very good. Not sure why my meat kinda just slides off the wrapper. Maybe my pork’s to fatty? Or maybe I need to smash them even thinner. Idk I like it tho
I have the same issue
you can try smashing the meat onto the wrapper before placing it in the pan, it might help. that being said, if the fat content is really high, it will most likely slide off the wrapper.
is it a tablespoon or teaspoon of cornstarch? The list says tablespoon but the instructions say teaspooon?.
hi meena, it’s 1 tbsp, it’s fixed now, thanks for pointing that out!
Great recipe! I figured it out but the cornstarch still shows as a teaspoon in the directions, not tablespoon. I did see the comment from someone previous about this but it appears it hasn’t changed.
thank you, i fixed it now!