15 BEST CHINESE DUMPLING RECIPES (2024)

FAQs

What is the most popular Chinese dumpling? ›

Jiaozi (pronounced "jow-zee") are perhaps the most common type of Chinese dumpling. Crescent-shaped and formed with an opaque wrapper made from wheat dough, jiaozi are usually filled with ground pork, cabbage, and scallions, and served with a dipping sauce made of soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil.

Common dumpling meat fillings include chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, and fish which are usually mixed with chopped vegetables. Popular vegetable fillings include napa cabbage, scallion (spring onions), celery, leek, spinach, mushroom, carrot, garlic chives, and edible black fungus.

Unlike dumplings, potstickers are made with a thin wrapper, sometimes referred to as a dumpling skin. This is because they are steam fried to get a crispy golden bottom layer and to ensure that the filling is juicy and delicious.

A pinch of salt seasons the dumplings and enhances the flavors of the other ingredients. Cold butter or margarine is cut into the flour mixture to bind the dry ingredients together. It also keeps the dumplings light and tender. Whole milk helps create a smooth, moist dough.

Dumplings can be steamed (zhēngjiǎo, 蒸饺), pan-fried (jiānjiǎo, 煎饺), or boiled (shuǐjiǎo, 水饺, literal translation: water dumpling). They are then served with a dipping sauce, like Chinese black vinegar or our favorite dumpling sauce recipe. They can also be eaten with hot pot meals or served in soup!

Hand-mincing meat and adding more pork belly results in the juiciest dumplings. Traditionally, some Chinese cuisine uses hand minced meat for their dishes. For example, lots of dim sum items like siu mai, pork buns, beef meatball, and more use hand minced meat to control the texture and fat content of the dish!

The steaming process is what creates the shiny-looking soft exterior! Steaming is the traditional way of preparing dumplings and has never gone out of style. Many people around the world are loyal to this method of cooking and prefer it over pan-fried dumplings.

Originating in the Pennsylvania region the pierogies have been a staple in the city of Pittsburgh and all over western Pennsylvania. Pierogies are soft semicircular dumplings that are usually filled with potatoes or cheese. However, just like other dumplings, fillings are interchangeable depending on culture.

Homemade dumplings can fall apart for a number of different reasons, or any combination of them. Often they burst during cooking because they have too much filling for the amount of dough. Some doughs are too dry, so the dumplings won't stay sealed. Others can be too wet and sticky and end up tearing.

What are the big Chinese dumplings called? ›

Xiao long bao (小笼包), or soup dumplings, are a Shangai staple that have rightly taken their place as one of the best-known dumplings in the world. They're relatively thin-skinned and almost always steamed, but the savory, flavorful soup inside them has made them a staple in our kitchens (and our hearts).

Thin, round, yellow wrapper, thinner than the Shanghai style wrappers that allows for a more delicate texture (3.5” diameter).

nikuman, known as mantou or momo in China, was first divided into steamed filled and unfilled buns, and later the filled buns were called baozi. The difference between baozi and dumplings is that baozi is a fermented dough that is wrapped in a filling and steamed. Dumplings are unfermented dough.

Xiao long bao are a type of Chinese dumpling hailing from Shanghai. Xiao long bao differ from traditional pork dumplings in one key way: the inside of the dumpling also contains a small amount of rich, delicious soup broth. For this reason, xiao long bao are also commonly referred to as soup dumplings.