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Pork Dumplings

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5 from 38 reviews

These pork dumplings are filled with fresh veggies and ground pork, then pan fried and steamed to give you the perfectly crisp, yet tender texture.

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 2 cups shredded cabbage
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 stalks green onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • Kosher salt
  • fresh cracked pepper
  • 36 (round) dumpling/potsticker wrappers
  • 24 tablespoons vegetable oil

Garnish: 

  • sliced green onion
  • sesame seeds
  • soy sauce

Instructions

  1. Add pork, cabbage, garlic, green onion, hoisin, sesame oil, ginger and a large pinch of salt and pepper to a large bowl. Mix until well combined. 
  2. Fill a small bowl with water. Lay out a dumpling wrapper and use your finger dipped in water to wet the entire edge of the wrapper. 
  3. Scoop about a tablespoon of filling into the center of the dumpling wrapper. A cookie scoop works well for this.
  4. Fold the wrapper in half and press the edges together to seal the dumpling into a half moon shape. 
  5. Place the dumpling onto a baking sheet, gently pressing it down so the bottom flattens and it can stand on it’s own. 
  6. Heat 2 tablespoons oil a large saute pan over medium heat.
  7. Working in batches of about 6-8 (depending on the size of your pan) add dumplings, flat side down  and cook for about 1-2 minutes or until the bottom is a dark golden brown. 
  8. Carefully pour a 1/4 cup of water into the pan and cover immediately. The mixture of oil and water will cause the pan to spit and spatter oil everywhere, so we be sure to have the lid handy before pouring the water. 
  9. Cook the dumplings, covered for 3-4 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed.
  10. Remove lid and cook for another 30 seconds or so, until the bottoms are crisp again.
  11. Repeat with remaining dumplings. Add more oil as necessary so that the bottom of your pan is always coated in a thin layer of oil. 
  12. Serve with soy sauce and garnish with sliced green onion and sesame seeds.

Notes

You don’t have to cook the pork before filling the dumplings. It might feel a little counter intuitive, but the small amount of raw pork is going to cook very quickly after sauteing the dumpling in oil and steaming it.

Don’t worry about getting the perfect shape. If you Google dumplings or potstickers, you’ll see there are a million different shapes and sizes. You can try pleating the dumplings if you’d like but after you fold the dumpling in half and set it down the sealed edges will create their own pretty wave so it’s not necessary.

Be sure to have your lid handy before you add the water to steam the dumplings. The mixture of hot oil and water is going to send little spatters of oil flying everywhere and they will burn! I like to hold the lid almost completely covering the pan and just quickly pour in the water then cover right away.

You might find that your dumplings are cooking too quickly as you work your way through a couple batches. If this is the case, turn the heat down a bit as you go so you can make sure the dumplings are cooking through entirely.

Feel free to make dumplings ahead of time. You can store assembled dumplings in air tight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to cook, just follow the recipe directions but plan to add another minute or two of cook time so that the frozen pork can cook all the way through.