Potstickers
Homemade potstickers are easier to make than you think, and they taste 10000x better than the store-bought ones!
Growing up in a very Korean household, we had homemade potstickers at least once a week – steamed, fried, boiled, kimchi filling, mushroom filling, shrimp filling…you name it. So it’s no surprise that I always have to order a plate of potstickers when we eat out at an Asian restaurant. But at the end of the day, nothing will ever beat homemade potstickers.
The best thing about homemade potstickers is that it’s so easy to put together and you can completely customize the fillings. I’ve made shrimp potstickers before so I tried something a little different with a pork filling with tons of shiitake mushrooms. But feel free to use your favorite kind of protein, although I’ve found that pork really creates a more tender filling than any other kind of ground meat. You can even add in your favorite veggies that you have on hand!
You can even make a huge batch of potstickers and pop them right in the freezer – that way, you can indulge in your Asian food cravings whenever you want! Just be sure to freeze them on a baking sheet first before throwing them into a freezer bag. When you’re ready to eat, you can toss them right onto the skillet without thawing, although cooking time may be longer than usual.
So there you have it – easy homemade potstickers with customizable fillings that you can make ahead of time and freeze. Now, who still wants store-bought potstickers?!
Potstickers
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 cup shredded green cabbage
- 3 ounces shiitake mushrooms, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon hoisin
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha*, or more, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 36 won ton wrappers
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil Soy sauce, for serving
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine pork, cabbage, mushrooms, garlic, green onions, hoisin, ginger, sesame oil, Sriracha and white pepper.
- To assemble the dumplings, place wrappers on a work surface. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the pork mixture into the center of each wrapper. Using your finger, rub the edges of the wrappers with water. Fold the dough over the filling to create a half-moon shape, pinching the edges to seal.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add potstickers in a single layer and cook until golden and crisp, about 2-3 minutes per side.
- Serve immediately with soy sauce, if desired.
Notes
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I can not wait to give these a try!! Always love any recipe I’ve tried off your site. Thanks for sharing.
I am new at cooking Asian food as my husband thinks he doesn’t like it. I want to try the pot stickers. What other food can I serve along with the pot stickers to complement them and make a complete dinner?
My absolute favorite side dish for this is my easy lo mein. But please feel free to check out all of my side dish recipes here.
My teenage son made these for us today and they were delicious! There was a lot of filling left over as well as some wrappers, so we will fill them and freeze them for later. Thank you for such a tasty, easy to follow recipe.
One side is fried but the other, supple and moist. Are they steamed a few minutes too? I’ve made these before but they come apart during frying. Frustrating. I love Dim Sum & hot chili oil which I make too. Your presentation is beautiful. Almost too pretty to eat!
You can choose to steam if you’d like!
While mine were not as pretty as yours, they were so yummy!! I could not find pork at my grocery so I used ground turkey. They were just as yummy! Thank you!!
I guess they would not be considered potstickers anymore but has anyone tried baking these? Also if they are frozen they would need to thaw before cooking right?
There’s no need to thaw.
I had some of these potstickers in my freezer and they accidently thawed out. How long can they stay in the fridge before they must be cooked?
Thanks
As I am not an expert on food safety, I cannot really say with certainty – sorry! Methods for optimal food storage and shelf life should be based on good judgment and what you are personally comfortable with.
I almost forgot. The way I cook the frozen potstickers is to put a little oil in the frying pan, add the potstickers and then add about a half or so cup of water, bring it to a boil, put the top on it and cook them on medium heat for 9 minutes. They are golden brown on the bottom and the tops are steamed and wonderful!
I’m going to make these today with some of my homegrown pasture-raised pork, my own organic cabbage, green onion, garlic and foraged mushrooms. The frozen ones in the store have been my guilty pleasure for a couple of years. Now I will make my own and freeze a bunch for late evening snacks!
After freezing, how do you reheat these? Do you defrost?
No need to defrost!
can I make these and cook and eat the following day? I know refrigerating them raw would make them soggy but if they are completely cooked and want to eat next day would they survive that? Please advise as they would be a fathers day surprise so would need to make the day before.
Yes, absolutely.
The recipe says to fry for 2-3 minutes per side, but it looks like you’ve only fried the bottom? What is the other side?
The potstickers are cooked on each side.
I don’t know if my burner was too hot but when I pan fried my potstickers to golden brown as instructed, the inside meat was still pink. I ended up browning the filling and then stuffing the potstickers. Put those one on the freezer so we’ll see how they turn out.
What is the recipe to the dipping sauce you used
Michael, the dipping sauce is simply soy sauce topped off with Korean chili flakes. If you do not have Korean chili flakes on hand, crushed red pepper flakes would work as a great substitute.
If I wanted to steam them without frying, how long would you suggest? I have had potstickers both ways and prefer mine steamed. Thanks
I recommend that they are steamed for at least 3-4 minutes, but please use your best judgement to ensure that the potstickers are fully cooked through.
I want to know if i can try this filling with puff pastry and if so will i need to brown my meat a little before.
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
You don’t steam them for 2 minutes after the bottom is browned? I bought all the stuff, but I am using square wonton wraps because I couldn’t get down to the Asian Market. Every other recipe I find is to cook until browned bottom, then add water or chicken broth and close lid and steam for 2 minutes. How come this one skips that step with pork? LOL I want to make these tomorrow!
Diana, please feel free to cook this according to your preferences. Isn’t that the beauty of home cooking?
Thank you for responding. Since then I did make the recipe and froze my first 2 dozen. the ones I wanted to eat I cooked with a little mushroom water (I soaked dry shiitakes) as the steam for the last minute.
I have a question about this time. I want to fill the rest, most for the freezer, but I want to keep some fresh for later tonight without freezing them. Will they stand up to something so they don’t get mushy or dry?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have actually never tried refrigerating them! As always, please use your best judgment for storing and reheating.
Hi! What a super recipe for the ever so loved potstickers/dumplings. I have come to learn that when cooking potstickers for myself, I do as you indicate as to heat the oil and fry but then about 1.5 minutes before the indicated time, I raise the lid on my electric skillet and add 1/8 cup of cold water to the heated skillet and replace the lid promptly. What this does is actually steam cook but keeps them crispy too. Just be sure your edges are crispy like you want them and then steam them the rest of the cooking time. They turn out absolutely amazing for me like this and it doesn’t matter what I fill them with, the pork is cooked/tenderly, shrimp perfect not rubbery and chicken too! P.S. It’s next to impossible to find anything Asian in rural Kentucky, thank you for sharing this and many of your others too!
Can I microwave these if they are currently frozen? I know that they probably won’t be quite as good (is anything microwaved ever?), but I’m trying to figure out the best way to take these to work for lunch. If they can’t be cooked just in the microwave, how would you recommend cooking for reheating later? Thanks!
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
Great recipe. Thanks. I always read comments and reviews before making something new. I’m a semi homemade kinda person who improvises ALOT. I didn’t have pork or shrimp, we do keep buffalo and venison around because they are so healthy so I made a half batch of each. Being these meats have hardly no fat I beat an egg and added a tablespoon or two of oatmeal to the egg and let it rest while I got the rest of my ingredients ready then added the egg oatmeal to the mixture, mine turned out perfectly moist. I sent my husband to the store and me messed up and brought home potsticker wrappers. SCORE! We don’t like all the extra wrapper on ours so I was going to cut all my eggroll wrappers with a cookie cutter so the wrappers would shape nicer. Next substitute I accidentally scored on was when I went to make mine I realized I was almost out of soysauce so I opened a jar of hoisen sauce that’s been sitting in my cupboard. I added some water to it to thin it then poured it over my potsticker. My husband asks for these alot! The hoisen sauce was a perfectly flavored ending.. If you try the egg oatmeat trick with other meats, I suggest you keep mental notes of how much oatmeal you use, as you may choose to use more or less with your next batch, just depends on how moist you want your meat to be. My husband hates cabbage so I can’t rely on the cabbage for moisture.