Perfect Pot Stickers recipes
These pot stickers, packed with savory flavors, are always a winning choice. Chef John's method makes them unique, as they are fried, steamed, and fried again, creating a delightfully crispy bottom with a tender, juicy filling. Be sure to bookmark this irresistible recipe because you'll be making these homemade pot stickers again and again.
What Are Pot Stickers?
Pot stickers are a type of dumpling that originated in China. While traditionally filled with ground pork and cabbage, they can be made with various fillings. They're typically pan-fried and steamed to give the filling a soft, tender texture and the dough a crispy, golden bottom.
How to Make Pot Stickers
Heres a detailed guide to making your own delicious pot stickers from scratch. The process involves making the filling, the dough, the wrappers, and frying them to perfection!
Step 1: Make the Filling
In a large mixing bowl, combine:
- 1 pound ground pork
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- cup finely chopped green onions
- 3 tablespoons very finely minced fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 cups finely chopped green cabbage
Mix everything together with a fork until well combined. Tamp it down lightly and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about an hour, or until chilled and ready to use.
Step 2: Make the Dough
In a separate bowl, place:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- teaspoon kosher salt
Slowly pour in about 1 cup of hot water (around 130-150F/55-65C) while stirring with a wooden spoon. Continue stirring until the dough becomes shaggy. Flour your hands and transfer the dough to a work surface. Knead the dough for about 3-5 minutes until smooth and elastic. If its too sticky, add a little more flour (up to cup) and knead until its just right. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Step 3: Make the Pot Sticker Wrappers
Once the dough has rested, divide it into 4 equal pieces. Keep 3 pieces covered with a dish towel while you work on the first one. Roll it into a log, about the thickness of your thumb. Cut the log into 6 equal pieces, then roll each piece into a thin, 3 -inch circle on a lightly floured surface to form the pot sticker wrappers. Repeat this step with the remaining dough pieces.
Step 4: Fill the Pot Stickers
Lightly moisten the edges of each wrapper with a wet finger. Place a small scoop of the chilled pork filling in the center of each wrapper. Fold up the sides and pinch them together in the center, forming pleats along one side. Tap the bottom of the dumpling on the work surface to flatten it slightly, then curve it gently so it can stand upright in the pan. Transfer the finished pot stickers to a well-floured plate. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
Step 5: Make the Dipping Sauce
In a small mixing bowl, combine:
- cup seasoned rice vinegar
- cup soy sauce
Mix well and set aside to serve with your pot stickers.
Step 6: Cook the Pot Stickers
Heat 6 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Place 6-7 pot stickers in the hot oil, flat side down. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown. Add 8 tablespoons of water to the skillet, then quickly cover the pan to steam the pot stickers for 3 minutes. After that, uncover the pan, reduce the heat to medium, and continue cooking until the water evaporates and the pot stickers are crisp and golden, about 1-2 more minutes. Transfer the cooked pot stickers to a warm serving dish and repeat with the remaining dumplings.
How to Store Pot Stickers
Store leftover pot stickers in an airtight in the refrigerator for up to four days. To reheat, microwave until warmed through. For that crispy bottom, after microwaving, pan-fry the dumplings in a little oil until crispy again.
How to Freeze Pot Stickers
If you want to make pot stickers in advance, uncooked pot stickers freeze beautifully. Follow the recipe until the pot stickers are assembled, but do not cook them yet. Lay them out on a baking sheet and flash freeze for a few hours, or until they are frozen solid. Transfer them to a zip-top freezer bag and store for up to 3 months. When you're ready to cook them, no need to thaw. Just follow the cooking instructions, adding a few extra minutes to account for the frozen temperature.
Nutrition Facts
| Nutrition | Per Serving |
|---|---|
| Calories | 439 |
| Fat | 19g |
| Saturated Fat | 6g |
| Cholesterol | 55mg |
| Sodium | 1453mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 46g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2g |
| Protein | 20g |
| Vitamin C | 11mg |
| Calcium | 42mg |
| Iron | 4mg |
| Potassium | 391mg |

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Comments
Andrea Sivavajchaipong
10/06/2025 01:52:54 PM
Made dough exact to recipe. Dough came out really nice. Only addition I made was one egg to filling mixture after watching a lot of other videos. Filling was very tasty. I used a little less ginger because my boyfriend is sensitive to the ginger flavor. Will definitely make again. It was a fun group activity to fill and pinch dumplings
Cindy Gibbs
01/12/2024 10:28:30 PM
Well, this makes 32 if you divide the dough into 4 equal parts and each of those into 8 pieces instead of 6, otherwise too much dough per pot sticker. Also, I used a pampered chef small scoop (1 Tablespoon size) and you could either halve the recipe meat portion or double the dough portion as it is way too much meat to get into even 24 potstickers. So after struggling to make just 6 dough circles with each 1/4 of the dough, I finally realized it should be 8. A bit annoying as I am prepping these for a Chinese New Year's party and now some will be doughy and some won't. I'm working on my second batch of dough to finish up the meat. The good thing is it makes way more than even 32 if you use a pound of pork.
maylien
02/09/2023 03:48:37 PM
If you have leftover filling, form into small balls and freeze. Good addition to ramen noodles. No need to defrost just simmer them 5-8 min in the water you will add to ramen noodles. Add some sesame oil, frozen peas, cilantro, sriracha, green onions. A bonus treat!
OTF
03/13/2019 11:35:30 PM
So... We are also doing KETO, so I was never going to make the wraps--I did meatballs. I used a bag of store bought 16 oz shredded slaw mix and "drained" it with salt. I'm mad at myself that I forgot to add the cabbage that I salted. However, the ratio of seasoning of pork to the rest made an amazing meatball. The meatballs of the filling (minus the cabbage) were awesome. I did not find the sesame oil overpowering at all without the cabbage. I ended up adding my salted cabbage to lo mein noodles with a bag of frozen trader Joe's stir fry vegetables. Spaghetti and meatballs Asian style!! Super delicious and all 4 of my kids ate it. Win for me!
NewTray4316
07/10/2023 03:01:10 PM
Didn't use rolling pin , put balls in my tortilla press. Perfect 3 1\2 inch disk and much quicker.
SillyGin9801
03/14/2023 02:56:36 AM
I followed the recipe with three exceptions based on comments I read. I used only 1 T fresh ginger and added about 1/4 cup chopped shiitake mushrooms. I also made a double batch of dough. I had enough filling for 44 potstickers. I overloaded them a bit on the filling and could easily have made 48. If you make one batch of dough (24 potstickers) I recommend cutting all of the filling ingredients in half. I used a 15 oz pre-seasoned garlic teriyaki pork tenderloin I found in the back of my freezer.
Carson's Mommy
01/24/2021 10:53:23 PM
Delicious pot stickers! They taste exactly like restaurant pot stickers. My son loves them and asked me to make them again; so off to the store I went to buy more ground pork! I closely followed the recipe; the only thing that I changed is the method of rolling out the dough in order to make the process quicker. I used my pasta maker to thinly roll out sheets of dough and cut 3 1/2-inch circles with a round cookie cutter. With this method, I was able to make 48 pot stickers.
Peg O'Grady
11/28/2021 10:09:53 PM
For me, this recipe was perfect. The flavor was exactly what I was hoping for. The only change I made was to use ground ginger instead of fresh. I did not find it over powering, as some reviewers suggested. If you substitute ground ginger for fresh, use 1/4 tsp per tbsp of fresh. I used 3/4 tsp for this recipe and it was just right. I followed the dough recipe also and it couldn't have been easier. Two thumbs up for this recipe!
Nisha Broodie
02/21/2019 12:28:26 AM
I think this recipe is a bit bland as is. Ive made it several times and finally found a modification I really like. I left out the cabbage, used 1 cup spring onion, 1/4 raw shrimp, and red pepper flakes. Very tasty!
Monica Ruf
04/21/2019 05:21:11 AM
I love this recipe! the homemade dough was easier than I thought, just make sure to roll them out very thin. They don't have to be perfectly round. I added 1egg yolks to filling after reading the reviews and the inside texture was perfect! Make sure to squeeze the air out of the pot stickers before cooking! Yum!
Kelli R
01/01/2020 04:35:53 PM
I made these for New Years (pork + cabbage). This seems to be a recipe that requires a little bit of practice to master... The filling is easy enough to make, but I found my dough to be too soft and wet after it rested. It's probably a bit like pie dough - practice makes perfect. It needed a lot (and I mean a lot) of flour as I rolled the dough out. It was super sticky stuff. The directions could provide a bit more info on the size of "small scoop" to use in filling the dumplings. What if you don't have a scoop? What's the target amount? I have a couple of small scoops, so I wasn't sure which one to use. I used my 1 tbs scoop, but ended up with quite a bit of filling left over, so I think I would go with the 1.5 tbs scoop next time. The cooking instructions were spot on. The hardest part was waiting for the pot stickers to cool down enough to actually eat them :-) They do need the sauce, because without it, there doesn't seem to be enough saltiness. They are delicious with the sauce, though. When I make these again, I'm going to use ground chicken in place of the pork. I would also try substituting for the sesame oil -- holy cow that stuff is expensive. I can't believe 1 tsp would impact the flavor that much. I also think I'd add some brown sugar to the dipping sauce. It's salty and sour, and could use just a little sweetness to balance that out.
bderringer1
01/20/2025 03:08:43 PM
These came out amazing! Wife always orders these when we go out for Asian food. Said these were the best she's ever had down to the sauce! A little labor intensive but worth it! Mine we not as pretty as yours but delicious! Made these along with Wonton Soup during the NFL playoffs. Thanks Chef John!
Sharon Smith
01/05/2025 12:53:38 AM
Made it today — perfection.
LivelyPizza4616
09/18/2024 12:51:03 AM
the potstickers are good but ive had the pleasure of having real ones... I certainly added more spices to meat mixture and nuked in small amounts so i could try just the filling before assembling. also the sauce could do with a tbsp of brown sugar, fresh ginger and a bit of oyster sauce. however with all that they are the best I've had in years!
GentleMint6213
03/09/2024 01:28:24 AM
I don't know what it is but even though they were okay and I enjoyed how easy it was, I think the filling could've used more flavor. I feel like it was a bit bland, sorry
Barbara Caiati McKee
01/07/2024 10:53:50 PM
The meat part of this recipe was very good. The dough, well I don't have a pasta machine. I do believe you need one to get the dough very thin. The dough for me ended out very thick. As others have mentioned they had left over meat. The next day I went to the store and bought the premade dough and made wanton soup. It came out really good and made a few more pot stickers with the store bought dough. So for me... I will continue to make this with store bought dough.
CleverGyro8849
10/14/2023 07:03:19 PM
Well that was fun. I made the recipe only adding a little bit of sesame oil. But I would suggest spraying a pan not flouring it. The pot stickers stuck to the flour and I doused with too much water the first time. Who knew that if there was air in the pot sticker they would turn into little jelly fish! Will be trying this one again. The bonus was I could eat several that didn’t turn out right away.
HappyKiwi2336
05/25/2023 04:21:13 AM
Says yields 32 dumplings, but 6x4 is 24, no? Lol am I missing something? Anyway, these turned out great! Better than takeout since they were nice and crispy. I ended up using ground turkey because I didn't have pork on hand and honestly I didn't miss it! Tasted just as good.
ChillyChai7519
04/19/2023 09:10:17 PM
Chicken instead of pork
SmartMalt7326
03/11/2023 08:17:27 PM
Great recipe! I mixed and matched from a few different ones. I like the cooking method described here. I was having trouble with them sticking to the pan. I've also noticed it helps to keep moving them the first few minutes they are on the pan to prevent the sticking.