Another authentic recipe from Yuhong’s Country Kitchen! These homemade Chinese dumplings can be prepared simmered, pan-fried or in an air fryer.
Homemade Chinese Dumplings
(Courtesy Yuhong Sun)
½ head green cabbage
½ head napa cabbage
8 green onions
1 oz ginger (4” knob, ¼ cup)
1 lb ground pork
2 eggs
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp red wine
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
Dipping Sauce (per serving)*
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese vinegar
1 tsp crushed ginger
1 tsp chili sauce
1½ tsp sugar
1½ tsp sesame oil
Finely chop the cabbages and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and set aside. The salt will draw liquid out of the cabbage. Only a small amount of salt is needed.
Finely chop green onion and ginger. Set aside.
Place ground pork, eggs and ginger into a bowl and mix for 2 minutes.
Using your hands or cheesecloth, squeeze water out of cabbage and place into a clean bowl. Add green onions, pork mixture, sesame oil, red wine, soy sauce and olive oil. Mix together well.
Take one dumpling wrapper and place one tbsp filling in the center. Wet the edges of the wrapper with water and seal completely. The amount of filling and shape you fold it in is less important than ensuring that the edges are completely sealed so the filling doesn’t leak out. Continue until all the filling is gone.** For more in-depth instruction on rolling and pleating dumplings, check out this video!
Put a large pot of water on the stove and heat to boiling. While the water is heating, assemble the dipping sauce.
When water comes to a full boil, add about 20 dumplings. Bring water back to a full boil and add enough cold water to bring the pot down to a gentle boil. Cover pot and cook dumplings until they float to the top of the water, about 3-4 minutes. Continue adding cold water as necessary throughout cooking to keep water at a gentle boil.
Remove dumplings from water with a slotted spoon and serve with dipping sauce.
If preferred, dumplings can be cooked in an air fryer for 6 minutes instead of boiling them. Coat with cooking spray and air fry for 6 minutes. Allow a longer time for frozen dumplings.
*Because of the thin consistency of the dipping sauce, it’s often made in small bowls for each individual person or to share between two or three people.
**Dumplings are often served at gatherings and are traditionally assembled jointly by the group or family that are going to eat them. Try experimenting with different shapes and have fun putting them together with your guests!
10 servings, 270 calories per serving
Hack: Cooked or uncooked dumplings can be frozen for up to 3 months. Lay in a single layer on a cookie sheet, making sure the edges are not touching, and place in the freezer. Once they are frozen, package in freezer bags or containers for storage. Add 2 extra minutes to cooking time. As with fresh, frozen boiled dumplings are ready when they float to the top of the water.
Hack: Ask the produce clerk to cut a head of cabbage into wedges so you’ll only have to buy what you need. They’ll wrap the leftover pieces and put it back on the shelf for sale.
Hack: Leftover cabbage can be used to make this Andouille sausage with cabbage recipe or Chinese Chicken Cabbage Soup!
Hack: Hack: Do you know that you can freeze fresh ginger root? Grating it in it’s frozen state is easier than grating it fresh and, if you choose organic ginger, you don’t have to peel it! Simply place in a sealed freezer bag or container and pop it in the freezer.
Hack: Chop leftover green onions and freeze in a sealable freezer bag or container for future use. While they won’t retain the crispness that would make them suitable for salads or garnish, they will be fine for cooking.
Hack: For instructional videos for making traditional Chinese cuisine, visit Yuhong’s Country Kitchen on YouTube!
Hello there, Cynthia! Dumplings are one of my most favorite foods! It seems like a well balanced food with its carbohydrates, protein from meat, and fiber from the veggies mixed inside. I haven’t really made my own yet since I tend to just get the frozen kinds at the supermarket. But it looks like something that could be quite fun to make. I also see too many videos of people making an art of out wonton skins and coming up with very unique designs. Thanks for this post!
Making fancy dumplings is an art form. Everyone has their own style, as you can see in this video where Yuhong and her son both use different methods to seal the wrappers. Mine don’t look nearly that good but I’ll keep trying!
Despite being Chinese myself, I’ve always wondered how to make dumplings. It’s one of my favourite dishes and many eateries make different versions of it. Some are meatier, some are more filling and some are just plain -blah. I like mine with a lot of onions/cabbages just like your recipe. What baffled me is always the wrapper-sticking part. I see you did it quite professionally on the video. Will definitely put this in the menu for one of those New Year dinners. Thanks!
The thing I love about dishes like this is that we can tweak them to please our own individual taste buds! A little more of this, a little less of that…Yuhong actually makes both pork and vegetarian dumplings for our family get-togethers to keep the whole gang happy!
Very interesting and delicious looking dish.
However I did not know that this was a new years tradition for the chineses. How cool is that?
So do you know when it became a tradition?
I just might have to try this at home one new years.
I think it is wonderful to have family traditions that bring us together as a whole. I think spending time with family is excellent at it’s best.
Thank you for this illuminating experience and inviting all of us into your home for this wonderful family tradition Cynthia Eats.
Hope your New Year was just fabulous & wonderful.
God bless you.
To Your Success,
Shaun
Very interesting and delicious looking dish.
However I did not know that this was a new years tradition for the chineses. How cool is that?
So do you know when it became a tradition?
I just might have to try this at home one new years.
I think it is wonderful to have family traditions that bring us together as a whole. I think spending time with family is excellent at it’s best.
Thank you for this illuminating experience and inviting all of us into your home for this wonderful family tradition Cynthia Eats.
Hope your New Year was just fabulous & wonderful.
God bless you.
To Your Success,
Shaun
The Chinese eat dumplings on New Years’ because they’re shaped like the ancient sliver & gold ingots and so symbolize wealth. The tradition says that the more dumplings a person eats, the more wealth they will have during the following year. I don’t know if you had a chance to eat them yesterday, on our New Years Day, but if not, take heart! The Chinese New Year isn’t until February 12th this year.
I always love eating dumpling but i have never made dumpling before. It is really fun to watch how to make dumpling especially you make them into different shapes. It is a great skill to learn and needs a lot of practice. Thanks for this video, it inspires me to learn making dumpling one day.
Dumplings are an art form to be sure and mine never (ever!) look as good as the ones Yuhong makes in this video. Fortunately, they taste just as good. Because of the time it takes to form them, the Chinese tradition is to have everyone help, which is a fun activity!
Hi, thanks for this awesome article and great video on how to make Chinese Dumplings. I like most of the ingredients used I believe they are very healthy for your body, like ginger, eggs and olive oil. I always eat green cabbage as salad but never thought I could mixed it with ground pork to make delicious dumplings!
Thank you for your kind comments! Asian food is full of healthy ingredients it’s one of my favorite cuisines. Enjoy!