Iconic golden crispy on the bottom, pretty pleats on the top, moreover, juicy savory inside.
This classic Japanese pan-fried dumplings called Gyoza recipe serves up a popular weekend meal as well as a great appetizer for the party!
No way you can compare homemade gyoza dumplings with take-out Gyoza from Japanese-like oriental restaurants or frozen chicken potstickers!
Serve with an ice-cold beer? Lemon sour? or Whiskey highball?
With rice?
Is Japanese Gyoza Potstickers?
Potstickers originated in China and had introduced to Japan. They are called “Gyoza” in Japanese so they are the same.
To be precise, pan-fried Gyoza is popular in Japan meanwhile boiled or steamed are popular in China, and also the Chinese potstickers have more varieties.
The most common recipe of Japanese Gyoza potstickers is made of ground beef and pork mix (since it is the standard of ground meat), minced onion, green cabbage (or napa cabbage), Shiitake mushrooms, green onions, and other ingredients and condiments.
Basically, the crispy bottom of Gyoza is preferred.
Despite we like crispy pan-fried Gyoza, other types of Gyoza are available such as boiled/ steamed/ deep-fried, seafood Gyoza, vegetable gyoza, and so on.
How To Make Gyoza Filling: Ideas, Ingredients
Popular Protein For Gyoza
- Ground Pork
- Ground Pork & Beef
- Ground Chicken
- Ground (chopped) shrimp
Technically, making the filling is pretty simple and easy despite folding Gyoza is hard.
As I said, the most common Gyoza at home is made of ground pork and beef (the ratio is 3:7) since the mix is standard ground meat in Japan.
Personally, I recommend ground pork or pork and beef mix for JUICY Gyoza.
Contrary, the Gyoza made of ground chicken (or turkey) is a light flavor, and the complex umami flavor of vegetables and condiments can be enhanced. Besides, it can provide lower calories compared with Juicy and meaty pork (pork and beef) gyoza.
Commonly, shrimp gyoza is preferred to be steamed. Adding fresh herbs such as basil, mint, coriander, or Japanese SHISO mint is more flavorful and addictive.
Can you make Gyoza made of 100% beef?
Yes, you can.
I often make lamb gyoza which is highly recommended if you like exotic flavor.
* For the lamb filling recipe, refer to my “lamb burger” recipe on this page.
Popular Vegetables
- Green cabbage
- Chinese Napa cabbage
- Chinse chives (Nira)
- onion
- green onion
- bean sprouts
- shiitake mushroom
Green cabbage or Chinese Napa cabbage, and onion are must items to make Japanese Gyoza.
Mince green cabbage or/ Chinese Napa cabbage, and onion, and remove the moisture.
Put each minced vegetable in different bowls. Sprinkle salt and let them sit for 10 minutes or so.
Squeeze minced vegetables well to remove the moisture.
This is an important step to prevent Gyoza wrappers from getting watery. (and make Gyoza crispy.)
Therefore, start making the gyoza filling with less water content vegetables. (green cabbage > Chinese Napa cabbage)
If you can get Chinese chives called Nira in Japanese, definitely it is needed.
I add minced green onions and minced mushrooms to the filling.
If you want to add bean sprouts, remove the moisture by sprinkling salt or parboiling. (and squeeze.)
However, adding too many kinds of vegetables will sometimes make the filling hard to fold for especially beginners so 3-4 kinds of vegetables should be better to make Gyoza for the first time.
Also, it just increases the quantity of the filling which means you’re going to fold Gyoza forever…
Condiments
- ground garlic
- ground ginger
- salt and pepper
- Chinese chicken powder
- Chinese five-spice
- soy sauce
- toasted sesame oil
There is a variety of Gyoza recipes available, and these condiments are what I add to Japanese Gyoza.
Japanese Gyoza is generally seasoned well even if it is delicious without dipping sauce.
You can add or skip as you like.
Where To Get Gyoza Wrapper
You can make homemade gyoza wrappers, but, I don’t want to make them again ever.
(It’s simple ingredients, but so hard work. Need space, need clean, need protect the wrapper dry…Some people prefer homemade wrappers since they are thicker and have more texture, also easy to fold. I like store-bought wrapper because it’s thinner and crispier finish.)
You can get Gyoza wrappers (mostly in freeze corner) from several brands at oriental grocery stores. In my opinion, the Korean maker’s wrapper is easy to fold Gyoza. (I can’t find a Japanese wrapper.)
Actually, you can use wonton wrappers even if it is square.
Gyoza Sauce
Traditionally, the Gyoza sauce is simply made of dark soy sauce and vinegar.
At my home in Japan, we just dip the soy sauce with Layu chili oil.
So, my American husband who is also addicted to Gyoza dumplings has his favorite sauce.
- Sashimi soy sauce (which has slightly sweeter and thicker than dark soy sauce. )
- Chinese chili oil (fried chili in oil)
- Roasted sesame oil
- water (I add the water because he dips the dumpling in this sauce too much every time.)
I also recommend giving a unique flavor using Yuzu Kosho.
What’s Yuzu Kosho?
My Japanese Sauce Collection
You can use my versatile Japanese sauce for dipping GYOZA dumplings.
Japanese GYOZA dumplings: Pan-Fried Dumplings
Equipment
- 1 Non-stick skillet with a lid
- 2-3 Baking pan, lined with parchment paper *Or sprinkle flour
- Wet paper towels
- 1 small bowl filled with water
- 1 Butter knife * Butter knife is easier to place the filling on a wrapper.
Ingredients
- 1 pack Gyoza wrapper
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- ¼ cup boiled water
- ½ TSP salt for removing moisture from cabbage & onion
Gyoza Filling
- 1 lb Your choice of ground meat (pork, pork and beef mix, chicken, turkey) *For lamb Gyoza, check out this recipe. *1)
- 0.8 lb Cabbage, shredded or minced *(¼-½ of small-medium green cabbage)
- ½ Onion, minced
- 4 oz mushroom, finely minced
- 2.8 oz Leeks (white part)/ scallions, minced
- 1 TSP garlic, ground
- 1 TSP ginger, ground
- 1 TSP potato/ corn starch
Gyoza Filling Seasoning
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp roasted sesame oil
- 1 TSP Chinese chicken soup powder/ chicken soup powder
- 1 TSP Sugar
- a pinch of Chinese five spices
- pepper to taste
My Hubby's Gyoza Sauce
- ¼ cup Sashimi Shoyu
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp Chinese chili oil
- 1 TSP Roasted sesame oil
- 1 TSP lemon/ lime juice
Instructions
Make Gyoza Filling
- (Remove moisture from cabbage & onion) In a large bowl, add shredded cabbage, minced onion, and ½ TSP of salt, then mix well while massaging. Set the bowl aside for 10–15 minutes to remove moisture. Squeeze with your hands to remove any moisture.
- Add squeezed minced onion, the meat, the remaining vegetables, and all seasonings to the bowl with the cabbage.
- With your hands thoroughly combine together until the ground meat gets sticky.
Fold Gyoza
- Set baking pans lined with parchment papers, wet kitchen paper towels, a small bowl filled with water, Gyoza filling, and a butter knife.
- Remove Gyoza wrappers from a package. Cover half of the wrappers with wet kitchen towels.
- Place a gyoza wrapper on the one hand and put 1 teaspoon of filling in the center of the wrapper.
- Dip your index finger into the water, and run the edge of the wrapper with your wet finger.
- Fold the wrapper in half. Make 3 pleats on the left side. Then repeat on the right side. Seal the top well. *Please check out how to fold Gyoza in this post.
- Place Gyoza on a baking pan. Cover it with a wet kitchen towel for preventing the Gyoza from drying. Fold the remaining Gyoza. Arrange Gyoza not attached together. Arrange the dumplings so that they do not stick together.
- When the baking pan is full of Gyoza, cover the pan with plastic wrap over the wet kitchen towel and store it in a fridge.
- *If you don't cook Gyoza dumplings in a day, freeze them. Avoid refrigerating them overnight in the fridge since the wrapper sucks up the water and will be mushy and torn apart.
Cook Gyoza
- Preheat a non-stick large frying pan or skillet, over medium-high heat.
- Turn off the heat. Oil the pan, and arrange Gyoza dumplings in the pan.
- Turn the heat, and cook them to sear the bottom, about 1 minute.
- Add ¼ cup of water. Be sure to cover ¼ of the way of dumplings. Cover with a lid and cook them over medium-high until you hear the sizzling sound, for about 7-9 minutes.
- Cook for another 1-2 minutes uncovered for the bottoms to go crunchy. *Shake the pan. It's good to go when the bottoms are not stuck with the pan at all.
Make Gyoza sauce
- Combine all ingredients on the Gyoza sauce list.
Notes
Gyoza Filling Made Of Pork Roast Leftovers
By the way, the filling in the video is my using-up leftovers idea-roast pork leftovers Gyoza filling. Simply, chop up roast pork as small as possible.
Add chopped scallion, minced onions, and minced carrots (which were also leftovers).
Season them using the same ingredients for the gyoza filling recipe.
How To Freeze Uncooked Gyoza
- Place the gyoza (be sure to not be overlapped) on a baking pan lined with parchment paper or sprinkled with wheat flour/ potato or corn starch.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap, and store it in a freezer until Gyoza dumplings will be frozen.
- Put each frozen Gyoza in a freezer bag, and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months.
*Frozen gyoza will be dry and lose tasty flavor as long as stored in the freezer. It’s better to consume within 1 month for serving delicious Gyoza.
What To Serve With Japanese Gyoza Dumplings
Gyoza contains lots of vegetables, so I and my Mom don’t serve side dishes.
(Anyway, we make a lot of Gyoza dumplings and they’re addictive so there is no room for eating other dishes in our belly.)
Gyoza with ice-cold beer is the typical combination in Japan. However, as I mentioned in these posts, Japanese lemon sour and whiskey highball are also perfect with Gyoza.
