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These pork potstickers are filled with savory pork, finely chopped peppers, cabbage, and seasonings. A burst of flavor in every bite!
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Pork potstickers are among my very favorite foods, but for some reason, I was always too nervous to make them myself. But once I did, I couldn’t believe how easy they were to make and I haven’t ordered them from a restaurant since! Our family loves the homemade pork potstickers and asks them for dinner often!
For the price of about eight of these pork potstickers in a restaurant you can make dozens of golden brown, pan-fried pot stickers at home. Every time I have made these, they get eaten before I can even get them on the table for dinner. I am not even kidding! My family can’t keep their hands off of them!
Ingredients in Pork Potstickers
For restaurant-quality homemade pork potstickers with crispy bottoms and juicy filling, all you need are a few simple ingredients. Everything can be found right in your regular grocery store or on Amazon!
- Ground pork – You can get this at your butcher’s counter and it’s super easy to cook with. It has the texture of ground beef and browns up just as quickly.
- Cabbage – Finely chop the cabbage ahead of time. I like to use white cabbage but you can use a combination of white and purple.
- Green onion – Chop up a green onion into small pieces.
- Red bell pepper – Just a couple of tablespoons, finely chopped. Any color of peppers will work! Try red, yellow, and/or orange.
- Egg – Lightly beat the egg to make a scrambled type of filling with it.
- Condiments – Ketchup and yellow mustard are not traditional ingredients in pork potstickers. They do add a bit of flavor and enhance the overall pork potsticker taste!
- Soy sauce – I like to use low-sodium sauce to control the amount of salt in the pork filling.
- Light brown sugar – Sweeten up the filling with a small amount of brown sugar.
- Small wonton wrappers – These dumpling wrappers are easy to use and take the place of having to make homemade dough. Take shortcuts where you can!
- Water – This is used to seal the wontons on the edges.
- Vegetable oil – Use the oil for frying. You can add a drop or two of sesame oil into the non-stick skillet when you fry for added flavor.
- Chicken stock – Gives the filling moisture and softens the filling while
- Yoshida’s Sauce – This makes the best dipping sauce for these potstickers.
Instructions for Pork Potstickers
Pork potstickers do take a few extra steps and processes to perfect them! Once you make the filling, add the filling to the wonton wrapper, then seal and cook to make a pork potsticker is complete. Continue to follow those steps until the filling is gone!
- Combine – Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Combine pork, cabbage, green onion, red bell pepper, egg, ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, brown sugar, and salt & pepper in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
- Wrapping – To form the dumplings, remove 1 wonton wrapper from the package, covering the others with a damp cloth so they won’t dry out. Brush 2 of the edges of the wrapper lightly with water. Place ½ rounded teaspoons of the pork mixture in the center of the wrapper (Yes, the pork mixture is uncooked. It will cook completely through the thin wrapper, I promise).
- Fill and seal – Fold over, seal edges, and shape as desired. Repeat the procedure until all of the filling is gone.
- Cook – Heat a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Brush with vegetable oil once hot. Add 8 to 10 potstickers at a time to the pan and cook without touching.
- Simmer – Once the two minutes are up, gently add ⅓ cup chicken stock to the pan. Turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook a little longer. Remove wontons to a heatproof platter and place in the warm oven.
- Clean – Clean the pan in between batches by pouring in water and allowing the pan to deglaze. Repeat until all the wontons are cooked. Serve immediately with Yoshida’s sauce for dipping.
Pork Potsticker Sauce
We always like to dip our pork potstickers in Soyaki or Yoshida’s sauce but you can dip them in soy sauce, sweet and sour sauce, teriyaki sauce or you can eat them just plain. Add a little Sriracha to your sauce to give it a little kick!
Tips for the Pork Potstickers
Follow these helpful tips to make the best pork potstickers!
- Protein – Try this recipe with ground beef, turkey, chicken, or lamb. The meat stays nice and tender inside the wonton wrappers.
- Overfilling – Make sure not to overfill the wontons. They will bulge and fall apart.
- Serving – Serve these gyozas over rice or noodles for dinner, or plain as part of a family-style dinner.
- Types of wrappers – Find wonton wrappers right in your regular grocery store, either in the produce section or the Asian foods aisle. If you can’t find the round variety, use the square kind. Use a cup or cookie cutter as a guide to cut them into circles.
- Wrapping technique – Fill the wrappers middle of the wonton. Carefully wet the edges with water and pinch the edges to hold the filling in.
- Pleating – The wonton wrappers need to be pleated with the filling on the inside. Pleating means to pinch the sides together making a decorative edge.
More Filling Options
Customize the fillings however you like! Add in or substitute filling options to make your own type of pork potstickers. The variations are endless!
- Protein – Use a variation of protein like shrimp, ham, turkey, or tofu.
- Veggies – Try adding finely grated carrot, daikon, zucchini, chopped water chestnuts, or chopped shiitake mushrooms.
- Herbs and seasonings – Grated fresh ginger, curry powder, garlic, and sesame oil, or 5-star powder.
“Just tried this recipe and my family loved it. Thank you so much!”
Shadi
Frequently Asked Questions
Potstickers are made with thin wonton paper, with the filling placed in the center of each wrapper. Dumplings are fried without the wrapper.
You can make this recipe vegetarian if you like! Just omit the pork and add in more shredded or finely diced veggies.
Much like any food, eat anything in moderation. Because they are fried in oil, they can be higher in calories. But they’re small and filled with lean pork and nutritious vegetables. So a few pork potstickers are just fine!
There are a few changes in potstickers compared to both of them. Japanese potstickers are made with wrappers that are thinner and smaller. The texture is also very thin and can be eaten with one or two bites.
How to Freeze Pork Potstickers
You can make a large batch of these pork potstickers ahead of time and save them for later by freezing them. Perfect for saving for a later time and making ahead!
- Place uncooked pork potstickers on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. You will want to make sure they don’t let them touch each other. and freeze for two to three hours.
- After they are frozen solid, place them in a freezer-safe bag and freeze for up to two months.
- Then just remove and thaw in the refrigerator on a plate or baking sheet. Make sure they aren’t touching or they will stick together.
- After thawing, cook according to the recipe instructions below. They are perfect for pan frying and baking.
READ MORE: 35+ Easy Lunch Ideas and Recipes
What to Serve with Easy Pork Potstickers
Pair this with some of our other Asian-inspired recipes and you can have a full-on family-style Chinese take-out night at home for a fraction of the price of going out.
How to Make Pork Potstickers
Pork Potstickers
Ingredients
- ½ pound ground pork
- ¾ cup cabbage finely chopped
- ¼ cup green onion finely chopped
- 2 Tablespoons red bell pepper finely chopped
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons ketchup
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
- salt & pepper to taste
- 35 small wonton wrappers
- water for sealing wontons
- 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil for frying
- 1 ⅓ cups chicken stock divided
- Yoshida’s Sauce for dipping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Combine pork, cabbage, green onion, red bell pepper, egg, ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, brown sugar, and salt & pepper in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
- To form the dumplings, remove 1 wonton wrapper from the package, covering the others with a damp cloth so they won't dry out. Brush 2 of the edges of the wrapper lightly with water. Place ½ rounded teaspoons of the pork mixture in the center of the wrapper (Yes, the pork mixture is uncooked. It will cook completely through the thin wrapper, I promise).
- Fold over, seal edges, and shape as desired. Repeat the procedure until all of the filling is gone.
- Heat a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Brush with vegetable oil once hot. Add 8 to 10 potstickers at a time to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, without touching.
- Once the 2 minutes are up, gently add ⅓ cup chicken stock to the pan.
- Turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove wontons to a heatproof platter and place in the warm oven.
- Clean the pan in between batches by pouring in water and allowing the pan to deglaze. Repeat until all the wontons are cooked. Serve immediately with Yoshida's sauce for dipping.
Notes
-
- Try this recipe with ground beef, turkey, chicken, or lamb. The meat stays nice and tender inside the wonton wrappers.
-
- Try adding finely grated carrot, daikon, grated fresh ginger, zucchini, chopped water chestnuts, or chopped shiitake mushrooms.
-
- Serve these gyozas over rice or noodles for dinner, or plain as part of a family-style dinner.
-
- Find wonton wrappers right in your regular grocery store, either in the produce section or the Asian foods aisle. If you can’t find the round variety, use the square kind. Use a cup or cookie cutter as a guide to cut them into circles.
Just tried this recipe and my family loved it. Thank you so much!
These were absolutely delicious, and so easy to make!
This is a fabulous recipe. I’ve always wanted to make my own pot stickers and now I can. I’m very excited about trying these.
These pot stickers were better than take out!
Homemade potstickers are so much better than you can get in a restaurant if you ask me. These are fantastic!
This looks absolutely amazing! I know what I’ll be making for dinner tonight!
These are good. And thanks for that Yoshida sauce recommendation. I’ve always spotted them in my Costco, but was never sure what to use the sauce for. 🙂
I love Chinese food of all kinds, especially potstickers, Kung pao, Mongolian beef, and anything with noodles. For the potstickers, have you tried them without meat inside? I Love veggies of all kinds, way more than I do meat, so was hoping the recipe would lend itself to just the meatless..any ideas?
You could definitely do them meatless, just add extra veggies!
Just wondering, would they be ok to be made with hamburger instead of pork? I always have ground beef on hand (never carry pork), so just wondering if it would work.
That would work fine.
my family just loved them! I thought they would be hard and time consuming to to make , but they wern’t.
These were so good I had them for breakfast the next morning. Not even kidding.
So glad you liked them! They are one of our very favorites too! I seriously can’t make them fast enough– they always get eaten as soon as I take them out of the pan!
Can you freeze these? How cool that would be!
Can you freeze these?How cool that would be!
Can’t say that I have ever tried freezing… I don’t know if I know enough about freezing to know how to properly do it with this recipe. If you figure out a good way, let me know!
We have a small family and so I doubled the recipe and froze the meat in parts. I think they will be great to freeze the meat for future use and my son LOVES these. Thanks!
I’d like to take these to a picnic we are going to. But I know that they won’t be warm when served, do you think that would be a problem? I still plan on making these for myself, but thought they sounded good enough to take to a picnic.
I have eaten them cold and they are just ok. Definitely best to serve them hot!
Thanks for the quick response, I will still make these, but not to take to our picnic.
Wow! I know this is the second time that I have raised an issue with your recipe, but this one, with all due respect, needs a rework. Cabbage will never become tender in the brief frying period called for. One must use Nappa Cabbage (Chinese) available at any large grocery store, or some form of lettuce. The frying part is on target, except that when you have given the bottom side of the dumpling nice brown coloring, two to three minutes normally in a hot pan, then you add chicken stock or water, AND flip them over, so that the top part of the wonton wrapper becomes cooked as well. As regards the filling, I have never heard of anyone adding ketchup to a Asian dumpling, and I doubt that Alton Brown has suggested same. However, I will check, and perhaps have to eat crow tomorrow. LOL.
Wow, thank you for your comment. It has been so long since I referred back to the original recipe I don’t know for sure if he adds ketchup. It is amazing though! I have always used the cabbage in it and it always becomes tender. I always shred it really thin. I like using the cabbage because it makes the meat go further. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
You should probably credit Alton Brown for his recipe…
Oh I will be more specific, I knew this recipe came from Food Network (to which I gave credit at the bottom of the post) but I will add that it was from Alton Brown.
Oh my heck Erica! You were right! I’m going to give these a try! I don’t know if my other message came through but I got serious and baked that coconut cake today. I can’t believe it survived long enough to make it to the freezer without being eaten. I can’t wait to ice it. It may have to be breakfast tomorrow. Haha! I can’t stop thinking about it!
Love the tittle of the blog and now i see why…waht fantastic recipes …they'll surely be favs !!!!
Loving this delicious thai curry…
Carol- Thanks for your comment and for being such a loyal follower! Keep checking back, there are many more to come, I promise!
Lisa- I thought the ketchup would be weird too but they are a total hit! It doesn't taste ketchup-y at all. They have a nice rounded out flavor. I will have to try the Anita Lo's one!
Jamie-Thanks for finding us! I hope you come back often! 🙂
Found your site when looking for a Cafe Rio Pork recipe (which turned out awesome by the way, thank you), but my husband and I love to cook good, quality food and we are eager to try many of your recipes. Thanks for posting such great ones!
wow, I've never heard of ketchup and mustard in pot stickers before. Interesting. I posted the pot sticker recipe that I typically use, on my blog recently. I've also tried Anita Lo's recipe, which Bobby Flay featured on one of his Throwndown's. It was fantastic.
I have to apologize for never commenting. Every time you have a new recipe up, I always come by and check it out. Thank you for taking the time to share all of your fabulous recipes. These pot stickers sound delicious!
Blessings,
Carol