Pork Gyoza
Serves 5 or more Time Prep: 1 hour Cooking: 15–30 minutes Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 11 Steps 12
Gyoza are the Japanese variation of Chinese potsticker dumplings (guotie). They consist of a thin flour dumpling skin that is filled, pleated, and pan-fried. The contrast between filling and crispy exterior is a very pleasing sensation and, like many dishes, it can be melded to incorporate almost any flavour.
Ingredients
Dumplings
- ½ lb ground pork
- 1–3 tsp prepared mustard
- 1–2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1–2 tbsp each of minced green onion, bell pepper, and/or chili
- At least 50 round wonton wrappers or other round dumpling skins (see note below)
Dipping Sauces
- Soy sauce and honey (mix to taste)
- Black bean paste
- Peanut sauce
- Plum sauce
- Black vinegar and shredded ginger
- Soy sauce with some rice wine vinegar
Steps
- Combine the pork, mustard, soy sauce and vegetables with clean hands. Knead the pork against the glass bowl for a mushier consistency.
- Cover the dumpling skins with a damp tea-towel or paper towel to prevent drying.
- Place about ½–1 tsp filling in the center of each wrapper.
- Dampen half the wrapper edge. Fold in half, enclosing the filling, so wet and dry edges meet. Crimp the edges to seal tightly.
- Cook right away, or freeze the dumplings up to six months.
- Heat a heavy frying pan (not non-stick) over medium to medium-high heat.
- Brush the pan lightly with vegetable oil. Add 8–10 dumplings without crowding.
- Cook without touching at least 2 minutes, until they stick to the pan.
- When browned on the bottom, check for sticking.
- Pour in about ⅓ cup stock, broth or water, to a depth of about ⅛–¼ inch. Cover with a tight lid.
- Cook until all the liquid has turned to steam, about 2 minutes. Adjust the amount of liquid to the pan.
- Remove the dumplings from the pan. Serve hot with dipping sauces.
Notes from the original
- The primary difference between packaged gyôza skins and packaged wonton skins is shape—round for gyôza skins, square for wonton skins. Whichever one you use is a matter of preference. If both are available, try both and decide which you prefer. You can also make these skins yourself, but it is a time-consuming process and the dough has to be rolled quite thin.
- You can vary the filling ingredients to suit your taste. Pork plays well with others. Keep in mind that a filling that is too wet may expand too much during cooking and cause the dumpling to split open, while a filling that is too dry will become drier during cooking. Any filling should easily maintain its shape if moulded into smaller balls.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Pork Gyoza” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2026-01-24, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Japanese pan fried gyoza.jpg by Adryan R. Villanueva, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.