Name: Potstickers
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 12 ounces ground pork; 1 baby bok choy, diced ((about 1 1/4 cups, diced)); 6 water chestnuts, diced; 2 green onions, thinly sliced; 2 garlic cloves, minced; 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger; 1 teaspoon sesame oil; 2 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper; 1 egg, lightly beaten; 1 egg, lightly beaten; 30 round wonton wrappers; 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided; ⅓ cup soy sauce; 2 tablespoons rice vinegar; 2 teaspoons sesame oil; 1 ½ teaspoons gochujaru (Korean chili powder); 2 garlic cloves, minced; 1 green onion, thinly sliced; 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Potstickers on a platter overhead with potsticker dipping sauce on the side.

Growing up, homemade Potstickers have always been one of my favorite foods. I remember helping my mom stuff and fold them up before transferring them onto a giant platter. After about an hour, we would have hundreds of potstickers!

We usually boiled ours up in a broth-based soup with small rice cake discs (the dish in Korean is called mandu-guk). Our Potsticker recipe today is a pan-fried version and is more of a mixed bag of Asian ingredients, but the dipping sauce is very Korean. The reason I love potstickers so much is that the filling is easily customizable and there are several cooking methods for these delicious, savory dumplings.

This is one of my favorite recipes to make ahead and freeze and I almost always have a bag of potstickers in my freezer ready to go!

What Are Potstickers?

Potstickers are a type of dumpling. They are often filled with pork and cabbage, but can be customizable based on personal taste and preference. Potstickers are often seen folded into a pleated crescent shape, but can also be folded in half with no pleats for simplicity.

They can be pan fried, which create nice crispy exterior and a juicy interior, but can also be steamed and boiled for an overall soft texture. They are usually accompanied with a soy based dipping sauce.

How to Make Our Potstickers Recipe

Ingredients

Process

Filling

Place all filling ingredients into a bowl and mix together until well combined. Set aside.

Potsticker filling ingredients in a glass bowl mixed together.

Assembly and Cooking

Brush perimeter of a wonton wrapper with the beaten egg and fill center with 1 heaping tablespoon of pork filling.

Potsticker wrapper with an egg wash brushed onto the edge.

Place a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center of the wonton wrapper.
Open your dominant hand, palm side up, and hold fingers together. Place the filled and open wonton wrapper onto your fingers and fold the wrapper in half, only sealing the corner of one side.

Potsticker wrapper with filling in the middle.

Pinching the end of a wonton wrapper to make a potsticker.

To create the pleat pattern, create a curl or mountain with the top of the wonton wrapper.
Press the curve of the wrapper down into the edge.

The process of folding the wonton wrapper to make a potsticker.

Pleating a wonton wrapper to make a potsticker.

Repeat until you have pleated almost the entire edge, until you have a small opening in the corner left.

Potsticker pleating and closing the edges.

Carefully pinch the corner closed, then gently press around the entire edge to fully seal.

Potstickers process with crimping the edge.

Check out the video below for additional help on how to pleat potstickers!

Set pleated wontons aside and repeat until all filling and wrappers have been used.
Heat a large pan over medium heat and add some oil.
Add some potstickers to pan (making sure not to overcrowd the pan), so the crimped side is up, and pan-fry for 3 to 4 minutes.
Add a little water to the pan and cover for 2 to 4 minute or until the wonton wrappers have softened and steamed and the filling has finished cooking through.
Remove from heat and repeat until all potstickers have been cooked. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.

Our Korean Potsticker Dipping Sauce (Yangnyeom Ganjang)

We serve our potstickers with a traditional Korean-style sauce called yangnyeom ganjang. It’s typically made with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil minced garlic, sliced green onion, toasted sesame seeds, and Korean chile powder. This dipping sauce is great for pan-fried, steamed and boiled potstickers.

Ingredients

Process

Place all ingredients into a small bowl and whisk together. Serve with potstickers.

Tools You Will Need

Are Wonton Wrapper Gluten Free?

Generally no because they are usually made with wheat flour, but you can find a really great recipe for gluten-free wonton wrapper dough here.

How to Boil and Steam Potstickers

To Boil

Fill a pot with water or broth of choice and bring to a boil. Carefully add potstickers to pot and cook for 7 to 9 minutes or until they begin to float to the surface of the liquid. Using a slotted spoon, lift potstickers from water and serve with dipping sauce or serve potstickers in broth as a soup.

To Steam

Fill a pot with a couple inches of water and top with a bamboo steamer (or a metal steamer basket). Line steamer base or basket with a single layer of lettuce or cabbage leaves (such as savoy cabbage). Place potstickers over lettuce about 1 inch apart and cover with lid. Place pot over medium-high heat and steam for about 10 minutes or until filling has cooked through.

Freezing Instructions for Potstickers

Potstickers freezing VERY well! Just line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper then place uncooked potstickers onto the baking sheet, flat side down, about 1/2 inch apart (they shouldn’t touch one another). Then pop them into the freezer for a couple of hours. Once they are completely frozen you can transfer them into a resealable bag. If properly stored, they will keep for 3 to 4 months.

Potstickers on a platter that have been pan fried with a dipping sauce.

Tips and Tricks for Success

It’s important that all the air is pressed out of the filled wrapper before tightly sealing the sides together to prevent the potstickers from bursting when they’re cooked.
Be careful not to overstuff the wrappers with filling which can also make the potstickers burst while cooking them.
It’s helpful to remove the skillet from the heat before adding the water, then quickly covering before returning the skillet to the stovetop. This will help to prevent any of the oil in the skillet from spattering up and possibly catching on fire from the stovetop flames (particularly if using a gas stovetop).

Variations

My favorite thing about potstickers is that the filling variations are endless! You can add or take away whatever you want depending on your flavor preference. Some of our favorite options are below!

You can replace the pork in this recipe for ground chicken, ground turkey, ground beef, or chopped raw shrimp.
If you’re looking for a vegetarian option, you can replace the meat with diced and sautéed mushrooms, my personal favorite is shiitake mushrooms.
You can swap in spinach leaves, kale, napa cabbage or savoy cabbage for the bok choy.
Feel free to also omit the water chestnuts for an overall softer texture.
Kimchi potstickers (specifically napa cabbage kimchi) are popular and definitely a favorite in my household. You can make them vegetarian or incorporate them into a meat filling. Just squeeze as much liquid from the kimchi as you can, chop and stir into the filling!