15 Chinese Dumpling Recipes Everyone Should Master

A staple of Chinese cuisine, dumplings are the epitome of the idiom “good things come in small packages.” It doesn’t matter which variety you choose (from har gow to siu mai to potstickers), every bite bursts with flavors of juicy pork, seafood, vegetables or a combination of them.

This roundup includes some of our favorite varietes of Chinese dumpling, with recipes that are very traditional as well as ones that are inspired by the beloved flavors and time-honored techniques associated with this dish. No matter which you choose, you’ll find that they’re a welcome addition to your table — whether it’s Lunar New Year, you're hosting at-home dim sum or are looking for a great cooking project for the whole family.

This particular recipe is one of our favorites; It hits all the right flavor notes. If you don’t have fatty ground pork, add 2 slices of minced bacon to the mixture. The fat from the bacon will give the dumplings the necessary richness.

No dim sum table is complete without siu mai (open-faced dumplings with a thin wonton wrapper and savory “bouncy” filling) and every restaurant’s recipe is slightly different. We’ve created a pork and shrimp version for a delicious “surf and turf” combo. The baking soda marinade for the pork and shrimp helps develop the optimal texture of the filling, as does the process of tossing the filling against the bottom of the bowl. Hand-chopping the pork belly also adds to the unique texture, but ground pork could be substituted in a pinch.

Wontons have a storied culinary history, tracing their origins back to the Qing dynasty in around 1600 and now popular throughout China, Hong Kong and beyond. Our version, known as laat ziu wan tan in Cantonese, are little gems of juicy pork and shrimp served with a sauce of spicy, flavorful chili oil. This recipe makes a generous batch of about 50 wontons; you can cook them up fresh and also freeze some for future meals if you like.

Molly says, “Xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, are Chinese steamed dumplings that have soup inside of them. They are like magic! I grew up eating these with my family at our favorite dim sum restaurant in Chicago's Chinatown and later learned how to make them by combining my family’s go-to pot sticker recipe with the secret ingredient: soup gelatin, which melts down into soup once the dumplings are cooked.”

Dumplings with a crispy skirt are essentially pan-fried dumplings with a thin and crisp outer layer (the “skirt”) for an added texture. They’re popular at izakayas throughout Japan, where they’re called hanetsuki gyoza (“gyoza with wings”) and at Chinese dumpling shops, where they’re sometimes called binghua jianjiao (“ice-flower fried dumplings”).

Molly’s chicken dumplings are a Yeh family favorite. She flavors the filling with fresh ginger and scallion, then serves the pot stickers with a simple, classic dipping sauce.

You won’t have a problem eating all of these scallop wontons tossed in a rich soy-butter sauce. The filling is a simple yet flavorful blend of scallops (which on their own symbolize wealth due their round shape and golden color when seared) and minced jalapeños for a gentle heat and aromatics. The sauce is not traditional, but the rich butter bloomed with chile flakes and salty soy sauce complements the natural sweetness and oceanic flavors of the scallop wontons. Remember, the more dumplings you eat, the richer you will be!

Elegant, beautiful and packed with flavor, these five-star dumplings cannot be beat.

Har gow (or crystal shrimp dumplings) are a staple on any dim sum table. Known for their slightly chewy translucent skins, bright orange shrimp filling and many small pleats, they are the hallmark of a great dim sum chef: the more pleats and the more translucent the skins, the more skilled the chef. Using a baking soda soak helps improve the texture of the shrimp, making it more “snappy,” while slowly adding boiling water to the wheat starch helps create the signature translucent skins.

Long before she became the executive dim sum chef at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel, Sandy Shi learned techniques from her mother. These chive dumplings, which Sandy makes using homemade wrappers, are one of her go-to recipes. “I cut the shrimp in half to give them a bit more texture,” she says.

Mei Lin says, “Fried mochi dumplings are my absolute favorite dim sum/brunch item growing up and going out to eat with my parentals. When the cart came around and I saw those football-shaped dumplings I knew I had to have them, so I made sure to ask my parents to grab them when they came out fresh from the kitchen.”

You’ll want the dough to be very cold before filling the dumplings, so plan to let it rest in the fridge for an hour before cooking.

Ming fills wonton wrappers with kabocha squash and shiitake mushrooms for his take on an East meets West dumpling. To eat, drizzle his fall-flavored wontons with a pomegranate-rice vinegar syrup.

Skip store-bought dumplings and make these bites from scratch with ground pork and dumpling wrappers. An easy ponzu dipping sauce makes a perfect pairing.