Chicken Pot Stickers--雞肉鍋貼/餃子—With Video Tutorial

I’m sure many of you have ordered pot stickers when you dine out at Asian restaurants.  Pot Stickers, 餃子 in Chinese, are dumplings originated in China and widely spread to the rest of Asia.  Pot stickers usually consist of ground meat and/or vegetable filling wrapped into a piece of thinly rolled dough.  Boil or pan fry and serve with a soy-vinegar dipping sauce.  Don’t worry, I won’t make you roll your own dough from scratch today! hahaha….I love the pre-made pot sticker wraps because they are convenient and much thinner than rolling your own dough at home.




Ingredients for these pot sticker are very simple.  In this particular recipe, I used ground chicken with cabbage.  You can definitely use any kind of meat you like, ground pork, turkey, even minced shrimp or a mixture of any two.  Ground chicken and pork fillings are the more traditional ones.  I sautéed the shredded cabbage, let it cool and mixed into the chicken along with other marinates to create the filling.  When you’re ready to wrap the pot stickers, have the following items ready.  From the picture below, going clock-wise starting from the top left, the fillings, a pair of chopsticks (if you get good control of them) or use a spoon to scoop the fillings, a small bowl of water that works as “glue” for the wraps, a lightly floured mat/sheet pan for the wrapped pot stickers to land onto, a piece of napkin (yes, wrapping and filling can get messy sometimes, I rather be prepared) and last but not least, the pot sticker wraps.




Simple enough, right?    And oh, thanks to this fry-steam method, cooked pot stickers are golden brown and crispy on the outside, tender and juicy inside.  Don’t worry, we’ll get into all these juicy details with a video below.  Look at these pot stickers.  Aren’t they calling your name?  They are certainly calling mine….especially I know how scrumptious they are.  I’m so glad I still have another batch in the freezer waiting for me whenever I’m ready to cook them.  Oh yes, they freeze really well and I’ll tell you how to do that in the recipe below.  Best of all, you don’t (and should not) need to defrost them before cooking!




Ready to watch the video?  Click away, it’s a short video and so worth watching.  I’ll show you all the important steps in filling, wrapping, and cooking these pot stickers. 




See, no hoops to jump through, right?!  From now on, you don’t have to order the pot stickers from the restaurants.  These will definitely taste better than the restaurants’ or the store-bought ones!   At least, my hubby said so!  (he’s such a smart man…hahaha…)








Chicken Pot Stickers (Printable Recipe)
Makes: 44

Ingredients for Pot Stickers:

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil, divided
1 cup cabbage, shredded
3/4 pound ground chicken
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon Shao Hsing rice wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder/granules 
1 (12 oz) package of Pot Sticker Wraps


To Make the Pot Stickers:

In a sauté pan, heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil over medium high heat. Sauté cabbage until soften, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
In a medium mixing bowl, add chicken, ginger, pepper, sesame oil, rice wine, soy sauce, sugar and chicken bouillon powder and stir until seasonings are well distributed. Stir in cooled cabbage and set aside.

When ready to wrap the pot stickers, have a small bowl of water for sealing the wrappers and a lightly floured baking sheet close by so the wrapped pot stickers have a place to land. Pick up a piece of wrap, dip your finger into the water and wet the edges of the wrap. Then, spoon 1 tablespoonful of filling onto the center of the pot sticker wrap. Fold the wrap in half and gently press the left hand corner of the wrap to seal.  With your right thumb, gently push 1/4-inch of the wrap and fold over to the left to make the ruffles. Place filled pot stickers on prepared sheet pan and wrap the rest of the pot stickers.

**At this point, you can freeze the pot stickers for later enjoyment. Simply place the sheet pan in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours, or until pot stickers are frozen/harden. Then, transfer to a zip lock bag and keep in the freezer.**

Or, in a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil on medium high heat. Place filled pot stickers on skillet, flat side down. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown. Pour water into the pan until half way up the sides of the pot stickers and cover with a lid. Let the pot stickers steam for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove lid and cook uncover for another 3 minutes, or until all water has evaporated and the skin of the pot stickers turn crispy on one side.

Ingredients for the Dipping Sauce:

1 teaspoon Asian Chili Sauce (I used Sambal Oelek)
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon water

To make the dipping sauce:
Add all ingredients in a small bowl, stir until sugar dissolved and well combined.


Note: Since I serve these Pot Stickers to young kids, I didn’t add the chili sauce into the dipping sauce but serve it on the side.  You can do the same if you’re serving these to kids or elderly.

**To cook the frozen pot stickers, DO NOT defrost!  Simply cook them with the same method but add 2 minutes in the cook time during the steaming step.