Homemade Veggie Potstickers Recipe

If you love Chinese food, you have probably had the opportunity to try potstickers — a delicious type of dumpling filled with either pork, shrimp, or vegetables. At first glance, they can seem a little intimidating to make at home, but we are here to tell you that these little dough pillows with a savory filling are easier than you think to whip up at home. 

Wellness coach and recipe developer Miriam Hahn brings us this recipe for homemade veggie potstickers and says, "My favorite thing about making these at home is [that] you can mix up the vegetables based on your favorites, and what you have on hand. You can also tailor the spice level just how you want it." She goes on to say that, "They are actually quite fun to assemble, and pretty impressive when you are serving them [for a crowd]." Keep reading to learn how to make these delicious potstickers.

Lots of veggies are going into these potstickers! Grab some shallots, fresh ginger, garlic, green cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, shredded carrots, scallions, and frozen peas. For the potsticker wrappers, you can use any round or square wrappers that you can find. Egg roll wrappers are the most common, and it's easy to convert these into a round shape. The remaining items we need are water chestnuts, oil, rice vinegar, water, soy sauce, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes.

To start, dice the shallots, grate the ginger, thinly slice the cabbage, mince 3 cloves of garlic, and dice the mushrooms, water chestnuts, and scallions. "I usually remove the mushroom stems if I'm using shiitake mushrooms because they can be pretty tough in texture, but if I am using Bella or Cremini, I dice those too," Hahn remarks. 

Start by adding 1 tablespoon of oil to a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, 2 teaspoons of the grated ginger, and the minced garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the cabbage and mushrooms, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 10 more minutes. Next, add the water chestnuts, shredded carrots, and frozen peas, and cook for 3 minutes, or just until the peas are warmed through. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, the sesame oil, and half of the scallions. Mix well to combine. 

While the filling cooks, prepare the potsticker wrappers. If you are working with square wrappers, we'll need to trim those into circles. To do this, simply find a bowl that fits nicely inside the border of the wrapper, place it upside down, and trace around it with a sharp knife to create a round-shaped wrapper. Skip this step if you are using a round wrapper.

Once the filling is cooked, scoop out about 2 tablespoons of the filling, and put it in the center of the wrapper. Then, wet the edge of the wrapper with water, and fold the wrapper over to form a half moon. Pinch it closed, then create pleats by overlapping the wrapper's edge about ¼ inch at a time until it is firmly sealed. You can alternatively crimp the edges with a fork to seal.  

To cook the potstickers, heat up 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add however many potstickers will fit in the pan, lower the heat to low, cover, and cook for 4 minutes. This will sear the bottom of the potsticker, and make it slightly crispy. Next, add 3 to 4 tablespoons of water to the pan, cover, and let the potstickers steam for 8 minutes. Repeat the process with the remaining potstickers.

While these are cooking, make the sauce by combining the remaining ¼ cup soy sauce, rice vinegar, remaining ginger, 2 crushed garlic cloves, remaining scallions, and red pepper flakes.

Put your cooked potstickers on a serving platter with the sauce, and serve warm. Potstickers pair nicely with cucumber salad, or fried rice. If you have any leftovers, you can reheat them in a frying pan with a little oil to revive the crispiness.