Making Gyoza wrappers, Pork Fillings & Frying Gyoza Dumplings

Making gyoza wrappers are super simple and fun to make and need only three ingredients so they are a great activity to do with children to introduce them into the world of cooking.

Video Showing How to Make, Fill and Fry Gyoza and a Simple Dipping Sauce

Link to the gyoza making video in case it does not load for you.

Wrapping paper is not much use without a present to wrap and so it is with gyoza wrappers. So this recipe covers one type of filling – pork mince mix – that is common in Thailand.

You can make vegetarian fillings, alternative meat fillings, or shrimp maybe – that’s all up to you but the recipe would not be complete without a filling for our gyoza wrappers.

And since you are going to need to cook them we have that covered too! In this recipe, we fry them to add a little texture but you can equally well steam them – a bit different but equally delicious.

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Ingredients & Equipment You’ll Need for Gyoza Wrappers & Filling

What is Gyoza?

Gyoza is a stuffed dumpling that is boiled, steamed, deep fried, or pan fried with a simple dough wrapping encasing a filling of meat, fish, vegetables, or both.

Gyoza wrappers are made of a simple dough comprising water, flour, and a pinch of salt. Dough is made the world over but varies with different types of flour made from a range of different grains to give us bread, naan, roti, ciabatta, pasta, and a whole lot more.

Gyoza wrappers are as versatile as they are easy to make as you can fill them with pretty much what you want to eat and shape them into beautiful creations manually or use little dumpling presses to make the job a bit simpler and the resulting Gyoza a bit more uniform.

Although gyoza is most famous in Japan, it is likely a variation of a recipe for Chinese dumplings, often called potstickers, and adapted eons ago.

Who cares where they come from anyway since your homemade gyoza will come from you and almost all cuisines are a mish-mash of variations, adaptations, and influences from other areas.

Humans have traveled for centuries and taken their favorite food ideas along with them even while adapting them to the local produce discovered.

Why Make Homemade Gyoza?

Gyoza wrappers are easy to buy from supermarkets so why bother getting out a recipe to make them at home?

First of all, they are fun to make and it’s quite therapeutic sometimes to take a little time out with ourselves making something creative and getting our hands a bit messy.

Secondly, children should really learn to cook. Making little gyoza wrappers is a great activity to engage the kids with.

They will love the mess the flour creates, love messing with the dough, and love filling them up to make something delicious to eat too.

Apart from that, it is a learning experience as making dough is quite a fascinating process even as easy as it is.

And each homemade gyoza wrapper will taste so much better than shop bought that may have been in the freezer for months and contain preservatives and other nasties your body simply doesn’t need.

A Word About Flour

Flour types are a huge subject and worthy of their own post but it is useful to say a quick word about the most common ones that likely sit in your pantry.

First a quick note on gluten. The most common flours are made from wheat and similar grains from the same plant family which contains two proteins called glutenin and gliadin which combine with water to form gluten.

Gluten has elastic qualities that helps dough develop a chewier texture such as you want in some breads. You typically want less chewiness in cakes and flaky pastry for example.

For this reason, millers have developed several slightly different flours.

Cake Flour – is flour that produces a low level of gluten which allows for nice soft cakes that melt in your mouth.

All Purpose Flour – has a higher level of the gluten proteins that you use for general cooking and even some breads where a less chewy texture is desired

Bread Flour – with higher still levels of glutenin and gliadin to produce the chewy taste of most types of bread

But there are a lot of other flours around with even more gluten forming proteins such as strong bread flour and other flours that have none like rice flour for example.

Without the gluten though dough breaks easily unless another binding agent is used which will be the subject of another future post.

Suffice to say that since we are making wrappers we do want a degree of strength to hold the wrappers together as we want quite thin wrappers compared to say, wonton wrappers. And so we use wheat flour rather than rice flour.

You can mix bread flour and cake flour together in equal quantities if you don’t have all purpose flour to hand by the way.

How to Make Gyoza Wrappers – Step by Step

Step 1 – Mixing

This gyoza wrapper recipe is really simple. Add the flour to a mixing bowl and mix in the salt.

Gradually add warm or hot water mixing in with the flour bit by bit to gradually form a dough.

The flour will clump at first and as you mix in more water it will begin to form a dough as the flour absorbs the water and begins to form its gluten.

We use warm or hot water rather than cold water because it is absorbed into the flour easier and forms a lighter dough which is what we want for our dainty gyoza.

You will need to adjust the water as you knead since the amount of water needed will depend on the qualities of the flour you use.

Step 2 – Kneading

Once the dough is made you will need to knead it to encourage the gluten to form and provide a bit of strength to your dough. We will be rolling it out quite thinly so the dough needs to be strong enough to hold the gyoza filling.

To knead it simply dust your work surface with a little flour and get to work pressing, turning and squashing in on itself – may be better to watch the video at the top of the page!

At the end of your water adding, flour mixing entertainment you should have a dough that does not look sinewy and break when you gently pull it but rather feels a little elastic.

Step 3 – Resting

Roll your dough into a little round ball and wrap it in plastic cling film to keep it moist.

Let it sit on your work surface at room temperature for 15 minutes to half an hour or so to let the gluten settle as your dough is resting. Don’t worry we will get it to work soon 🙂

That’s your wrapper dough made!

Making the Gyoza Wrappers

Take the ball of dough and split it into two pieces. Roll each piece into a sausage shape about six inches long.

Since you will be a few minutes working on each ‘sausage’, place one sausage under a damp cloth while you work with the other one.

Take the 6-inch sausage and roll it out with your fingers as shown in the video until it is a thinner sausage about twice as long. Then cut into portions about an inch or so thick (25-30mm) for a regular sized wrapper which will be about 4 inches (100mm) in diameter.

Place the pieces you are not working on under the damp cloth to prevent them from drying out.

Taking one piece at a time, dust the work surface and the top surface of the dough piece and press down or smack with the palm of your hand to flatten into a medallion shape.

With your work surface still floured, roll from the edge into the center of the medallion turning it around with the other hand to spread the dough out until it is a little bigger than needed for the completed dumpling.

You will either cut out the wrappers with an appropriately sized pastry cutter if you intend to hand make the dumplings, or you can just do it manually if you intend to use a dumpling press since you will be peeling off the excess dough anyway.

Work through all the pieces from the first roll and then repeat the process with the second ‘sausage’.

You will end up with 24-30 wrappers.

Making the Pork Gyoza Filling

Chop up the spring/green onions and Chinese cabbage as shown in the video (top of the page) and grate the ginger and garlic.

Put the chopped cabbage into a bowl and sprinkle with a little salt, allowing it to sit for about 15 minutes which will help draw some of the water out and stop the filling being too watery.

After the cabbage has stood, tip it into clean muslin and twist to squeeze out the water.

Chop the pork finely with a chopper or use a processor to pulse into mince. The chopper is easier unless you are making a lot. The chopper method is also less to clean up but it’s up to you.

Place the minced pork into the mixing bowl along with the chopped spring onions and cabbage, grated ginger, garlic, and seasonings and mix it all together well.

Filling the Gyoza Dumplings

Dumpling Press Method

You will either be using a dumpling press or alternatively making the dumplings manually.

If using the press method, just lay the gyoza wrapper over the press and push down into the indentation to form a little bowl shape that you fill with a little of the pork filling.

Do not overfill with the filling because you will end up with the wrapper either splitting as you press it together or the filling will be pushed out of the sides where the dough is squashed together by the press which will stop the dough being able to seal. Bad!

With your wrapper containing the filling, dip your finger in some clean water and run it along the exposed edge of the wrapper on one side of the press to moisten and help the dough seal.

Then just bring the two sides of the press together firmly and while keeping it pressed, peel away the dough from the edges.

Open up the press to reveal your beautiful dumpling ready to cook.

Manual Method

To make the dumplings manually it is best to use a 3 inch or 4 inch (75-100mm) cookie cutter to make an even shape to the edges.

With your nice round wrapper placed in the palm of your hand add in a little filling (and again avoid the temptation to overfill).

Moisten one side of the wrapper edge by dipping a finger in water to moisten the exposed edge of the wrapper and bring the opposite edge of the wrapper over to match.

Starting at one end of your now crescent shaped but unsealed dumpling, pull and simultaneously crimp the dough to seal and create a crimpled shape to the edge as you work along to the other edge of the dumpling.

I strongly suggest you watch me make a mess of it in the video and you will get the idea ha-ha!

Pan Frying the Gyoza Dumplings

You can steam, steam and fry, boil, boil and fry, pan-fry, or deep fry your little baby dumplings. But my favorite way is to pan fry because you get a nice crispy surface mingling with a softer surface to the wrappers which makes a lovely mouthfeel.

To pan fry, just heat some oil in a pan and gently put your dumplings in to brown the bottoms until they begin to turn light brown.

Once the bottoms are light brown, pour in the cornflour and water mix and cook on for a few minutes until golden brown with the lid on the pan.

Your dumplings will be steaming in the water as it evaporates whilst frying as the flour batter browns for a crispy finish to the bottoms.

You can either serve like this with the whiter looking top which has been steamed or you can continue to cook for a further minute or two on each side to brown them as well.

Now all you have to do is serve with raw cabbage strips or other vegetables placed on the side as an edible garnish together with the all important sauce which is made with soy sauce and rice vinegar or you can just purchase one pre-made.

Recipe for Making Gyoza Wrappers, Gyoza Fillings and Pan Frying Gyoza

Planning on Making this Recipe?
It would be great if you could take a picture of your finished creation and share it out on Instagram. Tag me with #TASTYTHAIEATS – I love to see your ideas!

Frequently Asked Questions About Gyoza Wrappers

What is the Difference Between Gyoza Wrappers and Wonton Wrappers

Typically gyoza wrappers are made from dough made with wheat flour in comparison to wonton wrappers that are typically made from egg noodles using rice flour.

Wheat flour produces gluten which allows the wrappers to be thinner for the same strength compared to rice flour based dough which is structurally weaker.

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