Chinese chicken dumplings with sesame soy sauce are by far a labor of love. But, with their perfectly crisp outer shell and warm flavorful filling, these dumplings are without a doubt one of the best meals around, which makes the entire process completely worth it. When paired with the slightly salty, nutty, and tangy sesame soy sauce, it’s a match made in heaven! Your belly and your taste buds will be left completely satisfied.
What makes these Chinese chicken dumplings with sesame soy sauce so good?!
The freshly made dumpling dough is wonderfully chewy, yet crispy from pan frying. And, the chicken filling is packed with tons of flavor from the ginger, garlic, scallions, soy sauce, and sesame oil. As well, the texture is absolutely perfect with the softness of the outer layer and the crunchiness of the water chestnuts and cabbage from the chickeny goodness inside the dumpling.
With so many different names, from potstickers and gyoza to dim sum and wontons, dumplings take on so many different shapes and forms. Check out this informative article from Red House Spice for a tutorial on the many ways you can fold dumplings. Additionally, these dumplings would be excellent in wonton soup, just cut your dough a bit smaller and fill the dough a little less to make bite-sized chicken wontons instead.
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- Flour
- Hot Water
- Salt
For the Dumpling Filling:
- Shredded Green Cabbage
- Water Chestnuts
- Salt
- Ground Chicken
- Scallions
- Fresh Ginger
- Garlic
- Toasted Sesame Oil
- Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- Rice Vinegar
- Sugar
For the Sesame Soy Sauce:
- Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- Rice Vinegar
- Scallion, greens only
- Toasted Sesame Oil
- Sweet Chili Sauce, optional
- Sesame Seeds
A few notes about the ingredients:
- I like to make my own dumpling dough, but if you’re short on time, you can definitely buy store bought and just use this recipe for the filling and sauce.
- Water chestnuts have very little inherent flavor, but provide a nice crunchy texture. They can be found in the Asian foods aisle of the grocery store.
- You can swap out the ground chicken with ground turkey or ground pork. However, ground chicken has a more mild flavor, so the substitutions may alter the overall taste of the dumplings.
- Make sure to use TOASTED sesame oil and LOW SODIUM soy sauce. The toasted sesame oil has a lot more flavor than plain sesame oil and the low sodium soy sauce is a lot less salty, so it’s easier to control the salt level.
- The sweet chili sauce in the sesame soy sauce is completely optional. You can omit it if you don’t like spice. I do recommend it, though, because it does not offer a ton of spice, but it does add a touch of extra flavor and sweetness to balance out the tanginess of the vinegar.
How do you make Chinese chicken dumplings from scratch?
For the Dough:
Combine the flour, water, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. With the dough hook attachment, knead the dough together until it forms a smooth ball, around 2-3 minutes. Remove the ball from the bowl, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and let it rest for 30 minutes.
If you do not have a stand mixer or a dough hook attachment, you can knead the dough by hand until it becomes smooth, just make sure to flour your surface well to prevent it from sticking.
For the Dumpling Filling:
Chop the water chestnuts into small pieces. Combine the shredded cabbage and water chestnuts in a colander with 2 teaspoons of salt and place it over a bowl. Leave it to stand for about 30 minutes to allow the salt to extract the moisture from the cabbage and water chestnuts.
After 30 minutes, dump the cabbage and water chestnuts over a towel or double lined paper towels, then wrap them and wring out the excess water. When there is very little water remaining, add the cabbage and water chestnuts to a bowl with the ground chicken, scallions, ginger, garlic, low sodium soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, and sugar. Mix to combine.
Putting it All Together:
Split the dough in half. Roll one half of the dough on a floured surface until it is thin, about 1/16th of an inch thick. Cut the dough into rounds (mine were 3 ½ inches in diameter). Fill each round with 1-2 teaspoons of the chicken filling and fold them according to the tutorial linked above. Continue with the rest of the dough from the first half. Then, repeat again with the other half of the dough.
Over medium heat, add a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil to a high sided skillet. When the oil is hot, add the dumplings. Brown on one side for about 3 minutes. Then, carefully add ¼ cup of water and cover to steam the dumplings for about 6 minutes on low heat. Uncover the pan, increase the heat to medium, and cook another 3 or so minutes until the bottoms are crisp. You may need to do this in batches, depending on the size of your skillet. The dumplings do puff up a little as you cook them.
If you prefer to boil the dumplings instead, add them to a large pot of boiling salted water. Once the dumplings float to the surface, cook them for 5 minutes then remove them from the water. You may need to do this in batches, as well.
For the Sesame Soy Sauce:
Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. The sauce will build more flavor the longer it sits. Dip the cooked dumplings in the bowl of sauce and enjoy!
What can you serve with chicken dumplings?
These chicken dumplings practically include your 3 basic food groups already: a starch, a vegetable, and a protein. They’re like a complete meal wrapped into one bite! However, if you want some diversification in your meal, you can serve them with roasted, steamed, or stir fried vegetables (such as carrots, bell peppers, green beans, and onions), a side salad, or an asian-style coleslaw.
What is dumpling sauce made of?
The dumpling sauce included in this recipe mainly consists of soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar. It is perfectly salty, nutty, and tangy. If you’d like additional Asian-inspired flavors in the sauce, you can add ginger, garlic, sriracha, or teriyaki sauce (instead of soy sauce).
What makes these Chinese chicken dumplings with sesame soy sauce healthy?
These chinese chicken dumplings are made from fresh and healthy ingredients. In addition, this recipe incorporates ground chicken, instead of pork, which has less saturated fat. With the inclusion of the cabbage, ginger, and garlic, you get added health benefits without having to eat boring ‘ole vegetables! Cabbage is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. It also aids in digestion due to its high fiber content. Likewise, ginger helps ease digestion and has anti-inflammatory effects. Garlic helps in regulating cholesterol and blood pressure.
One more tip
- For a quicker recipe, buy pre-made wonton wrappers at your local Asian market. Because the store bought wrappers are usually a bit drier than the homemade ones, dip your finger in warm water and run it along the outside of the dough to seal it together.
Looking for more healthy dinner recipes? Try these:
Share your cooking with me! If you make this recipe, I'd love to know! Tag @yourhomemadehealthy on Instagram or leave a comment with a rating and some feedback at the bottom of this page!
📖 Recipe
Chinese Chicken Dumplings with Sesame Soy Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 6 cups all purpose flour
- 1 ¾ cup + 2 tablespoon hot water
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the Dumpling Filling:
- 10 oz shredded green cabbage
- ½ cup sliced water chestnuts minced
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 16 oz ground chicken
- 4 tablespoon scallions chopped
- 2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
For the Sesame Soy Sauce:
- ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 scallion greens only, sliced
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon sweet chili sauce optional
- a sprinkle of sesame seeds
Instructions
For the Dough:
- Combine the flour, water, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. With the dough hook attachment, knead the dough together until it forms a smooth ball, around 2-3 minutes.
- Remove the ball from the bowl, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- If you do not have a stand mixer or a dough hook attachment, you can knead the dough by hand until it becomes smooth, just make sure to flour your surface well to prevent it from sticking.
For the Dumpling Filling:
- Combine the shredded cabbage and water chestnuts in a colander with 2 teaspoons of salt and place it over a bowl. Leave it to stand for about 30 minutes to allow the salt to extract the moisture from the cabbage and water chestnuts.
- After 30 minutes, dump the cabbage and water chestnuts over a towel or double lined paper towels, then wrap them and wring out the excess water.
- When there is very little water remaining, add the cabbage and water chestnuts to a bowl with the ground chicken, scallions, ginger, garlic, low sodium soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, and sugar. Mix to combine.
Putting It All Together:
- Split the dough in half. Roll one half of the dough on a floured surface until it is thin, about 1/16th of an inch thick. Cut the dough into rounds (mine were 3 ½ inches in diameter).
- Fill each round with 1-2 teaspoons of the chicken filling and fold them according to the tutorial linked below.
- Continue with the rest of the dough from the first half. Then, repeat again with the other half of the dough.
- Over medium heat, add a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil to a high sided skillet. When the oil is hot, add the dumplings. Brown on one side for about 3 minutes.
- Then, carefully add ¼ cup of water and cover to steam the dumplings for about 6 minutes on low heat. (The oil will splatter a bit, so be very careful during this step)
- Uncover the pan, increase the heat to medium, and cook another 3 or so minutes until the bottoms are crisp. You may need to cook the dumplings in batches, depending on the size of your skillet. The dumplings do puff up a little as you cook them.
- If you prefer to boil the dumplings instead, add them to a large pot of boiling salted water. Once the dumplings float to the surface, cook them for 5 minutes then remove them from the water. You may need to do this in batches, as well.
For the Sesame Soy Sauce:
- Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. The sauce will build more flavor the longer it sits. Dip the cooked dumplings in the bowl of sauce and enjoy!
Notes
- I like to make my own dumpling dough, but if you’re short on time, you can definitely buy store bought and just use this recipe for the filling and sauce. Because the store bought wrappers are usually a bit drier than the homemade ones, dip your finger in warm water and run it along the outside of the dough to seal it together.
- Water chestnuts have very little inherent flavor, but provide a nice crunchy texture. They can be found in the Asian foods aisle of the grocery store.
- You can swap out the ground chicken with ground turkey or ground pork. However, ground chicken has a more mild flavor, so the substitutions may alter the overall taste of the dumplings.
- Make sure to use TOASTED sesame oil and LOW SODIUM soy sauce. The toasted sesame oil has a lot more flavor than plain sesame oil and the low sodium soy sauce is a lot less salty, so it’s easier to control the salt level.
- The sweet chili sauce in the sesame soy sauce is completely optional. You can omit it if you don’t like spice. I do recommend it, though, because it does not offer a ton of spice, but it does add a touch of extra flavor and sweetness to balance out the tanginess of the vinegar.
- Check out this informative article from Red House Spice for a tutorial on the many ways you can fold dumplings. Additionally, these dumplings would be excellent in wonton soup, just cut your dough a bit smaller and fill it a little less to make bite-sized chicken wontons instead.
Nutrition
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