It’s official. These Easy Homemade Pot Stickers are the new favorite dinner at our house. I can hide whatever veggies I want in them. Because they are pot stickers, my Chinese food-loving children will eat them not only without complaining but with the happiest faces you’ve ever seen in your life. If you like this recipe, you will love my Korean Beef Bowls.
The pot stickers themselves are super fun to make and a great dinner for the kids to help with. My seven-year-old was my sidekick with these, and he loved sealing them up. (All you need is a little water to seal the edges.)
Asian-Inspired Recipes
- The Best Cambodian Beef Lettuce Wraps
- Easy Three-Ingredient Teriyaki Sauce
- Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken Thighs
- Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Teriyaki Garlic Chicken Stir Fry
- Sticky Teriyaki Baked Chicken Thighs
Almost a year ago, I met a woman on an airplane, and she told me I should make these pot stickers; that they are every mother’s secret weapon. Well, it took me almost a year to finally do it. To be honest, I was a little intimidated. I thought they were going to be hard, and I wasn’t sure if I needed to cook the meat before putting the filling in.
Well, now that I finally got brave and made them, I can’t stop. They are SO EASY! You don’t have to cook the filling before filling the wrappers. “Hip, hip hooray! They can be made start to finish in thirty minutes or less!” Put some rice in the rice cooker before you start and Ta-Da, dinner is served!
Every time I make the pot stickers, I freeze 12 uncooked to keep on hand for busy nights.
how to make easy homemade pot stickers
- In a large bowl, combine ground meat, grated carrot, grated zucchini, finely chopped green onions, sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, ginger, salt, and black pepper. Mix together thoroughly by hand.
- Place about 1 1/2 tbsp of mixture on half of each wonton wrapper.
- Dip your finger in water and moisten 1 edge of a wonton wrapper. Fold it over and pinch the wonton wrapper shut. Make a few folds along the edge and pinch them to give them the pot sticker look.
- Repeat for all 36 wonton wrappers.
- In a large frying pan with a lid, heat the 3 tbsp of oil. Place a layer of pot stickers in the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes until browned on that side.
- Flip pot stickers over and add 1/2 cup of water. Put the lid on the frying pan immediately. This steams the pot stickers. Leave the lid on for 5-7 minutes. Watch to see if water starts to evaporate. If it does, add a little more water.
- Repeat the cooking process for the rest of the pot stickers. Depending on how large the frying pan is, you may need to do two or three batches.
- For the dipping sauce, I mix half soy sauce half sweet chili sauce.
- Serve hot with dipping sauce.
Tips for making Easy Homemade Pot Stickers
- Use a food processor to finely chop the carrots, zucchini, and onions. They will be unrecognizable to kids who are super picky eaters. 🙂
- When placing the mixture on the wonton wrappers, use a small cookie scoop that measures 1 1/2 tablespoons.
- If you make pot stickers often, you can invest in a dumpling mold maker to make the preparation go faster.
- When cooking the pot stickers and after placing the lid on the frying pan, shake the pan back and forth every once in a while to make sure none of the pot stickers are sticking to the pan.
- If you don’t want to cook the pot stickers all at once, freeze them in an airtight freezer Ziploc bag for up to 2 months. First, lay them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Then, when they are completely frozen, place them in the Ziploc bag. Using this freezing method keeps them from sticking together.
- When cooking frozen pot stickers, extend the steaming time by 3-4 minutes.
chef’s tools:
Finger Foods
- 1 pkg pot sticker wrappers (36 count)
- 1 lb ground beef, pork, chicken, or turkey
- 1 large carrot, grated or finely chopped in a food processor
- ½ small zucchini, grated or finely chopped in a food processor
- 3 green onions, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp sweet chili sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- ½ tsp ginger, scant
- ⅛ tsp ground black pepper and ⅛ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
- ½-3/4 cup water
- DIPPING SAUCE
- Soy sauce
- Sweet chili sauce
- In a large bowl, combine ground meat, grated carrot, grated zucchini, finely chopped green onions, sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, ginger, salt, and black pepper. Mix together thoroughly by hand.
- Place about 1½ tbsp of mixture on half of each wonton wrapper.
- Dip your finger in water and moisten 1 edge of a wonton wrapper. Fold it over and pinch the wonton wrapper shut. Make a few folds along the edge and pinch them to give them the pot sticker look. Repeat for all 36 wonton wrappers.
- In a large frying pan with a lid, heat the 3 tbsp of oil. Place a layer of pot stickers in the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes until browned on that side.
- Flip pot stickers over and add ½ cup of water. Put the lid on the frying pan immediately. This steams the pot stickers. Leave the lid on for 5-7 minutes. Watch to see if water starts to evaporate. If it does, add a little more water.
- Repeat cooking process for the rest of the pot stickers. Depending on how large the frying pan is, you may need to do two or three batches.
- For the dipping sauce, I mix half soy sauce half sweet chili sauce.
- Serve hot with dipping sauce.

Where do you buy potsticker wrappers? I can only ever find wonton wrappers and they are too thin and I don’t like them.
I can usually find them in the produce refrigerator section of my grocery store.
I made the pot stickers last night with a girlfriend. They were delicious and incredibly easy to make. I’ll be making them again, soon, for my family. I used the wonton wrappers, as thats all my grocery store had. They’re a perfect fit for my carb conscious family.
Awesome Janie! I am so glad you tried this recipe. It is one of my favorites and my kids get soooo excited to help make them.
Do you have a recipe for the dipping sauce? My hubby loves it at Chinese restaurants.
Never mind! I should have read the entire recipe!😊
What is sweet Chili sauce??
Hi Barbara, it’s so yummy but it’s kind of hard to explain. There is a picture of it on this recipe for Korean Beef Bowls. https://reallifedinner.com/korean-beef-bowls/
Tried to make these tonight. The meat didn’t cook through. Any suggestions?
That is really surprising. How much meat did you put in each one? My only suggestion would be to cook them longer. I am really surprised to hear this. I have made these often and never had a problem with the meat cooing though. I guess another option is that you could precook the meat. I do that with my favorite egg roll recipe.
I love pot stickers!! So excited to make these! (I’ve never done it before)
xoxo
Brooke
https://farmandfashion.blog
They are so fun, you’ll love it!
I made these last night and they were delicious! My son and I loved them and even my I don’t eat vegetables because I’m not a rabbit and I don’t eat Asian food husband ate at least 15 of them and loved them! That a win, win in my house. I will make them again and again! They were so easy. Thank you.
Awesome, I love hearing that Peggy!