Pork and Shrimp Dumplings. Crispy savoury morsels of pork and shrimp seasoned with soy sauce, sesame and garlic. Absolutely delicious and easy to make at home!
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Dumplings are probably one of my favourite foods in Chinese cuisine, especially when it’s fried and paired with my easy Chinese Chili Oil or 3-ingredient Dumpling Dipping Sauce! These dumplings are very easy to make and work well as a side dish, appetizer, main, or as a snack! You can also freeze these and cook them for later!
I could honestly have dumplings every single week because they’re that delicious. I mean how can anyone not love some savoury filling wrapped in some dough and fried oil?
When I was young, my grandmother actually taught me how to make dumplings. I still remember her teaching me and her raspy voice telling me how much water to pour into the flour, how to roll out the wrappers and make the filling.
The process was long but totally worth it because I have to say grandma’s dumplings were the most juiciest dumplings ever. The wrapper was also thick but not too thick. It was perfect.
Ingredients
Please scroll down to below recipe card for exact measurements.
- Dumpling wrappers: store-bought
- Neutral oil: like avocado oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil with a high smoke point. Avoid olive oil or any heavy scented oils with a low smoke point.
Filling
- Minced pork: or substitute with minced chicken or turkey
- Shrimp
- Sesame oil
- Garlic
- Green onion
- Regular soy sauce: not dark soy sauce
- Sugar
- Cornstarch
- Shaoxing wine or dry sherry wine
- Napa cabbage
Note: Most Asian grocery stores will carry most of the Asian specific ingredients.
How to make Pork Shrimp Dumplings
In a large mixing bowl, add your filling ingredients and mix in one direction until the mixture breaks down and the minced pork and shrimp become a paste. If you have a food processor, add your filling ingredients and grind until it’s pasty and well combined.
Then add 1 heaping teaspoon of the filling onto the center of the wrapper. Brush some water on the wrapper around the filling.
Fold the wrapper into a semi-circle, then pinch the edges. To make it fancier: pleat the edges from the middle outwards and pinch them together. Ensure the edges are completely sealed.
To Cook:
In a non stick frying pan set over medium high heat, add vegetable oil. Then lower dumplings in flat side down. Allow this to fry until the bottoms have turned brown and crispy, about 5 minutes. Monitor this.
Then pour ½ - ¾ cup water into the pan and cover with a lid. Lower heat to low-medium and let this steam until all the water evaporates and the filling is cooked, about 6-7 minutes. The filling should not be pasty and should be chewy.
Serve and enjoy with your favourite side or dipping sauce.
Storage & Reheating
- Leftover cooked dumplings will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To reheat, microwave for 2-3 minutes until hot or reheat in a pan on medium heat.
- Leftover uncooked dumplings can be placed in a freezer-friendly ZipLock bag in a single layer and frozen for up to 6 months until freezer burn begins to show. To cook them from frozen, you can cook them the same way as instructed.
Expert Tips
- When mixing the filling, it is important to mix the ingredients in one direction until it is super pasty. The ground pork should be broken down. Using a food processor can be helpful. But if you don’t, just mix in a mixing bowl with chopsticks or a fork.
- Do not overfill the dumplings and use a measuring spoon. I would recommend only filling with 1 teaspoon at most or the dumpling will not seal properly. It also depends on the size of your wrapper so as long as you leave at least ½ - 1 inch border around the filling.
- Brush water around the edges of the wrapper to help seal that little dumpling!
- Pinch and seal the dumpling well! You don’t want your precious filling to leak out as you cook it.
- When frying your dumplings, use the “fry and steam” method by frying the bottoms until they’re brown over medium heat for 5 minutes or so. Then pour a some water on the base of the pan and covering them with a lid to steam for another 6-7 minutes until cooked and until all the water has evaporated.
FAQ
- Make sure to stir your filling in one direction! This allows for the filling to be pastier giving you a more sticky juicy filling.
- Use ground pork that has some fat to it.
- Don’t overcook them.
- Add water just after frying them to steam them.
- Chinese Chili Oil or 3-ingredient Dumpling Dipping Sauce.
- Soup noodles
- Soup
- Fry them and chop them up and add to fried rice
Other dumpling recipes you may like!
📖 Recipe
Easy & Simple Pork and Shrimp Dumplings
Ingredients
- 1 lb dumpling wrappers circular kind (approx. 45 wrappers)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or any neutral oil
Dumpling Filling:
- ½ lb minced pork marbled with fat (not lean)
- ¾ cups shrimp peeled, deveined, and chopped into a paste
- 1 cup napa cabbage finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 green onion finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon white granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon Shaoxing Cooking Wine or dry sherry wine
Instructions
To make dumplings:
- In a large mixing bowl, add your filling ingredients and mix in one direction until the mixture breaks down and the minced pork and shrimp become a paste. If you have a food processor, add your filling ingredients and grind until it’s pasty and well combined.
- Then add 1 heaping teaspoon of the filling onto the center of the wrapper. Brush some water on the wrapper around the filling.
- Fold the wrapper into a semi-circle, then pinch the edges. To make it fancier: pleat the edges from the middle outwards and pinch them together. Ensure the edges are completely sealed.
To cook dumplings:
- In a non stick frying pan set over medium high heat, add vegetable oil. Then lower dumplings in flat side down. Allow this to fry until the bottoms have turned brown and crispy, about 5 minutes. Monitor this.
- Then pour ½ - ¾ cup water into the pan and cover with a lid. Lower heat to low-medium and let this steam until all the water evaporates and the filling is cooked, about 6-7 minutes. The filling should not be pasty and should be chewy.
- Serve and enjoy with your favourite side or dipping sauce.
Michael savoie
Awesome recipe easy to follow and end result was a hit.
christieathome
Thanks so much for making my dumplings recipe, Michael! Very happy to hear that it was a hit! ☺️
Mary Landry
We made a batch of your delicious 😋 dumplings tonight! My husband loved them! So tasty… absolutely worth the work! Mine weren’t shaped as nicely as yours but still delicious
christieathome
Thank you so much for making my recipe, Mary! I am so glad that it was worth the time and effort 🙂 Happy you and your husband enjoyed them!
Daniel Cryer
Love the recipe! Pork and shrimp dumplings are one of my favorite filling combinations.Thanks so much for sharing :).
But, can we talk about the fact that you used grams for the pork and cups for the shrimp?
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
That was a great tip for pan frying these dumplings to keep them healthier!
Michelle | Sift & Simmer
Love pork and shrimp dumplings -- gotta have the shrimp!
Katherine | Love In My Oven
Oooh we love dumplings!! I haven't actually tried homemade ones. I need to give your recipe a try!
Josiah - DIY Thrill
These pork and shrimp dumplings look so savory!
Caleb - Never Ending Journeys
These dumplings sounds delicious! I love the combination of pork and shrimp, too - that's so tasty.