The best way to cook frozen potstickers
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This post on cooking frozen potstickers was sponsored by Ling Ling, all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
I love a good potsticker. I grew up eating them for weekend lunches with my mom and now I make them for my own kids. It’s one of those things I remember so vividly from my childhood and hope I can create those same memories with my children.
But there is a certain way I like frozen potstickers cooked and I swear by this method. We don’t do steamed pot stickers around here. They are called potstickers for a reason and I am going to show you how we make perfectly crisp on the bottom pot stickers every time.
We also swear by the Ling Ling potstickers. They make several different varieties and we love them all. Today, we are making Chicken & Vegetable. I like buying the big bag of Ling Ling potstickers and always have a bag in the freezer. Then we can make as many as we like and they are perfect for last- minute guests.
How to make the perfect frozen pot stickers
Start by adding a little oil to a hot pan.
Next, add your pot stickers. You can squish them in there but make sure they are not quite touching. We usually serve something with it or make two pans full for our family of 5.
Next, you will add water to the pan. Their are exact measurements depending on your pan size. All of the directions can be found on the bag. I used 3/4 cup of water.
Wait for the water to come to a boil. This means you want the heat somewhere around medium-high, depending on your stove.
Once the water is boiling, cover and let them steam for 8 minutes, until the water is evaporated. Remove the lid and let them cook for another minute without moving them (that part is important).
This is where the magic happens and they get golden brown on the bottom. Watch them closely because they will burn if your leave them too long.
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Lunar New Year on February 5th is a great reason to enjoy some Ling Ling potstickers. Since we were having potstickers for lunch, I decided to dig into our January We Craft Box. I knew it was Chinese New Year themed and thought it would be perfect.
We started by making clay Dragon eggs and then moved on to making dragons.
Both girls were really excited. It was the perfect way to spend a day together.
And of course the Ling Ling frozen pot stickers were the perfect pairing. Both of my girls love pot stickers and were really excited to have them for lunch. I like to eat my pot stickers with a little bit of red wine vinegar and soy sauce. The Ling Ling signature dipping sauce that comes in the bag is also really yummy – make sure you try it!
I flip them over and brown the bottoms too. Love the crispy taste.
Yum!
Worked perfect! Thank you. All I did different was start with a lower heat so I could learn and stood and watched them. They were wonderful!
I had to laugh at your instructions. You say, “Remove the lid and let them cook for another minute without moving them (that part is important). This is where the magic happens and they get golden brown on the bottom. ” Makes perfect sense right until you follow that up saying “Watch them closely because they will burn if your leave them too long.”
So first, you’re telling us to leave them alone and not move them, and then secondly to watch them closely so they don’t burn. How are you supposed to check the bottom of a pot sticker without moving them? How about telling us to watch the edges of the pot stickers for some clue? Does the edge of the bottom get dry and a different color of white? Does it start to turn a golden brown that you can see along the edges without moving them? What’s the trick if you’re not going to move them? “1 minute further” cooking times are always approximate because different stoves produce different temperatures with the same settings. So, how about if you make a batch and pay attention to how you decide if it’s done and then clue us in.
So how do you figure it out? You can always use a thermometer to check for “doneness” but that’s not going to tell you if the bottom is crispy (that also causes bubbling at the site where you punctured the dumpling). “Let them cook for another minute” is at the very best an approximate time because different stoves cook at different heats using the same settings. Anything beyond 45-seconds might burn it on one with a medium-high setting while another stove may need it to cook for a minute and a half to get the same brown, crispy, bottom. And that’s without even taking into account hot-spots and cool spots on the pan you’re using. I have no doubt what you’re doing works, but how about identifying a visual cue that we can use that tells us to take them out at the right time. We’d love to know.
Thanks for the feedback. You can see them start to brown around the edges. That’s how you know they are done.
Wow Dan. That’s some viral over a dumpling!
Perhaps you don’t walk away and abuse someone else over the next course that you’re making and you watch the pan. You could lift a corner to check? Or watch for the edges getting super brown? Heck you could even sacrifice a test one if you really don’t trust your own judgment.
This method is basically what I use, but now I do two other things that work well. Chop up a large onion and saute until caramelized in sesame oil. Then add the water and the pot stickers. Cook until just before the pot stickers are done, add a diced-up head of broccoli and cook until the broccoli is still slightly crisp. It makes a delicious one-dish meal. We serve it with soy sauce and either hot or regular sesame oil.
That sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing your variation.
This worked perfectly! Thank you so much!
You’re welcome!
My main concern is putting water into hot oil. There seems that there would be a lot of splattering.
Yes, there is some splattering. It makes for a tasty pot sticker.
I cooked mine exactly as you said, and they didn’t brown at all. In fact, they just stuck and the bottoms ripped off. I decided to cook my second batch in my bamboo steamer
This potsticker recipe was not successful at all.
I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you.
Aileen:
This was very helpful; love having it come up exactly per the search:
“how to cook frozen potstickers”. Ours were indeed the Ling Ling frozen from Costco.
Great page! Thank you.
You are SO welcome, Warren. Thank you for stopping by!