Stiff & Chewy Dumplings (2024)

FAQs

What causes dumplings to be chewy? ›

To achieve the desired chewiness, the main ingredient at play is gluten—the protein responsible for creating elasticity in dough. In Northern Chinese dumplings, the predominant use of wheat flour ensures a higher gluten content, imparting a hearty and chewy texture to the wrappers.

Don't Overwork the Dumpling Dough

Stir everything together until the wet and dry ingredients are combined and you don't see any more dry flour. The dough might look a little lumpy, but that's okay! Overworking the dough is one of the easiest ways to end up with tough dumplings.

all purpose flour – my favorite brand of flour is White Lily but any brand of all purpose flour will work here. baking powder – it's super important you make sure your baking powder is fresh. If it isn't the dumplings won't puff up at all.

As you fold your dumplings, keep them covered with a slightly damp kitchen towel. This prevents the dumplings from drying out (dry skins can split when cooked). Making fresh dumpling wrappers isn't hard when you have Hetty McKinnon to guide you. (But we won't tell if you use store-bought.)

It's best to have your lid ready: Immediately add about 3 tablespoons of water to the pan, just enough to cover the base of the dumplings, then cover and cook for 3–4 minutes, or until the water has evaporated. Lift the lid and allow the dumpling to cook for another 30 seconds, to allow the bottoms to get extra crispy.

Yes, dumplings that are overcooked will begin to fall apart and disintegrate into the soup, so try to stick to the cooking time. I always use a timer.

Often they burst during cooking because they have too much filling for the amount of dough. Some doughs are too dry, so the dumplings won't stay sealed. Others can be too wet and sticky and end up tearing. If the filling isn't cohesive enough, it will tumble out when you bite into it.

Jiaozi. Jiaozi (pronounced "jow-zee") are perhaps the most common type of Chinese dumpling. Crescent-shaped and formed with an opaque wrapper made from wheat dough, jiaozi are usually filled with ground pork, cabbage, and scallions, and served with a dipping sauce made of soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil.

Dumplings can be steamed (zhēngjiǎo, 蒸饺), pan-fried (jiānjiǎo, 煎饺), or boiled (shuǐjiǎo, 水饺, literal translation: water dumpling). They are then served with a dipping sauce, like Chinese black vinegar or our favorite dumpling sauce recipe. They can also be eaten with hot pot meals or served in soup!

Jiaozi have a thicker skin and a relatively flatter, more oblate, double-saucer like shape, and are usually eaten with a soy-vinegar dipping sauce or hot chili sauce while wontons have thinner skin and are usually served in broth as soup.

What makes dumplings rubbery? ›

Don't overmix the dumpling dough!

Overmixing will further develop the gluten, making for a tough or rubbery dumpling.

The stiffer the dough the chewier the dumplings so you can vary the amount of liquid to adjust the chewiness.

Cover and bring to a vigorous boil. Add roughly one cup of cold water and return to boil while covered. Repeat this step again. The dumplings will be completely cooked and ready when they float on the surface of the boiling water.

Perfectly plumped and juicy. Juicy. Now, if you overcook your soup dumplings like this, then your dumplings will be looking like a cone shaped top hat thing. with no soup and looking super flat and sad.

Be sure the liquid is hot before you add the dumpling dough. You can tell if the temperature is hot enough when the liquid is gently boiling with bubbles breaking on the surface. If you add the dough before the liquid is hot enough, the dumplings will end up soggy and undercooked.

If your potato dumplings are gummy, it is likely the potatoes were overworked, or the dough was overmixed.

On the other hand, cold water dough has less water and more gluten, which makes the dough elastic, tough, and strong. As a result, cold water dough is better suitable for boiled dumplings. The cold water dough will spring back slightly when you roll it out.