These Easy Vegetable Dumplings are filled with cabbage, carrots, green onions, and ginger and pan-fried until crispy. They are juicy, savory, slightly sweet, vegetable-heavy, and a crowd-pleaser.
You can make them in about 30 minutes for an easy weeknight dinner along with rice or as an appetizer. They are filled with all real ingredients, and if you want to get kids or family members involved this is a great dish to start with.
This recipe makes 35 dumplings, enough for dinner for 4 along with a side of rice or Miso Butter Noodles. However, you can easily double or quadruple the recipe and freeze any leftovers. It's a great weekend project, just like these Chinese Pork Dumplings.
This recipe is one of our easy go-to weeknight meals, but in a pinch, we also love this Vegetable Yellow Curry, which is made with a few pantry staples and comes together quickly.
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🌟 Why You'll Love This Dish
Homemade: Homemade dumplings are way better than store-bought. Using real, fresh vegetables adds so much more flavor.
Easy: This dish is not complicated or fussy. Dice a few veggies, combine them in a bowl, wrap them in store-bought dumpling wrappers, and pan-fry until crispy.
Veggie-Filled: They are veggie-filled but also savory. It's easy to eat quite a few in one sitting.
🍽️ Tips for Getting Homemade Dumplings on the Table Quickly
- Enlist some help. This is a great task for anyone from older toddlers to teenagers, to spouses or friends. Sitting around making these creates an informal party atmosphere - we're all in this together. And anyone participating is going to be that much more excited to eat them.
- Start up the pan while you're still assembling dumplings. This is easier if you have someone making dumplings, and someone else can start frying them on the pan. But I've done it just myself as well. I can get a handful of dumplings made while frying a separate set in a pan. Stay focused to ensure the ones on the pan don't burn.
- Multiple frying pans: Set up 2 or more frying pans to get multiple batches going at once. Be sure not to crowd the pans or you'll end up steaming the dumplings.
🛒 Ingredients
Below are the ingredients needed to make these Easy Vegetable Dumplings.
- Cabbage: Use green cabbage, with a small dice. The smaller the dice, the easier it is to fit into the dumpling wrappers.
- Carrots: Shred whole carrots, do not buy shredded carrots. They have a different water content and do not taste as good in dumplings.
- Green Onions: Thinly sliced, both the white and light green parts.
- Ginger: Use roughly a tablespoon of grated ginger.
- Soy Sauce: I prefer Kikkoman low sodium soy sauce, but there are lots of different kinds and many will work well. Sometimes we'll use the Trader Joe's brand (which side by side is not as good as Kikkoman, but works just fine).
- Vegetable Oil: Do not be tempted to use olive oil.
- Salt: To balance and bring out flavor.
- Black Pepper: Adds a mild spicy kick. If you don't like spicy, leave this out, or reduce it by half.
- Sugar: A small amount for subtle sweetness.
- Dumpling Wrappers: These can be found in any Asian grocery store. They are typically in the refrigerated or freezer section. I've seen them at Asian grocery stores all over the country from California to Texas, to New York, and most often I've seen them sold by a company called Twin Marquis. I prefer to use Hong Kong Style Dumpling wrappers for these vegetable dumplings. They are thinner than Shanghai-style wrappers, which makes them slightly harder to work with, but lighter to eat and pair well with the vegetable filling. See the picture below of the two
- Flour: For dusting the dumplings. This is particularly helpful when freezing leftovers so that they do not stick to each other.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
📝 How to make these Easy Vegetable Dumplings
Below are the step-by-step instructions and photos for making Easy Vegetable Dumplings including two different methods for folding the dumplings.
*Note: The recipe card with instructions, ingredient list, and quantities is included further below these step-by-step photos.
Step 1. Make the Filling: In a large bowl combine the diced cabbage, shredded carrots, thinly sliced green onions, ginger, soy sauce, vegetable oil, salt, black pepper, and sugar.
Step 2. Assemble the Dumplings: Place about a tablespoon worth of filling in the center of the dumpling wrapper. Have a glass or small bowl of water nearby. Dip your finger in the water and brush it along the edge of the dumpling wrapper (you could also do this with a pastry brush).
Fold the dumpling in half and press to seal the wrapper. The water helps to act like glue to seal the wrapper closed.
Tip: This simple fold-in-half method is the easiest way to make the dumplings. It is the way we make dumplings 99% of the time. It also makes it easier to get kids involved.
Step 2a. Folding with Pleats: This is an alternative to folding the dumplings in half. Fold the dumpling in half, but only press to seal a small section at the top-middle. Then use your thumb and pointer finger to create a pleat on the right-hand side. The pleat is only done on one side, the back side stays flat. Create a second, or even third pleat on that side then repeat with the left-hand side as shown in the photo above.
Step 3. Coating in Flour: Add a small amount of flour to a bowl or shallow dish. Coat both sides of the dumpling in flour.
Freezing the Dumplings: At this point if you are freezing any dumplings they can be placed in gallon or quart-sized freezer bags and stored in the freezer for 3-6 months.
Getting Kids Involved: We have made dumplings with our young kids and my nieces and nephews of varying ages many times. I've found that the best way to have kids participate is to hand them a cutting board with 4-6 dumpling wrappers and place the filling in the center of each. Then let them dip their fingers in water to brush the edges of the dumpling wrapper and seal the dumplings using the simple fold method above.
Then I go around and scoop up the assembled dumplings, dust them in flour, and hand each child another set of wrappers with a tablespoon of filling on each.
Step 4. Pan Fry the Dumplings: Bring a large sauté pan to medium heat (a setting of 4 out of 10 on an electric stove, or the equivalent on a gas stove). Add a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil and fry the dumplings until golden brown, about 3-5 minutes on each side depending on the heat and type of pan you are using.
Tip: Do not add too many dumplings to the pan at one time. Leave plenty of space so that they get crispy rather than steamy and soft. To save time, you can get two pans going at the same time.
✏️ Vegetable Dumpling FAQs
Yes, these are a great make-ahead dish. They can be assembled and frozen for 3-6 months. When ready, then can be placed on a preheated sauté pan directly from frozen.
Coating each of the dumplings in flour after assembling them will help to prevent them from sticking. You can also freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet for an hour then place them in freezer bags if you're planning on freezing any of the dumplings. This provides extra insurance that they will not stick when frozen.
Yes, you can double or 4x this recipe, and we often do. It's great to have plenty of leftover veggie dumplings in the freezer that can be pulled out at any time.
If You're Looking for More Asian Inspired Recipes, You May Love These:
If you've tried this Easy Vegetable Dumpling Recipe or any other recipe on my site, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. I'd love to hear from you!
Easy Vegetable Dumplings
Ingredients
- ¼ cabbage, diced
- 2 carrots, grated
- ¼ package green onions, about 5
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ tablespoon salt
- ½ tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 35 dumpling wrappers
- ½ cup flour
Instructions
- Combine the cabbage, carrots, green onions, ginger, soy sauce, vegetable oil, salt, sugar, and black pepper in a large mixing bowl.
- To make the dumplings, place about 1 tablespoon of the mixture in the center of a round dumpling wrapper. Lightly brush the outer edge of the wrapper with water. Pick up the wrapper and fold it in half around the filling. Press gently to seal.
- Add ½ cup flour to a small-medium bowl and dredge the dumplings to coat in flour.
- Add a few tablespoons of vegetable oil or olive oil to a large sauté pan at medium heat. Working in batches, add the floured dumplings to the pan, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Cook, turning as needed until golden brown and crispy on all sides, about 8-10 minutes per batch.
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