Jiaozi
饺子
Northern Chinese boiled dumplings with handmade wrappers and a juicy pork and napa cabbage filling, served with black vinegar and garlic.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: 饺子.
- Prep
- 2 hr
- Cook
- 15 min
- Rest
- 30 min
- Total
- 2 hr 45 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Weeknight budget$8–16 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
These are the boiled dumplings of northern China, shuijiao, made the way families make them: a stiff flour-and-water dough rolled into small rounds with a thin edge and a thicker middle, folded around pork and napa cabbage. The cabbage is salted and squeezed so it does not flood the filling, and the pork is stirred in one direction with a little cold water until it turns sticky and holds it. That water is what makes them juicy. They are boiled, not steamed, and the pot is topped up with cold water three times so the wrappers cook through without bursting. Eat them hot, with black vinegar.
What you'll need
15 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.
- Dough
- Filling
- To serve
Ingredients
Dough
- Wheat flour, plain400 g
- Water, cold200 ml
- Salt1 pinch
Filling
- Pork, minced, about 30 percent fat400 g
- Napa cabbage, finely chopped500 g
- Salt, 1 tsp to salt the cabbage, the rest for the pork7.4 ml
- Ginger, finely grated15 g
- Spring onion, finely chopped3
- Soy sauce, light30 ml
- Shaoxing wine15 ml
- Toasted sesame oil15 ml
- White pepper2½ ml
- Water, cold80 ml
To serve
- Garlic, crushed into the vinegar, or served raw on the side3 clove
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Mix the flour and salt, add the cold water gradually and work it into a stiff, rough dough. Knead for 5 minutes, cover and rest 30 minutes, then knead again for a minute until smooth.
40 min
Step 2
Toss the chopped cabbage with 1 tsp salt and leave it 15 minutes. Squeeze it hard by the handful, or in a clean tea towel, until it has lost about a third of its weight in water.
15 min
Step 3
Put the pork in a bowl with the rest of the salt, the soy, wine, ginger and white pepper. Stir hard in one direction with chopsticks, adding the cold water a spoon at a time, until the meat has taken it all and looks pale and sticky, about 5 minutes. Fold in the cabbage, spring onion and sesame oil last.
10 min
Tip: Adding the sesame oil last coats the cabbage and stops it leaking more water into the pork.
Step 4
Roll the dough into ropes 2.5 cm thick and cut into 10 g pieces, about 60. Flatten each with your palm, then roll it with a small pin from the edge towards the centre, turning the disc a little each time, to get an 8 cm round with a thin edge and a thicker middle.
30 min
Tip: Keep the cut pieces and the finished wrappers under a cloth. Dry dough will not seal.
Step 5
Put a scant tablespoon of filling, about 15 g, in the middle of a wrapper, fold it in half and pinch the top shut. Press each side together from the corners towards the middle, pushing in a small pleat or two, so the dumpling sits up with a full belly. Set them apart on a floured tray.
30 min
Step 6
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and add about 20 dumplings, stirring gently so they do not stick. When it comes back to the boil, add a cup of cold water. Do this three times in all. They are done when they float, look puffed and the wrappers turn slightly translucent, about 7 minutes. Cut one open the first time: the filling should be firm and grey-white all through, with no pink.
10 min
Step 7
Lift them out with a spider and serve straight away with the black vinegar and garlic in small dishes. Cook the next batch while the first is eaten.
5 min
Nutrition
Per serving · estimate
- Calories
- 688 kcal
- Protein
- 40.5 g
- Carbs
- 86 g
- Fat
- 18.6 g
- Saturated fat
- 5.6 g
- Fibre
- 4.8 g
- Sugar
- 2.9 g
- Sodium
- 1772 mg
Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.
Allergens
Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.
- Wheat
- Soy
- Sesame
- Dairy-free
- Nut-free
Adapt this recipe
The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 12 November.
Substitutions
Napa cabbage → Chinese chives
Pork and chive is the other classic filling. No salting needed; chop them fine and fold them in at the end.
Chinese black vinegar → Rice vinegar with a few drops of soy sauce
Thinner and less malty, but it still cuts the fat.
Tips
- Freeze extras on the floured tray, not touching, then bag them. Boil from frozen with one extra cold-water top-up.
- A dish of chilli oil beside the vinegar is common, and a raw garlic clove to bite between dumplings is very northern.
- Leftover boiled jiaozi fry well the next day in a little oil, flat side down, until the bottoms are crisp.
History & culture
In the north, jiaozi are New Year's Eve food. The family wraps them together through the afternoon, sometimes hiding a coin in one, and eats them around midnight; the folded shape is meant to look like old silver ingots. They are winter solstice food too, and everyday food, sold by weight in dumpling houses from Harbin to Xi'an.
The story goes that the Han-dynasty physician Zhang Zhongjing wrapped mutton and warming herbs in ear-shaped dough to treat villagers' frostbitten ears. Firmer evidence is a bowl of dried dumplings found in a Tang-dynasty tomb near Turpan, more than a thousand years old and shaped much like today's. The name is often linked to the hour when the old year meets the new.
Traditional — Northern families also make lamb and carrot, egg and chive, and pickled cabbage fillings. Many soak ginger and spring onion in the water before adding it to the pork; plain water works.
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.
How long does Jiaozi take?
2 hr 45 min all in — 2 hr prep, 15 min cook, 30 min rest. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 4 people. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Medium.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
What allergens should I watch?
This recipe is labelled for Wheat, Soy, Sesame. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Dairy-free, Nut-free.
9 more questionsFewer questions
What does it cost to cook?
Weeknight budget — about $8–16 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Mixing bowl, Rolling pin, Stockpot, Spider or strainer, Baking tray, Chef's knife, Cutting board.
How much salt do I put in?
The recipe lists Salt at 1 pinch.
How much soy sauce?
2 tbsp (light) of Soy sauce.
How much toasted sesame oil?
1 tbsp of Toasted sesame oil.
What can I use instead?
Napa cabbage → Chinese chives. Pork and chive is the other classic filling. No salting needed; chop them fine and fold them in at the end. Chinese black vinegar → Rice vinegar with a few drops of soy sauce. Thinner and less malty, but it still cuts the fat.
Any tips from this recipe?
Freeze extras on the floured tray, not touching, then bag them. Boil from frozen with one extra cold-water top-up. A dish of chilli oil beside the vinegar is common, and a raw garlic clove to bite between dumplings is very northern. Leftover boiled jiaozi fry well the next day in a little oil, flat side down, until the bottoms are crisp.
Can I prepare this ahead?
Leftover boiled jiaozi fry well the next day in a little oil, flat side down, until the bottoms are crisp.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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