No.56 The 100 Most Popular Recipes Ever · October 2026

Pork and chive dumplings

Made famous by Andrea Nguyen

Photo: Emcc83, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From Asian Dumplings, 2009.

Jiaozi are eaten by the billion at Chinese New Year and every day in northern China. Nguyen's book taught a generation of home cooks to fold them.

Written in our own words and tested in a home kitchen. Get the original in Asian Dumplings.

Ingredients

• For the filling: 1 lb (450 g) ground pork (not lean)
• 1 cup (60 g) finely chopped Chinese garlic chives (or scallions)
• 1 tbsp finely grated ginger
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp fine salt and 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) chicken stock or water
• 40 round dumpling wrappers (store-bought or homemade)
• For the dip: 3 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar, 1 tbsp soy sauce, julienned ginger and chili oil

Steps

1. In a bowl, mix the pork, ginger, soy, wine, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Stir hard in one direction while adding the stock a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture is sticky and springy, 2 to 3 minutes. This makes a juicy filling.
2. Fold in the chives. Cover and chill 30 minutes; it's easier to wrap when cold.
3. Hold a wrapper in your palm and put a heaped teaspoon of filling in the center. Wet the edge with water.
4. Fold the wrapper in half over the filling and pinch the top center. Make 3 or 4 small pleats along one side, pressing each against the flat side, to seal into a crescent. Set on a floured tray and repeat.
5. To boil: drop 12 to 15 into a big pot of boiling water and stir gently. When it returns to a boil, add 1 cup cold water. Repeat twice more; they're done when puffed and floating with the filling cooked through, about 6 to 8 minutes total.
6. To pan-fry: heat 1 tablespoon oil in a nonstick skillet, set dumplings flat side down in a ring and fry until golden underneath, 2 minutes. Add 1/3 cup water, cover and steam 6 minutes, then uncover and cook until the water is gone and the bottoms are crisp again.
7. Mix the dip and serve the dumplings hot.

Chef's tips

• Freeze uncooked dumplings on a tray, then bag them; cook from frozen, adding 2 minutes.
• If wrappers dry out, keep them under a damp towel.

This is Chef Amazing's write-up of the dish, tested for a home kitchen. The original is in Asian Dumplings by Andrea Nguyen: get the book, No. 46 on The 100 Greatest Cookbooks.

← No. 55Red-braised pork belly→ No. 57Char siu