Learn how to make gyoza wrappers totally from scratch, it's so cheap to make and the texture is out of this world! You'll never wanna go back to store-bought wrappers again!
What is Gyoza?
Gyoza (餃子) are dumplings most commonly filled with ground meat, vegetables and seasonings, and then wrapped in a thin dough. Although they are eaten all across Japan, the dish originates from China and are originally called "Jiaozi".
In English they are usually called dumplings or pot stickers.
They can be steamed, boiled, deep fried or pan fried. Most Japanese people fry them in a pan and then add a lid so they steam for a while. That way, they become crispy on the bottom and soft on the top, delicious!
Gyoza Fillings
Gyoza are pretty versatile and you can make them how you like! Here are some popular fillings.
You can go here to see our Japanese Gyoza recipe that uses pork. There are also instructions on how to fold the gyoza and the recipe measurements match the number of gyoza wrappers in this recipe.
Pre-made Gyoza Wrappers VS Homemade Gyoza Wrappers
Although homemade gyoza wrappers taste very nice, most people in Japan opt for pre-made wrappers instead. Why? Okay, let's talk about the pros and cons of pre-made ones and homemade ones.
Pre-made Gyoza Wrappers
Pros
- Ready to use straight away
- Relatively cheap
- Easier to work with (shaping)
- Quick
- Fail free (mostly)
Cons
- Tend to be dry
- Either buying too many or buying too little (happens every time)
Homemade Gyoza Wrappers
Pros
- Cheaper than store bought ones
- Have distinct chewy texture that pre-made ones don't have (in a nice way of course)
- It can be fun (if you like kneading or making things from scratch)
- Looks better when folded (you can make restaurant quality gyoza!)
Cons
- Takes time
- It can fail
- Shaping is harder
- Stick together easily
So with those things in mind, I can truthfully say that if I'm feeling lazy or wanna save time, I often buy the wrappers at the store. But if I want the best, restaurant quality gyoza or there's someone I wanna impress... homemade wins, hands down!
Making Gyoza Wrappers from Scratch
Making gyoza wrappers is surprisingly not that hard and uses very few ingredients.
Our recipe uses two kinds of flour. Strong flour has a high gluten content and is the kind of flour used for things like bread or pizza, we used 00 flour but any strong flour is fine. Weak flour is the kind of flour used for cakes or cookies, it has a low gluten content.
By mixing the flours the wrappers will be sturdy yet light.
Make sure to roll the wrappers out as thin as you can, if it breaks you can just try again. Thick wrappers don't taste good, the more you make, the more skilled you will become!
Let's try!
Check out our video for How to Make Complete Homemade Gyoza Guide (Filling, Wrappers, Dipping sauce)
Print
Japanese Gyoza Wrappers from Scratch (餃子の皮の作り方)
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 32 wrappers 1x
Description
How to make easy Japanese gyoza wrappers from scratch with just 4 ingredients! The result will be perfectly light and chewy gyoza fit for a restaurant!
Ingredients
- 100g Weak flour (Also known as cake flour or soft flour)
- 100g Strong flour (Also known as bread flour or hard flour)
- 100ml Hot boiled water
- ½ tsp of Salt
- Extra flour for sprinkling
Instructions
- First, measure out 100g weak flour and 100g strong flour and use a sieve to sift them into a large bowl.
- Add a pinch of salt and mix it in with the flour.
- Add 100ml of hot boiled water to the flour and mix with a spoon until you have a sticky dough.
- Transfer the dough to a clean surface. Add a little flour to the surface if your dough is a bit sticky, but be sparing. Too much flour = dry dough.
- Knead for 10 minutes until you have a smooth ball of dough.
- Wrap it up in plastic kitchen wrap and leave to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Once rested, cut the dough in half and roll each piece into even cylinders.
- Wrap one of them back up and set aside for later. (This is to stop it from drying out)
- Cut the cylinder you kept out in half, then half again, then half again until you have 16 pieces.
- Roll each piece into a ball.
- Now dust your surface with flour and push one ball of dough flat down using the lower part of the palm of your hand.
- With a flour dusted rolling pin, roll it up and down. Then turn the wrapper 90 degrees and roll again. Make it as thin as you can without breaking it.
- Pick up the wrapper and use your fingers to pinch around the edges, making the edges even thinner and neatening the circle shape.
- Generously sprinkle flour on the top and bottom of the wrapper.
- Repeat steps 11 to 14 for the other 15 balls of dough.
- Repeat steps 9 to 15 for the other cylinder, you will end up 32 wrappers in total.
- We recommend using them straight away, but they can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days or the freezer for about 1 month. (see note)
- Click here to see how to make the filling and form the completed gyoza! How to make Japanese Gyoza Dumplings. (See note)
Notes
If you don't have the different types of flour, it's also okay to use 200g of all purpose flour.
If you decide to freeze the wrappers, make sure they're well floured and in an airtight container to prevent freezer burn.
When you're ready to use them, defrost them first.
This recipe makes 32 gyoza wrappers. If you're making your own filling you will need about 300g of meat/vegetables to fill them all up.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Category: From Scratch
- Method: Kneading
- Cuisine: Chinese / Japanese
Keywords: Japanese gyoza wrappers,gyoza wraps,potsticker wrapper,gyoza wrappers from scratch,gyoza skins,dumpling wrappers,how to make dumpling wrappers
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