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–+ servings

Easy Gyoza Soup (Japanese Dumpling Soup)

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Author Yuto Omura
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients  

Soup

Gyoza

Finishing (optional to taste)

  • chopped green onions scattered over the bowl at the end
  • toasted sesame oil drizzled off the heat at the very end
  • chili flakes
  • ground white pepper

Instructions 

  • Roughly cut 100 g Napa cabbage and julienne 30 g carrot, set it aside for the soup later. Finely chop 1 tbsp Japanese leek (naganegi) and 25 g garlic chives, prepare ½ tbsp grated ginger root and 1 clove grated garlic, and place them together on a plate for the gyoza filling.
    Ingredients for gyoza soup prepared and arranged on steel prep plates. Includes roughly chopped Napa cabbage, julliened carrot, finely diced Japanese leek and garlic chives, and grated ginger and garlic.
  • Place 100 g ground pork in a bowl and sprinkle in ¼ tsp salt. Knead for about 1 minute until sticky.
    Kneading ground pork with salt in a steel mixing bowl
  • Add the leek, garlic chives, ginger and garlic to the bowl along with 1 tsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu), 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil and 1 tsp sake. Lightly mix until evenly distributed.
    Gyoza soup gyoza filling made with pork, in a steel mixing bowl on a white background.
  • Wrap about 1 tbsp of filling in each gyoza wrapper, making sure to seal firmly. Line them up on a tray and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.
    12 shaped gyoza made with homemade wrappers for gyoza soup
    • Got leftover filling? Roll them into small meatballs and cook them in the soup so nothing gets wasted!
  • Pour 500 ml dashi stock into a pot and add ½ tsp sugar, 1 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu), ¼ tsp salt, and ½ tsp Chinese-style chicken bouillon powder. Give it a mix, then add the prepared napa cabbage and carrot. Heat over medium until it reaches a gentle simmer, but not boiling.
    Gyoza soup ingredients in a large pot on the stove top (without the gyoza)
  • Carefully slide the gyoza in one at a time. Avoid letting them touch for the first few seconds to prevent clumping together. Bring the soup back up to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low.
    Gyoza simmering in soup in a pot on the stove top.
  • Cover with a lid and gently simmer for 5 minutes, or until the gyoza float and turn slightly translucent.
    Gyoza soup cooking in a pot with a lid on, on the stove top
  • Divide the soup and gyoza into bowls and sprinkle with chopped green onions, chili flakes and ground white pepper. Finish with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil, and enjoy!
    gyoza soup topped with chopped green onions, dry red chili and white pepper in a cream bowl

Notes

*Chicken bouillon powder varies by brand. My brand is 1 tsp per 200 ml, so check the label and if yours is more concentrated (e.g., 1 tsp per 300 ml or 1 cup), use touch less to avoid oversalting, and if it's less concentrated, use a little more (and adjust to taste).
Reach for soup-gyoza wrappers, not pan-fry if possible: Thin wrappers built for pan-frying tear and go limp in the broth. The thick, chewy water-gyoza kind hold through the simmer and give you a skin to bite.
Hold the pot under a boil the whole time: Keep it at a lazy 85 to 95°C (185 to 203°F) where only a few bubbles break the surface. A rolling boil is likely to break the gyoza skins.
Slide the dumplings in one at a time: Tip a whole batch in at once and the surface starch glues them into a lump before the skins set.
Add frozen gyoza straight from the freezer, never thawed: Thawing first makes them weep and tear on the way into the pot. Drop them in frozen and give them a couple of extra minutes.