Let’s make fresh and tender Gyoza Wrappers from scratch! All you need is salt, water, and flour. That’s it! Watch the video tutorial and enjoy the fun and rewarding process.
Gyoza wrappers are not one of those things that I usually make from scratch. While everything homemade is best in the ideal world, who has the time when you can easily buy them from grocery stores?
It wasn’t until when I took upon the challenge of making homemade gyoza wrappers that I realized it wasn’t as daunting and difficult as I’d thought. You’ll need only salt, water, and flour! The experience is so rewarding that I know you’ll enjoy making your own gyoza wrappers too.
Table of Contents
What Are Gyoza Wrappers?
Gyoza wrappers are a thin and round flour pastry that wraps around the filling of gyoza or Japanese potstickers. The dough is made of wheat flour, water, and a pinch of salt. They get crispy when pan-fried or deep-fried and become a soft and tender, pasta-like texture when boiled.
How to Make Gyoza Wrappers
The Ingredients You’ll Need
- All-purpose flour – Weigh your flour or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off.
- Kosher salt
- Water
- Potato starch (cornstarch)
The Steps
- Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.
- Knead the dough for 10 minutes, shape it into logs, and rest for 30 minutes.
- Cut the dough into small pieces, flatten, and cut out into a circle shape using a cookie cutter.
Japanese Gyoza & Chinese Potstickers
Japanese gyoza is very similar to Chinese potstickers. The main differences are in the size and thickness of the dumpling wrappers. Chinese potstickers’ skin is typically thicker and the dumplings themselves are larger than gyoza.
If you are able to buy gyoza wrappers locally and want to save time, you can hop straight over to my gyoza recipes:
Homemade vs. Store-Bought Gyoza Wrappers
Homemade gyoza wrappers can be time-consuming, but I find the process extremely fulfilling and calming. Save it for the weekend or on an unhurried evening when you can enjoy the experience. Or make it a fun activity to do with family or friends. Gyoza party, anyone?
The beauty of the homemade wrappers is they are tender and fresh tasting, making them so much pliable to fold your filling. Also, there are no preservatives you have to worry about.
Seeing my family devouring the gyoza I made from scratch pleases me more than anything. It’s worth the time!
Ways to Use Gyoza Wrappers
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Gyoza (Japanese Potsticker) Wrappers
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (plain flour) (weigh your flour or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off; you can substitute 1 cup, 120 g bread flour + 1 cup, 120 g cake flour)
- ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ½ cup water (just-boiled hot water; plus more, as needed)
- potato starch or cornstarch (for rolling and dusting; or substitute flour if you‘re not freezing them)
Instructions
Before You Start
- I highly encourage you to weigh your flour using a kitchen scale for this recipe. Click on the “Metric“ button at the top of the recipe to convert the ingredient measurements to metric. If you‘re using a cup measurement, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more flour than you need. 1 US cup of flour weighs 4.25 oz (120 g).
- Gather all the ingredients.
To Make the Dough
- Sift the flour into a large bowl.
- Add the salt to the just-boiled hot water and stir until completely dissolved.
- Add the hot water to the flour, a little at a time, stirring with a rubber spatula. Mix until the flour and water are combined completely. If the flour is still not incorporated, add more hot water, ½ Tbsp at a time, until you can form the mixture into a ball. You will eventually need to use your hands to do this. Tip: different brands of flour absorb water differently, so use more hot water as needed; I used about 120–150 ml.
- Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, the texture of the dough will be much smoother. Use a dough scraper to cut the ball of dough in half (doesn‘t have to be an equal size).
- Shape each half into a long log about 1½ inches (3.8 cm) in diameter, although it doesn‘t have to be perfect, especially if you use a cookie cutter later. Wrap each log with plastic wrap. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
To Roll the Wrappers
- Unwrap the dough. Sprinkle a little potato starch on the work surface and cut each log crosswise into ¾ inch (2 cm) wide pieces. Since we’ll be using a cookie cutter, don’t worry if each piece of dough is a slightly different size. Tip: If you plan to freeze the wrappers, please use potato starch or cornstarch for dusting and rolling, as the wrappers tend to stick to each other if you use flour.
- It‘s super important to cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel at all times to prevent it from drying.
- Roll each piece of dough into a ball shape.
- Press the ball onto the work surface.
- Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough, but DO NOT flatten the TOP and BOTTOM edges. This is the trick to making a nice round shape.
- Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat rolling the dough. Try to roll out the dough into a thin circle. If the dough is hard to roll out or shrinks back, let it rest a bit to relax the gluten and try again.
- Cooker cutter (optional): If you want a perfectly round shape for your wrappers, cut your rolled dough circle with a 3-inch (8 cm) cookie cutter. If the dough rolls back, leave it for a few seconds, then try again to cut the dough. Remove the excess dough scraps and cover them with a damp towel. Later, combine all the scraps if they still squish together and haven’t dried out. Re-roll the scraps and repeat the process.
- Sprinkle each wrapper with potato starch and stack the wrappers. Make sure to cover them with a damp kitchen towel as you continue rolling the remaining dough. Once you‘ve rolled out all the wrappers, they are ready to use. You can also freeze or refrigerate the wrappers to use later.
To Store the Wrappers for Later
- Wrap the stacked gyoza wrappers with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for about 3–4 days and in the freezer for up to a month. Prior to use, defrost in the refrigerator overnight or on the counter for 60 minutes (depending on the amount and room temperature). Do not defrost in the microwave.
To Make Gyoza
- You can use these Homemade Gyoza Wrappers to make Gyoza, vegetarian/vegan Vegetable Gyoza, Chicken Shiso Gyoza, Gyoza with Wings (Hanetsuki Gyoza) and Korean-style Kimchi Gyoza. If you‘re new to making Japanese potstickers, see my tutorial on How to Fold Gyoza.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on February 19, 2014. It’s been updated and republished in July 2020.
[…] Gyoza (pork, chicken, vegetables) (homemade gyoza recipe and gyoza wrapper) […]
[…] up. I found them and the package comes with so many. After buying them, I discovered that you can make the wrappers yourself. I probably would have done that if I thought of […]
Hi there! I’ve been experimenting on making dumpling wrappers recently but had trouble keeping completed wrappers from sticking to surfaces or other wrappers. I tried dusting each wrapper with additional flour before stacking but found that they eventually stick together and I’d have to redo the whole batch. Was also wondering whether this might be because I’m in the tropics where it’s extremely humid. Would using a different flour (like cornflour) for dusting make a difference, or should I just learn to make the wrappers faster so they don’t have a chance to stick? Thank you.
Hi Omar! I use potato starch for dusting wrappers, not flour. I feel like the texture is drier and smoother, while flour is more dump. Have you tried it before? I think cornmeal would work too, but when you use it, you really want to get rid of it while potato starch can be consumed okay when you make gyoza.
Hi good day I am a Chef off shore in Trinidad had some Goyza akins onboard and was wondering its best use. Does the thickness of the Goyza skin has a big difference than the Chinese potstickers if use for the same recipe.
HI Andy! Chinese potsticker wrappers tend to be much thicker and more doughy but Japanese ones are thinner and the end result is more crispy and not doughy at all. So yes, there is a difference. 🙂
Can I sprinkle flour on the dough instead of potatoes starch?
Please let me know!
I am glad I found your recipe for homemade potatoes dumpling dough.
Hi Heather! Yes you can, but I had never tried… Hope you enjoy!
Hi, I’m here from my dear friend Sissi’s blog. I made this recipe, but cut it in half. It is by far, the best wrapper recipe I have made so far. The dough was forgiving and easy to roll (mind you, I cheated and rolled it from 1-5 on my KitchenAde Pasta maker). Mine were probably thinner than yours because from half of the ingredients, I yielded 24 wrappers.
Hi Eva! Welcome to my blog and I’m so happy to hear you came from Sissi’s blog and tried this recipe! Thanks for trying! I am jealous of your KA pasta maker… one day I want to get one! Glad to know you can make it even thinner – I truly wish mine was thinner too! Thank you for your kind feedback. xo
Without the scraps, you would make 24 wrappers. How does one get extra 14 to 16 wrappers out of the scraps? By the way this recipe for wrappers are best I have tried. Arigato for publishing.
Hi Sumi! I often make this recipe, and I can make 38 to 41, or 42, depends on the day and that’s the number when I use up all the dough (keep rolling up the scraps until it’s gone). Since my least number is 38, I use the number for this recipe. Probably the thickness of wrapper is different between mine and yours, if you also use 3-inch diameter. Japanese gyoza wrappers are thin, compared to chinese potsticker wrappers.
Dogie recipe says it makes 42, but looking at the recipe it seems like it would only make 24?
Also why does it matter how accurately the flour is measured if you just add more water anyway?
Hi Clancy! So sorry, I didn’t realize your comment till I was checking my own recipe to make the wrappers today. Today I made 40 wrappers using this recipe. First of all, do you use a cookie cutter to cut out? Or you roll out to make a round shape? Depending on it, the number of wrappers changes. I updated the “yield” section to make it clear that it’s 3-inch wrappers. I think 38 to 42 is possible if you think out the dough. Japanese gyoza wrappers are pretty thin. And probably depends on the water the number fluctuate. I could add a bit more water and if I did, I probably made 42 easily. Hope this helps….
Hi Namiko, thank you for the recipe. tried your gyoza recipe for dinner yesterday and my family loves it! However i have problem to keep the gyoza wrapper in round shape. The wrapper would stick on the counter top when i tried to lift it up after i cut it with a cookie cutter. Then the round shape would have gone as I tried to ‘peel’ it from the counter top. Or, the cut wrapper shrunken from the cutter ring. It didn’t help when i dust the bottom surface with starch. The wrapper would then get folded when i rolled it with rolling pin. How do you overcome this?
Thanks a lot and wish you a bright week ahead.
Hello! From what you wrote, I would suggest letting the dough rest for sometime before you roll or stretch it. You need to let the gluten relax again before shaping. Hope this helps? 🙂
Using the cookie cutter is a good idea. I had a hard time to make it round and even. Thank you.
Hi Miho! For those who have difficult time making into a perfect round shape (like myself), having a cookie cutter is relieving. 🙂
Hello
Can you freeze these??
Hi Lili! Yes you can. 🙂
Great recipe! Only, the amount is a bit confusing – It says this will make 42 wrappers, but following the instructions, it will make only 24. Is it supposed to be 42? If the 12 pieces in step 9 were halved, it would make 48 wrappers. I’ve made just the 24, as in the instructions, but I don’t know if they are too thick.
Hi Eeva! Yes, each log is cut into 12 pieces, but as you see in step 15, I cut out into perfect round shape, and I re-roll these leftover and use it all up until all the dough is used. No waste. That’s why the total number is not 24. I also make pretty thin gyoza wrappers for my preference. Hope this makes sense…
Do you think corn flour (masa) would be a decent substitute for AP flour?
Hi Desiree! I’m sorry but I have never tried this recipe with it, so I can’t tell.. If you end up trying, let me know if it worked. 🙂
Thank you so much for this video for making the potstickers dough from scratch! I so appreciate watching how you folded the dumpling too. Now I get it! No cook book can explain as well as your video demonstration can. You are a potsticker life saver! Thank you so much!
Hi Pey-Lih! Aww I’m so happy to hear the video was helpful. Thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
I made some yesterday and it was wonderful! The dough is easy to work with and the texture is amazing.
Thank you for the great recipe. ????
Hi Rin! So happy to hear that. Thank you for your kind feedback! xo
Hello Nami,
This recipe was great! We double the recipe so it can work in our stand mixer. (3 times it if we use the commercial mixer) – and only need to add a few teaspoons of water to compensate for the work. My wife is also Japanese – her mother is “fresh off the boat” lol. They love the results.
The twist we added – is to use leftover pork chops minced fine – julienned kimchi / sage leaves – yes it sounds strange – and we make them into a spring / eggroll of sorts.
We pan fry them for our friends who are hard core beer drinkers and let them do what they want lol.
Roll it thin – let them “leather” a bit in the fridge – and they can take “finger food” to a different level.
On another path – they make great dumplings – using monk fish – green onions and shallots – cooked into a garlic butter simple cream sauce.
Sorry for the rant – but it shows that your recipe can cover so many ideas.
Thanks
Greg
Hi Greg! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! And haha, your mother in law and I are “fresh off the boat”. 😀 I loved reading what you did and thanks for sharing it with us! Really inspiring and fun, and it shows how true cook you are! Thank you for writing the feedback! 🙂