I received a lot of questions from my readers as to whether dumplings can be baked. In this post, I would like to share cooking facts about dumplings. I hope this helps.
So, can you bake dumplings? You can bake dumplings easily. Just place the dumplings on the baking sheet and put it in the oven for about 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake it for about 10-15 minutes. When the dumplings turn lightly crisp, get them out of the oven.
There you go! You have newly baked delicious dumplings. This is perfect for a busy day. You can cook dumplings quickly and enjoy them or serve them to your friends and loved ones.
How to Bake Dumplings?
As mentioned, baking is one way of cooking dumplings. They are easy and quick to make. If you want to learn how to do it, I will share with you the basic ingredients in making dumplings.
Here are the ingredients you need:
6 ounces of pork sausage
¼ cup of chopped water chestnuts
2 green onions
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
16 wonton wrappers
1/3 cup of sweet and sour sauce
After having all these ingredients, the next thing you need to do is to put the ingredients together and bake them.
Here are the simple steps for baking dumplings:
Step 1
The first thing you need to do is to preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Then grease the baking sheet.
Step 2
The next thing you need to do is to heat a skillet or a pan over medium-high heat. Place the sausage in the pan and cook it. Make sure that the meat is cooked through. You do this by constantly stirring the sausage all throughout. After the sausage is cooked, remove the excess grease from the pan.
Step 3
Now add the soy sauce, green onions, and water chestnuts to the skillet. Stir them constantly for about 3 minutes. Then turn off the heat.
Step 4
The next step is to brush the edges of the wonton paper with water. Take a small amount of sausage mixture about one spoon and put it in the middle of the wonton paper. Then fold the wonton paper and press the edges carefully to seal them. This should give you triangle-shaped dumplings. Repeat the same process until all the sausage mixtures are wrapped.
Step 5
The final step is to place the dumplings on the baking sheet. Cook them in the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10-15 minutes. This cooking time may vary depending on your preference. But generally, dumplings are retrieved from the oven once they reached a lightly crisp texture.
There you go. You can now enjoy the hot dumplings with sweet and sour sauce.
Three Common Ways to Cook Dumplings
Obviously, there are many ways to cook dumplings. Baking is one of them but not many people use it. This is the reason why baking is not popular when it comes to cooking dumplings.
To give you more ideas, I will share with you the three common ways dumplings are cook. You may try each of these strategies and find out which one suits you the best.
So, without further ado, let’s dive into the strategies. Here are the three common ways to cook dumplings.
1. Boiling
Cooking dumplings in boiling water is probably the most popular method, especially in Chinese restaurants. It gives a little bit chewy and soft textures to the dumplings making them tastier.
To achieve such texture and taste, you need to add cold water three times into the boiling water. You do this before the dumplings are fully cooked.
After each time you pour cold water, you need to cover the pot with a lid. After the dumplings are cooked, rinse them with cold water. The purpose of this is to remove the excess starch and to keep them from sticking to one another.
The only little drawback with this method of cooking dumplings is that they tend to lose their original shape. This is primarily due to the effect of boiling water.
To somehow minimize the deformation, you can do the following:
- Use high gluten level flour
- Make a former dough
- Use thicker wrappers
2. Frying
The other common dumplings cooking method is frying. This gives the dumplings crispier texture and tastier. If you love the golden look in them, then this is the best cooking method you can try.
This process involves three simple steps: fry, steam, and fry again. Here are the steps:
1. Heat an oil on the pan over a high temperature. Once heated, add the dumplings.
2. Add cold water as the bottom part of the dumplings turns light brown. The cold water should cover about 1/3 of the dumplings. Cover the pan with lid.
3. As the water evaporates, uncover the pan. Continue cooking for about 40 seconds to achieve a crispy texture. Then remove the dumplings from the pan and serve.
When frying dumplings, make sure that you use a pan with a heavy bottom. This will help cook the dumplings evenly. I found that non-stick pans do a really good job at distributing the heat.
3. Steaming
Steaming may be the easiest way to cook dumplings. It is also the most common way to cook dumplings, especially in China. If you are doing multitask cooking, then this method is perfect as it does not require much attention.
Cooking dumplings this way is effortless. Here are the steps you can follow:
1. The first step is to place the dumplings in the steamer basket. To prevent the dumplings from sticking to the bottom of the basket when cooked, place lettuce or sliced carrot underneath the dumplings.
2. Place the basket as the water fully boils. Steam it and set the timer for about 10 minutes. That’s it. You’ll just wait until the timer sounds.
The cooking time may vary depending on the dough you’re using. But generally, 10 minutes is enough to cook dumplings.
How Do I Know When Dumplings Are Cooked?
We have tackled the different ways to cooked dumplings. The next thing you might be wondering right now is how to know if the dumplings are already cooked?
Well, knowing it is simple. What you’ll need to do is to run a toothpick through one of the dumplings and see if it comes out clean. If so, then they are already cooked. If it sticks, the dumplings are not cooked yet. Just give them more time.
Can You Cook Dumplings Too Long?
The cooking time for dumplings may vary depending on the dough you used. That means that some dumplings are cooked a little longer than others. However, you should not overcook them. They will separate when cook for too long.
Final Thoughts
So, can you bake dumplings? Absolutely. You can bake dumplings if this is the cooking method you want. But baking is not the only method. As mentioned in this post, there are at least three other simple ways you can do to cook dumplings.
You can cook dumplings by boiling, frying, and steaming. Each of these methods has a certain taste and texture. The choice is totally up to you.
However, please also note that there are things you need to remember when using each of this cooking method. You can follow the tips and steps in this post. I hope this helps. Thank you for stopping by.
