Summary: Cantonese steamed dumplings filled with ground pork and shrimp, wrapped in square wonton wrappers and cooked in a bamboo steamer. The filling holds together thanks to cornstarch and chopped bamboo shoots, which soak up the extra juices. The dumplings steam in two batches of twelve so the steamer is never overloaded and the wrappers do not go soggy. Served with a bowl of soy sauce and sesame oil. Total time 65 minutes, base 6 servings, 24 pieces.
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Category: Appetizers, Chinese cuisine
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Quick overview
- Dish: Dim sum – small Cantonese dishes, especially steamed dumplings and parcels
- Category: Appetizers, Chinese cuisine
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Main ingredient: Ground pork belly, 16 oz (3 oz per portion) plus peeled shrimp, 10 oz
- Guide: 12 most famous Chinese dishes: traditional recipes from Chinese cuisine
- Total time: 65 minutes (40 minutes prep + 25 minutes cooking)
- Difficulty: Medium
- Servings: 6 (Portion weight: 8 oz, four pieces per portion)
- Key technique: Steaming in a bamboo basket and sealing the wrappers without trapping air
- Method types: Steaming, stir-frying the filling
- Dietary info & allergens: gluten, soy, shellfish, sesame
- Great for: A starter before a Chinese dinner, feeding guests, a weekend cooking session, party food
- Nutrition (per portion): 476 kcal, Protein: 1 oz, Fat: 1 oz, Carbohydrates: 1 1/4 oz
- Storage: 2 days in the fridge, 1 month in the freezer
- Pairing: Jasmine tea, rice beer, dry white wine
- In short: A chilled filling, wrappers sealed without air and a steamer filled in one layer – three steps that decide whether the dumplings hold their shape or fall apart.
WAGUU says: “Dim sum is not boiled in a pot of water, it is steamed. The wrapper only meets moist heat, so it stays tender and never becomes waterlogged.”
Key facts
| Prep time: | 40 minutes (including 20 minutes chilling the filling) |
| Cook time: | 25 minutes |
| Temperature: | Steam over boiling water, filling heated to 165 °F (165 °F) |
| Servings: | 6 (24 pieces, portion weight 249 g) |
At a glance
Dim sum depends on two things that are easy to get wrong: the temperature of the filling and the tightness of the wrapper. The filling must be cold, because a cold mixture holds its shape and does not leak moisture into the wrapper as you pleat it. The wrapper is sealed with the air pressed out – trapped air expands in the steam and splits the dumpling. Bamboo shoots in the filling act like a sponge and soak up the juices released by the pork and shrimp, so the wrapper stays dry. The steamer is filled in a single layer so steam circulates around each dumpling.
Ingredients
Base servings: 6 • Portion weight: 8 oz
| Ingredient | Quantity | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| ground pork belly | 17.64 oz | freshly ground, around 25 % fat |
| peeled shrimp | 10.58 oz | raw, deveined, chopped fine |
| bamboo shoots | 5.29 oz | in water, well drained, chopped fine |
| scallions | 2.82 oz | fresh, white and green parts chopped |
| ginger | 0.71 oz | fresh, grated fine |
| garlic | 0.53 oz | fresh, crushed |
| soy sauce | 2.71 tbsp | light, in the filling and for serving |
| sesame oil | 1.35 tbsp | toasted, in the filling and the dipping sauce |
| Shaoxing rice wine | 2.03 tbsp | dry, lifts the smell of the meat and shrimp |
| cornstarch | 1.06 oz | in the filling, so it holds together |
| granulated sugar | 0.28 oz | to balance the saltiness of the soy sauce |
| fine sea salt | 0.11 oz | for the filling |
| wonton wrappers | 8.47 oz | 24 squares, 3.5 inches across, thin |
| carrot | 2.12 oz | sliced thin into rounds to line the steamer |
Why you will love this recipe
- Twenty-four dumplings from one batch: The filling makes exactly 24 pieces, four per portion. Extras freeze well for later.
- A flavor no frozen version can match: Pork, shrimp and bamboo shoots keep the juices inside the wrapper instead of losing them to the steam.
- Exact quantities for 6 servings: 16 oz of pork, 10 oz of shrimp and 1 oz of cornstarch for the whole batch.
- Improvers can manage it: Six phases, five checkpoints and one steamer. What separates a great result from an average one is a chilled filling and a wrapper sealed without air.
Why it works: The filling holds its shape thanks to two components. Cornstarch swells as it heats and binds the pork and shrimp into a single mass; bamboo shoots are largely insoluble fiber, which behaves like a sponge and soaks up the juices that are released. Without them the juices would seep through the wrapper and it would fall apart in the steam. Steaming is gentler than boiling: the surface of the wrapper stays at 212 °F (210 °F) but never meets liquid water, so flavor compounds and starch are not leached out. Steam also transfers heat faster than hot air, because it condenses on the cooler surface and releases latent heat. Air trapped inside a dumpling expands by roughly a third when heated; seal the wrapper around a bubble and the pressure will split it open.
Recipe overview
Prep: 40 min | Cook: 25 min | Difficulty: Medium | Servings: 6 | Type: Appetizer | Origin: Chinese
Detailed method
Overall progress: 0 % complete
Phase 1: Filling – 20 min
Equipment: skillet, kitchen scale, bowl
1. Heat a tablespoon of sesame oil in a skillet and stir-fry the crushed garlic and ginger for thirty seconds. Add the ground pork and fry four minutes, until it loses its pink color. Pour in the Shaoxing wine and let it evaporate. Tip the pork into a bowl and let it cool. Meanwhile chop the shrimp, bamboo shoots and scallions fine and mix them into the cooled pork with the soy sauce, sugar, fine sea salt, the rest of the sesame oil and the cornstarch.
Checkpoint: The filling is uniform, sticky and holds on a spoon; it does not run off when the bowl is tilted. It feels cold to the touch, not warm.
Before you move on:
Fill only with a completely cold filling. A warm filling releases steam, which dampens the wrapper from the inside and the dumplings fall apart in the steamer.
Phase 2: Shaping – 20 min
Equipment: board, small bowl of water
2. Lay the wrappers on the board and cover them with a damp cloth so they do not dry out. Put a spoonful of filling in the center of each square. Wet the edges with a finger dipped in water, fold the opposite corners together and press them so that no air is trapped between filling and wrapper. Trim the surplus corners and stand the finished dumplings on a sheet pan. Cut the carrot into thin rounds and line the base of the steamer with them.
Checkpoint: The dumplings hold their shape, the wrapper is dry to the touch and no filling shows through. They do not move when the pan is shaken gently.
Before you move on:
Do not leave the wrappers in the air. Within ten minutes they dry out and crack, and the edges will not seal. Keep them under a damp cloth and take them one at a time.
Phase 3: Setting up the steamer – 5 min
Equipment: pot, bamboo steamer
3. Pour an inch of water into a pot and bring it to a boil. Set the bamboo steamer on top, line it with the carrot rounds and arrange twelve dumplings in it, leaving space between them. Cover the steamer so that steam does not escape at the sides.
Checkpoint: A steady column of steam rises from the steamer and the water below bubbles gently. The dumplings sit in a single layer with gaps between them.
Before you move on:
Never stack the dumplings in two layers, even if they fit. Steam is weaker in the upper layer and those wrappers stay raw while the lower ones break up.
Phase 4: Steaming the first batch – 8 min
Equipment: pot, bamboo steamer, instant-read thermometer
4. Cover the steamer and steam the dumplings eight minutes. Do not lift the lid during that time; escaping steam lengthens the cooking and leaves the edges of the wrappers sticky. After eight minutes, test one dumpling: the wrapper should be translucent and the filling should read 165 °F (165 °F) on the thermometer.
Checkpoint: The wrapper is translucent, glossy and springy rather than sticky. The thermometer in the filling reads 165 °F (165 °F) and clear juice runs out when it is cut open.
Before you move on:
Do not lift the lid during steaming, not even to peek. The steam that escapes cools the surface of the wrapper and leaves it slippery. Check after the eighth minute.
Phase 5: Steaming the second batch – 8 min
Equipment: pot, bamboo steamer, large plate
5. Move the cooked dumplings to a warmed plate and cover them with a clean cloth so they do not dry out. Arrange the second half of the dumplings in the steamer and steam them eight minutes the same way. Check the water in the pot and top it up with boiling water only, never cold – cold water interrupts the steaming and the wrappers set unevenly.
Checkpoint: The second batch is as translucent as the first. All the dumplings on the plate hold their shape and no wet patches appear on the cloth beneath them.
Before you move on:
Top up the pot with boiling water only. Cold water drops the temperature and the steam briefly disappears, which leaves the wrapper surface dull and uneven.
Phase 6: Serving – 4 min
Equipment: small bowl, serving plate
6. Stir the remaining soy sauce with the rest of the sesame oil for serving and pour it into a small bowl. Arrange the dumplings on a warmed plate, add pickled vegetables on the side if you have them, and serve at once. The dumplings are eaten by hand or with chopsticks and dipped at the table.
Checkpoint: The dumplings are hot with a glossy surface and none of them have stuck together. The dipping sauce is smooth and carries a thin film of sesame oil on top.
Equipment needed
| Item | Ideal size | Alternative | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| bamboo steamer | 10 inches, two tiers | a metal steamer insert or a sieve over a pot | an uncovered metal sieve lets steam escape and the wrappers stay sticky |
| pot for the steamer | 10 inches across, 5 inches deep | a wok with a lid | a small pot cannot produce enough steam for a full batch |
| instant-read thermometer | reads to 480 °F | cut one dumpling open and check the juices | without measuring, the filling is judged only by the look of the wrapper |
| kitchen scale | 1 g resolution | a measuring spoon for 30 g of cornstarch | the wrong amount of cornstarch decides whether the filling holds |
| damp cloth | cotton, 16 × 16 inches | plastic wrap | wrappers left in the air dry out within ten minutes and cannot be sealed |
Shopping list
Nutrition profile
Values per portion (as served, without a side). Calculated from average nutritional values of the ingredients. Portion weight 8 oz. The water used to raise steam is not counted in the weight.
| Nutrient | Per 3 1/2 oz | Per portion | For 6 servings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 191 kcal | 476 kcal | 2856 kcal |
| Fat | 10.3 g | 25.6 g | 153.8 g |
| of which saturated | 3.4 g | 8.6 g | 51.3 g |
| Carbohydrates | 13.4 g | 33.4 g | 200.7 g |
| of which sugars | 3.2 g | 3.2 g | 3.2 g |
| Protein | 11.2 g | 27.9 g | 167.2 g |
| Sodium | 0.37 g | 0.92 g | 5.55 g |
| salt equivalent | 0.93 g | 2.31 g | 13.87 g |
Reference intake of an average adult (2000 kcal). Sodium comes from the soy sauce, the wrappers and the shrimp; the filling is only lightly salted. Salt equivalent is sodium multiplied by 2.5.
WAGUU Pro level
- Pro standard: A tested recipe with exact quantities and visual checkpoints.
- Tip 1: Make the filling an hour ahead and keep it in the fridge. A cold mixture is easier to wrap and does not dampen the wrappers.
- Tip 2: Take the wrappers out of the package one at a time and keep the rest under a damp cloth, or they harden within ten minutes.
- Tip 3: Line the steamer with carrot rounds rather than parchment. The carrot stops the dumplings sticking and lends them a faint sweetness.
- Tip 4: Let the dumplings stand a minute after steaming. The wrapper firms up and will not tear when lifted with chopsticks.
The science behind it
Steaming transfers heat differently from baking or frying. Steam at 212 °F (210 °F) condenses on the cooler surface of the wrapper and releases latent heat, so the food heats faster than in hot oven air. The surface never meets liquid water, so flavor compounds and the starch that holds the wrapper together are not leached away. The starch in the filling swells above 140 °F (140 °F) and, around 195 °F (195 °F), forms a network that binds pork, shrimp and bamboo shoots into a single mass. Bamboo shoots are largely insoluble fiber, which behaves like a sponge and absorbs the free juices the meat releases as it heats. Air trapped inside a dumpling expands by roughly a third in volume when heated, and the pressure splits the wrapper, which is why the air is pressed out during sealing. Shrimp proteins set at 150 °F (150 °F); cooked longer they squeeze out water and turn rubbery, which is why eight minutes of steam is enough.
Fine dining – professional techniques
- Plating: Serve four dumplings in a bamboo steamer set on a wooden board with the dipping bowl alongside. The steamer keeps both heat and aroma at the table.
- Texture contrast: Add thin batons of fresh cucumber and pickled ginger. Crunch and acidity lift the soft wrapper.
- Temperature contrast: Serve the dipping sauce at room temperature rather than chilled. A cold sauce dulls the aroma as soon as the dumpling is dipped.
- Aromatic finish: Grate lime zest over the plate and scatter dry-toasted sesame seeds. The citrus bridges the shrimp and the scallion.
Sensory radar
- Appearance: Translucent wrappers with a faint pink glow from the shrimp and light reflecting off them in small patches.
- Aroma: Ginger and sesame over the sweet smell of pork and a gentle marine note from the shrimp.
- Taste: Salty soy first, then the sweetness of pork and shrimp, finishing with fresh scallion.
- Texture: Wrapper tender and springy, filling juicy with crunchy pieces of bamboo shoot.
Pairing
- Jasmine tea: A floral aroma cleanses the palate and complements the ginger. Serve hot in small cups.
- Rice beer: Light sweetness and low bitterness suit the delicate filling.
- Dry white wine: A Riesling with higher acidity cuts the fat in the pork belly.
- Homemade yuzu lemonade: Citrus acidity refreshes after a rich bite.
Variations
- Shrimp version: Replace the pork with 28 oz of shrimp and add a spoon of sesame paste. The filling steams for a shorter time – seven minutes – so the shrimp stay juicy.
- Fried version: After steaming, dry the dumplings and fry them in oil for two minutes until the base is golden. The base becomes crisp but the fat content rises.
- Gluten-free version: Use rice paper wrappers soaked in water and steam the dumplings for five minutes. The texture is softer and more fragile.
Allergens and dietary information
Contains: gluten (wonton wrappers); soy (soy sauce); shellfish (peeled shrimp); sesame (sesame oil) • Gluten: yes, in the wrappers • Not suitable for: anyone with celiac disease or an allergy to shellfish, soy or sesame
Great for
A starter before a Chinese dinner, feeding guests, a weekend cooking session, party food, a batch made for the freezer.
Substitution guide
- Wonton wrappers: spring roll pastry cut into squares, or a thin yeast dough. Wheat wrappers hold their shape better.
- Peeled shrimp: frozen shrimp, defrosted and well drained. The flavor is slightly milder, the texture similar.
- Bamboo shoots: water chestnuts or chopped carrot. They do not absorb juices as well, so add 1/8 oz more cornstarch.
- Ground pork belly: ground chicken thigh. The filling is leaner and drier, so add a spoon of sesame oil.
- Shaoxing rice wine: dry white wine with a drop of soy sauce. It lifts the smell just as effectively.
- Carrot under the dumplings: cabbage leaves or parchment. Cabbage adds a faint aroma, paper adds nothing.
FAQ
Why steam rather than boil the dumplings?
In boiling water the wrapper soaks up liquid and part of the filling leaches out. Steam transfers heat just as fast while keeping the surface dry and glossy.
How do I know when they are done?
The wrapper turns translucent and springs back when pressed lightly. The thermometer in the filling reads 165 °F (165 °F) and the juices that run out are clear, not pink.
Can the dumplings be frozen?
Yes. Freeze them uncooked in a single layer on a sheet pan, then transfer them to a bag. Steam them straight from frozen for two minutes longer.
Why does the filling need to be cold?
A warm filling releases steam and dampens the wrapper from the inside. A cold filling holds its shape, wraps faster and the dumplings survive the steamer.
What can I use instead of a bamboo steamer?
A metal steamer insert or a sieve set over a pot of boiling water. Always use a lid, so that as little steam as possible escapes.
Are the dumplings gluten free?
Not with wheat wrappers. Use rice paper or a gluten-free dough and tamari instead of soy sauce. The filling itself contains no gluten.
WAGUU Petr advises: cooking for 6 or more?
6–8 people: Double the filling and wrap two hours ahead. Keep the dumplings in the fridge under a damp cloth and steam them in two batches. • 10+ people: Use two steamers above one another and steam four batches. Make the filling the day before, wrap on the day and keep the finished dumplings in a steamer over a low flame until they go to the table.
Sides and serving
Storage and reheating
Fridge: 2 days • Freezer: 1 month • Reheating: Reheat cooked dumplings in the steamer for three minutes, not in the microwave, where the wrapper hardens. Frozen uncooked dumplings steam for ten minutes straight from the freezer.
Author: WAGUU Petr & Team • Published: 8 Oct 2026 • Updated: 10 Oct 2026
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Sweet and sour pork – fried pork pieces in the classic sweet and sour sauce
Char siu – Cantonese roast pork with a glossy caramelized crust
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Why WAGUU?
Recipes on WAGUU are checked for accurate quantities, method and nutrition. In this recipe the amounts match across the ingredient table, the cooking phases, the shopping list and the print view – 16 oz of pork, 10 oz of shrimp and 5 oz of bamboo shoots make exactly 24 dumplings, four per portion, and 1 oz of cornstarch is enough to bind the whole batch.
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Most common mistakes
- A warm filling – it dampens the wrapper and the dumplings fall apart in the steamer. Let the filling cool completely before wrapping.
- Air trapped inside – it expands in the steam and splits the wrapper. Press the edges so the air escapes.
- An overloaded steamer – the dumplings stick together and the upper layer stays raw. Fill one layer with gaps between the pieces.
- Lifting the lid while steaming – steam escapes and the wrappers stay sticky. Check only after the eighth minute.