How to Cook Frozen Dumplings

How to cook frozen dumplings in Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, microwaved or on the stove to tender. Best way of steaming chicken pork or vegetable dumplings.

Instant Pot Dumplings

You can find these at the store pretty frequently now. They come in a variety of sizes but bite size like this are the most common. Different shapes with similar fillings work pretty much the same way too. Some are called won tons and are just shaped differently.

The longer version can be steamed like these or crisped like we did with our air fryer potstickers. All of them are pretty healthy lunches and can be found filled with chicken, pork or vegetarian versions. No matter what type you choose the cook time will be the same.

The only difference would be if yours were quite a bit larger than these, but not by much. If you find yours are double this size I would increase by 1 minute only, it doesn’t take long. If defrosted ahead of time I would decrease timing by 1 minute, it’s that simple.

Cooking Frozen Dumplings

You will just need some way of keeping these off the bottom of the pot, I will share a few options below.

How to Steam Frozen Dumplings

Ok so I shared above how to do this on the stovetop and steaming dumplings in microwave. You could use a pan too. Bring to a boil 2 inches of cold water or chicken broth and set Chinese dumplings inside. Spoon boiling water over the top until water has evaporated mostly, remove and enjoy.

Pan frying would be last on my list as I think pressure cooked turns out best by far. Now we are going to move on to your IP, Crockpot Express or Ninja Foodi pressure cooker.

• You will need some sort of steamer basket with holes in the bottom ideally.
  • a vegetable steamer works as well
  • if you don’t have either you could use a plate that fits inside with a ramekin turned upside down underneath it to elevate

You just set them inside with a light spray of olive oil on it so they don’t stick and it only takes a few minutes to cook all the way thru. The liquid below is important, could be water or broth. The latter will add a bit of flavor but doesn’t make a huge difference.

Instant Pot Chicken Dumplings

It doesn’t matter what meat you have inside. If you have made them from fresh that is great too. I would change the timing from 3 to 2 if your meat inside isn’t cooked, or just 1 minute if you’ve precooked the insides and just need to steam the dough.

• Pour your cup of water, broth or chicken stock into the inner pot. Lower trivet with steaming basket on top into pot. Spray inside of basket with olive oil spray so they don’t stick.
• Place frozen dumplings in one layer into basket. Close the lid and seal steam valve shut. Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes followed by a quick release.
• Use tongs to lift out of basket and enjoy with some soy or sweet and sour sauce.

To make dinner more fun you could offer a few others too. Soy sauce is a given but ponzu is great as well as trying something new like bang bang sauce.

Fried Frozen Dumplings

If you want to deep fry dumplings in this state you could, but I don’t like submerging any food in oil personally. You would just add the dumplings for a few minutes and lift out with a slotted spoon. Check internal temp and once dumpling is cooked thru, dot on a paper towel to absorb oil and enjoy.

Steaming Dumplings from Frozen

I don’t think you need anything beyond maybe a dipping sauce once these are done. Store bought already has the meat and seasonings, no need for additional salt and pepper. If made yourself, bravo, you can still steam them this way. Just adjust heat to less, or if the meat is already cooked and you just want to warm the outside dumpling you could set to saute.

With the liquid at the bottom and basket inside you will still create a decent amount of steam with the lid left off. The biggest difference with this method is the top won’t get as much heat as the bottoms. Still works, just won’t get as warm at the top is all.

Steam Dumplings in Instant Pot

You can see how well these turned out for us here. Bite size is really nice especially with kids so they can pop them right in. Especially if you have picky eaters at home, finger foods are always more enticing. My kids love all things different since we have lived in a bunch of different areas.

You may be surprised at what they begin to like if you introduce new foods on a regular basis to them. “Just one bite” was required of mine for years and now they are very experimental eaters because they have learned that you just never know, and some of those weird things actually taste amazing.

Serve with some dried edamame or air fryer edamame on the side for YUM. After this, see how you can steam tamales in Instant Pot too. That could be your next cultural night, Mexican food of all kinds….I mean talk about delicious too right?