Air fryer frozen pot stickers are a great alternative to take-out when you don’t want to do any serious cooking. They turn out perfectly cooked and have the same great restaurant-quality flavor.
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Many home cooks feel intimidated by the crimping and folding of potstickers and other dumplings but when you air fryer frozen dumplings you have nothing to worry about. In fact, this cooking method is a much safer choice when you are worried about the skin sticking to the pan.
What Are Potstickers?
You have probably heard of pot stickers before but what are they really? Are they different from a regular dumpling? Yes, they are!
Potstickers are Chinese-style dumplings prepared in a very specific way. They are first shallow fried in a pan, then in the same pan, they are steamed to ensure that the filling is cooked. Finally, it is fried again to let the skin crisp up nicely.
If you don’t remember anything else, imprint on yourself this cooking method: fry-steam-fry.
Potstickers vs Dumplings vs Gyozas
These three food items may look very similar but if you want to get technical about it, there are important differences. There is no such thing as fried or steamed potstickers because they go through both processes.
Regular Chinese dumplings however are only steamed. Gyozas, on the other hand, are more difficult to differentiate.
Gyozas are basically the Japanese version of potstickers since they are cooked with the same 3-step process. What is different though is the dough skin and filling are finer and often they are smaller in size, too.
How to Cook Frozen Potstickers
For frozen potstickers in the air fryer, you need one extra ingredient to still get that crispy skin. I brush them with an egg wash made of 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water – nothing too complicated.
For an extra golden brown color, you can brush the sides more often and let it sit in the air fryer a little longer. See what works best for you.
What Goes with Potstickers?
When you visit China or Japan, you’ll see that potstickers and gyoza are often to-go snacks or lunches. In other words, you won’t need much besides a homemade potsticker sauce to enjoy them.
However, you can also turn the frozen potstickers into a more filling meal. Potsticker soup is a warming sick day meal but potsticker noodle bowls and potsticker stir fry are delicious on any day.
And if you have some time on your hands, you can make pan-fried potstickers from scratch or first practice with homemade potsticker wrappers. Feel free to experiment with different dumplings using those wrappers.
If you ask me, we don’t need to have long discussions about what makes a potsticker a potsticker and not a dumpling. The entire encyclopedia of dumplings is very welcome on my plate.
Which fillings are your favorite? I’d also love to see how you get along making your own homemade potstickers!
Try these other frozen air fryer recipes!
Enjoy!
Frozen Potstickers in Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 8 Frozen Potstickers, per batch
Cooking Options
- Egg Wash with 1 Large Egg + 1 tbsp Water -Or- Cooking Oil Spray
Instructions
- Spray air fryer basket with cooking oil. Add a single layer of frozen potstickers to the air fryer basket.
- To cook the wrappers properly in an air fryer, either brush with egg wash by combining 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water in a small dish onto each potsticker. Or spray each potsticker with cooking oil.
- Close the lid or basket. Set the temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and the timer to 6 minutes. After 6 minutes, flip, and coat additional sides with egg wash or oil and cook for another 5-6 minutes.
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