Homemade Pan Fried Dumplings with a crispy top crust and meaty, umami vegan filling. One bite will take you right back to the street vendors in Taiwan.


These vegan pan-fried dumplings are stuffed with textured vegetable protein, mushrooms, green cabbage, and vermicelli. With the addition of the TVP, they taste just like regular pork & cabbage dumplings.

Of course, you can’t have these pan-fried dumplings without a generous drizzle of chili oil.
STEP BY STEP GUIDE
#1: Start with the Dough. In a large mixing bowl, first combine flour, instant, yeast, sugar, and sea salt. Slowly stream in the warm water (a lukewarm, warm-to-the-touch temperature is fine), and mix until a dough forms. I like to mix with a long pair of chopsticks. Once a soft dough forms, turn it onto a generously floured surface and knead until smooth, around 5 minutes. Place the smooth dough back into the bowl, then cover and let rest for 30-40 minutes. While the dough is resting, you can prepare the filling. See below for filling instructions.
After the dough has risen to around 1.5 times its original size, place it in the refrigerator to slow its rising. You do not need a fully-risen dough for pan fried dumplings like these.

#2: Divide the Dough. After you’ve finished preparing the filling (and placed it in the fridge to chill), begin preparing the wrappers. Take your rested dough and first gently press it down to squeeze out excess air. Roll the dough into a long log and use a knife to evenly divide it into 23-25 pieces. Roll each piece of dough into round balls — this makes it much easier to roll them out into round wrappers. To make dumpling wrappers. Take a ball of dough and first gently press it to flatten. Then take a floured rolling pin and roll the dough out on all sides into a round sheet. A good wrapper for these pan-fried dumplings is thicker at the middle, rather than evenly thick throughout (or worse, thinner at the middle).

I usually make the pan fried dumplings one at a time, from start to finish. While I’m working on each dumpling, I loosely cover all the other doughs with plastic wrap so they do not dry out. But be sure not to completely cover them as you do not want them to proof again.

#3: Make the Dumplings. Take each wrapper and place around a tablespoon of filling in the middle. Note: if you’re unfamiliar with wrapping these dumplings, start off with less filling and practice the folding first. Fold the dough up by pleating the sides (like an accordion) in a counter-clockwise motion. Towards the end, keep your thumb in the middle and press down while spiraling to seal. Place the completed dumplings on a floured surface and loosely cover them as well while you prepare the rest.

Once all the dumplings are finished, it’s time to cook them! At this point you can either cook them immediately, or freeze them for later. To cook, see instructions below. To freeze, place each dumpling (uncooked) on a parchment-lined baking tray and freeze them like that first. Once frozen, transfer them to a large freezer bag and back into the freezer. This two-step process prevents them from sticking to each other after being frozen.
Just to clarify, step one. Is it flour in one bowl and then you mix in the water mix (which has the yeast, sugar and salt). ? There is no mention of when to add the actual flour. Tks in advance.
Hi Leslie! Thank you so much for catching a typo. When I said water in the first sentence, I actually meant flour. I’ve updated it! Check again and see if you still have any questions.
Thank you! I attempted them tonight. They were delicious. I need a LOT of work on pleating the dough…and mine look nothing as golden (or as pretty) as yours…but they still tasted great.
(I have to make your chili oil one day too).Thanks for another delicious recipe. 🙂