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A plate of pan-fried pork and cabbage gyoza with golden crispy bottoms, next to a small dish of soy-vinegar dipping sauce dotted with chili oil, on a dark wooden table

Homemade Gyoza with Pork and Cabbage

Pan-fried Japanese gyoza with a 1-to-1 pork-to-cabbage filling, crisped golden on the bottom with the fry-steam-crisp pan method, served with soy-vinegar dipping sauce.
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Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 6 servings (about 30 gyoza)
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the filling
  • 225 g ground pork 1/2 lb
  • 225 g green cabbage 1/2 lb; about 1/4 large head, finely chopped
  • 2 green onions minced
  • 2 shiitake mushrooms stems removed, caps minced
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ginger grated, with juice
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 teaspoons sake
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt for wilting the cabbage
For folding
  • 30 gyoza wrappers store-bought is fine
  • water for sealing
For cooking
  • 2 tablespoons neutral oil per batch
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil per batch, for the final crisp
  • 60 ml water 1/4 cup per batch, for steaming
For the dipping sauce
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons rice vinegar unseasoned
  • la-yu (Japanese chili oil) to taste

Method
 

  1. Wilt the cabbage. Chop the cabbage fine, mincing the thick ribs small. Toss with the kosher salt, rub it in, and let sit 10 minutes until wilted. Grab handfuls and squeeze out the liquid firmly over the sink.
  2. Mix the filling. Combine the pork, green onions, shiitake, ginger, garlic, sake, sesame oil, soy sauce, and black pepper. Knead by hand until sticky and pale. Squeeze the cabbage dry once more, add it in, and mix until evenly distributed. Chill 15 minutes if the kitchen is warm.
  3. Set up the folding station. Line a baking sheet with parchment, fill a small bowl with water, and keep the wrapper stack covered with a damp towel at all times.
  4. Fill and pleat. Place 1 level tablespoon of filling in the center of a wrapper — no more. Wet the outer edge, fold in half, and make 5–6 small pleats on one side only, pressing each pleat firmly. Flatten the bottom so the gyoza stands upright. Cover finished ones with plastic wrap.
  5. The fry. Heat the neutral oil in a large nonstick skillet with a lid over medium heat. Arrange gyoza flat-side down with space between them. Fry 2–3 minutes undisturbed until the bottoms are deep golden and release on their own.
  6. The steam. Pour in 60 ml water, cover immediately, and steam 3 minutes until the water evaporates and the tops turn translucent.
  7. The crisp. Uncover, drizzle 1 teaspoon sesame oil around the pan, and cook 1–2 minutes more until the bottoms re-crisp and sizzle. Slide onto a plate, crispy side up. Serve hot with the dipping sauce.

Notes

Note 1: Salt and squeeze the cabbage every time. Ten minutes of salting pulls roughly a tablespoon of water out of 225 g of cabbage — water that would otherwise end up inside your wrappers as sog.
Note 2: Knead the filling by hand until it turns sticky and pale. A spoon won't do it — hand-kneading binds the meat proteins so the filling sets springy instead of crumbly.
Note 3: One level tablespoon of filling per wrapper, no more. A heaped scoop pushes the pleats open and the burst happens in the pan, not on the counter.
Note 4: Keep the wrapper stack covered with a damp towel while you fold. The thin edges dry out within minutes and then nothing seals.
Note 5: Once the bottoms are golden, the gyoza release themselves from a nonstick pan. Don't force them off early — if it won't budge, it isn't done.
Note 6: Cook frozen gyoza straight from the freezer with an extra 1–2 minutes of steaming. Thawed wrappers go flabby and tear under heat; frozen ones hold their pleats.