Cooking gyozas, or Japanese pot stickers, in an oven is possible if you are able to source quality baking sheets that can handle high temperatures. If you’re looking to make some quick veggie-packed lunch boxes, this article has got you covered!
Most recipes call for boiling water in a pan before mixing into the dough. This process takes time when you have lots of ingredients! Luckily, most grocery stores now sell pre-washed, good quality baking sheets with plastic lids. These are perfect for making gyozas because you just put a batch onto the sheet, cover it, and bake them!
Cooking gyozas in the oven is one of the best ways to do it. They taste great and they are much healthier than the thin and crispy wheat flour ones usually made at home. What makes these different than other types of pot sticker rolls though is the filling – anything goes! Use rice, vegetables, meat, whatever you like!
This article will go over how to cook your favorite vegetable fillings as well as chicken, seafood, and pork.
How to bake gyoza
When baking or pan-frying meat, what kind of cookware you use makes a big difference. Griddles are your best bet as they can have some type of nonstick coating on the surface. If there is no such coated surface, then either cast iron or fryer sheets make the best gyozas!
As with any stir-fried food, it is important to keep the cooked pieces separate from each other and themselves. This way, all parts will cook evenly and properly.
To ensure this happens, use a good quality metal fork to poke through the dumplings and onto a plate. The plastic ones usually only stick for a few seconds before breaking down again!
Another tip is to let the leftover dough sit until cold before shaping them into balls or rounds. This helps create a tighter seal that wont leak filling while cooking.
Research your ingredients
When it comes to cooking gyoza, there are two main components of the filling that make a difference in whether or not they taste good. The first is the meat used to fill the dumplings.
There are several types of meat you can use for this. Ground chicken is probably the most common because it’s cheap and easy to find, but you can also use ground beef, turkey, pork, or even mixed vegetables as a filling. It all depends on what kind of flavor you want to bring out in the sauce.
The second component is the type of starch used to bind the filling together. Plain wheat flour will work, but using rice powder instead cuts down on calories. Both are totally acceptable!
You may have heard of frying gyoza before, but baking them in the oven is actually the better option due to how the dough cooks. When boiling dry foods, empty stomachs are our enemy so letting the steam escape while baking helps keep those hungry ghosts at bay.
Ovens vary, check temperature
When it comes to cooking gyoza in an oven, what kind of oven you have can make a big difference! There are two main types of cookers: convection and regular. A convection oven works by circulating hot air throughout the chamber, creating an even heat source.
A regular stove top only heats one part of the oven directly so some parts may overheat while others do not. An oven that doesn’t get as hot at the surface is helpful when baking foods like gyoza because they won’t burn or dry out.
Let it cook until it’re done
When making gyoza, one of the most difficult parts is actually stuffing the dumplings. Because they are mostly starch, people usually mix them with meat or rice to give them some weight which helps hold them together as a dumpling.
The problem comes when you try to cook each individual dumpling; either because they don’t turn out soft enough or their skin gets too crispy. To solve this, we suggest baking the cooked dough instead of frying it like normal fried foods.
By cooking the wrapped filling in the oven, it will warm through and finish cooking that way! This way, your stomach can enjoy the same benefits of eating fresh gyoza.
Avoid overcooking
When baking or toasting gyoza, make sure they are cooked all the way through before you pull them away so that they do not lose their flavor. If your oven is very hot, you can cook the dumplings in the broiler setting for the last few minutes of cooking time!
GYOZA ARE NOT WELL KNOWN IN THE USA, BUT THEY ARE A POPULAR PART OF SOUL FOOD HERE!
They are similar to Chinese wheat noodles in nature but with one big difference: They are thick-ish dough patties that taste delicious when fresh (like we recommend eating them right out of the package!).
Serve with sauce
While gyoza are not usually cooked as a main dish, you can bake them instead! This is typically done in an oven at 350°F for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of your batch.
When baking them, they should remain warm or slightly hot so that when you eat one, it feels like it’s warmed through. They should also have some flavor, which means either spicy konjac soy sausage or sweet potato powder to taste.
Since they are mostly starch, most people serve these with our own personal favorite, tangy Japanese fermented bean paste called yakitori sauce. This is easy to make at home as well! Just mix sour cream with rice vinegar until it thickens and then add sugar and salt to taste.
Try new recipes
Cooking gyoza is like any other cuisine, if you are not willing to try new recipes, then you will never find the best gyoza of all time! There are many great recipe resources available online and in cookbooks, so why not give it a look and see what works for your mouth?
Many people begin cooking with culinary classics that have been around for a while now. With these old and familiar recipes as a base, they add some ingredients or methods to them and create their own version of the dish. This is an excellent way to start if you want to take your cooking skills to the next level!
There are several types of meat used to make gyoza such as beef, pork, chicken, lamb, and even vegetarian/vegan options. The type of meat used in the filling is up to which ingredient is needed at the moment and how much money you have to spend.
Making sure your grill or pan is hot enough before frying the gyozas is important to having perfect gyoza every time! If the outside is slightly warm, the inner part may still be raw and taste bad.