8 Dumpling Recipes From Around the World
I‘ve been folding dumplings since I was five years old, standing on a stool in babcia’s kitchen, pressing the edges of pierogi with a fork because my small fingers couldn’t crimp properly. Dumplings are Poland’s contribution to a universal food language — every culture has them, every culture loves them, and the techniques transfer across borders more easily than any other cooking skill. If you can fold a pierogi, you can fold a gyoza. If you can pleat a gyoza, you can shape a wonton. This page collects every dumpling recipe on Polish Mom, spanning Polish, Japanese, Chinese, and American traditions.
Polish Dumplings
Authentic Pierogi (Potato-Cheese)
The foundation of Polish dumpling mastery. Handmade dough, creamy potato-cheese filling, boiled then pan-fried in butter. If you only make one dumpling recipe in your life, make this one. Everything else builds on the skills you learn here.
Kopytka (Polish Potato Dumplings)
Poland’s gnocchi: soft potato dumplings shaped by hand, no filling, no folding. Faster than pierogi and just as comforting. Served with butter and fried onions, or as a base for fusion toppings.
Kluski Śląskie (Silesian Dumplings)
Potato dumplings with a characteristic thumbprint in the centre — the indent catches sauce and creates a pool of flavour in every bite. A regional specialty from Silesia that deserves wider recognition.
American Dumplings
Chicken and Dumplings (From Scratch)
Fluffy drop dumplings steamed on top of creamy chicken stew. Different from pierogi or gyoza — these are leavened, soft, and pillowy rather than thin and chewy. The American approach to the universal dumpling concept.
Asian Dumplings
Japanese Gyoza (Pan-Fried Dumplings)
Crispy-bottomed, tender-topped Japanese dumplings. The pan-fry-then-steam technique gives them a dual texture that boiled dumplings can’t match. The folding technique is different from pierogi (pleating one side), but the hand skills transfer directly.
Spicy Wonton Soup
Chinese wontons swimming in a spicy broth with chilli oil. The wonton fold is the simplest of all dumplings — triangle, press, done. The broth does the heavy lifting flavour-wise.
Fusion & Creative Dumplings
Kimchi Pierogi
The recipe that launched Polish Mom’s fusion philosophy. Babcia’s pierogi dough + kimchi filling + gochujang sour cream. Sauerkraut and kimchi are both fermented cabbage — this recipe makes the connection explicit and delicious.
Spicy Honey Butter Pierogi Bites (Air Fryer)
Frozen pierogi, air-fried, drizzled with hot honey. The party appetiser that disappears in minutes. Proof that air fryer technology and Polish tradition can coexist beautifully.
Pierogi Gyoza (Pan-Fried Hybrid)
Gyoza wrappers + pierogi filling, pan-fried to crispy-bottomed perfection. The weeknight shortcut that delivers pierogi flavour in 30 minutes instead of 2+ hours.
Polish Dumplings
Freezer-Friendly Pierogi Batch (100 at a Time)
The meal prep approach to pierogi: make 100 in one Saturday session, freeze on sheet pans, bag, and cook from frozen any weeknight in 5 minutes. Babcia’s batch-cooking wisdom applied to the modern freezer.
The Universal Dumpling Skills
Every dumpling tradition shares the same core skills: making dough (flour + liquid), filling (protein + vegetables + seasoning), sealing (pressing edges to prevent leaks), and cooking (boiling, steaming, frying, or baking). Learn these with pierogi — the thickest, most forgiving dough — then apply them to gyoza, wontons, and everything in between. The dumpling is the world’s most universal food, and the skills you build making one kind transfer to every other.
More: Polish recipes for the foundation, Asian recipes for gyoza and wonton techniques, fusion recipes where both traditions meet.