How to make {Spinach} Green Dumpling Dough / Potsticker Dough

Make homemade dumpling/potsticker dough even MORE fun with this GREEN dumpling dough/potsticker dough! They are naturally colored with spinach puree. Then use these fun wrappers to make steamed dumplings or potstickers.

Potstickers are awesome! I think we can all agree on that. Whether you call them Jiaozi, dumplings or potstickers, they are one of the finest culinary inventions. Last year, I shared a recipe where I made potsticker/dumpling dough from scratch and it’s easily the most popular recipe on my blog so far! And I’m not surprised.

Homemade potstickers have made it to our dinner table countless times since then and recently they got a fun and colourful makeover, which I thought I had to share on the blog! Enter, Green Dumpling Dough/Green Potsticker Dough made with spinach!

Sometimes I find myself spending whole afternoons making potstickers which I then freeze for a later day. It kind of seems pointless to make a small batch of them for one meal, so I usually make enough for at least 2-4 meals every time!

You can check out my post here to learn to make the potsticker wrappers and also the Chicken and Ginger filling that I made for them. In this post, I’m going to share with you the recipe for GREEN dumpling dough (green potsticker dough).

And it’s so simple! The green comes from pureed spinach that replaces part of the water. The dough for these green potstickers is simply, flour + salt + water + spinach puree.

The temperature of your water depends on whether you intend to make potstickers or dumplings. Hot water for potstickers or steamed dumplings and cold water for boiled dumplings. The hot water allows the dumpling dough come together quicker and with less water than you would need if you used cold water. The more water you add to the dumpling dough, the more wrinkly the skin becomes when the dumplings are steamed.

In case you’re still wondering about the difference between potstickers and dumplings, let me lift these couple of lines from my previous post.

“Potstickers differ from steamed dumplings in that they have a crispy golden brown bottom as they are pan-fried on one side while steamed dumplings are usually placed in a bamboo steamer and steamed to perfection. Pan frying potstickers makes them stick lightly to the pan (hence their name) and then water is added and they are steamed a little more.”

Between steamed dumplings and potstickers, my brain will almost always choose potstickers. So will Mr K. We love the crispy, caramelized bottom and the delicate steamed wrapper. It gives me the best of both worlds. But since the dough for both dumplings and potstickers is the same, I like to make it ahead of time, and then decide on how I want them to be cooked at the last minute. I decide on potstickers more often than not, but occasionally if I want to cook more in one go, I use my 2 tiered bamboo steamer and make steamed dumplings! 🙂

The dough comes together very easily, and is also very forgiving. If your dough is too soft, add some flour. If it’s too stiff, wet your (clean) hands and then knead the dough to add water gradually.

There are several ways to make the wrappers too.

One way is to portion the dough into 3-4 pieces and then roll out each piece thinly ad then cut out the wrappers. This is what I did in my previous post from last year. However this can be a little frustrating if you only have a small space to work in (like I do).

The second way is to roll the dough into a log shape and then cut individual pieces and then roll out each of those pieces thinly to form a wrapper. This is what I’ve done in the picture below and this would be my preferred method, if it weren’t for the third option!

The third option is to roll out the dough in two batches using a pasta machine! 🙂 This is my favourite, since I can get the dough to roll out really thinly with little to no effort on my part! I rolled the dough to a thickness 5 on the pasta machine, and then cut out the wrappers from the sheet. But no worries, if you don’t have a pasta machine, consider the first two options. It’s pretty simple either way.

I filled these crazy green potstickers with an out-of-this-world filling and you can find out all about that filling next week! 🙂 For now, check out this fantastic Chicken and Ginger filling that I made last time. So juicy and perfectly seasoned with really bold flavors!

{Spinach} Green Dumpling Dough / Potsticker Dough

Servings: 26 -36 wrappers

Author: Dini from The Flavor Bender

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Ingredients

Green Dumpling / Potsticker dough

• 10 oz 285g of all-purpose flour
• 2 fl oz spinach puree
• 4 fl oz 120 ml of boiled water (see note 1)
• 1 tsp salt

Spinach Puree

• 1/3 cup water
• 1 cup packed spinach leaves

Instructions

Spinach Puree

1. Combine the spinach and water in a blender and blend till smooth. You can add a little extra water to make it easier to blend, if needed. An immersion blender will also work. Measure and set aside 2 fl oz of this for the dumpling dough. Leftover can be used for smoothies.

Potsticker / Dumpling Dough

1. In a bowl, mix the flour and salt together.
2. Create a well in the middle (like you would when making pasta), and add the spinach puree and half of the hot water slowly, while mixing with a wooden spoon until clumpy bits are formed. Add the rest of the water as needed. You can alternate mixing and pouring water, if that is easier.
3. Knead the dough clumps by hand to form one soft dough ball. If the mix is too dry, add a little more water (a little at a time or dip your hands in water and knead the dough with wet hands). If the mix is too sticky, add a little flour (a little at a time).
4. You should have a dough that is soft, not sticky, and firm enough to hold its shape.
5. Knead the dough further on the work bench for about 2 minutes. Use flour sparingly if the dough is getting sticky. The dough will look smooth at this stage and be a little stretchy/elastic.
6. You can let the dough rest like this in one big ball, or cut it roughly into four equal parts and knead each piece to form a dough ball.
7. Wrap the dough/dough balls tightly in plastic wrap (individually) or place it inside a ziploc bag and seal it (push out as much air as possible) and let it rest for 1 - 2 hours at room temp. You can use the dough immediately after it has been rested.
8. If you're using it the next day instead, place the dough in the fridge (sealed in storage bags) and return it back to room temperature before handling them.
9. Lightly dust your work bench and roll out each piece of dough into a 1 inch diameter log. Then cut it into 1 - 1.5 cm discs.
10. Roll out each disc (dusting lightly with flour as needed) to form a circle (about 3-4 inches in diameter). You can use a circle cutter to cut out the wrapper neatly if you prefer.
11. Fill and seal the dumplings/potstickers before moving onto the next portion of the dough.

Recipe Notes

Note 1 - Boil the water first, and then measure the required amount of water. Do not measure water first and then boil it, as evaporation = less water.

Note 2 - If you're stacking the wrappers after cutting them out, they will require a little flour between each one to prevent them from sticking to each other. However if you do this, you might get a little bit of flour sticking to the wrapper which is okay, but not ideal. The best way is to keep the wrappers separately or place a cotton sheet between wrappers.

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