A pocket of dough wrapped around a filling — boiled, steamed, fried, or baked — found in nearly every cuisine on Earth.
A category, not a single dish
“Dumpling” is a label of convenience for hundreds of distinct foods that share the form: a starch wrapper around a filling. The wrapper varies (wheat, rice, potato, semolina), the filling varies (meat, seafood, cheese, fruit), and the cooking method varies (boil, steam, pan-fry, deep-fry, bake).
A world tour
- China — jiaozi (boiled or pan-fried), xiao long bao (soup-filled), baozi (steamed buns), wonton (in soup).
- Japan — gyoza (pan-fried, garlicky), shumai.
- Korea — mandu (boiled, steamed, or fried).
- Mongolia / Central Asia — buuz, manti (steamed lamb dumplings).
- Eastern Europe — pierogi (Polish), vareniki (Ukrainian), pelmeni (Russian).
- Italy — ravioli, tortellini, cappelletti, agnolotti, culurgiones.
- Tibet / Nepal — momo, served with chili dip.
- South America — empanadas (technically a dumpling cousin).
- South Africa — dombolo (steamed bread dumplings).
- United States — chicken and dumplings (drop-style, like a doughy noodle in soup).
Why pleats matter
The pleated edge of a dumpling isn’t decoration — it locks the wrapper and prevents the filling from leaking during cooking. Skilled makers fold 18 to 24 pleats per dumpling at a rapid pace; competition-level cooks can fold over 30 a minute.
Find more foods by letter
Dumpling starts with D and ends with G. Browse other foods along the same letter.
Foods that contain a letter from "Dumpling":