Coming off our peach pancake post from Wednesday, it’s time to talk about yet another summer crop that’s you’re probably scratching your head over what to do with. Zucchini and summer squash are bursting out of my mom’s garden right now, and it’s all we can do to keep up!
If you’ve had enough of zoodles and zucchini bread, I have a recipe that uses zucchini in a different way than you’re probably used to…chicken zucchini dumplings. I’ve grown really fond of the combination, and the filling is actually quite simple to throw together with ingredients that you can probably find from your local grocery store!
Recipe Notes
Just a few notes before we get on with the recipe!
- I used store bought wrappers for these chicken zucchini dumplings, but if you’d like to make wrappers from scratch, you can make the wrappers from our Vegetable Dumplings recipe.
- If you need a more detailed refresher on how to fold/pleat a dumpling, check out our full post on how to fold dumplings 4 ways!
- I actually ground my own chicken using dark meat chicken thighs for this recipe. Often, the ground chicken you buy at the store is made from the breast meat, which I think is too lean for dumplings. So I simply bought chicken thighs, de-boned them, and then used a cleaver to chop up the meat. Check out my mom’s post on how to grind meat without a grinder.
- I also ended up with the chicken skin, which (upon my dad’s kooky request) I fried up in a pan, chopped up, and added to the filling. It did add a certain buttery, flavorful quality to the filling! You can feel free to skip that step all together, and just buy ground chicken from the store, of course. But where’s the fun in that?
- Don’t forget the dipping sauce to serve these with! Try my perfect dumpling sauce recipe.
Chicken Zucchini Dumplings: Recipe Instructions
Take the shredded zucchini, put it in a clean kitchen towel, and squeeze out as much water as you can. Add it to a large mixing bowl and set aside.
In a wok or cast iron skillet over medium low heat, add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and the minced ginger. Allow the ginger to fry in the oil until fragrant, 2 minutes.
Add to the bowl of zucchini along with the ground chicken.
To the bowl, add 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, ½ teaspoon white pepper, 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoons sesame oil, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, and 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine. Mix well, stirring vigorously in one direction for about 5 minutes, until it resembles a paste.
(This is when I stirred in that crispy chicken skin.)
Here’s a photo of me cooking the chicken skin––along with the ginger.
Grab your dumpling wrappers, wrap the dumplings…
And place on a parchment lined baking sheet, so that the dumplings are not touching each other too closely.
If you’re not sure how to pleat them, check out our article on how to fold dumplings, with 4 techniques from beginner to advanced.
You can fry them right away, or cover the dumplings with plastic wrap and freeze them on the tray. Once frozen solid, you can transfer them to freezer bags and store for up to 3 months.
To fry the dumplings, simply add a couple tablespoons of oil to a cast iron skillet or nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add the dumplings to the pan.
Once the bottoms of the dumplings are golden brown, fill the pan with a little less than a centimeter of water, and cover immediately.
Turn the heat down to medium-low, and allow your chicken zucchini dumplings to steam.
Once the water has evaporated, remove the cover and let the dumplings continue to fry until the bottoms are crisp.
You can also steam or boil these dumplings. Check out our full tutorial on how to cook dumplings (steaming, boiling and pan-frying).
Serve these Chicken Zucchini Dumplings with Chinese black vinegar, chili oil, and/or soy sauce or try out our dumpling sauce recipe.
Chicken Zucchini Dumplings
Ingredients
- 2 medium zucchini (seeds removed and shredded)
- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil (divided)
- 2 tablespoons ginger (minced)
- 1 pound ground chicken
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine or dry cooking sherry
- 2 packages dumpling wrappers
Instructions
- Take the shredded zucchini, put it in a clean kitchen towel, and squeeze out as much water as you can. Add it to a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- In a wok over medium low heat, add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and the minced ginger. Allow the ginger to fry in the oil until fragrant, 2 minutes. Add to the bowl of zucchini.
- To the bowl, add 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1 pound ground chicken, ½ teaspoon white pepper, 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoons sesame oil, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, and 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine. Mix well, stirring vigorously in one direction for about 5 minutes, until it resembles a paste.
- Wrap the dumplings and place on a parchment lined baking sheet, so that the dumplings are not touching each other. You can fry them right away, or cover the dumplings with plastic wrap and freeze them on the tray. Once frozen solid, you can transfer them to freezer bags and store for up to 3 months.
- To fry the dumplings, simply add a couple tablespoons of oil to a cast iron skillet or nonstick pan over medium high heat. Add the dumplings to the pan. Once the bottoms of the dumplings are golden brown, fill the pan with a little less than a centimeter of water, and cover immediately. Turn the heat down to medium low, and allow the dumplings to steam. Once the water has evaporated, remove the cover and let the dumplings continue to fry until the bottoms are crisp. Serve with black vinegar, chili oil, and/or our dumpling dipping sauce.
Tips & Notes:
nutrition facts
Thanks so much for this. But help me out here — the only zucchini I can get is pretty small. About how many grams of zucchini should I be using?
Hi Barbara, I’d say you need about 400g zucchini (slightly under a pound)
We have made this about 10 times now! We love it! I like to add shredded carrot as well as zucchini.
Love that, Taylor! So glad you’re enjoying these dumplings. :)
Thanks for this recipe without onion and garlic!! I will try it. For health reasons I can’t eat vegetables from the allium family, the same tasty vegetables used all over the world in most savory recipes. I have worked out ways of substituting them in Indian cuisine (Jain cuisine) and Italian cuisine, my own, but I’m stumped with Chinese cuisine because I’m not nearly as familiar with it. Can you suggest me other recipes without onion and garlic or Chinese ways to flavor without them? I’d be very grateful.
Thanks, Didina
Hi Didina, you generally can adapt any of our recipes to not include onion or garlic, unless it is a very big part of the dish (“scallion” or “garlic” being in the name of the recipe is generally a good clue).
I used ground turkey for this and it taste like traditional pork dumplings! Juicy and moist. But so much healthier! This is going to be my go to recipe now, I won’t tell my parents that I’m abandoning the family recipe 😉
Haha I won’t tell if you don’t Nancy!