Whole wheat dumpling wrappers are a healthier alternative to regular white wrappers. This recipe includes instructions for the wrappers only, but check out the post for links to our other dumpling recipes to make the whatever filling you like!
Experimenting with Homemade Dumpling Wrappers
Before starting The Woks of Life, we were a store-bought dumpling wrapper family. Any time we’d plan on making a big batch of dumplings, we would have to remember to go to the Asian supermarket to buy packaged dumpling wrappers, and try to guesstimate how many packs we needed.
But the great thing about being a food blogger is, you’re pushed to experiment with things that you may not have otherwise thought to try.
When a reader asked us for a homemade dumpling wrapper recipe, we gave it a go, and now several of our favorite dumpling recipes feature homemade wrappers. These recipes include our Vegetable Dumplings, Chicken & Mushroom Dumplings, and Pork & Chive Dumplings.
As it turns out, we LOVE the texture and taste of homemade dumpling wrappers. They have a bit more chew than your store-bought variety, and if you underestimated the amount you’d need for the amount of filling that you already made, you can always whip up another batch quickly and easily. Because all it is is two ingredients: flour and water.
A Whole Wheat Alternative
Usually, I use regular all purpose flour for my dumpling wrappers. But like that first blog commenter who inspired us to give homemade wrappers a go, another commenter asked us about how to make whole wheat dumpling wrappers. Presumably for a health boost and perhaps the nutty flavor that whole wheat flour brings to the table.
Well, we tried it, and here’s the result! This whole wheat dumpling wrapper recipe uses ALL whole wheat flour, but if you’d like to get a slightly smoother texture, you can do a mixture of all purpose and whole wheat, and find the ratio that works the best for you.
You’ll notice that we need more water for the amount of flour here (when compared to 3 1/2 cups of flour to about 1 cup of water when using regular all-purpose flour). That’s because the whole wheat flour is quite a bit dryer and coarser, and needs more moisture to form a dough.
This recipe makes 3 dozen whole wheat dumpling wrappers!
Whole Wheat Dumpling Wrappers: Recipe Instructions
Put the flour in a bowl, and add the water slowly, stirring as you go. Add the water in several phases, giving the flour enough time to absorb the moisture.
Add just enough water to form a moist, but not sticky dough. You may need more or less than 1 cup of water, depending on ambient conditions like humidity.
Once you have your dough, knead it for 3 minutes, sprinkling with more flour if it becomes too sticky. Form the dough into a ball, and cover with an overturned bowl. Allow it to rest of 2 hours.
After the dough has rested, divide into 36 equal pieces.
Roll each piece of dough into a circle, and fill with your favorite dumpling filling. Pleat each dumpling and ensure that they are tightly sealed before freezing, steaming, or frying.
For full instructions on pleating, check out our article on How to Fold Dumplings (4 techniques, from beginner to advanced).
You’ll notice that this whole wheat dumpling wrapper dough is a bit drier than regular dumpling dough, but it’s still quite easy to work with!
I fried up a batch, so that you can see how they turn out. To pan-fry them, add a couple tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil to a non-stick or cast iron pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the dumplings.
Once the bottoms have turned a golden brown, pour in enough water so that it reaches a centimeter up the pan, cover, and steam the dumplings until all the water has cooked off.
You can also steam or boil these dumplings. For full instructions on how to cook dumplings by steaming, pan-frying, or boiling, check out our full tutorial.
I made a pork and chive filling for the batch pictured, but if you want more ideas on what kind of filling to pair these whole wheat dumpling wrappers with, here are a few of our favorites:
Pork & Vegetable Dumplings (aka the first dumpling recipe we ever published on the site!)
The filling for the Pork & Cabbage Dumplings is super easy!
Filling for the Chicken & Mushroom Dumplings has a deep earthy mushroom flavor!
Filling for the Chicken & Zucchini Dumplings and yes, that is crispy chicken skin!
Filling for the Vegetable Dumplings is vegetarian and totally tasty!
Once you choose your filling and made dumplings with these whole wheat dumpling wrappers, make our traditional dumpling sauce to top off your homemade dumplings
Hope you try some of our other filling recipes with this whole wheat dumpling wrappers. Happy dumpling making!
Whole Wheat Dumpling Wrappers
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour (plus more for rolling)
- 1 cup boiling water
Instructions
- Put the flour in a bowl, and add the water slowly, stirring as you go. Add the water in several phases, giving the flour enough time to absorb the moisture. Add just enough water to form a moist, but not sticky dough. You may need more or less than 1 cup of water, depending on ambient conditions like humidity.
- Once you have your dough, knead it for 3 minutes, sprinkling with more flour if it becomes too sticky. Form the dough into a ball, and cover with an overturned bowl. Allow it to rest of 2 hours.
- After the dough has rested, divide into 36 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a circle, and fill with your favorite dumpling filling. Pleat each dumpling and ensure that they are tightly sealed before freezing or frying.
Tips & Notes:
nutrition facts
Hi Sarah! Thanks for this recipe. I made this using hard white wheat (whole grain). I think a cup of water was too much for my humidity level or this particular flour, because it came out a little sticky (I might try ¾ cup next time). I let it rest 2 hours but then refrigerated it because I couldn’t use it immediately, took it out and it was crusted despite being covered, so I kneaded it, but then had to rest it again because the gluten got tight. I got 22 wrappers out of it so maybe my pieces were too big, and I think I rolled them too thin because they tore during wrapping. After boiling, they weren’t as chewy as all-purpose flour skins and kind of broke apart. Is this how they’re supposed to be, or can I improve the recruiter by making them thicker, boiling them faster or cooking at a lower temp, adding less water to the dough? Or using different flour? Thanks in advance for any thoughts, advice, or help you can give!
Hi Ivan, not sure what the difference is between the hard white wheat and the standard whole wheat flours you can buy at the supermarket. But yes, the texture of whole wheat skins will be less elastic in general than regular white flour skins. That said, maybe try using a standard whole wheat flour if you want to stick with the idea?
Hi Sarah! Thanks for such a quick reply! I think the difference is that standard whole wheat flour isn’t always whole grain (it can be called whole wheat if it has a certain amount of bran left in it, but it’s different from “whole grain” wheat flour). Thanks for the suggestion on using standard whole wheat, that may be the solution! I also wanted to share that I contacted the mill, who directed me to the California Wheat Commission, and I spoke to the Lab Manager there, who suggested I try adding a little vital wheat gluten and salt to the mixture to increase and improve the gluten development. I didn’t ask about using cold water (since hot water denatures the proteins and weakens the gluten to make the dough more elastic for rolling, right?), but that could be another trick to give it more chew. Anyway, more experimentation ahead, and many thanks for you and your family’s work and help and support!!
Hello
Can I steam the buns?
Thank you
Hi there, these are actually dumpling wrappers, but yes, you can steam them.
This is the first post I’ve ever seen where the author recommends covering the dough with a bowl rather than wrapping it in plastic. It is really nice to see recommendations to get cooks away from using an excess amount of plastic wrap in food preparation. Good job and thank you. Keep up the good work.
You’re welcome, Andrew! It’s amazing how much you realize you DON’T need plastic just by making a few creative changes, like overturned bowls, plates on top of bowls to cover them, reusable containers, and reusable freezer bags. We rarely use plastic wrap in our house!
Hi Can i cut this recipe in half and just use 1 cup of flour? I am only one person so i do not need to make 36 of them :) thank you!
Hi Elizabeth, sure you can. Just make sure to cut the recipe in half for all the ingredients. You can actually click on the serving # and use the slider to adjust the number of servings you’d like. The ingredient amounts will adjust accordingly.
I made these tonight using white whole wheat flour and your veggie dumpling filling. They were delicious! My husband doesn’t do white flour so when I saw this recipe I was excited to try it. I have to say I had some store-bought wrappers as back-up, just in case these didn’t turn out. I ended up using those for all the filling I had left over, but my family unanimously preferred the homemade wrappers! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome, Lynn! So glad you enjoyed these. :)
Due to insomnia, I just finished the dough & it’s resting. I’ve been freezing leftover chicken & pork, when there’s not enough for a lunch. There’s never left over shrimp! I’ll be making Purple Dumplings – I have purple cabbage & purple carrots in stock. Thank you for taking the time to experiment with whole wheat so I don’t have to. After much trial & error, I’ve become a pirogi expert, but I hope there won’t be too many errors today!
you’re welcome, Jane! Purple dumplings sound delightful. :)
I love your whole wheat dumpling wrapper. After I steam my dumplings I put them in separate plastic bags and freeze them. When I want to eat them I reheat them in a non stick pan with a little oil. Do you recommend not cooking them before freezing?
Hi Chandra, I would definitely freeze them uncooked.
Do you think this could be made with coconut or almond flour? I’m celiac, but would REALLY love to have some dumplings.
Hmmmmm I’ve never tried making dumpling wrappers with a nut flour. I’m skeptical that it would work, because gluten is somewhat important to holding a dumpling together. After a bit of googling, I did find this recipe, however: https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2015/01/gluten-free-potstickers-recipe.html. It uses tapioca flour. Maybe give it a try and let us know how it goes!
really nice recipe.. i’m gonna try it out asap.. both of my parents have diabetis so its def a nice idea of you
Let us know how you like them, Kate!