Each month, our staff shares unfussy recipe ideas that you can call upon any day of the week. Because yes, our editors love to cook, but sometimes we need to get dinner on the table 12 minutes ago. That’s when we look to kitchen helpers, humble ingredients that can quickly turn into delicious meals. This month, it’s all about store-bought dumplings.
Close your eyes and picture a dumpling. Perhaps you’re seeing a crescent wrapper stuffed with pork, scallions, and ginger—Japanese gyoza! Mind goes black. Another vision emerges, this time with a flaky shell. The filling? Spiced beef, raisins, and olives—ah yes, it’s Argentinian empanadas. Now one more pops into sight. It’s bursting with potatoes, Kielbasa, and sauerkraut—Polish pierogies, of course.
Nearly every culture has its version of a dumpling: mandu, ravioli, vareniki, the list goes on. Making them from scratch is a fun project with friends. Only on a lot of weeknights, there just isn’t time—but that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t still be dumplings.
Floated into brothy soups, tossed into salads like croutons, even splayed over a bed of yogurt, ready-made dumplings are the shortcut we turn to on the busiest of nights. Read on for our editors’ go-to ways to use them.
Pelmeni + butter + yogurt
My favorite dumplings of the moment are Luda’s Eastern European–syle pork pelmeni (though the potato vareniki are also great with this treatment). Turning them into a meal is as simple as tossing the boiled dumplings in melted butter (as much as you think is prudent) and spooning the lot over a plate of Greek yogurt. I’ll often put in a little extra work, like adding lemon juice or crushed spices—caraway, chile flakes—to the yogurt sauce. Sometimes I’ll swap out the butter for olive oil. If you have a few minutes to spare, you could top the dumplings with shaved radishes, sauerkraut, or chopped scallions. But for quick satisfaction, the dumplings + butter + yogurt formula is delicious as-is. —Joe Sevier, senior SEO and cooking editor
Transform store-bought dumplings into a restaurant-worthy meal using wilted greens, creamy garlicky yogurt, and plenty of chile butter.
Crispy potsticker salad
How do you make a salad hearty and filling when you don’t have any leftover roast chicken or cooked grains around to bulk it out? Add seared potstickers. This freezer staple can turn any old salad into a dinner salad, and fills in for both protein and croutons. You’ll need crisp lettuce for this to really work (no sad soggy mixed greens), and other crunchy veg like cucumbers, red peppers, or canned water chestnuts. For dressing, keep it simple with a rice vinegar vinaigrette. —J.S.
Gyoza with peanut sauce
I, like Joe, turn to carbs when I want a satisfying dinner salad. I like to dump steamed Thai Shrimp Gyoza from Trader Joe’s into a bowl, with julienned carrots and Persian cucumber, plus crisp cilantro and mint. Then, in line with this recipe, I douse everything in a peanut sauce. I eyeball the measurements: peanut butter, soy sauce, sriracha, lime juice, rice vinegar, and honey. It’s the sort of dressing I’d be happy slurping with a spoon. —Nina Moskowitz, associate editor, cooking
20-minute egg drop soup
I’ve made deputy food editor Hana Asbrink’s frozen dumpling soup a million times. The broth—store-bought, bolstered with soy sauce, fish sauce, and sesame oil—is so flavorful, you’d have no idea it came together in minutes. Depending on the night, I’ve skipped the egg drop (fine if you have a hearty dumpling) and swapped frozen spinach instead of fresh for convenience. Whatever adjustments I make, it’s the sort of steaming bowl that reliably makes me feel nourished, tended to, cared for. —Emma Laperruque, director of cooking
Short-cut favorites like boxed stock, frozen dumplings, and bagged spinach join forces in a twist on comforting egg drop soup that’s a breeze to make.
Empanadas with green sauce
Everytime my boyfriend and I arrive at his parent’s house, they greet us with open arms and a pile of hot-out-the-oven empanadas (we’re lucky!). They’re well-spiced, with buttery ground meat leaching out. A box of these frozen reliables are a staple in their household, and I’m starting to keep them stocked in mine. To make them into more of a meal, I serve the empanadas with an herbaceous green sauce: usually Greek yogurt blended with avocado, cilantro, lime, jalapeño, and olive oil. Alongside a vinegary bean salad, it’s a meal that tastes like a familiar hug. —N.M.
Sheet-pan ravioli
Turn on the oven to 425℉ and immediately throw a sheet pan inside. Once it’s scorching hot, add cheese ravioli, spicy Italian sausage, broccoli rabe, and garlic. Cook it until blistered and brown, and top with a knob of butter, a squeeze of lemon juice, and mountain (yes, really a mountain) of grated Parmesan. Voila! —N.M.
Speedy braised dumplings
When I need a 15-minute, one-pan meal, I look no further than senior Test Kitchen editor Jesse Szewczyk’s buttery tomatoes and dumplings. I always have some kind of frozen gyoza-style dumpling (chicken, pork, shrimp, even veggie) in the freezer, and the tomatoes—even out of season Campari or grape varieties—melt into a rich, juicy, salty-sweet sauce. —Rebecca Firkser, Test Kitchen editor
Store-bought dumplings, fresh tomatoes, butter, and soy sauce simmer away for dinner in a flash.
