Pot stickers, known by many names such as momos, dim sum, or dumplings, are minced meat encased in a wrapper, generally made from some kind of flour. This article explores various keto-friendly pot sticker recipes, transforming this traditionally carb-heavy dish into a delightful and healthy low-carb option. These recipes utilize innovative approaches, such as using cabbage or cheese as wrappers, to deliver the same satisfying taste and texture without the carbs.
Cabbage-Wrapped Keto Pot Stickers
This recipe replaces the traditional flour wrappers with cabbage leaves, offering a unique twist that is both delicious and keto-compliant. The pot stickers are first steamed and then pan-fried to achieve an amazing flavor.
Ingredients:
- Cabbage leaves
- Chicken mince (or ground pork, shrimp, or a mix)
- Onion
- Ginger garlic paste
- Spring onion
- Coriander
- Spices
Instructions:
- Prepare the Cabbage Leaves: Peel the cabbage leaves and boil them in water for about 5 minutes until they become tender. Some find that boiling the cabbage first makes it easier to peel the leaves.
- Mix the Filling: In a bowl, mix the chicken mince (or your choice of meat), onion, ginger garlic paste, spring onion, coriander, and spices. Adjust the herbs and spices to create your desired flavor combinations.
- Stuff the Cabbage Leaves: Stuff each cabbage leaf with the mince filling and roll them into dumplings.
- Steam the Pot Stickers: Steam the cabbage-wrapped pot stickers for about 10 minutes over boiling water.
- Pan-Fry (Optional): For an extra layer of flavor and texture, pan-fry the steamed pot stickers in a super hot skillet for 2-3 minutes on each side until the cabbage gets a nice char.
- Serve: Serve the pot stickers with a dipping sauce. A peanut dipping sauce complements these pot stickers perfectly.
Cheese-Wrapped Keto Pot Stickers
This recipe uses cheese slices as wrappers, providing a crispy and flavorful alternative to traditional dough. Provolone or mozzarella cheese are recommended. Fresh mozzarella should be avoided due to its high moisture content.
Ingredients:
- Provolone or mozzarella cheese slices
- Ground pork or chicken
- Cabbage, shredded
- Sesame oil
- Soy sauce or Coconut aminos or tamari sauce
- Water
- Minced garlic
- Minced ginger
- Green onion
Instructions:
Preheat Oven: Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Prepare Cheese Wrappers: Place cheese slices onto the lined baking sheets, spreading them at least 1 inch apart. Bake in the oven for 4-6 minutes or until the edges of the cheese slices are brown.
Read also: Easy Low-Carb Cheese Crackers
Prepare the Filling: While the cheese is cooking, prepare the pot sticker filling. In a medium bowl, combine ground pork or chicken, shredded cabbage, sesame oil, soy sauce, and water. Mix until everything is evenly combined. The meat should resemble a paste.
Cook the Filling: Bring a skillet to medium-high heat. Add the filling and cook, crumbling the meat as it cooks, until everything is just cooked. Turn off the heat and cover with a lid to keep it from getting dry.
Assemble the Pot Stickers: Remove the cheese from the oven. Working quickly, add 1 tbsp of filling to the top half of each cheese wrapper, leaving about 1/2 inch around the edges free. Bring the bottom half of the wrapper over the filling to meet the top half, forming a folded half-circle. If the cheese cools down too much and doesn't stay folded, pop the baking sheet back into the oven for 1-2 minutes until the cheese is melted and malleable again.
Seal the Pot Stickers: Place the dumplings back into the oven and cook for about 2 minutes or until the cheese has melted enough to seal the pot stickers.
Crisp the Pot Stickers: You can crisp the pot stickers using either the oven or stove method.
Read also: Keto Calorie Counting: A Detailed Guide
- Oven Method: Set your oven to low broil. Broil for about 2 minutes or until the surface of the pot stickers is brown.
- Stove Method: Bring a nonstick skillet to medium-high heat. Place a few pot stickers into the skillet and pan-fry for a few seconds on each side until the cheese is brown and crispy. Because of the cheese, you do not need to add oil to the nonstick pan.
Serve: Serve the pot stickers warm with dipping sauce.
Air Frying and Pan Frying Cheese-Wrapped Keto Pot Stickers
Some chefs recommend air-frying the cheese-wrapped pot stickers before pan-frying to achieve the ideal crispiness. Air fry first then pan frying. Air frying first then pan frying achieves ideal crispiness.
Instructions:
- Air fry the assembled cheese-wrapped pot stickers.
- Pan fry the air-fried pot stickers.
Pork Pot Stickers with Cabbage Wrappers
This recipe uses cabbage leaves as wrappers and a flavorful pork filling.
Ingredients:
- Pork:
- 2 lbs ground pork
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- Filling:
- 2 Cups nappa cabbage, shredded (80g)
- ¼ Cup green onion, diced (70g)
- 2 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ Cup white mushrooms, diced (70g)
- ½ Cup water chestnuts, diced (70g)
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar or white vinegar
- Wrapper:
- 12 large green cabbage leaves
- Dipping Sauce:
- 8 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp chili paste
- Optional: 1-2 tsp sesame seeds
Instructions:
- Prepare the Wrappers: Boil a large pot of water. Add the cabbage leaves and allow to boil for 3 minutes. Remove the leaves and set aside to cool.
- Make the Dipping Sauce: Mix together the dipping sauce ingredients and divide into small ramekins/bowls.
- Cook the Pork: In a large skillet, add the ground pork and sprinkle with the seasonings under the pork section. Drizzle the soy sauce over it. Cook, breaking it up so that it is “crumbled,” for about 5-6 minutes (do not fully cook the pork).
- Mix the Filling: Pour the pork into a large bowl. Mix in the filling ingredients.
- Assemble the Rolls: Take a cabbage leaf and cut down the center on either side of the “stem.” Toss the stem. Lay one of the halves of a leaf down and place a scoop (about 45g) of filling at the bottom of the leaf and wrap it up. Fold one side towards the middle and roll the wrapper once away from you. Then fold the other side in a bit as well and continue rolling away from you. Place it seam side down on a plate/tray.
- Air Fry: Place the rolls in an air fryer and cook at 375°F for 10 minutes. Flip the rolls and cook for 3 more minutes.
- Sear (Optional): Place the rolls in a skillet with 1 Tbsp of oil over medium-high heat and sear the rolls for 1-2 minutes before plating. Alternatively, drizzle that oil over the rolls for their final 3 minutes in the air fryer.
- Skillet Cooking (Alternative): If you want to cook this only in a skillet, heat 1 Tbsp of oil over medium heat and place your rolls in the skillet. Use a bacon press or a small pan to squish them down while cooking. Cook for 5 minutes, then flip the rolls and repeat for 5 more minutes.
- Serve: Serve with the dipping sauce.
Deconstructed Pot Stickers
If you don’t want to deal with wrapping the rolls, you can still enjoy this “deconstructed”.
Instructions:
- Shred the cabbage leaves (no boiling) along with the other filling ingredients.
- When cooking the ground pork, cook it for 5 minutes, breaking it apart as you cook.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the pan (except the dipping sauce) and continue to sauté for about 8 minutes until the pork is cooked through.
- Divide this equally among bowls.
- Drizzle the dipping sauce over your serving to your liking, tasting and adding more as needed.
Daikon or Turnip-Wrapped Keto Pot Stickers
This recipe uses thin slices of daikon radish or turnip as wrappers.
Read also: Magnesium Supplements for Keto
Ingredients:
- Daikon radish or turnip
- Ground chicken
- Ginger, minced
- Scallions, minced
- Coconut aminos
- Rice vinegar
- Toasted sesame oil
- Arrowroot starch
- Avocado oil
Instructions:
- Prepare the Wrappers: Dice the tip ends of the radish or turnip. Peel the skin with a vegetable peeler. Use a mandolin slicer to slice the daikon or turnip as thinly as possible, about 1/16th-inch thickness.
- Salt the Wrappers: Place the discs one-by-one over a large sheet pan and lightly sprinkle with coarse sea salt on both sides. Let them sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes.
- Prepare the Filling: In a large mixing bowl, combine ingredients from scallions to arrowroot starch. Stir the filling in one direction until it becomes a sticky paste, about 1-2 minutes. Cover and store in the fridge.
- Dry the Wrappers: Pat dry the daikon with clean paper towels, try to keep them in perfect moisture balance - not too dry and not too wet. There shouldn’t be visible water droplet on the surface. You can also cover them with a slightly damp paper towel while you work on the dumplings one-by-one.
- Assemble the Pot Stickers: Add a small amount of dumpling fillings to the center and use the back of a small teaspoon to smooth the filling. Apply a small amount of pressure to press the filling onto the radish slices. This will help them stick together better. Gently fold it in half to create a half-moon shape and press the center edge to seal with your thumb and index fingers.
- Pan Fry and Steam: In a well-heated non-stick or cast iron skillet, add 1tbsp oil. Pan fry the dumplings for about 2 minutes over medium heat. You might need to fry them in separate batch so as to not overcrowd the skillet. Please do not flip the dumplings. Add ½ tbsp water. Cover with a lid. Lower the heat to medium-low and steam the dumplings for about 2-2.5 minutes. The fillings should be cooked through.
- Uncover and Sear: Uncover. Cook for an additional 30 seconds. Off heat, carefully remove them one-by-one with a small spatula. Place the seared side up over a large serving plate. Some of the fillings might separate from the dumpling wrappers as you remove them from the skillet. Simply place them back. They will stick together once cooler.
- Serve: Serve with dumpling dipping sauce on the side.
Microwave Cheese Keto Pot Stickers
This recipe uses microwave cheese as a wrapper.
Instructions:
- Microwave cheese in a medium bowl for 30-45 second until melted.
- Add yolks and combine using a spatula.
- Microwave for an additional 10 seconds and combine fully.
- Pour the cheese yolk mixture onto a greased parchment paper and cover with another piece of greased parchment paper.
- Roll out the mixture pretty thing with a rolling pin.
- Cut out 12 circles and fill the center of each with your favorite filling (we used cooked ground pork as seen above in the recipe).
- Fold up the sides to meet in the center at the top and squeeze closed (watch video to see how I did it).
- Place all the complete potstickers on a parchment lined plate and refrigerate for 3-4 hours to allow them to set and harden.
- Heat a pan to medium-high heat and add in 2 tbsp of oil of choice (we used avocado oil).
- Add the cold potstickers to the heated pan in two batches and allow to crisp on one side before flipping.
Simple Keto Pot Stickers
This recipe uses cabbage leaves as wrappers and is simple to make.
Ingredients:
- Pork
- Garlic paste
- Soya sauce or Coconut aminos
- Chopped spring onion
- Salt and pepper
- Cabbage leaves
- Olive oil
Instructions:
- In a bowl, mix together the pork, garlic paste, soya sauce, chopped spring onion, salt, and pepper.
- Boil the cabbage leaves until tender. If they are very large, cut them in half once they have cooled.
- Fill each leaf with some filling and then wrap to make the pot sticker.
- In a frying pan, heat up the olive oil and then fry the pot stickers.
- Turn the heat down to medium, cover, and let it cook for 4 minutes. Then flip the over, cover, and let them cook for another 4 minutes.
- Once the meat is fully cooked through, remove from the pan.
Dipping Sauce Options
A good dipping sauce can elevate the flavor of your keto pot stickers. Here are a few options:
- Basic Sauce: Coconut aminos, rice vinegar, and toasted sesame oil. Add hot sauce and/or aged balsamic vinegar for extra flavor.
- Sweet Sauce: Egg roll sauce made with apricot jam.
- Peanut Dipping Sauce: A classic pairing with many Asian dumplings.
- Soy Sauce Based Sauce: Soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and chili paste.
Tips and Considerations
- Cheese Selection: When using cheese as a wrapper, stick to provolone or mozzarella. Avoid fresh mozzarella due to its high moisture content.
- Wrapper Preparation: For cabbage wrappers, boiling the leaves beforehand makes them more pliable and easier to work with.
- Filling Consistency: Ensure the filling is not too watery to prevent the wrappers from becoming soggy.
- Cooking Method: Experiment with different cooking methods, such as steaming, pan-frying, air frying, or a combination of these, to achieve your desired texture and flavor.
- Freezing: These low-carb potstickers are freezer-friendly. Store the uncooked dumplings in the freezer over a sheet pan. Pan-fry them directly from the freezer whenever you crave dumplings. Do not defrost them in advance because the daikon or turnip wrappers will turn soft and watery.
- Customization: Feel free to experiment with different fillings, herbs, and spices to create your own unique flavor combinations.
Nutritional Information
Nutritional information can vary based on the ingredients and quantities used. It is recommended to use an online nutritional calculator to obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information.