Air Frying Frozen Dumplings Creates a New Kind of Crispy

I air fry a great many things, but they usually fit into a few specific categories: pizza, various vegetables, and chicken wings. Despite how much I like frozen dumplings, I’ve never actually put them in my air fryer until today. Would they cook through properly? Would the texture suffer? I’m happy to report that air frying frozen dumplings works well, and they’re actually crispy in a new and exciting way. 

I almost always have Trader Joe’s frozen dumplings in my freezer. The flavour is excellent compared to other frozen brands I’ve tried (and I’ve tried a lot) and a bag is fairly priced at around $US4. Generally, I steam them. It’s easier and a more hands-off approach than pan-frying them, and my one-bedroom apartment doesn’t end up smelling like oil. Does this mean my days of crispy-fried dumpling skin are over? Hardly.

Pan-frying frozen dumplings usually involves some monitoring to make sure the bottoms brown without burning. Air frying your frozen dumplings is a way to cook them with a lot less attention and even less splatter. The result is a moist, meaty centre and a crispy, bubbly exterior. It’s almost like an eggroll shell, with its teeny, tiny, delicate bubbles. Here’s how to do it. 

How to air fry frozen dumplings

1. Preheat the air fryer

Like most air fryer nibbles, this one is quick and simple. Preheat the air fryer to 320°F (160°C). Put the frozen dumplings on a dish—as many as you’d like to cook at one time without crowding the air fryer basket. 

2. Oil ’em up

You can use an oil sprayer, but I ended up just using my hands. Pour a teaspoon or so of neutral oil into one cupped palm. Rub your palms together and then start grabbing up the dumplings, rubbing them with oil. Make sure you coat them thoroughly and completely. Uncoated spots will end up drying out in the air fryer and result in a pasty texture. If you need more oil, just tip more into one hand. 

3. Air fry the dumps

Once the air fryer is ready, add the dumplings to the basket. Leave them an inch or so of space between each other. Cook them on the “air fry” setting for about 15 minutes. Tip them onto their sides halfway through the cooking time to help crisp the bottom. 

The dumplings are a different experience than pan frying, but it’s different in a good way. Instead of a crispy bottom, you get a delicately blistered shell with a crunchy seam along the top. The inside was still juicy, and my worries that the dense frozen centre might be cold were unfounded.

Save steaming for the stove top

Sadly, the air fryer is no place for steaming dumplings. I did a test batch with water in the air fryer basket. I dipped each dumpling in water to moisten the shell and loaded them in. Although steam develops, the machine is well-ventilated, and it’s not enough to actually steam the meaty pockets; the shells end up drying out. You’ll get more tender dumplings by just steaming them in a pot on the stove.