Don’t waste your leftover pot stickers. I’m sharing with you my best tips on how to reheat pot stickers.
Pot stickers, often called gyoza, are one of life’s little delicacies. Chewy skin, caramelized bottoms, and a scrumptious filling make these things absolutely delicious.
However, all those different components make them somewhat difficult to reheat, especially if you are looking to get all the goodness you got when you first ordered or made them.
That said, with proper technique, knowing how to reheat pot stickers can be within easy reach.
Understanding Pot Stickers
A typical pot sticker is a round piece of dough, shaped around a filling, then fried only on one side.
The steam from the cooking cooks the rest of the dough. It is because you have two components, but three different textures, that can make reheating pot stickers so challenging.
That is further complicated by what is often the filling. Typically, pork is traditional. That means that you will want to be sure to get them above 145 degrees, or ‘piping hot,’ in order to make sure that any nasty bacteria is killed off. The fact that other common fillings, like shrimp and chicken, have similar sanitation requirements.
Still, the most pressing requirement for those with coworkers may be the cabbage. Traditionally, cabbage is used to help keep whatever meat is used moist; as we all know, cabbage can stink.
Therefore, unless you want to be the talk of the water cooler, pay attention to how to avoid that smell.
Three Textures
Let’s talk about the textures in a pot sticker. By far the easiest to protect is the filling. It is soft, succulent, and forgiving.
Because it was cooked by steaming the first time around, it won’t have much in the way of created texture to protect. That is a good thing.
The wrapper, on the other hand, must be treated more delicately. You don’t want to add any color to the top of the wrapper, the off-white part, because that is supposed to be a contrast to the caramelized part.
However, you don’t want to brown the caramelized bottom any more than you have to.
What to Avoid When You Reheat Pot Stickers
A few techniques to avoid are soon obvious. First of all, don’t put a pot sticker in the air fryer. Doing so could destroy the texture of the interior by melting some of the fat, making it runny, while also burning the steamed part of the wrapper.
Additionally, it could well result in burning the bottom part. Similarly, don’t put a pot sticker in a hot oven, for many of the same reasons.
While you might be tempted to think that reheating a pot sticker in oil over a saucepan is a good idea, the fact is that it could well result in overcooking the bottom if the oil is too hot.
Too cool of oil will create a soggy and greasy pot sticker, which is absolutely undesirable.
Best Ways to Reheat Pot Stickers
Instead, pot stickers may offer one of the few times when it is okay to use a microwave.
Use short bursts of no more than 30 seconds, moving them around the plate as they cook. This helps to make sure that each cooks evenly, while also limiting the chance that you will overcook the bottom.
If you have the time, there is a two step method that can work to offer almost perfect results.
First, use a sous vide method to reheat the pot sticker to around 160 degrees. This warms the top part of the wrapper as well as the filling.
Then, for no more than 20 seconds, cook the bottom part in oil over medium high heat, without covering the pan. This lets heat escape so it doesn’t overcook what’s inside, while recrisping the bottom.