Filled with five-spice tofu & Chinese chives and served with a delicious dipping sauce, these vegan dumplings are a great treat for all.

To celebrate the coming Winter Solstice (Dōng Zhì, 冬至), I’m sharing a recipe of my favourite vegan dumplings (Sù Jiăozī, 素饺子). They are filled with five-spice tofu, shiitake mushroom, Chinese chives and accompanied with a spicy dipping sauce. It’s simple, healthy and very satisfying!
An introduction to Winter Solstice tradition
Chinese people always celebrate special days with delicious food. Winter Solstice is no exception. While the Southerners enjoy Tang Yuan (glutinous rice ball, 汤圆) on this day, people in Northern regions of the country have dumplings on the family dining table.
“Your ears might fall off in the winter if you don’t eat dumplings today.” In the old days Grandmas always jokingly threaten children, they would explain: “Don’t you see how much dumplings look like ears?” I don’t recall if I did believe it or not, but I remember very well how much I enjoyed every single dumpling on my plate.
Vegan dumplings can be very tasty
There are always plenty of vegan/vegetarian choices in Chinese food. People who don’t follow a plant-based diet also enjoy them on a daily basis. When my parents prepared dumpling meals, they often make two fillings: one with minced meat, one with vegetable and tofu/egg. My brother had always gone for the former. I was a firm lover of the vegetable ones.
Given a good mixture of different ingredients, a balanced seasoning, plus an exciting dipping sauce, vegan dumplings can be super tasty.
What makes a great vegan filing
For today’s vegan dumpling filling, I choose to use four main ingredients:
- Five-spice tofu. It’s flavoured with Chinese five-spice and has a dense, firm texture. Smoked tofu is a good substitute.
- Chinese chives. It’s my favourite dumpling ingredient as it gives any filling a good lift in flavour.
- Shiitake mushrooms. It provides extra umami taste.
- Carrot. It adds another colour and a hint of sweetness.
The seasoning: Pour hot oil over finely chopped scallions, ginger and ground Sichuan pepper to fully release their aroma. Then add light soy sauce and a drop of sesame oil. Please adjust the amount of salt needed based on the saltiness of your five-spice/smoked tofu.
Homemade wrappers are the best
For many people who aren’t familiar with dumpling making, this could be the most intimidating part. Making wrappers isn’t in fact as challenging as you’d imagined. And, the result is so rewarding. I strongly encourage you to give it a try (Please refer to my tutorial video in the recipe card below)! Here are a few tips:
- Resting is magical. If your dough doesn’t appear smooth, let it rest. If your dough is too hard, let it rest. If your wrappers shrink after rolling, let it rest.
- Perfect wrappers should be thinner on the edge and thicker in the middle. To achieve this, practice the “roll and turn” technique: One hand moves the rolling pin halfway over the dough and then rolls back. The other hand turns the wrapper a little each time in a circular motion. Roll, turn, roll, turn…
To get more in-depth knowledge on this cooking skill, read my post “Ultimate guide to homemade dumpling wrappers”. It covers all aspects: flour choices, ideal water flour ratio, hand kneading techniques, rolling methods, make-ahead tips, etc.
Folding dumplings is fun
Do you enjoy folding dumplings as much as I do? I like trying out different shapes so I wrote a post on “Ten ways to fold dumplings”. Some are more challenging than others but they all look nice in their own ways.
For today’s vegan dumplings, I give them a traditional look: half-moon shape. This is how I fold them(Please refer to my tutorial video in the recipe card below):
- Place a spoonful of filling on the wrapper.
- Fold and seal the middle part.
- Make 2-4 pleats from each end.
- Press all around the edge to seal completely.
Compared to meat-based ones, this vegan filling can be a little more difficult to manage when folding as the ingredients are quite “loose”. Try not to put too much in one wrapper if you’re a novice. Increase as your skill improves.
How to fry dumplings perfectly?
I like pan-fried dumplings for their crispy base and the extra fatty taste. To cook them perfectly, follow these steps:
- Heat a little oil over a high heat then add the dumplings.
- When the bottom part of the dumplings turns light brown, pour in cold water (enough to cover ⅓ of the dumplings). Cover with a lid immediately.
- Uncover when the water evaporates completely. Cook for another 30-60 seconds to crisp up.
Don’t fancy frying? There are another two ways to cook these vegan dumplings: boil in water or simply steam them. My post “Cook dumplings in three ways” explains in detail how you achieve it.
Make an exciting dipping sauce
Although very tasty on their own, you might like to make a dipping sauce for your vegan dumplings. Extra flavour and excitement are always welcome in a meal, aren’t they? I looked through my condiment & spice shelf then came up with this simple yet delicious dipping sauce.
- Put chilli flakes, chopped scallions and ground Sichuan pepper into a bowl.
- Pour hot oil over to release their fragrance.
- Add light soy sauce, black rice vinegar and a pinch of sugar.
By using chilli flakes and ground Sichuan pepper, this sauce creates an addictive numbing & spicy taste, known as “Málà/麻辣” in Chinese. According to my better half, it was “to die for”! If you have never tried Sichuan pepper, I highly recommend you give it a try!
Need more dipping sauce inspirations? Check out my post on Six Dumpling Sauces. Want to learn more about various types of Chinese Dumplings? Read my post on 15 Best Dumpling Recipes.
Vegan dumplings with spicy dipping sauce
Ingredients
For the wrappers
- 250 g all-purpose flour - about 2 cups, plus some for dusting
- 130 ml water - ½ cup+2 teaspoon (see note 1)
For the filling
- 150 g five-spice tofu/smoked tofu - finely chopped, about 1 cup
- 70 g Chinese chives - finely chopped, about 1 cup
- 6 shiitake mushrooms - finely chopped, about ⅓ cup (see note 2)
- 50 g carrot - grated, about ½ cup
- 1 tablespoon scallions - finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon ginger - minced
- ¼ tsp ground Sichuan pepper
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 teaspoon light soy sauce
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- ¼ tsp salt - or to taste
For frying
- cooking oil
- water
For the dipping sauce
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
- ¼ teaspoon ground Sichuan pepper
- 1 teaspoon scallions - finely chopped
- 1 pinch sugar
- 2 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 2 teaspoon black rice vinegar
Instructions
Make the dough
- In a mixing bowl, add water to the flour gradually. Mix with chopsticks/spatula until no more loose flour can be seen. Combine and knead into a dough.
- Leave to rest (covered) for 10-15 minutes then knead again until smooth (see note 3).
- Cover and rest for a further 30-60 minutes until it becomes soft.
Prepare the filling
- Put tofu, Chinese chive, mushroom and carrot into a large bowl. Place scallions, ginger and ground Sichuan pepper on top.
- Heat the oil until smoke appears. Pour it over scallions, ginger and Sichuan pepper.
- Add light soy sauce, sesame oil and salt. Mix well.
Roll the wrappers
- Divide the dough into three parts.
- Roll one part into a rope then cut into 10 equal sections (cover the rest to prevent them from drying out).
- Press each piece into a small disc with the palm of your hand.
- Use a rolling pin to flatten it into a thin disc. Dust with flour if it sticks.
Assemble the dumplings
- Place a spoonful of filling on the wrapper.
- Fold and seal the middle part.
- Make 2-4 pleats from each end.
- Press all around the edge to seal completely.
Fry the dumplings
- Coat a frying pan with a thin layer of oil. Heat up over high heat. Place the dumplings in the pan.
- When the bottom part becomes golden brown, pour in water (enough to cover ⅓ of the dumplings) then cover with a lid.
- Uncover when the water evaporates completely. Cook another 30 seconds to crisp up.
Prepare the sauce
- Heat the oil until smoke appears. Put chilli flakes, ground Sichuan pepper, scallion and sugar into a bowl. Pour hot oil over.
- Add light soy sauce, black rice vinegar. Mix well.
Make-ahead tips
- Right after the dumplings are assembled, lay them on a tray to freeze (dust with flour or line with parchment paper). Then put them in an air-tight bag when frozen.
- Whenever you need to cook them, pan fry the usual way without defrosting.
Video
NOTES
- Please be aware that measuring flour by cups is less accurate and the flour-water ratio may vary depending on the brand of your flour.
- Soak dried shiitake mushrooms in cold water for at least 8 hours. You can use fresh ones too.
- You may use a stand mixer with a dough hook to do step 1 & 2 all at once.
NUTRITION
NUTRITION DISCLOSURE: Nutritional information on this website is provided as a courtesy to readers. It should be considered estimates. Please use your own brand nutritional values or your preferred nutrition calculator to double check against our estimates.
I had so many problems with the dumpling skins sticking to everything. I used more and more and more flour to get the sticking to stop. I can see that these need much more practice. You make it look so easy! It was fun tho.
Thank you Patricia for trying out my recipe! It looks like your dough is a little too soft. Next time, try reducing the water or increasing the flour slightly.
Hello , for the filling is 1 tbsp oil enough for so much ingredients ? Just pouring 1 tbsp oil over the bowl filled with filling ingredients will cook all the ingredients which are about 300 GMs in total.
Hi Rinku! As I said in the recipe, the 1 tbsp of hot oil is for pouring over the scallions, ginger and Sichuan pepper (It brings out the best flavour of these ingredients), not for “cooking” the filling. For Chinese dumplings, the filling always goes into the wrapper uncooked. Have a look at my tutorial video to see how I use the hot oil.
Amazing recipe!! The quantities and method are perfect, these were so so yummy, thank you!
My pleasure Erin! Glad to know my recipe worked well for you.