crispy chive egg dumplings

These crispy chive egg dumplings made with rice paper are so addicting, and one of my most viral recipes! I had a craving for Chinese chive boxes, the popular northern Chinese street food that looks like an empanada, but didn’t want to make a dough. Rice paper is always in my pantry and is so much easier (might be tastier too!).

Adding cooked shrimp into these dumplings will make them very similar to the dimsum, gow choi gao (shrimp and chive dumplings).

If you don’t like chive & egg, you can really make any fillings for these! It’s hard to make these taste bad, I promise :)

If you want a recipe that uses rice paper but doesn’t require frying them, try my shrimp spring rolls with peanut sauce!

Tips for working with rice paper

tip #1: use room temperature, not warm water

Rice paper can be tricky to work with! My best tip for working with rice paper is to just briefly wet it with room temperature (not warm) water. Once I started doing this and the next tip, I never had any trouble with them ripping.

tip #2: once the rice paper is wet, work quickly!

I also recommend working quickly once it’s wet — the longer it sits, the softer it gets. Once you put the filling down in the middle, don’t wait too long to start wrapping the dumpling.

For me, it takes about 30 seconds for the rice paper to reach optimal pliability. If you try to fold the rice paper right after wetting it, it’ll still be a bit sturdy and won’t be as pliable. Anything much longer than 30 seconds and the rice paper will be very delicate. Once you practice a few, you’ll become a pro in no time!

How to get the crispiest rice paper dumplings

tip #1: double wrap the rice paper dumpling

If you want rice dumplings that are evenly crispy on both sides, I highly recommend double wrapping with another piece of rice paper! Doing so also helps them stay together better and gets them crispier.

To successfully double wrap, make sure to put the initial wrapped dumpling seam side down onto the second layer of rice paper. Seam side down ensures that once the second layer is folded over, both sides have the same thickness.

tip #2: fry on medium heat in a nonstick pan and use enough oil

Preheat a nonstick pan on medium heat, then add 2-3 tablespoons of neutral oil. The dumplings should sizzle when you add them to the pan. If they don’t, then the oil isn’t hot enough, and they are at risk of becoming soggy.

I like frying on medium heat here for 2 reasons:

Medium heat allows for a crispy crust to form gradually and evenly. If you use high heat, you might end up with uneven brown or crispy spots, or rice paper that’s too chewy because it hasn’t been fried through.

Because a nonstick pan is the easiest to use here, we shouldn’t use heat higher than medium. To ensure the longevity of nonstick pans, never use them on high heat! It wears off the nonstick coating quicker.

Dipping sauce for these crispy chive egg dumplings

For these crispy chive egg dumplings, I just used my typical dumpling dipping sauce that consists of soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar (or rice vinegar if you don’t have it), sesame oil, and chili oil. You can customize it to your preference!

I hope you enjoy these! If you tried them, please let me know what you think :)

Please note: I receive a small commission from any affiliate links on this page.