Chicken Apple Potstickers

Chicken Apple Potstickers are amazingly delicious sweet and savory bites! Loaded with chicken, caramelized onions and apples, honey and soy sauce, they are the perfect protein for any stir fry!  This is a large batch meal prep recipe for how to make frozen potstickers! Stock 1 to 2 dinners away in your freezer for a quick and easy weeknight, just add veggies and rice!

Why We Love It!

• Incredibly Delicious! - We love a good stir fry now and then, and topping that rice and veggies with a sweet and savory, melt-in-your-mouth homemade Chicken Apple Potsticker is an amazing way to go!

• These are Meal Prep Homemade Freezer Potstickers! - Making potstickers from scratch can be a little time consuming. So, I've created this to be a meal prep large batch recipe, with extras to stock in the freezer. Cooking frozen potstickers turns into an easy weeknight meal!

• This Chicken Apple Potsticker idea was born at the farmer's market.  A girl handed me a sample of a homemade potsticker that was simply amazing.  I convinced her that my one-year-old needed his own sample and "helped" him eat that one too.  I quickly forked over the $12 for a dozen of these homemade little beauties, and headed home to stir fry some veggies and rice. Now the beauty here, she was selling these potstickers frozen. For a dollar a bite I could go broke buying these things, but if she sells potstickers frozen, I could make big batches and freeze them myself! Chicken Apple Potstickers were born and we've been loving them ever since!

Ingredients

• Onion - The onion is very important here because caramelizing it brings a ton of flavor to the recipe. This is easy, just saute it slowly over low heat to bring out its natural sugars until it turns golden brown and delicious. Use this time to assemble and measure all your other ingredients.

• Apple - Apple brings a bit of natural sweetness when cooked with the onion.

• Garlic - Adds great flavor, fresh garlic is best!

• Cooked Chicken - Leftover or rotisserie chicken is great for this recipe. Or try this method for cooking Cast Iron Skillet Chicken Breast.

• Cilantro - Adds a bright freshness to the potstickers. I like to add more chopped cilantro to garnish the finished potsticker stir fry.

• Soy Sauce - A classic Asian flavor, soy sauce balances the sweetness of the dish.

• Brown Sugar - Adds a bit of sweetness.

• Sesame Oil - Brings a familiar Asian taste to these homemade chicken potstickers.

• Rice Vinegar - A bit of acid to balance the sweetness.

• Molasses - Adds a deep richness to these tasty bites!

• Honey - A touch of sweetness marries with the caramelized onion.

• Potsticker or Wonton Wrappers - You can use the circle or square fresh refrigerated (not dry) wrappers. They may be labeled potsticker wraps, wonton wraps or Gyoza wrappers. Try to use a package of about 52 for this recipe, the amount may vary by brand.

Instructions

Step 1 - Start caramelizing your onion right away as this is a bit of a long slow process. Simple saute an onion over low heat, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes. It will lightly brown, bringing out its natural sugars and sweetness.

Add the chopped apple and continue cooking another 10 minutes. Assemble and measure all your other ingredients during this time.

Step 2 - Add all other ingredients to the onion except the potsticker wrappers. You can have them all pre-measured in a small bowl as your onion cooks.

Turn the heat off and stir until well combined.

Step 3 - Assemble you potstickers. Set up an assembly line by laying about 6 wrappers on a cutting board and adding about a spoonful of filling to the middle of each.

Dab water around the edges with your finger, fold over and press tightly to seal. Place your finished potstickers on a large sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

Step 4 - Potstickers can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container a day in advance.

To freeze, place to whole sheet pan in the freezer and then transferred the frozen potstickers to a container or freezer bag.

Step 5 - To cook, (either right away or from frozen, the method is the same), in a large fry pan over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Set the potstickers in oil and fry until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Flip them gently with a metal spatula.

Add ¼ cup water, quickly cover and steam for 1 minute until no water remains (it will hiss loudly!).  Carefully loosen them from the pan with a spatula, they will stick to the pot, they are potstickers!

Serve over rice with soy sauce and sautéed vegetables.

Storage & Freezer Portioning

If you are thinking, homemade potstickers, who has time for that? This is a freezer meal prep recipe, worth every bit of your time! 

One package of wrappers makes 52 of these delicious little morsels for only a few dollars.  This is somewhere between 2 and 3 dinners for my family. 

When it was just mom and dad and one little toddler, it was 3, now that we have 2 growing elementary kids, it's 2.  Here's the breakdown...

• If you are dividing the 52 into 3 meals, that's 17 potstickers per meal...(5 to 6 each for adults, 2 to 3 each for kids).  If you are dividing the 52 into 2 meals, that's 26 per meal (5 to 6 each for adults, 3 to 4 each for kids, plus leftovers for lunch).  Adjust the amounts for your family size.

• You can even double the recipe! Stock your freezer and you will thank yourself when you have a few easy weeknight dinners ready to just add veggies and rice.

• To Freeze - store them in any types of containers you have in portions right for your family. Putting parchment paper between layers will help them from sticking together. Freeze homemade potstickers for up to 6 months. You can thaw overnight in the fridge or cook straight from frozen.

• Leftover potsticker stir fry can be refrigerated for up to 3 days, microwave to reheat. 

Recipe Tips

• Where to Find Potsticker or Wonton Wrappers - Hopefully I can save you 20 minutes at the grocery store! Potsticker wrappers are not in the Asian food aisle! They are refrigerated in the produce area by the packages of herbs. A pack costs a couple bucks.

• Create an Assembly Line - Homemade potstickers take a little time, so set up an assembly line to speed up the process. You can make the filling in advance and refrigerate if you like. Then just lay out a few wrappers on a cutting board, fill, dab with water and seal. Have large sheet pans with parchment paper ready to line with your finished potstickers. Then decide what you will cook for dinner and portion the rest to freeze.

• Dessert Potstickers -  If your numbers don't come out just right, don't worry!  If you end up with too much filling, you can throw it in with the stir fry or put it in an Asian style salad or deli wrap for lunch the next day.  If you end up with too many wrappers, you can freeze them, or make a few Dessert Potstickers!  Fill them with banana slices and a couple chocolate chips or chopped candy bars, cook them as instructed above, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, kid-friendly!

What to Eat With Potstickers

Our potsticker menu usually includes rice and stir fried vegetables. So with 3 pots on the stove, I get the rice started in one. I usually use a quick cooking long grain white rice. Brown rice is great too but takes longer to cook.

In the second large fry pan I stir fry lots of veggies. Start by cooking the harder vegetables that need longer to cook like carrot, cauliflower, onion, broccoli, asparagus, bok choy or red bell pepper. Then add in quicker cooking veggies like pea pods, green beans, scallions, or leafy greens.

A few nuts or seeds are great too like cashews, peanuts, or sesame seeds and add extra protein.

Meanwhile I cook the fresh or frozen potstickers in a third fry pan.

Put your potsticker stir fry all together, pile a bowl with rice, veggies, potstickers and a drizzle of soy sauce for a delicious dinner!

Other potsticker dinner ideas could be serving them over ramen or another Asian pasta, or simply serving them with dipping sauce as an appetizer!

Kids in the Kitchen

Now that my one-year-old taste tester from the farmer's market is 7, he and his little sister love helping me in the kitchen (sometimes!). 

Potstickers are the perfect hands-on activity to get kids helping!  We spread them all out on the dinning room table, they love folding them over and smashing the edges together. 

This recipe is one for the weekend, and kids can help with any phase along the way.

• Make the Filling - kids can help measure the sauce ingredients
• Potsticker Assembly line - they love to assemble and seal the edges
• Prepping Dinner - kids can chop veggies

Each phase can be done separately and kept in the fridge until ready for the next step.  Perfect for kids coming and going who like to pull up a chair!

If you made this recipe, I'd love to hear how you liked it! Be sure to leave a star rating by clicking the stars in the recipe card, or leave a comment below!

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