This is how to cook frozen potstickers in air fryer or Ninja Foodi perfectly. There is a trick to how to cook frozen dumplings without defrosting and we will show you how to get the meat tender with a bit of a crispy dough outside you'll love.

Open bag of frozen dumplings viewed from above, showing several uncooked, crescent-shaped pieces inside—solid for making potstickers in air fryer.

If you haven't tried potstickers in air fryer yet, they're so good! You can start from frozen and they come out tender on the inside with a crunch on the outside. like the restaurant but cheaper. Skip the spitting oil to get them crispy and try one of our favorite easy air fryer recipes.

We started this journey making air fryer frozen french fries. They were such a game changer we tried other frozen items and oh WOW we were obsessed. Not only was it so much faster to get warm but the texture on the outside is so much better than boiling in water.

Ninja Foodi Frozen Potstickers

There is a trick to getting these right, we will share the two steps to this process. It is easy but defrosting a bit at the beginning is key. You can use a Ninja Foodi, Cosori or any other brand but with this multi-cooker you need to remember to use the lid that is attached for these directions.

Tips: My Favorite models are the Cosori or making Ninja Foodi recipes with the lid that is attached.

It is best practice to put food into a hot basket. This is how to preheat air fryer first before adding your food so it becomes as crispy as possible. For best results, here's a printable free air fryer cooking time chart here for your fridge.

A close-up photo of a hand pulling out the basket of an open air fryer on a light-colored surface. The interior of the air fryer basket is empty and features a mesh design, solid for cooking your favorite dishes like bang bang shrimp. The edge of the air fryer has a latch mechanism for securing the basket.

There are many brands out there and a variety of fillings inside too. You can typically find beef, chicken, pork and vegetable which would be vegetarian. All of these would need the same steps we share below in order to get warmed on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Here we featured a bag of Ling Ling potstickers (could be called dumplings) but have used others as well. The only difference between these terms is the shape of the outside. These are half moons and the other usually look more like a present. Doesn't change the temp. or timing.

We started with some mini won tons we found next to these. They were tiny but the same method worked so we thought we'd share. The thing is with these you want the insides to be tender but crisp outsides.

That isn't super easy to do if you throw them in. You need to “cook” the insides so they're soft first. The best way to do involves some wet paper towels and a microwave. That only takes about 2 minutes to get each piece soft and ready to throw inside your electric air fryer.

Tips for Success

The trick to the solid bite is to fold 4-6 thick paper towels in half. 4 for a few, 6 if you're cooking quite a bit. Squeeze out the excess and then lay the halved towels out flat on a plate. (see above) Lay what you want to cook in the middle and then fold the sides up and around them. This will essentially allow them to steam in the heat and get the middle nice and tender.

If you want to make frozen won tonsfollow these same steps. To make a homemade version you could follow our Palt Recipe.

How Long to Cook Frozen Potstickers in Air Fryer

Fold 4 – 6 thick paper towels in half, wet, squeeze gently to remove excess water. Lay on a plate with frozen potstickers in the middle. Fold wet paper towels over the top of them. Microwave for 2 minutes, or until the middle of each is not frozen or hard any longer.

The larger your pieces are the more time you will need. For mini frozen won tons it's 1-1.5 minutes or so. These larger frozen potstickers took closer to 2-2.5 minutes of time. touch the center of each, rewrap and add 30 seconds more at a time until they're soft. We do the same thing to make frozen pierogies in air fryer.

Then you set into a preheated air fryer for 6 minutes total. Flip every 2 minutes and spray tops each time you flip over. Remove once they're as crispy as you'd like them to be.

Air Fryer Frozen Potstickers

By Frozen potstickers in air fryer or Ninja Foodi are the best! Tender meat or vegetables inside with crispy dough on the outside. solid lunch or dinner. Prep: 2 minutes minsCook: 6 minutes minsServings: 4 Save Recipe Saved! Pin Recipe Comment Print Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients

6-8 large potstickers, frozen
1 spray olive oil spray

Instructions

Fold 4 paper towels in half (so it's 2 paper towels long, twice as thick). Run under faucet to wet, squeeze gently to remove excess water.
Lay on a plate with frozen potstickers in the middle. Fold wet paper towels over the top of them.
Microwave for 2 minutes, or until the middle of each is not frozen/hard any longer.
Preheat air fryer to 400 degrees F for 5 minutes.
Put defrosted potstickers into basket and spray generously with olive oil spray.
Set to 6 minutes total. Flip every 2 minutes and spray tops each time you flip over.
Remove once they're as crispy as you'd like them to be.

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Entree, SnackCuisine: Chinese, Japanese Tried this recipe?Mention @thetypical_mom or tag #thetypicalmom!

Kitchen questions

What are the best frozen potstickers?

We only have 2 choices where we live but if you're in a larger area you might have more. Bibigo has a chicken and veggie one that tops the list, followed by the one's at Trader Joe'sWei Chuan and Shirakiku have styles that are more like dumplings. We feel like the dumpling or won ton versions with a thinner, wetter wrapper turn out best.

How do you cook frozen potstickers?

Before making air fryer potstickers We used to put them in a pan with some water. With a lid on they'd steam to soften. Then we'd have to drain the water, add butter into the pan and let them brown that way. We prefer this method now.

Can you microwave frozen potstickers?

Yes, we did that in the first step. You could stop after that and not air fry to crisp if you wanted. wet thick paper towels, wrap them inside and microwave for 2 minutes to soften.

Other easy air fryer snacks you'll love

You can make air fryer egg rolls some time. My kiddos love making air fryer frozen corn dogs that are frozen too. You can use a CrispLid on your Instant Pot to make all of these too but we would recommend a separate electric air fryer. Want to make something similar but totally homemade?? Try our air fryer won tons or…..