A Perfect Peachy Potsticker and Tomato Skillet

Updated Aug. 2024: This Peachy Potsticker and Tomato Skillet recipe rides squarely on the backs of some handy (super delish) store-bought potstickers. I love any and all manner of Chinese-style dumplings, but perhaps no more than the wonderful potsticker. The mega flavorful ground pork filling is enough to make my whole day, typically, but this new application of the classic dumpling is just fun. Honestly? It’s a good way to enjoy potstickers as a main course, taking them out of the starters and apps category and giving them due time as the main event.

What you’ll need to make this Peachy Potsticker Skillet

Every major supermarket around carries some manner of potstickers, so just select a kind that looks good to you and you’ll be all set. I created this recipe as both a fun and new way to utilize store-bought potstickers (hello, fellow homemade-ish recipe fans!) and also a new play on the pork + fruit combination that we all know and love. I’ve done it a number of times here on MKL, actually. Like in my Sticky Maple Balsamic Pork Chops with Plums and Pork and Mango Lettuce Wraps.

This quick skillet potstickers recipe comes together in a hurry and relies on some pantry staples to do the heavy flavor lifting. Salty, umami-rich soy sauce, sweet hoisin (like a Chinese barbecue sauce), and spicy chili crisp create a great sauce when melted into the natural juices from the tomatoes and peaches. You can use the sauce packet that comes with your dumplings if you like, or not. I’d taste it first to see what you think (gauge the salt factor) and use it if you want to.

It’s worth noting that all of the ingredients listed here, for the most part, are to be used to taste. Use as much or as little of each thing as you like.

Potsticker and Tomato Ingredient Notes

Frozen pork potstickers: The amount listed in my potsticker and tomato skillet recipe is approximate – you can totally eyeball this. Also, this is a really widely available product that you shouldn’t have much trouble finding them. I’ve snagged a bag at each of my go-to larger supermarkets, as well as Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and Amazon Fresh.

Sesame seeds: These are available right in your spice aisle, and will lend tremendous crunch to a dish that definitely needs it. Potstickers are usually pretty crispy – that’s the point, kind of. But in this recipe, we’re tossing them in a deliciously saucy um … sauce. That will compromise the crunch a bit, so the sesame seeds help to counteract that.

Vegetable or canola oil for frying: When it comes to the cooking oil you select for this here Peachy Potsticker and Tomato Skillet, just use whatever high-smoke point (so not like, an expensive sesame or walnut finishing oil or something like that), neutral-flavored oil you like or have around.

Toasted Sesame oil: Not to be confused with or used as a cooking oil, sesame oil is a flavor agent, typically. It is extremely strong in flavor so shouldn’t be used to cook with, in ample amounts, as you would with an olive or vegetable oil. It’s wonderful as a part of a sauce

Cherry tomatoes: Always in fashion, always in season. They’ll burst into little sweet sugar bombs, helping to build the easiest sauce ever.

Ripe peaches: You’ll want to slice them, but there’s really no need to peel.

Scallions: You can use the white parts the same way you would an onion and the greens are kept fresh and punchy, sprinkled over top as the ever-perfect garnish.

Hoisin: Hoisin is a Chinese barbecue sauce of sorts (that’s how I like to describe it). The flavor is slightly sweet with a bit of spicy intrigue from five-spice powder.

Soy sauce: I live for soy sauce, and it just manages to bring so many dishes together. This potsticker and tomato skillet included.

Chili crisp to taste, (it’s spicy!): We know that I have it bad for this stuff. I’ve waxed on and on about it before. namely, it’s how I wake myself up in the morning with my spicy fried eggs. It’s also one of the things that makes my take on Japanese Tan Tan Ramen to stinking tasty. So anyway. I keep it around at all times, and it’s always everyone’s favorite topper (even my kids).

How to make this Peachy Potsticker and Tomato Skillet

Because we’re going to dip the potstickers in sesame seeds before frying them, we need to thaw them first. This makes the dough sticky, a perfect surface for all those crunchy little seeds to cling to as they fry up in the skillet. This step is a slight departure from the standard package instructions, as most tell you to cook the dumplings from frozen. If you wan to skip the sesame seeds altogether, you can absolutely do that and cook the potstickers from frozen. No harm, no foul there. But also – no crunchy, seedy texture.

Potsticker and Tomato Skillet DIRECTIONS

1. About 1 hour before cooking, remove the frozen potstickers from their packaging and separate them. I find this is easier to do when they’re frozen, as the thawed dough tends to tear. Allow them to fully thaw
2. Pour the sesame seeds onto a small plate. Add a thin layer of cooking oil to a large skillet over medium heat, along with about a teaspoon of sesame oil (swirl to mix a bit). Once thawed, dip the bottom/flat side of each potsticker into the sesame seeds, coating as best you can. 
3. When the oil is hot, place the potstickers, seed side down, into the pan and add a small drizzle of water. Quickly and carefully (the water will splatter, so cover very quickly), put the lid on the pan and let the potstickers steam for a few minutes. Remove the lid and let the remaining moisture cook off, creating a nice browned crust on the potsticker bottoms (note: cook times will vary depending on your brand of dumpling).
4. Transfer the cooked dumplings to a plate/tray for now and don’t worry about wiping out the pan. With the heat still on medium, add the tomatoes, peaches, and scallion whites. Cook for a minute. If the potstickers came with any doping sauce, you can add that here, or not. Add the hoisin, some soy sauce and chili crisp to taste, and simmer for a few minutes until the tomatoes begin to burst and look juicy. 
5. Pour the saucy peaches and tomatoes onto plates or a platter and top with the crispy potstickers. Sprinkle with the scallion greens and enjoy.

If you like the looks of this Peachy Potsticker and Tomato Skillet, you might also want to check out:

Okay so. You know my new book, Homemade-ish? Well, this recipe would fit in so very well with the other semi-homemade things in the book. The idea is to take something store-bought and to doctor it up into something brand new – something even better. Things like my tasty and doubly potato-y Warm Pierogi Potato Salad or my Thai Crispy Chicken Salad exemplify this easy-breezy style of cooking that we love so much here on MKL.

But also, you may be a big peach person like me, enjoying a peach any way you can get it. If that’s the case, you should definitely take a peek at Summer’s Favorite BLT, these truly great Honey Pickled Peaches or this fun peachy twist on a gazpacho. But if you want to drink your peaches, then go right ahead and do that with my Juicy Peach Paloma. You’ll LOVE it, I just know.

But if you like to try to mimic your favorite takeout flavors at home (this peachy potsticker and tomato skillet really does that) then you should check out my Pork Katsu, this easy Korean-Style Beef with Kimchi or my spin on a quick Bibimbap.

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