A Food Editor Reviews the Viral TikTok Dumpling Bake—Is It Worth the Hype?

TikTok has brought countless food trends into the spotlight, some good (like ordering McDonald’s for headache relief) and some bad (looking at you, cloud bread). Its latest? The dumpling bake, a viral one-pan recipe that’s taken over #foodtok for months. The recipe calls for a handful of pantry staples that you likely already have on hand, along with your preferred frozen dumplings, to create a satisfying, surprisingly elevated meal in mere minutes.

To see what all the fuss was about, I bought all the necessary ingredients to try it myself. Read on for a food editor’s honest review of the popular dish, complete with original photos and substitution suggestions.

The TikTok Dumpling Bake is exactly that: dumplings baked in a spicy, fragrant coconut broth/sauce alongside some sort of produce. It’s typically topped with Insta-worthy finishes, like chopped scallions and sesame seeds. (Chili crisp also often makes an appearance.) The key ingredient, which is at times attributed to @healthygirlkitchen, is Thai red curry paste, which delivers spicy, deeply savory complexity to every bite.

This recipe took off over the summer, but it was still crossing my feed from time to time this fall. And given that I hadn’t tried it yet, I took it as a sign.

I used the most common dumpling bake recipe (from what I’d seen on my side of the internet, anyway). As shown in the above videos by @snackingemily and @taryneliseee, it calls for dumping a can of coconut milk in a baking dish, whisking in a bunch of flavorful pantry staples, adding frozen dumplings to the mixture, baking them until they’re cooked through and garnishing with a few elegant flourishes. Here’s the full breakdown:

Ingredients

• 14 ounces coconut milk (coconut cream is a fine replacement if you want a thicker base)
• 3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (I found it at my local Giant supermarket)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce (feel free to use tamari instead)
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce (sub rice vinegar if you must, but I love fish sauce!)
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 3 chopped garlic cloves (some users also add minced ginger)
• 2 cups chopped bok choy (some users substitute spinach)
• About 16 (or however many fit in the dish) frozen dumplings of your choice (I used Pork Gyoza Potstickers and Thai Shrimp Gyoza from Trader Joe’s)
• Chopped scallions, cilantro, chili oil and sesame seeds, for serving (optional)

Directions

• Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375°F.
• Step 2: Add the coconut milk, curry paste, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil and garlic to a baking dish or large oven-safe pan. Whisk until combined.
• Step 3: Add the bok choy to the dish. Add the dumplings with some space between them.
• Step 4: Cover the dish with foil or a lid. Bake until the dumplings are cooked through, 15 to 25 minutes. (I baked them for 20, then let them sit in the oven for 5 more minutes with the heat off.)
• Step 5: Remove the dish from the oven. Top the dumplings with scallions, cilantro, chili oil and sesame seeds to taste. Serve immediately.