Ending up undercooked dumplings is a common problem when cooking them, so it’s ok to ask yourself if it is safe to eat undercooked dumplings.
Sometimes undercooked dumplings are not obvious because the outside may be perfectly fine, but the inside can end up undercooked. So it’s important to know the exact quantities for each ingredient when cooking dumplings.
Now that we know this is a common occurrence, let’s see what we should do with undercooked dumpings.
Can you eat undercooked dumplings?
Eating undercooked dumplings is unsafe because the bacteria inside the food have a high chance of still being present. Also, the undercooked dough can cause serious digestive problems.
Dumplings came in many forms, with different fillings and cooking methods. The rule applies to all of them since they are made with dough.
The ones with a filling containing meat are more dangerous for your health if they are undercooked because bad bacteria are present in raw or undercooked meat. Those are also the ones that have bigger chances of ending up undercooked because the meat can be undercooked when the dough is cooked.
How to figure out whether the dumplings are cooked enough
It’s important to know how to find out if the dumplings are cooked enough or undercooked to avoid eating undercooked dumplings by accident.
For this reason, I will give you a few things to check before getting the dumplings out.
With boiled dumplings, they should float to the top of the water when they are done. But you still have to check them before eating.
When it comes to the dough, usually, it should be well done pretty fast. If it’s not, you will see that it is wet inside and gummier than it should be.
Unfortunately, you can not check the dough if it is done without cutting one dumpling so have this in mind when you count how many dumplings you need. One of them may end up as a sacrifice if it’s not completely done when you check it.
You should check the filling well, especially if it’s a meat filling. As we said, the dough is often done, and the filling inside ends up undercooked.
How to check if the meat is done depends on the type of meat you used, but it certainly should not look like rare cooked meat. There should be no blood spots, and it should be easy to chew through.
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Can you fix undercooked dumplings?
If you find out that your boiled or steamed dumplings are undercooked, you should be able to boil them again. Also, you can cook them in a pan with a bit of oil for a few minutes if you want a crispier texture or put them in the oven.
The situation is a bit more complicated if your dumplings are fried or baked and the filling is still undercooked. In this case, no matter what you do, you will lose their crispy texture or overcook them on the outside.
You can fix fried undercooked dumplings by putting them in the oven for a few minutes and covering them up to keep them moist. This method will make them mushier but will ensure that the inside it’s fully cooked.
Or, you can put them in the oven without covering them, but this way, you may end up with some burnt dumplings on the outside.
How long should you cook dumplings?
Dumplings can be cooked in many different ways, I will try to give you some estimates for each cooking method.
Those are estimates because the size of the dumpling and also how well the oven, air-fryer, and stove-top are working can impact how much time you need to cook dumplings.
-Boiled dumplings. You should bring the water to a boil first, and then 3-4 minutes should be enough for your dumplings, they should be floating when done.
-Baked dumplings. Dumplings need about 15 minutes in an oven preheated at around 350 F. Check them to be golden brown on the outside.
-Pan-fried dumplings. Pan-fried dumplings need about 5 minutes to be completely done, but it is better to check them since one flame can be stronger than the other.
-Air fryer dumplings. Dumplings that are made in an air fryer should take anywhere between 6 to 8 minutes to be done.
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Conclusion
The conclusion is that it is not safe to eat undercooked dumplings, especially the ones with meat filling. But the good news is that undercooked dumplings should not be dumped; see, I’m funny.
I hope after reading this article, you know better how to find out if your dumplings are undercooked and what to do with them. There are many ways to cook dumplings, but each of them will have a different texture, so choose the one that works best for you.
