Our Favorite Store-Bought Chicken Dumplings Rank Best In Quality

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Dumplings are a quintessential comfort food around the globe. We've even counted 50 different variations over the years. The dumpling craze has infiltrated the food industry, and you'll find countless store-bought dumplings in the frozen section of the nearest grocery store. In a recent taste test, we ranked 7 different chicken and dumpling brands according to the flavor of the fillings and texture of their wrapping, only to find that our favorite store-bought chicken dumplings beat out the competition with high-quality ingredients that we could taste right off the bat.

Dumpling Daughter's Chicken and Cabbage Dumplings ranked first place by a long shot. While the other competitors were certainly edible, you could tell that the chicken wasn't the best quality. Other options included meat that was ground and shredded into oblivion, exuding an ultra-processed taste. But with Dumpling Daughters, the dumplings were stuffed to the brim with whole chunks of tender chicken meat and crunchy cabbage, both of which held their shape and texture beautifully. The freshness of the ingredients really brought these dumplings into restaurant-worthy realms.

We were caught off-guard at first by the thickness of the dumpling wrapper but were pleasantly surprised with its satisfyingly tender chew. Dumpling Daughter is a smaller brand born from its namesake restaurants in the northeast, so they might not be available at your local grocery store depending on where you live. That said, you can always order them online directly on Dumpling Daughter's website.

Reviews from QVC echo our sentiments. Every review raved at how delicious the filling is, and many complimented how easy they are to prepare, taking a mere 6 minutes, per the packaging. "These dumplings have more of a noodle-like dough," wrote one QVC customer. "Loved the texture and flavor, very authentic!" However, one Redditor noted that they weren't a fan due to the "very thick dumpling dough," adding that "maybe they are better fried, but I always steam or boil them." To that effect, another QVC customer opted to boil them first before pan-frying them, stating, "They plump up so nicely [when boiled]. I crisped them on one side after boiling." This would give you a nice textural contrast, giving you a chewy and crispy side.

Pan-frying frozen dumplings is a simple hack to elevate their texture. This will help give the thick noodle wrapper on Dumpling Daughter's Chicken and Cabbage Dumplings a more complex texture, which should be more palatable, especially if you're used to thin dumpling wrappers. If you don't want to go through the hassle of two cooking methods, you could also throw them in the air fryer to crisp them up. Don't forget to serve them with a dipping sauce. It's easy enough to make a homemade dipping sauce with ingredients like soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Of course, you can't go wrong with chili crisp. We've even ranked a whopping 15 brands to narrow it down for you.