Costco has carried all different kinds of Ajinomoto products over the years and these Japanese Style Gyoza Dumplings are new to my Costco. Dumplings make an awesome side or appetizer and I’ve tried a variety of the frozen ones that Costco has offered over the years. How do these Japanese-style dumplings compare to the other options at Costco?
If products like these strike your fancy you might enjoy the Ajinomoto Ling Ling Potstickers, Ajinomoto Vegetable Yakisoba, Ajinomoto Yakitori Chicken with Japanese-Style Fried Rice, Ajinomoto Tokyo Style Shoyu Ramen with Chicken, Bibigo Steamed Dumplings, Minh Egg Rolls, Summ! Sesame Ginger Chicken Gyoza and the Bibigo Chicken and Cilantro Mini Wontons.
Location in Store
These are located in the freezer section at Costco and the item number is 2763967.
Taste
We ruined our first batch of gyoza by not adding cooking oil to the pan, which is what the box suggested but the gyoza completely stuck to our non-stick pan. The flavor of the gyoza is fairly typical of a store-bought frozen gyoza. They aren’t amazing but they’re not bad either!
The gyoza aren’t overly doughy and there’s lots of pork and chicken in them. There’s also a decent amount of onions and cabbage but that’s pretty much it for vegetables. Without sauce they’re slightly bland. The sauce that comes with the gyoza is like a slightly sweet soy sauce that adds lots of saltiness and boosts the flavor of the gyoza.
The taste of these remind me of the Siwin Chicken Potstickers. You can taste some hints of garlic, ginger and sesame but it’s underdone and I would prefer more seasoning.
Cost
The box comes with five trays containing 12 dumplings in each tray, that’s 60 dumplings total. I paid $19.99 Canadian for the box which isn’t cheap but is similar to the average price of dumplings/potstickers/gyoza at Costco.
Convenience
I don’t recommend following the box instructions and skipping cooking oil, all of our gyoza stuck to our pan and almost ruined it. We made a new batch with cooking oil and they turned out great.
I recommend serving these as an appetizer or side and they absolutely need the sauce to go with them. They need to be kept in the freezer and the best before date is about a year and six months from when bought them.
On the box there’s a link to a cooking video that shows you how to cook the gyoza which I found helpful except for the part that skips the cooking oil.
Nutrition
Calories
Four gyoza contain 170 calories, nine grams of fat, six grams of protein, 16 grams of carbohydrates, one gram of fibre, one gram of sugar, six grams of protein and 320 milligrams of sodium.
One 25 milliliter packet of sauce contains 25 calories, zero grams of fat, five grams of carbohydrates, five grams of sugar, one gram of protein and 810 milligrams of sodium.
Ingredients
The ingredients list seems pretty standard for a processed, store-bought frozen dumpling. Some ingredients I’m not a fan of seeing are MSG, canola oil, canola oil and food additives like disodium guanylate.
Scoring
Taste: 7/10
Cost: 7/10
Convenience: 5/10
Nutrition: 4/10
Overall
Give them a try!
I love gyoza and these don’t disappoint, they’re not the best gyoza I’ve had but they’re worth picking up if you like gyoza!
Have you tried the Ajinomoto Japanese Style Gyoza? What did you think of them?
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).
We crowded the whole frying pan with these gyozas without oil and was amazed that not just that they did not stick, but we flipped the whole pan’s gyozas onto a plate with only the crispy bottom holding the whole thing together reminiscent of the Potstickers I had in Mr Chows in NYC. Ajinomoto must have coated these gyozas with some oil that gets released during cooking.
Potstickers are my favorite food. These are terrific – the wrappers are thin, and the filling is light (not heavy), and they are tasty. Other brands have wrappers that are too thick and gummy, and the filling is too heavy. My next choice is Trader Joe’s pork potstickers. I always cook them in peanut oil. First swish each potsticker around in the oil (to be sure there is oil under each piece), then add water to steam in the pan, finally remove the lid and pan fry until the bottoms are crispy. Nonstick ceramic pans work perfectly.
I was curious about MSG in terms of health. It seems like MSG being unhealthy just seems to be “common knowledge” people learn from parents or whatever. When I looked for actual tested and confirmed health or side effects I’m pretty much came up empty. I think it gets a bad rap for no valid reason. After doing my own digging I’m fine with it and have been adding it to rubs, sauces, marinades, etc. (Definitely agree with you about the canola oil though!)
I’ve actually heard this too about MSG!
Hey Natalie. We’re you using a ceramic frying pan??
Nope! I was using my Our Place pan, it’s made of 100% consumer recycle aluminum apparently. I love the pan for everything else but these.