Best Dumplings in NYC
The 10 best dumplings in New York, Flushing soup-dumpling royalty to Chinatown chili-oil wontons, every one checked open and ranked.
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The list
- 1Downtown Flushing · $$ · 39-16 Prince St #104, Flushing, NY 11354
Also No. 1 on Best of Flushing → · No. 1 on Best Dumplings in Flushing →
The Prince Street original that put Flushing soup dumplings on the map in 2006, now a glass-walled dumpling factory with East Coast outposts but a menu that still starts and ends with the classics.
Everyone else in the neighborhood is chasing this kitchen's broth-to-wrapper ratio, and two decades later nobody's caught it, QNS readers voted it Flushing's best dumplings again for 2026.
Order Pork and crab meat xiao long bao
Ask for the upstairs dining room instead of waiting for the ground floor, same kitchen, same menu, usually a shorter line.
Photo: elyaqim (Elyaqim Mosheh Adam), CC BY-SA 2.0 Photo: elyaqim (Elyaqim Mosheh Adam), CC BY-SA 2.0 - 2Downtown Flushing · $ · 135-02 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing, NY 11354
Also No. 2 on Best of Flushing → · No. 2 on Best Dumplings in Flushing →
A closet-sized, cash-only takeout window off Roosevelt Avenue with a laminated menu of 34 numbered dishes and one that everybody in line already knows to order.
No. 6 is the rare dish every guide, critic, and food-crawl agrees on without hedging, chewy wonton skins, chili oil that stings just enough, and pickled mustard root doing the real work underneath.
Order No. 6, pork wontons in hot sauce
Order by number, have cash ready, and eat at the ledge outside, there's no seating and the line moves fast if you're not fumbling for your wallet.
- 3Chinatown · $$ · 46 Bowery
Also No. 1 on Best Dumplings in Manhattan → · No. 2 on Best of Chinatown →
Map ↗verified 7w agoA Bowery Chinatown institution opened in 1995 and credited as the spot that introduced Manhattan to the Shanghai-style soup dumpling, communal tables, brusque service, and a soup-dumpling order written on every checked-off ticket.
Because Joe's Shanghai is the Manhattan soup dumpling default, the broth inside the wrapper is rich without being greasy, the pork-and-crab variant is still one of the best XLB upgrades in the borough, and the price has barely moved.
Order Crab and pork soup dumplings (eight per order), plus scallion pancake.
Order the crab-and-pork XLB rather than the plain pork, the crab roe lifts the broth in a way that the standard pork version does not, and the supplement is only a few dollars per order.
Photo: Alexis Lamster (amlamster), CC BY 2.0 Photo: Alexis Lamster (amlamster), CC BY 2.0 - 4
Shu Jiao Fu Zhou▲ buzzing
Chinatown · $ · 295 Grand StAlso No. 6 on Best Dumplings in Manhattan →
Map ↗verified 7w agoA Fuzhounese-style Eldridge Street counter focused on hand-folded boiled dumplings, peanut noodles, and pork wontons in chili oil, counter seating, no-frills room, all-cash for most of its history.
Because Shu Jiao Fu Zhou is the cleanest example of Fuzhounese-style boiled dumplings in Manhattan, the wrapper texture is bouncier than the Shanghainese style and the chili-oil pork wontons are an LES benchmark.
Order Pork wontons in chili oil plus a side of cold peanut noodles.
Order the cold peanut noodles alongside the wontons, the peanut sauce at this counter is sweeter and looser than the version at most Chinatown spots and works as a counterpoint to the chili oil.
From @shujiaofuzhou on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
- 5Downtown Flushing · $ · 40-52 Main St, Flushing, NY 11354
Also No. 3 on Best Dumplings in Flushing →
A cash-only walk-up window a block off Main Street, run by a Wenzhou native who used to sell the same dumplings from a street cart before this narrow counter existed.
The bottoms shatter like a cracker before you even reach the pork-and-leek filling, and at a quarter a piece it's still the best return on investment in the neighborhood.
Order Pan-fried pork and leek dumplings
Go before the lunch rush, the counter is narrow, cash-only, and the fried batch sells out earlier than you'd expect for a spot open until 9:30pm.
- 6Lower East Side · $ · 118 Eldridge St
Also No. 4 on Best Dumplings in Manhattan → · No. 7 on Best Cheap Eats in Manhattan →
Map ↗verified 7w agoA 1999 Eldridge Street counter on the Lower East Side, boiled pork-and-chive jiaozi at four-for-a-dollar territory, plus a sesame-pancake-with-meat sandwich that has been the LES post-bar staple for two decades.
Because Vanessa's defines the budget-dumpling tier, eight boiled jiaozi for under five dollars is unbeatable in Manhattan, and the sesame-pancake meat sandwich is one of the best $4 LES bites still in operation.
Order Boiled pork-and-chive jiaozi (eight pieces) and the sesame pancake with pork.
Add the sesame pancake stuffed with the boiled dumplings and roast pork, the staff will assemble it as a sandwich on request and it doubles as the most efficient meal-per-dollar in Chinatown.
From @vanessasdumplinghouse on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
- 7Chinatown · $$$ · 42 E Broadway
Also No. 6 on Best of Chinatown → · No. 7 on Best Dumplings in Manhattan →
Map ↗verified 7w agoA 1967-era Szechuan icon revived in 2017 on East Broadway, Hwa Yuan re-opened with the original family's recipes and a serious dumpling section featuring Sichuan-style chili-oil wontons and boiled jiaozi.
Because Hwa Yuan brought serious Sichuan dumpling work back to Chinatown, the Chongqing-style chili-oil wontons here use a chili oil bloomed with ten different spices, and the result is the most layered chili-oil sauce in Manhattan.
Order Sichuan chili-oil pork wontons plus the cold sesame jelly noodles.
Sit at a banquette in the upstairs dining room rather than downstairs, the upstairs kitchen turns out the dumplings faster and the chili-oil temperature is more consistent at the table.
From @hwa.yuan.nyc on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
- 8Downtown Flushing · $ · 135-23 40th Rd, Flushing, NY 11354
Also No. 4 on Best Dumplings in Flushing →
Map ↗verified 3w agoA counter-service Shandong specialist on 40th Road, once a New World Mall stall, where two women hand-form fish dumplings in full view of the register.
Mackerel-and-chive dumplings this delicate don't exist anywhere else in Queens, the skins barely hold together around the filling, and that fragility is the whole point.
Order Steamed mackerel and chive dumplings
Order the steamed fish dumplings and the fried pork-and-shrimp version together, one soft, one crisp, and the combo shows off both kitchens the counter is running.
- 9West Village · $$$$ · 529 1/2 Hudson St
Also No. 9 on Best Dumplings in Manhattan →
Map ↗verified 7w agoA small Hudson Street West Village basement room from the RedFarm team, primarily a Peking duck destination, with a serious selection of dumpling-section appetizers including soup dumplings filled with Peking duck broth.
Because Decoy's Peking-duck-broth XLB is the most original soup dumpling in Manhattan, the broth uses a duck-bone reduction instead of pork stock, and the result is richer than any traditional XLB on this list.
Order The Peking duck dinner with the duck-broth soup dumpling course.
Reserve the Peking duck dinner package three weeks ahead, the duck portion is the entry point, and the dumpling courses are tied to the duck-shop schedule rather than the regular dinner menu.
- 10Downtown Flushing · $$ · 135-33 40th Rd, Flushing, NY 11354
Also No. 5 on Best Dumplings in Flushing →
A sit-down Shanghainese dining room where the xiao long bao arrive dyed in five or six colors depending on what's folded inside.
The color-coding isn't decoration, it's a menu system, and the truffle-pork basket argues that soup dumplings can still surprise someone who's eaten hundreds of them.
Order Truffle pork xiao long bao
Order the oversized single dumpling that comes with a straw for the table, sip the broth out before anyone breaks the skin.
From @shanghaiyougarden on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
Good to know
- What is the best soup dumpling in NYC?
- Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao's Prince Street original in Flushing, voted Flushing's best dumplings again by QNS readers for 2026. In Manhattan, Joe's Shanghai on Bowery is the institution that introduced the borough to xiao long bao.
- Where are the cheapest great dumplings?
- Vanessa's Dumpling House on Eldridge Street, and the Flushing counters White Bear and Zhu Ji Dumpling Stall, all in our lowest price tier. Zhu Ji's pan-fried pork and leek dumplings run about a quarter a piece.
- Are any of these cash only?
- Yes. White Bear and Zhu Ji Dumpling Stall in Flushing are both cash-only walk-up counters.
- Is it worth going to Flushing just for dumplings?
- Yes. Five of our ten live there, within a few blocks of the Main Street 7 stop, so one trip covers soup dumplings, wontons, and sheng jian bao.