An Ultimate Guide to the Top Dim Sum Dishes You Need to Try

Dim sum is the Cantonese tradition of small, shareable dishes — dumplings, buns and rolls served steaming hot, usually with tea. The name roughly means "touch the heart", and the meal itself is yum cha: a long, sociable brunch where dishes arrive in bamboo baskets and everyone helps themselves. It is one of the great ways to eat, and thanks to the freezer aisle it is entirely doable at home. Here are the dishes worth knowing, and how to put together your own spread.

Siu mai (pork and prawn dumplings)

The workhorse of the dim sum trolley and, for many people, the favourite. Siu mai are open-topped dumplings filled with minced pork and prawn, traditionally finished with a dot of roe or finely diced carrot on top. Because the filling is exposed, you get a firmer, meatier bite than with a sealed dumpling. If you only try one dim sum dish, make it this one.

Har kau (crystal prawn dumplings)

The other great dumpling, and the one chefs judge a dim sum kitchen by. Har kau are whole and chopped prawns wrapped in a translucent wheat-starch skin that goes almost see-through when steamed — which is why they are sometimes called crystal dumplings. The pleated wrapper is fiddly to make by hand, which is exactly why the frozen version makes sense at home.

Char siu bao (barbecue pork buns)

Fluffy, snow-white steamed buns filled with sweet, sticky barbecue pork. The contrast between the pillowy bun and the rich filling is the whole point. You will also see char siu baked into golden pastry buns (cha siu sou) — same filling, different jacket. If you fancy making the buns from scratch, our bao bun recipe walks you through it.

Siu loong bun (xiao long bao)

The famous Shanghai soup dumpling — "little basket bun". Each pleated dumpling holds pork filling and a spoonful of rich broth, which turns to soup as it steams. The technique: lift it gently onto your spoon, nibble a hole, sip the soup, then eat the rest with black vinegar and ginger. Bite straight in and you will redecorate the table.

Cheung fun (rice noodle rolls)

Silky sheets of steamed rice noodle rolled around prawns, char siu or beef, then drowned in a sweetened soy sauce. Soft, slippery and mild — the gentle counterpoint to the richer dumplings on the table. These are best fresh and hardest to do well at home, so order them when you are out and focus your home spread on the dumplings and buns.

Salted egg custard bun

Dessert, dim sum style. Break one open and a molten, golden custard runs out — sweet, creamy and just salty enough from the salted egg yolk to keep you reaching for another. Order them last and eat them hot; the flow is the whole experience.

Worth knowing too: turnip cake (lo bak go — a savoury pan-fried cake of grated daikon), spring rolls, wontons and, to finish, egg tarts with their flaky pastry and wobbly custard centres.

How to build a dim sum spread at home

Frozen dim sum has got genuinely good, and it turns yum cha into a very achievable Sunday lunch. A few pointers:

• How much to make. As a main meal, allow roughly 6 to 8 pieces per person. As part of a bigger spread with rice or noodles, 3 to 4 pieces each is plenty.
• Steam from frozen. No defrosting — dumplings go straight from freezer to steamer and take 8 to 12 minutes depending on size. Defrosted dumplings turn soggy and split.
• No bamboo steamer? No problem. Sit a metal sieve or colander over a wok of simmering water and cover with a lid, or set a heatproof plate on three balls of foil in a deep pan with an inch of water. Line whatever you use with baking paper or a cabbage leaf so nothing sticks.
• Put out dips. Light soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar with julienned ginger, and chilli oil cover everything. A little dish of each per person is the restaurant way.
• Make tea. It is yum cha, after all — jasmine or oolong, in a big pot.

Browse the full dim sum range to mix and match your spread — dumplings, buns and everything between.

Dim sum FAQs

Is dim sum a meal or a snack?

Both, depending on how much you order. Traditionally it is a leisurely brunch — lots of small dishes over a long pot of tea. At home, six to eight pieces per person makes a proper meal.

Can you steam dim sum from frozen?

Yes — in fact you should. Frozen dumplings steamed straight from the freezer hold their shape and texture far better than defrosted ones. Allow 8 to 12 minutes over a rolling steam, and check the filling is piping hot in the centre.

What is the difference between dim sum and dumplings?

Dim sum is the meal — the whole tradition of small shared dishes. Dumplings are just one part of it, alongside buns, rolls, cakes and sweets. All dumplings at a dim sum table are dim sum; not all dim sum is dumplings.

Is dim sum gluten free?

Mostly not. Wonton wrappers, buns and many dumpling skins are wheat-based, and soy sauce contains wheat. Rice-based dishes like cheung fun are closer, but sauces and marinades often contain gluten too — check labels carefully if you are cooking for someone coeliac.

How long does frozen dim sum keep?

Kept at -18°C in a sealed bag, a good three months at full quality — though in practice packs rarely last that long. Never refreeze once thawed.

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