Anytime I’m out of town, one of the first dishes I seek is Xiao Long Bao, otherwise known as soup dumplings. There’s not a huge a footprint here in Wichita for the dumplings that are filled with a delicious warm broth. Fortunately, I came across a company online called Xiao Chi Jie that sells frozen soup dumplings you prepare at home. They are based out of Washington and have been shipping dumplings all over the country.

Everything can be ordered from their website: thexcj.com. Once you place an order, XCJ packaged them in dry ice and wraps them in an insulated liner. The Xiao Long Bao (or XLB for short) are sold in bags of 50. You can get classic pork, shrimp & pork or savory chicken for $39.95 or a crab & pork bag for $49.50.

To some people, that might sound like a lot, and many of those people probably haven’t been to a restaurant that served a variety of soup dumplings. To compare the price at a restaurant like Din Tai Fung we visited last year, 6 pork soup dumplings cost $9.75 and 6 pork and crab ones was $12.50. Basically, what I’m trying to say is it’s not the cheapest meal, so $40-50 isn’t that bad of a price for 50 dumplings. You’re paying under a dollar a dumpling to get them frozen.

I had the pork along with the pork and crab dumplings. Since I didn’t own any steamer basket, I had a couple of those in my order along with their three signature craft sauces which was a 9 oz. jar of Ginger & Scallion Umami, Classic Black Vinegar, and Spicy Chili Crisp sauce. Our favorite was the Chili crisp which had a flavorful kick of heat, but not one that was so overpowering.

Preparation was each. Each bag came with a bunch of parchment paper to use in your steamer basket.

Once you placed the parchment paper down, you placed out the frozen soup dumplings in the basket.

The steamer basket was then placed on a boiling pan of water. The timer was set for 11 minutes and soon, you had many soup dumplings to devour.

The dumplings were everything I had imagined. They came out piping hot and filled with a delicious broth that I could not get enough of.

The process was so easy, quick and best of all, a tasty meal that I’ve had to travel hundreds of miles for. It’s a meal I’ve since prepared multiple times for lunch. The convenience and variety were a big plus for me. Since Wichita has a shortage of options when it comes to soup dumplings, this was a no-brainer for me. I’ll be ordering from them again in the future.

To order yours, head over to thexcj.com.

P.S. – Don’t forget to check out our video highlight on the soup dumplings.

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