Make heat, puffy do-it-yourself bao buns with components you have already got in your kitchen! These conventional Chinese language steamed buns are scrumptious folded round savory fillings, and so they’re really easy to make. I’ll even share how you can do it with no steamer basket!

Stuff these gentle steamed and serve them as a beginning act for all of your favourite Asian recipes. Do that salt and pepper hen and shrimp lo mein for a tasty dinner that’s higher than takeout.

Bao buns (pronounced “bow”, as in “take a bow”) are heat and fluffy steamed buns created from candy dough wrapped round some sort of filling. They’re a Chinese language specialty, although to not be confused with the bao dumpling that goes by the identical title! I made these puffy steamed bao buns at dwelling lately and I used to be blown away by how genuine they turned out. They got here out of the steamer pillowy gentle, a bit candy, and it was really easy! They held up nice once I stuffed them stuffed with the savory char siu pork I’d made for the event.

Why This Bao Buns Recipe Works

• Pantry components. I had every thing I wanted to make do-it-yourself bao buns already in my kitchen. Likelihood is, you do too! This easy steamed buns recipe wants easy components like flour, sugar, and yeast. 
• Fast. Like different yeasted dough recipes, there’s a little bit of hands-free rising time concerned in making bao buns. However the hands-on steps are fast and comparatively straightforward, even for those who’re new to working with do-it-yourself dough.
• Completely puffed. I’ll present you ways straightforward it’s to steam these bao buns, with or with no bamboo steamer basket. For those who comply with the recipe simply because it’s written, you’ll find yourself with huge, puffed, good bao that’s prepared for stuffing in minutes.

Substances You’ll Want

• Sugar – I like to recommend common granulated sugar (or mild brown sugar).
• Yeast – You’ll want energetic dry yeast. Test the dates in your yeast packets to ensure it’s recent and never expired.
• Water and Milk – Each must be barely warmed up, however no hotter than 110ºF. 
• Flour – All-purpose works finest right here. I haven’t examined this recipe with gluten-free flour but.
• Baking Powder – To not be confused with baking soda. They aren’t the identical! Just like the yeast, ensure you’re utilizing recent baking powder.
• Oil – Canola oil, avocado oil, or one other neutral-flavored vegetable oil.

Find out how to Make Steamed Bao Buns

This bao recipe is tremendous approachable, even for those who’re simply getting the cling of working with yeast. Beneath is a step-by-step overview of what you may anticipate when making bao buns from scratch. You’ll discover the printable directions within the recipe card.

Make the Dough

First, collect your components (see above) and make a fast, stiff dough:

• Make the dough. Activate the yeast with sugar, heat milk, and heat water. As soon as that’s foaming, you’ll add the dry components and blend to kind the dough. Afterward, knead the dough on a floured floor till it’s easy. It ought to spring again if you poke it.
• Let it rise. Place the dough ball into an oiled bowl. Cowl and depart the dough someplace heat to rise for 45-60 minutes.

Form the Bao

As soon as your dough is prepared, it’s time to roll and form your bao buns. Somewhat than portioning the dough and rolling it out individually, my straightforward “hack” is to roll all of it out without delay and lower out the dough into rounds. Simple!

• Roll out and lower the dough. Now, roll the dough flat. Use one thing spherical, like a glass or a biscuit cutter, to chop out rounds of dough, transferring them to a lined baking sheet.
• Fold the buns. Brush every spherical with oil and fold it right into a half-moon. Your bao is beginning to take form! Afterward, cowl the folded dough and let it relaxation for one more hour.

Steam the Bao Buns

Final however not least, it’s time to get these bao buns to the sauna– I imply, steamer!

• Steam. Get water boiling beneath a steamer basket on the stovetop. Place the buns inside, cowl the basket, and steam for 10 minutes. I often have to do that in batches.
• Serve! Fill your freshly steamed bao buns with char siu pork or your alternative of savory filling, garnish with inexperienced onions and sesame seeds, and revel in. See beneath for tasty serving concepts. 

Filling Concepts

I stuff my bao buns with fillings like juicy Chinese language char siu pork and Korean beef bulgogi or hen bulgogi. These pan-fried oyster mushrooms make a scrumptious vegetarian bao, too. Construct your individual bao buns with a few of these scrumptious filling concepts:

• Protein. Beef, pork, hen, tofu, or seafood, like shrimp or tuna steak.
• Veggies. Shredded lettuce, cabbage, or julienne greens like cucumbers, carrots, and bell peppers. Pickled greens, cabbage slaw, and kimchi are additionally good choices.
• Sauces. Sriracha, chili oil, soy sauce, or borrow the spicy peanut dipping sauce from my vegetable spring rolls recipe.
• Garnishes. Chopped cilantro, basil, inexperienced onions, sesame seeds, chili flakes, and crushed peanuts.

Serving Recommendations

Do-it-yourself bao buns are nice as a facet dish or starter. I like serving them with Asian cucumber salad, spicy firecracker shrimp, or crispy crab rangoon. You can even spherical out a meal with a stir fry, like slurpy do-it-yourself ramen noodles or fast Mongolian hen. I additionally love this straightforward shrimp fried rice! For a vegetable choice, attempt sesame snap peas or bok choy, or these crunchy cucumber sushi rolls.

How Do You Retailer Bao Buns?

• Refrigerate. Retailer leftover steamed and cooled bao buns in an hermetic container or resealable bag. Maintain them within the fridge and reheat them inside 3-4 days.
• Reheat. One of the best ways to reheat bao buns is to cowl and steam them for about 5-10 minutes till they’re puffed and springy once more.
• Freeze. Freeze the steamed bao buns for as much as 2 months and thaw them within the fridge earlier than reheating. In any other case, you may steam them from frozen, including an additional minute or two to the steaming time.

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