Chinese Steamed Meat Buns (Baozi) 包子
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This is Part II of the Steamed Bun Series. Here are the other posts in this series:
Part I: Mantou (Chinese Steamed Bun) 饅頭
Part III: Steamed BBQ Pork Bun 叉燒包
Part IV: Steamed Piggy Buns
Before today, I never thought I’d post a recipe for steamed meat buns.
Sure it’s a traditional Chinese dish but even in China not everyone makes it at home. Until a few weeks ago, I was convinced that nobody would ever have the patience to make these buns.
It all started when one of my friends texted me after seeing my Chinese steamed buns on my Instagram and telling me I should offer lessons on making these buns. Apparently she had just spent over $60 to learn how to make steamed meat buns from a local culinary school.
I was shocked by the fact that there were so many people interested in making the buns. The idea of teaching my steamed bun recipe and I even started seeing dollar signs…
But in this season of giving, I decided to share the recipe on Yi Reservation. Good food is meant to be shared and a classic dish such as this deserved to be enjoyed and shared with the rest of the world. So here you have it, the step-by-step steamed bun recipe, at absolutely no charge 🙂
This recipe is my Thanksgiving gift (for those of you who celebrate) to all my readers who have been supporting me over the years! And feel free to share the love with your friends and family who might also be interested in these meat buns!
So what are these steamed meat buns? For those who haven’t had, the Chinese meat buns, aka Baozi 包子, are steamed soft buns with all kinds of stuffing inside. In China, these buns are most commonly eaten as breakfast with congee or warm soy milk. This is sort of like answer to the bagel and coffee combination here in the States.
There are various ways of making these buns and there are countless variations in making preparing fillings from pork to seafood to vegan. Since I grew up eating the pork stuffed buns, the pork filling has always been my personal favorite and I can literally eat them anytime on any day.
So, that is a long-winded way of saying that you need to try these buns, and you need to try them today!
If you live in the States, you should be able to find them in the frozen food sections at many Asian grocery stores.
Even better, you can now make them yourself at home following this MAN-PROOF step by step recipe. You’ll realize that it’s not that hard to make these delicious meat buns!!
And for those of you like visual learning, I have shared a video tutorial on how to make these steamed Chinese Meat Buns on Youtube. Please check it out!
P.S. Yi is switching to a new email subscription provider. If you have already subscribed to Yi Reservation, you will receive an opt-in email from me asking you to confirm the subscription. If you wish to continue to receive the email updates (and I hope you all do), please confirm the opt-in email =)
Step by Step Illustration
Follow my basic steamed bun (Mantou) recipe to make the basic dough. You’ll need about 2 – 3 hours to prepare the dough
While waiting for the dough to rise, start making the stuffing by chopping the scallions and ginger
Chop the cabbage to the size of ½ of your pinky nail. Move the chopped cabbage to a mixing bowl
Mix 1 tbsp of salt into the cabbage. Let sit for about 20 minutes or until cabbage has released some moisture
Remove the cabbage liquid. Combine with the ground pork (or your meat of choice) in the same bowl. Add the chopped scallions and ginger to the pork and cabbage
Mix in all the stuffing marinade ingredients to the pork except the cooking oil. Whisk the stuffing using a spoon until all the ingredients are well incorporated. Add additional salt to taste if needed
Drip the cooking oil in the meat mixture and whisk to mix. Seal the stuffing with plastic wrapper and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This can be done in advance
Once the dough is ready, transfer the dough to a flour-dusted workstation. Divide into 4 portions. Roll each portion into a log that’s about 1.5 inch in diameter
Cut the log into 6 parts and shape each port into a ball. Make sure you coat the dough balls with a layer of flour. Press down the ball with your palm. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a round thin wrapper with 4 inch diameter. When rolling, make sure the center of the wrapper is thicker than the edge of the wrapper. Repeat this step to make a batch of 6 wrappers at a time
To fold the bun. Place 1 to 2 tbsp of the filling in the center of the wrapper. Try to stack up the filling so it’s at least 1 inch from the edge of the wrapper. Wrap the bun by folding the edge counterclockwise until the bun is completely sealed. Repeat these two steps to assemble the rest of the buns
Place the buns on a bamboo steamer with parchment in between to prevent sticking. Don’t steam your buns right away but instead let them sit for another 30 – 45 minutes. This is an important step in making the buns soft and fluffy. The buns will increase in size
Steam the buns for 15 minutes over high heat. Turn off the heat but do not open the steamer cover. Let them sit in the steamer for another 5 minutes before you take them out
Let them cool a little and serve hot as breakfast, snack, or appetizers
Chinese Steamed Meat Buns (Baozi) 包子
Yield: 21-24 buns
Prep Time: 180
Cook Time: 30
Total Time: 210
Ingredients:
For the dough
- 500g all-purpose flour, more as needed
- 1.5tsp instant yeast
- 50ml lukewarm water
- 230ml milk or water +/- 10ml, at room temperature
- 1tsp baking powder
- 50g sugar
- 3g salt
- 2tbsp cooking oil
- 1/10tsp baking soda (optional)
For stuffing
- 1.5lb ground pork (can use chicken, beef, or lamb)
- ¼ cabbage
- 5 scallions
- 2inch fresh ginger root
Stuffing Marinade
- 2tbsp soy sauce
- 2tbsp cooking oil
- 1tbsp sugar
- 1.5tbsp Chinese rice wine
- 1tsp five-spice powder
- 1 egg
- 1tsp sesame oil
- 2tsp ground white pepper
- Additional salt to taste
Directions:
- Follow my basic steamed bun (Mantou) recipe to make the basic dough. You’ll need about 2 – 3 hours to prepare the dough
- While waiting for the dough to rise, start making the stuffing by chopping the scallions and ginger
- Chop the cabbage to the size of ½ of your pinky nail. Move the chopped cabbage to a mixing bowl
- Mix 1 tbsp of salt into the cabbage. Let sit for about 20 minutes or until cabbage has released some moisture
- Remove the cabbage liquid. Combine with the ground pork (or your meat of choice) in the same bowl. Add the chopped scallions and ginger to the pork and cabbage
- Mix in all the stuffing marinade ingredients to the pork except the cooking oil. Whisk the stuffing using a spoon until all the ingredients are well incorporated. Add additional salt to taste if needed
- Drip the cooking oil in the meat mixture and whisk to mix. Seal the stuffing with plastic wrapper and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This can be done in advance
- Once the dough is ready, transfer the dough to a flour-dusted workstation. Divide into 4 portions. Roll each portion into a log that’s about 1.5 inch in diameter
- Cut the log into 6 parts and shape each port into a ball. Make sure you coat the dough balls with a layer of flour. Press down the ball with your palm. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a round thin wrapper with 4 inch diameter. When rolling, make sure the center of the wrapper is thicker than the edge of the wrapper. Repeat this step to make a batch of 6 wrappers at a time
- To fold the bun. Place 1 to 2 tbsp of the filling in the center of the wrapper. Try to stack up the filling so it’s at least 1 inch from the edge of the wrapper. Wrap the bun by folding the edge counterclockwise until the bun is completely sealed. Repeat these two steps to assemble the rest of the buns
- Place the buns on a bamboo steamer with parchment in between to prevent sticking. Don’t steam your buns right away but instead let them sit for another 30 – 45 minutes. This is an important step in making the buns soft and fluffy. The buns will increase in size
- Steam the buns for 15 minutes over high heat. Turn off the heat but do not open the steamer cover. Let them sit in the steamer for another 5 minutes before you take them out. Let them cool a little and serve hot as breakfast, snack, or appetizers
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Chinese food always makes me satisfied. I saved this recipe and will be making it for my kids this weekend.
Thank you for a great recipe, Yi!
This is just great! Old is definitely gold!
Could alternative milks be used in this, for people allergic to dairy? Maybe oat milk?
hi There, yes you can use plant based milk. Even just water works fine. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Me first time attempt baozi buns were crooked but they were very delicious. My family loved it a lot.
Thanks.
Hi Elena, thanks for the feedback…so happy that the buns came out good!
Great! Today I made this recipe at home. Everyone in my family appreciates it. Thanks to Yi for sharing such a beautiful recipe with us.
Thanks Cynthia. Glad you and your family enjoyed these steamed buns.
This was amazing! My all family member are HAPPY and HAPPY. . Thanks for sharing the GREAT soup recipe.
Thank you.
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Hi Yi,
Firstly I see this recipe. I larnt your step by step instructions. Hopefully, this recipe will be eating delicious. So I save your URL.I will try to make this recipe later.
Thanks James
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Thanks a lot for this recipe! It was my first time making Baozi and they tasted great! Esp. the dough was as fluffy as I wanted them to be 😀 However I noticed that I will need a lot of practise to make them look as beautiful as yours haha 😀
Hello Anna, thanks for checking out the recipe. Great job for getting the texture right on your first attempt. I took me a long time and a lot of practice to get baozi right so I am sure your perfectly shaped steamed buns are just a few more practices away 🙂
Hello Yi, thank you for your website. I made this during our COVID-19 lockdown in Turkey and it was delicious. My mom is from Taiwan and it’s hard to find good Chinese food in this city. I decreased the amount of 5 spice and white pepper because the filling would otherwise be too spicy for my kids. I used a bread machine to make the dough, which made it so easy, I would definitely make this again. 谢谢您！
Hi Umi, thanks for your kind words and I am so happy that you were able to make some adjustments to your own taste. I wish you and your family are staying healthy. Regards – Yi
I custom made this one, instead of meat, I use vegetable noodles. thanks for the inspiration
The vegetable noodle version sounds delish! Thanks for checking out the recipe!
CHINESE STEAMED MEAT BUNS is great! To be honest, I’m not good at cooking but I like them, they give me joy and excitement every time I finish the dishes, which is a great thing. With your recipe, I just need to follow the instructions and the rest is simple. Thanks for sharing
Hi, I want to make these, but I am allergic to ginger, what spics might be a good substitute for ginger flavor? Also if I want to freeze after I make them do I first let them rise 30-45 min?
sorry for getting back to you late. If you are allergic to ginger you can completely skip it. For freezing, i’d suggest steamed the buns first, let them cool down, then freeze. Hope this helps.
You are suggesting to cook the buns before freezing them? So do you cook them again after you defrost them? Wouldn’t it make more sense to freeze them before steaming?
Can I use just regular active dry yeast? I don’t usually have problem replacing ADY with instant yeast and vice versa in baking, but I want to know if it’s different here. THanks.
hi Paul, sorry for the late replay. Yes you can use instant dry yeast. With instant dry yeast you can skip the proofing step. Just add the instant dry yeast to the dry ingredients directly. Hope this helps.
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Hi! Do you know or tested with other kind of flour?
Im trying to avoid the carbs from the all purpose flour.
I’ve been making other recipes with coconut flour, soya flour and almond flour, but I dont know if it will work with your recipe and what would be the right quantity.
Thank you 🙂
hello Natasha, sorry for getting back to you late. Honestly I have not tested the recipe with any alternative flours. I don’t think coconut flour will work in this recipe as it doesn’t leaven well. I’ll try with almond flour one of these days and let you know. Thanks.
thank you so much for a detailed recipe. the buns came out great except that the inner bun (just above and below the filling was a bit soggy. The chicken mince mixture was a bit wet when raw and could this be the reason?
I forgot to mention it is the inner bun which was soggy and I also noticed the bottom (outside bun) was sticky & some bun/dough came off while holding it (after cooked). So it is because my chicken filling was very wet and/or buns were undercooked? many thanks
hi there, it sounds like the filling was a bit too wet. Try adding some corn starch to the minced chicken next time so the filling is a bit thicker and less watery. Hope this helps.
It’s delicious! My entire family loved it, can’t wait to try it :)). Thanks so much for this!
thanks Peter!
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I used to dwell in Yunnan, and mushroom with pork baozi had been my favourite native breakfast! On the morning my husband and I first met, he was to take me to see the glacier at Jade Dragon Snow Mountain – he caught my consideration when, on the bus experience he pulled a bag of baozi from his backpack to share. The remaining is historical past. That was 15 years in the past right now, so I discovered your submit searching for a recipe to reminisce Thanks a lot
Hi Rita, sorry for not replying earlier and thank you for sharing your beautiful store. Baozi is one of my favorite things as well 🙂
I have used to dwell in Yunnan, and mushroom with pork baozi had been my favourite native breakfast! On the morning my husband and I first met, he was to take me to see the glacier at Jade Dragon Snow Mountain – he caught my consideration when, on the bus experience he pulled a bag of baozi from his backpack to share. The remaining is historical past. That was 15 years in the past right now, so I discovered your submit searching for a recipe to reminisce Thanks a lot
Did u add Egg in your stuffing?
Bcoz i saw the photo got but at Stuffing Recipe dun have.
Hi there, the stuff requires one egg. It’s actually listed in the ingredient list under “Stuffing Marinade”. Hope this answers your question.
Hi Yi,
May I ask regarding your instructions:
Don’t steam your buns right away but instead let them sit for another 30 – 45 minutes.
So you mean leave out in room temperature for 30-40mins? If so is it safe for all meat and what about shrimp? I am afraid of spoiling the filling.
Thanks
hi Risa, sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Since the stuffing is cold (stored in the fridge), it’s ok if you just leave it out for less than an hour. Meat and shrimp don’t spoil that fast unless it’s really hot out. Hope this helps.
Thank you Yi, very appreciated for your response! I’m looking forward making my own, I’ve forgotten about Baozi buns until I watched travel channel about Singapore and China that reminded me. It’s been too long since I last ate-8 years ago in Japan! I thought Baozi is hard or difficult to make and takes a long time but I found your easy to follow step by step instructions so I’m gonna try it! Thanks!
I keep forgetting that you can find almost anything on the internet. I lived in China for 3 years, and boazi was a regular breakfast treat right near my home. I now live in the Middle East, where authentic Chinese food is hard to come by. I found myself craving some boazi and decided I’m going to make some. I’m super excited about this recipe!!!
Hi Allen, thanks for checking out the recipe. Yeah Baozi is one of my favorite breakfast dishes as well. I Hope you get to make these buns soon!
你好! I was wondering if one can refrigerate or freeze the dough before using? I’m making these for a class project but I want to premake the dough.
谢谢您! 我很喜欢吃包子。
你好 Chris! The dough doesn’t work well after freezing but if you just want to make this a day in advance, you can certainly keep the dough in the fridge and let it proof slowly overnight. It’s a little tricky but you do need to bring the dough to room temperature before you assemble the buns. Hope this helps.
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Hi, do you allow guest posting on yireservation.com ? 🙂 Let me know on my email
Thank you so much for the recipe ^^ I fried some and steamed some. All of them turned out fab! I was getting so home sick. These baos defo made my day! Have been following your posts for awhile, just want to say that your website is amazing! Thanks for all these amazing recipes! Gonna try out soft milk bread next 🙂
Thanks for your kind words Dora. These baos always bring back my childhood memory too. Please let me know how the soft milk bread turned out!
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hi
i was checking out for a beef stuffing for my baozi and i liked yours but as im new to beef and pork(indian..dah..)..i was wondering if 15 minutes plus the extra (letting them sit fr a while) is sufficient for the meat to be cooked?? coz unlike chicken goat takes longer to cook…isnt it so with beef n pork..being the same red meat category..??
thanks a ton for your reply
Hi there, thanks for checking out my recipe. Just wanted to make sure I got your question correctly. You wanted to make sure that 15 minutes is long enough for the meat to get fully cooked? The answer is yes. You are right that red meat takes slightly longer to cook through in general however keep in mind that the stuffing is made of ground meat and there is other ingredients in there so 15 minutes is more than enough in this case. Hope this answers your question.
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Hi, thank you for posting this useful recipe. I was just wondering if you were meant to go through all 9 steps of the plain steamed buns recipe before stuffing them, or if you skip the last step. Seems like there’s an extra rising in there, not sure if it’s intentional.
Hi Ingrid, thanks for checking out this recipe. You are right that the final rise is included in both baozi and mantou recipe so it’ll be a duplicated effort. To make the dough, please only follow the step 1-4 of the plain bun recipe. Hope this helps.
I’d tried your recipe, it’s superb!!! Thank you.
But why is the bottom part of the bun a different colour?
Is it because I put in too much filling, the filling is too wet, or the dough i too thin?
I had a medium size steamer, so I devide them into 3 times steaming.
Is it alright for the last batch to be left out that long?
Is there a side effect of the dough rising too much?
Hi Lily, thanks for checking out my recipe. The bottom part usually gets a little wet due to the moisture from the stuffing, that’s why the center of the dough wrapper is slightly thicker. The only negative effect from rising too much is that the dough would get over proofed and turn a little sour however. you can leave the un-steamed buns in the fridge to slow down the proofing. Hope this helps.
Hi! I used to live in Yunnan, and mushroom (with pork) baozi were my favorite local breakfast! On the morning my husband and I first met, he was to take me to see the glacier at Jade Dragon Snow Mountain – he caught my attention when, on the bus ride he pulled a bag of baozi from his backpack to share. The rest is history. That was 15 years ago today, so I found your post looking for a recipe to reminisce 🙂 Thanks so much!
Was reading over your recipe and am excited to try it. I’m wondering why it says the dough takes 2-3 hours when it only rests for 1 hour. Or so you mean it will take 2-3 hours to make the buns?
Hey there! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone!
Just wanted to say I love reading through your
blog and look forward to all your posts! Keep up the
outstanding work!
Great recepie. I made them with home made dough from scratch and since my steamer is very small had to freeze half of them. No i am woundering how to adjust the cooking time for the frozen ones. Do you have any experience with that?
Hi Bart, thanks for checking out my blog. I am happy to know that you love these buns. For frozen ones, I’d add 6 minutes to the total steam time. Hope this helps. Thanks.
Hi Yi, I’ve tried making these buns a couple of times, and while they are delicious, the consistency is never quite like the bao I used to get in China. They shiny and harder on the outside, and the texture isn’t light or fluffy but quite close and sticky instead. I’m not sure if this is down to the kind of flour I use (plain), or my own technique!
Thank you!
Hi Jess, thanks for following my blog. There are several factors dictating the outcome of the dough and most of the time of the dough is not light and fluffy, it’s due to the kneading or the raising time, or the freshness of the ingredients or a combination of several things. I’d first start out by make sure your yeast is not stale. A one year old yeast will not produce as of good result as a one month old yeast (from the time you open it). I’ll also make sure the dough is raised properly. It should be elastic and stretchy when fully raised. Lastly look to see if you give enough kneading. The all purpose flour you use shouldnt make much of difference. I’ll also try to shoot s video on making the dough. Hope my explanation helps.
Yi, the dough recipes differ between the bun and meat bun… Bigger yeild? Was asking do to the fact that my steamer is good for only two levels and I hope to get 6-8 buns… Ill make spring rolls out of any left over as the filling is pretty traditional. Nice site! And following on the youtube… Keep it up!
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i tried your recipe yesterday and it was a big hit. i’ve always wanted to make these eversince i moved and cant have awesome tasting chinese food readily available. im a new subbie and excited to try more of your recipe..
thank you so much for what you are doing..
Hi cat, thanks for checking out my recipes. I am really happy to hear that these buns turned out good. Hope to hear more from you!
Thanks so much for this recipe, Yi. I can’t wait to try it! Do you have a recipe for a vegetarian version? When I lived in Jiaxing, I was able to buy both pork and vegetable bao zi. I think the vegetable ones were made with qing cai and tofu, but I can’t seem to find a recipe.
Hi, I already tried your recipe last week and it was delicious. The only problem is that after a while the buns got a little bit hard. I was wondering how to conserve them ? Do you wrap paper film around it ? Can I just put them in a tupperware ?
I’m making around 80 for a bake and sell on Monday and I’m not sure how to keep them fresh….
Thank you
Hi Sorry, sorry for getting back to you late. If you made these buns over the weekend they should still be good by Monday. If you plan to reheat them by steaming, they should turn soft again and just cover the buns with a damped (paper) towel. If you plan to microwave them, do it with damped paper towel as well. I hope this is not too late. Thanks for checking out my recipe!
Hi, you have perfect timing ! We start seeling them at 12:00, so now I know how to reheat them thank you !!
Great to hear that everything worked out for you!
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Hi Yi,
I tried making the baozi last night. My pork was very dry, do you know what would cause the pork to be dry? Thanks.
Hi Nancy, sorry for getting back to you late. There could be a few reasons causin the pork to come out dry. Do you use very lean pork? If that’s the case, I’d suggest blend the pork with maybe 10-20% fat. Another thing is when mixing the pork with the marinates, make sure you whisk it until you get a smooth paste-like consistence. If you have a hard time mixing the pork that means you need more liquid(egg, soy sauce, cooking wine, and etc.) in the pork stuffing. Also, increasing the amount of the cooking oil used in the pork can also make the pork stuffing juicier. I hope this answers your question. Please feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.
Yi
Yi,
Thank you for your recipe. I just tried to make steamed buns using a different recipe which called for only flour, water, sugar and yeast. When I learned from from my Chinese friend they turned out great with her dough recipe. However today my dough was dense and the buns deflated. I am going to try again with your recipe but do you have any tips? are the oil and baking powder absolutely a must?
Thank you!
Hi Sima, just replied your other post on the steamed plain buns. To answer your questions here, you can skip both oil and baking powder if you don’t have them. The baking powder helps the bun come out fluffier and the oil makes the surface of the bun smooth. However you can still make good buns without these. The most important thing is to proof your yeast correctly (if using active dry yeast) and do a good kneading either by hand or using breadmachine/mixer. I hope you will give the recipe a try and please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks Yi,
I just made the dough again after your suggestions but my dough still isn’t rising. Not sure what I am doing wrong. I will keep trying till I figure it out.
Thanks!
sorry to hear that. What kind of yeast are you using and how long did you let it rise? Thanks
OK, I found the steamed buns because I want to make them, and then now I landed on these meat buns!! I can’t stop salivating over all your awesome Chinese dishes, which are making me miss life back in CA, where we lived near SO many great Chinese restaurants! I’m totally planning to make this. Pinning it now. Thanks, Yi, and keep bringing us more authentic Chinese goodies 🙂
Hi Amy, thanks for visiting! I am so glad to hear that you enjoy Chinese food! Please let me know how the buns turn out! Thanks again!
Hey Yi thank you for such a great tutorial! I’m new to chinese cooking and mine turned out really great! I used beef and wood ear mushrooms instead of pork and it was delicious!
Hi, if i want to make a lot for home freezing, do i freeze it raw or cooked? thanks~
Hi there, I normally freeze the buns after I steam them. Thanks
Hello Ying,
I finally got the courage to try making these Steamed Meat Buns. They were wonderful. I had no difficulty crimping the buns and they turned out to be delightful little pillows of savory goodness. I will make them for my monthly wine club party. Much appreciation for your fine tutorial and encouragement.
I made a dipping sauce of soy sauce, tiny bit of sesame oil, grated ginger, lime juice, orange juice, bit of rice wine vinegar, red pepper flakes, couple of tablespoons of dry white wine, and kumquat powder (I made from local kumquats dried in my dehydrator and ground in a spice blender). Kumquat powder enhances almost everything.
Thank you, Leslie
Hello Ying,
I finally got the courage to try making these Steamed Meat Buns. They were wonderful. I had no difficulty crimping the buns and they turned out to be delightful little pillows of savory goodness. I will make them for my monthly wine club party. Much appreciation for your fine tutorial and encouragement.
Thank you, Leslie
Hello there,
I have tried your recipe and it was soooooo gooooood.
I almost cried when I had my first bite.
It felt like home.
Thank you very much for sharing 🙂
Greetings from Finland 🙂
Hi,
I made these buns yesterday- They are quite tasty;the dough is soft and light but the buns are not white like the ones in the photo. They are kind of beige color. I wonder why. I heard they sell special flour at Asian Markets just for making buns. Do you have any idea?
Hi Tram, thanks for checking out my blog. Do you use un-bleached all purpose flour? If you want the buns come out white try to use bleached flour. I’ve not used the special bun flour but I know it’s designed for steamed buns. It’s made of bleached the low-gluten flour if I remember correctly. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks.
Thanks for the instruction. I made the pork bun yesterday. However, I used self-raising flour as I couldn’t find all purpose flour here in my local shops in the UK, I only used half of the amount of baking powder and sugar recommended in your recipe. My husband and children doesn’t like cabbage I used courgette and caramelised onion instead. My children loved it. My husband doesn’t like the bun to be steamed so I had to slow fry a few for him (shui jian bao水煎包). He liked it very much.
Hello Jenny, thanks for your detailed feedback! I really like how you adapted the recipe to your own preferences! Thanks again for visiting my blog!
I want to make these ahead of time for a party, how long can these sit out, and do they need to be kept warm?
Hi there, yes you can make them ahead of time. They can stay in room temperature for about a day or you can keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. If you want to serve later for a party, just warm up in the steamer before serving! I hope this helps!
Thank you so much this is very helpful! I can’t wait to try it !
Thanks for checking out my recipe. Please let me know how the buns come out:)
hi Yi,
Can I use other veg e.g chinese cabbage for this recipe?
Hi Angie, yes you can absolutely make the filling vegetarian! My favorite vegetarian stuffing is shiitake mushroom with cabbage and some rice noodle but you can use any vegetables you prefer! Hope this answers your question!
Thanks for the quick reply. I am planning to use chinese cabbage , shitake mushroom and mince turkey. Hopefully it will be a success 🙂
you are welcome! please keep me posted on how your the buns come out 🙂
Hey, I was wondering can I add rice flour insed of all-purpose flour? Woul it turn out okay or is it better to use all-purpose flour? 😉
Hi Monika, thanks for checking out my blog. For this steamed bun, you’ll have to use all-purpose flour other other kinds of wheat flour (i.e. bread flour, whole-wheat flour). Rice flour, unfortunately will not produce the soft and fluffy buns like the ones here. I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanx for the answer it helps me a lot ;] and yes I have one more question can I add dried date-palm or dried apricots instead of meat? ;]
Hi Monika, yes you can use dried fruits for the filling. Normally I use them for sweet filling. If you want to make a savory vegetarian filling, you can sbustitute the meat wtih mushroom, or rice noodles, or even tofu. Please let me know if that answers your question. Thanks.
Yes it does, thanx, and one more question is it okey to use instant yeast and baking powder together? or should I use only baking powder?
You will definitely need yeast to leaven the bread. The use of baking powder can be optional but it does make your bun fluffier!
Hey
Hello Van Tha. Thanks for visiting my blog!
Hi Yi, great recipe! Have a question, plz don’t roll your eyes and smirk. Can one make buns with store bought frozen bread biscuit doughs?–for a lazy girl version
Hi Bonbon, yes you can absolutely use frozen biscuit dough for the steamed buns! It works surprisingly well. It’s my little secret weapon when I feel like being lazy:) please let me know if you have any other questions’
Which one is better? Bread dough or biscuit? any brand for recommendation?
oh by the way, you just made my day letting me know even a pro has lazy short cut sometime 😉 thx bunch
I personally like the instant biscuit dough in the can! it works every time!
I made these tonight and they were very tasty. I ended up blending my own 5 spice powder using a recipe I found on line. It made my kitchen …well the whole house really smells like a spice store…wonderful! The meat buns smelled so good cooking too. My daughter kept asking when they were going to be done. Yi, I have a question tho… is the yeast amount correct in the dough recipe? 1 1/2 tablespoons for about 4 cups flour? this seems like a lot of yeast for that amount of flour. Other recipes I found for Mantou only called for 1 or 1 1/2 teaspoons. Just wondering.
Hi Deb, thanks for the feedback. I love five spice powder that I make it my own using my coffee grinder as well. I appreciate for spotting the typo. Yes it was meant to be 1.5 tsp. Just updated the recipe. Thank you!
Just tried it again.
1. I put the sugar in the water with the yeast. The yeast activated much better. I made all the water a bit warmer this time.
2. Made a filling from cooked pork belly and cabbage and also a vegeterrean filling.
3. Used organic sugar from costco.
4. Made vegeterrean baozi, meat baozi, and mantou.
5. Used a nice flour from “Trader Joes”.
6. Hand needed for about 15 minutes. Added a little more flour as the dough was a bit too sticky. Let it rise for about 3 hours.
Wow. Got a great result. I couldn’t figure out what the pretty green thing is on the top of your dumplings. Is it scallions?
Thanks again for your recipe.
Thanks for your feedback Neal! It looks like you are having a steam bun feast these couple of days!! Yes the green thing on the meat buns is scallion.
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I really really want to make these someday. I am not sure if I’m more intimidated to try steamed buns or bread… All I need is practice and having a trustworthy good recipe like this one! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. MUST try!
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Ahhhh Yi! You’ve really inspired me this morning to give this a go!! I’ve just came back from a trip to Taiwan and had SO much delicious baos….but now back here…I’m craving and craving for them!
Thanks so much for sharing your recipe 🙂
Welcome back Vivienne. I am so jealous of your trip to Japan and Taiwan! I am sure you had some seriously delicious baos in Taiwan!
Just gorgeous and thank you for this MAN PROOF recipe. Great step by step and tutorial. I love your skilled technique for your closure of the buns. One day, when life gets a little less crazy a video of you making these would be wonderful!. Are you preparing for the Chinese New Year? Wishing you a wonderful week. BAM
Thank you Bam for the kind words. I’ll let you know when the video is up. Thanks.
These buns look amazing! I love that you decorate the buns with some green onions. Beautiful! I love Chinese baos. I definitely need to try these soon. Thanks for sharing. Hope you had a great thanksgiving!
Hi Lokness, thank for stopping by my blog. I hope you get to make these buns soon!
Wow, these steamed buns look great, they sure look better than the ones that I see in the restaurants in the area. Nothing like freshly steamed buns…yum!
Hope you are enjoying your weekend 😀
Wow, so great looking!
Thanks for stoppig by Alex!
I’ve never attempted making bao, you make it look so easy. Great job and your bao looks so delicious!
Hello Shannon, the buns might look hard to make but I think give a little practice everyone can make them
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The only reason why I don’t make this often is the time it takes to make them. I have the patience but my stomach don’t and it keeps saying “feed me now.” haha. Love the step by step instruction. Thank you Yi!
hi Ray, thanks for visiting. Yes I know exactly what you mean. I normally make extra buns and freeze them for the “feed me now” moments:)
Oh I ate Baozi zillion times when I was living in Hong Kong. And wow, these are so easy to make!! I am so happy that you shared this recipe with us. Thanks!! LOOKS DELICIOUS.
(Sorry for writing to you after a long time, although I do see all your facebook updates. Just can’t find time managing my two small kids!)
Hi Purabi, it’s great seeing you. I am glad that you loved these buns when you were in HK. Hope you get to make them sometimes!
This filling looks so good! I learned to make Bao Zi in Beijing, but the recipe requires an oven (which I do not have) and I like the sound of this filling better!
Thanks Lauren! It’s interesting that you mentioned about the baked baozi. I wonder if that’s the bread version of this bun.
Exactly the way how I do the steamed pork buns. They look so delicious.
Hi Agnie, it’s great to hear that you make steamed buns at home as well. Do you have any favorite stuffing?
How I wish I could make my own Baozi!
But the dough is a challenge for me, definitely.
Thanks for sharing.
I know exactly what you mean. it sounded really hard to me in the beginning but after a few trails and errors it became very manageable. Try it when you get a chance!
Hi Yi, Love your step by step instructions, and the way you folded in the bun dough…I can never achieve that result…pinned for future reference, and looking forward to watching your video too!
Hi Jeannie, thanks for leaving the comments. I’ll let you know once the video is up.
What about frozen round wonton skins? Can that be used instead.
How about adding a little crab meat, too?
Hi DB, thanks for the comment. This is a very good question and I am so glad you asked. To make these buns, you’ll need leavened dough which is similar to the dough used for bread. Unfortunately wonton skins are not leavened so you’ll not get that soft and fluffy texture. Fortunately, there is an shortcut I can share. Go to your local grocery store and pick a canned ready-to-use biscuit dough. You can use that dough and follow the rest of the recipe. It would come out almost as good as homemade dough. I think this is going to be a frequently asked question so I’ll add this tip in my post. Thanks again for the excellent question and I hope this helps!
I love steamed buns! I’ve never made them, but they’ve been on my list of stuff to make forever. You might just have given me the kick I need to try these myself. 😉 Good recipe – thanks. And thanks for the heads up re the email change. I do subscribe to you through email and appreciate the warning that I’ll need to look for an opt-in email.
Hi John, if you get to make this please let me know how it came out. Thanks.
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