Chinese Steamed Buns Recipe

I haven't made these yet, but I just wanted to point out that you can throw leftovers in the freezer and freeze them for long periods of time. When you're ready to eat them, just put them in the refrigerator to thaw at least overnight and steam them for 10-15min. If you only want to eat a couple at a time, just fill a high saucepan with one inch water, put a wire rack at the center and steam the buns directly on the rack, or on a small saucer. DO NOT let the buns touch the water. Another alternative is to fry the leftover buns and serve them with condensed milk - the way traditional Chinese people eat them.

AWESOME RECIPE. The tips left by user Mukinsvivi ROCK & helped me ensure my steamed buns came out ultra tasty. NOTE: the dough does look very odd after first rise & it has a very sticky texture. You can punch it down just like the directions say & Mukinsvivi's advice to add about 3/4 cup xtra flour @ this point is spot on. Didn't utilize the entire 3/4 cup, but I came close. Eye the dough & at some point you know it looks right: the texture is smooth & elastic instead of sticky. To ensure I didn't overdo it, extra flour was added slowly. Adding a bit of lemon juice to the dough & vinegar to the boiling water is also great advice & my buns came out very white accordingly. Didn't use baking soda, but I did use baking powder (it contains baking soda already). My steamed buns came out large & yielded about 12. Prior to steaming I stuffed them w/shredded curry chicken, onions, potatoes, cabbage & bell peppers. My steaming pot is small so it took a while to steam all the buns & they wanted to stick to the steaming plate a bit. Once removed from the steaming plate I found it handy to sit the buns on a simple wrack of bamboo skewers that I placed on top of a plate. This allows bottom of buns to dry nicely. Sitting them directly on a plate gave me a bun w/ a slightly soggy bottom & placing on paper towel = bun w/ paper towel bits stuck to its bottom. Next time I make these I may make them w/ fruit stuffed inside just to see what happens!

I have never made any kind of Chinese buns before (and I'm not a great baker) so I was nervous - but these came out AMAZING. I followed the advice of adding warm milk in place of half the water and a few drops of lemon. I used a cupcake tin to make this. After I rolled out a circle, I draped it over one of the cupcake holes and gently shaped it in, making sure the bottom was the thickest part (which was counter-intuitive because usually, you roll out dough thinnest in the middle). Then I put in about 2 tbsp of filling and gently pinched it closed before giving the top a gentle 'spin' to get that design. Popped it out and put it on a quarter-sheet covered with parchment paper to rest before steaming and went on with the next one. This recipe gave me exactly 12 cupcake-sized buns and they were SO DELICIOUS. Pillowy, soft, chewy and yum. I used a spiced hamburger and veg stuffing since I knew my family liked those flavors. Now we want to try every stuffing with these buns! If you've never made these before and you're craving WowBao? You've found the recipe! Yum!

Added filling (tofu, carrot, white onion) for dinner And peanut butter& chocolate chips for dessert :) I steamed them in a rice cooker instead. 15 minutes with parchment paper lining the bottom. So easy to make! I can't wait to make more!

This is a great recipe! I altered the recipe a bit and used half whole wheat flour and half bread flour, and also added about a cup of raisins throughout the bread that I presoaked in water instead of using a meat filling. I used my bread machine to do the initial kneading and proofing, as well as the second 5 min knead. I then rolled out the portions, placed them on squares of wax paper, and let them double in a microwave (not turned on) along with a cup of steaming water with the door closed for 30 min before I steamed them in a large pot. The result was the softest and possibly most delicious batch of steamed buns I have ever eaten - much better than store-bought! I plan to come back to this recipe again and make more in the future with different kinds of fillings. Thank you for the recipe!

It took all day but I finally finished! I took everyone's recommendation of adding some baking soda to counteract any bitterness and it worked like a charm! I will admit the wait times are kind of unnecessary. I ended up skipping the last 30 minute rise. I did a beef bulgogi recipe (Called beef bowl on another site) with both ground pork and leftover chicken leg for the filling and it was pretty good. This recipe is in a lot of other places and it takes a LOT less time to rise. The taste was good but I attribute it to my stellar filling recipe. I made it in my rice cooker and it was pretty good. The only complaint I have is the rising time is a bit overkill considering many other variations and ended up being an all day task. Would make it again all in all!

So... good! They're good plain, and they're good when you create your own fillings. I made these in the steam basket of my rice cooker, and they took about 15 minutes a batch. I got some inspiration from other websites, and made a meat filling with sausage (of all things,) scallions, mushrooms, hoisin sauce, and a little oil. Quite good, though I will try the standard pork next time.

Turned out great. I ended up using a 1/2 c more water and it may have been because I am at a high altitude. Besides, that I let it rise the 2 1/2 hour minimum and when I separated the dough, the dough balls came out way too small and did not double in size as expected. I ended up combining 2 for each and they were a much better size. I went with turkey stuffing and chicken in mine, and the consistency and flavor of the dough once steamed is phenomenal! Can’t wait to make again!!! Thank you for sharing! Husband approved.

I did two batches of baos. I added water and the exact sugar amt. the recipe called for in the first batch. I replaced water with milk and added 4 table spoons of sugar in the second batch. The second batch turned out to be more fluffly and closer to the original baos I had from home (Taiwan). For fillings, I seasoned some grounded beef and finely chopped green onions with sesame oil, white pepper, soy sauce and salt. To be adventurous, I also use italian sausages for fillings too! To make some sweet treat, i melted some chocolate chips and spread it onto a flat dough and rolled it up to make a chocolate buns! They are all very delicious!

I never rate these recipes, but this one was so good and consistently gives me perfect chinese buns that I had to rate it. It was amazing! As a twist: baked a meatloaf with lipton soup recipe, then crumbled it and stuffed the bread before steaming. It was AMAZING! Seriously the best thing I've ever made.

This was awesome! I have never made steamed buns before, but I liked these a lot! Put in 1/2 cup of warm milk instead of water per other reviewers suggestion. Filled them with leftover pulled pork, scallions and cilantro. Served with lettuce and hoisin sauce. Didn't have a bamboo steamer, so just used a strainer lined with wax-paper. They were fluffy, soft and delicious! :)

I loved how simple the instructions were to follow. They turned out fluffy and flavourful. I made mine with chicken and vegetable stuffing and served them with chilli oil. I also tried making them with chicken stock instead of plain water. My children really enjoyed them. Thank you so much for the recipe.

thank you for helping me

So flavorful and satisfying.

I do love this recipe but it is just me and my boyfriend so we are ok with it making less buns than it advertises. Instead I make this recipe and cut into 4 to make bigger buns. The buns come out really big and perfect my boyfriend likes the buns plain but I added to my own 1 packet of sazon, some adobo I dont measure I just put a good amount if I had to guess about 2 tblsp and everything bagel seasoning if I had to guess like 1tblsp and I prefer that flavor much more. The regular recipe is a plain bun but is super fluffy and with flavorful rice or soup to dip it in its a perfect mix. This recipe is super friendly as far as adding in this or adding meat and stuff. So I have made this about 5 times now. My boyfriend really loves it. The first time I made it I did follow the recipe exactly and my boyfriend was sad about the buns being so tiny. So than the next time I made 8, still he was disappointed the size, than 6 with meat and he was happy with that now I make 4 and he loves this the most. To each their own but this is a very easily modified recipe thank you for sharing!

i used a little cornstarch in the flour which gave it a wonderful texture. i however only could make 12 stuffed steam buns. Not the 24 the recipe states.

Have tried countless of recipes. This one is the one the one I’m keeping and making over and over again! Love that it’s so fluffy and also easier to handle than other recipes I’ve tried! So happy with this one!

I gave it a five star because the inside was delicious and I couldn't stop eating it after all I ate the most in my whole family!

Really good recipe! I did have to add a little more flour but it came out to be the best recipe I've tried and I've made these buns many times. Didn't have any baking powder but they still came out great!

I had to add more flour to the recipe about 1/2 cup more. So it is not so sticky. This is a great recipe starter. Love it.