Pillowy soft steamed buns filled with a sweet, savoury saucy pork filling. Homemade Chinese Pork Buns are truly just like the ones you swipe off the dim sum trolleys. These will blow your mind!
Sunday morning Yum Cha is almost a religious ritual here in Sydney. Large groups descend upon vast restaurants from mid morning, with steaming trolleys piled high with dumplings and buns rattling around the room. The familiar sound of bowls being banged onto tables, the bottomless Chinese tea, and the brisk, borderline rude service.
It’s all part of the experience. Polite service at Yum Cha is almost creepy. It’s just wrong. 😂
The trolley-chasing protocol differs from restaurant to restaurant, but I’m shameless. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. And when I need pork buns, I will stalk trolley after trolley until I find it!
CHINESE STEAMED PORK BUNS
Homemade Pork Buns aren’t a quick and easy recipe but they are worth the effort because it will blow your mind how similar they are to Yum Cha / Dim Sum. Plus, if you’re addicted as I am to pork buns, you’ll save stacks because it’s probably 70 – 80% cheaper to make at home.
And they are the ultimate freezer standby. 1 minute in the microwave from frozen = pork buns that you’d swear just came out of a bamboo steamer.
HOW TO MAKE PORK BUNS
There are 4 main steps to making steamed pork buns.
1. THE FILLING
Made with Chinese Barbecue Pork (Char Siu), chopped then coated in a simple sweet and savoury sauce. Use either store bought or homemade Char Siu. Full blown home made Char Siu requires at least 24 hours marinating time, so if time is of the essence, refer to the recipe notes for a quick homemade Char Siu.
2. DOUGH FOR PORK BUNS
Just like making any yeast bread or rolls, the dough is pretty standard and effortless if made using a stand mixer!
The dough is soft and elastic dough, very easy to work with. The recipe video is helpful to see the dough consistency.
3. STUFF ‘EM!
OK, so there’s no denying this is the part that takes some practice and I’m no Pork Bun Goddess. But it doesn’t matter. Even if you just bundle it up like a money bag and get that filling sealed inside, it’s still going to taste just as good!
The recipe video is the best way to learn how to wrap pork buns, but here’s a brief step by step description:
Roll out pretty thin rounds, making the edges thinner so you don’t end up with a huge thick wad of dough when you pinch it together;
Place it on your hand and top with Filling. Pinch the dough around the edges (#6 below) to make pleats – around 8 times;
Moving around the edge, gather together the pleats, bringing them together so you end up sealing the bun at the top (#7 and #8 below);
Pinch to seal and give it a good twist (#9).
Voila! You’re a Pork Bun Master!
4. Steam!
I use a bamboo steamer set over simmering water in a wok. Any steamer will do, but if you want the truly authentic pork bun experience, it’s worth getting a bamboo steamer because it imparts a subtle fragrance into the buns.
They aren’t expensive and you can find them at most Asian stores. Then you can make Chinese Steamed Fish, Shumai – Japanese Steamed Dumplings and Steamed Chinese Dumplings!
Nifty tip: How to make the paper liner for the bamboo steamer. Fold baking paper, line up with centre and trim off end (#1), then cut little diamonds along the edge (#2), unfold (#3) then plonk into your steamer!
ALL CREDIT TO WOKS OF LIFE
I want to be very clear about giving credit for this recipe because it is not an original recipe by me.
This is a recipe that was meticulously researched and created by Judy and Bill from Woks of Life – their Steamed BBQ Pork Buns. Really good people, excellent taste, exceptional cooks and a very high standard of quality. I trust their recipes completely.
Judy and Bill – we salute you!
It’s worth every minute of effort. Tastiness aside, everyone is always soooooo impressed by homemade Pork Buns.
Let’s be honest. The prospective praise seals the deal.😂 – Nagi x
MORE GREAT DUMPLINGS OF THE WORLD
- Potstickers (Chinese pan fried dumplings)
- Gyoza (Japanese dumplings)
- Shumai (Japanese steamed dumplings on my mother’s site, RecipeTin Japan!)
- Wontons
- Browse the Yum Cha recipe collection
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Chinese Steamed Pork Buns
Ingredients
Yeast Activation:
- 1 tsp active dry yeast powder
- 1/4 cup / 65 ml warm water
- 1 tbsp white sugar
Dough:
- 1/2 cup /125 ml warm water
- 4 tbsp /70g white sugar
- 2 cups / 300g plain flour (all purpose)
- 1 cup / 155g cornflour / cornstarch
- 1/4 cup / 65 ml vegetable oil
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
Pork Filling:
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup finely chopped escalot or white onion (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce , regular or light (not dark)
- 1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce (can sub Hoisin)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp cornflour dissolved in 1 tbsp water
- 1 1/2 cups Chinese Barbecue Pork , diced (Note 2)
Instructions
Dough:
- Yeast Activation: Place yeast, sugar and water in a small bowl. Mix, then set aside for 10 minutes until it becomes foamy.
- Place flour, cornflour and sugar in a stand mixer bowl fitted with a dough hook. Mix briefly to combine.
- Add yeast mixture, oil and water. Mix on low speed for 3 minutes until a smooth ball of dough forms. It should be soft and elastic, not so sticky it gets stuck all over your hands. Adjust with a touch of flour/water if required to get the dough consistency right.
- Cover with cling wrap and place in a warm dry place for 2 hours until it doubles in volume. (Note 3). Meanwhile, make Filling.
- Remove cling wrap, scatter over baking powder. Return to stand mixer and mix on low for 2 minutes.
- Turn dough out onto work surface, sprinkle with flour. Knead lightly to form a smooth round disc.
Making Buns (watch video):
- Cut dough into 4 pieces. Take one piece, roll into an even log, cut into 3 pieces (so 12 pieces in total).
- Take one piece of dough, cover remaining with cling wrap or tea towel.
- Roll into round 4.5″ / 11 cm in diameter, making the edges thinner.
- Place dough in hand, put 1 1/2 tbsp of Filling in the centre.
- Pinch 8 pleats around the edges. Then gather the pleats together one by one to seal the bun. Pinch the top the twist.
- Repeat with remaining dough – make 12 in total.
- Cover buns loosely with cling wrap and leave in a warm place for 15 minutes.
Steaming:
- Line a large bamboo steamer (or other steamer) with parchment paper punctured with holes (Note 4).
- Place 6 to 8 buns on paper, cover with steamer lid.
- Pour about 4 cm / 1 1/2 inches in a wok / pot (steamer should not touch water) and bring to rapid simmer over medium high.
- Place steamer in wok, then cook for 12 minutes. Check water halfway through, top up if required.
- Buns are ready when they spring back when touched, and the buns have formed a smooth skin.
- Remove steamer from wok, serve warm!
Filling:
- Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add eschalots and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil and water. Mix.
- While stirring, slowly pour cornflour mixture in. Mix until smooth.
- Stir in pork. Cook until sauce is thickened, 1 – 1 1/2 minutes (see video for consistency). Set aside to cool (thickens when cools).
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
MOVE! I can’t change the channel!
That looks amazing. You make everything look so easy.
Hi Joanna! I wouldn’t say this is easy but I’ve tried my best to make clear steps to follow 🙂 I hope you give it a go! N x
hahahahaha
These buns look perfect! Great video, Nagi!
Thanks Sabrina!
thank you for the recipe Nagi..made them today for afternoon tea and the entire family enjoyed it!!! btw, my bun had yellow spots on it could it be the baking powder not properly incorporated?? did not affect the taste anyways.,..love love all your recipes…
OMG – PORK! PORK not PORN!!!! 😂
ROFLMAO Nagi the Porn queen.
Yellow spots! How odd! I will ask around about that. I’m so glad you enjoyed these Ellika! You Porn Bun Master!!
This blog is amazing — I learn so much from people around the world and we all get to see Dozer, too!! Running off to the coast of Maine tomorrow for the cool breezes, but cannot wait to make the beautiful Chinese steamed pork buns!
Thank you for the compliment Nadine! Have a wonderful time in Maine! N xx
Anything that cooks in a steamer basket is good in my book. We actually have 6 baskets and use them often. We have no proper dim-sum restaurants, so we do ourselves.
Your pork buns look fantastic, I loved watching you form the buns. You made it look so easy. And, the paper liner hack was brilliant. I’ve made many a cartouche, but never though of making them into liners. Now I don’t have to buy those perforated pricey ones at our Asian market.
It’s not me, it’s my mum! So much easier to film her doing it than trying to film myself so I called in the big guns for this one! 😂
I love them! I can’t wait to try them! Before that, I have to get new wok and steamer though. Is your work 30 cm diameter? What size is your steamer? Thanks in advance. 🙂
Hi Kozue! I think mine is 30 cm too – I will update when I get back to check!
Char sui?!? Are you kidding me?!? I love that stuff and your recipe for it is the best! As I eat gluten free, I have never tried steamed pork buns and had this vision of them filled with some bland version of pork mince. Now that I know I can stuff them with char sui I’m definitely going to try these with some GF flour. My partner has a bamboo steamer I’ve always been curious about so I’m onto it! Thanks so much for sharing!
I would absolutely LOVE to know if it works with GF! A dear friend of mine is GF, I try most of my baking recipes with GF to see how it works 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, since writing that comment, I have been advised to cut back severely (my interpretation of “stay off” 😂) grains to try and improve my gut health. Unfortunately gone are the days when I could eat anything I wanted without consequences to my health. So I won’t be trying the pork buns, at least for a while. 😉
Hello Donna – may I give a wee bit of advice: pinch your partner’s bamboo steamer, like permanently! Cook most of your vegetables, and potatoes if you eat them, and try the most beautiful Chinese fish in the world and so much else . . . including this and much else from Nagi . . .you will love it and your physician will love you . . . am sorry you are amongst the less than 1% who had to be gluten-free: what a bummer . . . .
Thanks Eha. I did actually look up Nagi’s steamer recipes after I wrote that message and saw the fish one. I will definitely give the vegetables a go and as I live with my partner it won’t be hard to steal the steamer. 😅I’m all for keeping healthier and steering away from needing my physician, 😃
Donna: did not mean o be ‘Mrs Bossy-Boots’ – having been thru’ Medical School and still studying nutrition after 30 years I guess I can be an awful ‘wet blanker’ in a most well meaning way 🙂 ! Talk to Mr Google also . . . fish steamed with lemongrass and green onions and garlic and ginger . . . and . . . is just beautiful with a few grains of rice . . . .
All good Eha. I took no offence at all. Thank you for your advice. ☺️
❤️ N xx
Oh Nagi – you almost want me to try and make these 🙂 ! Of course was also part of the Sydney Sunday Chinese morning brunch rush for decades methinks when living in Sydney. Mostly loved a joint called “Marigold’ on the edge of Chinatown then: yes, so like your description!. Two differences: would get thru’ a few bottles of dry white alongside the dim sum (can that be called ‘fusion’ ?) and so, so avoided the pork buns – too much dry uninteresting dough and not enough taste for our palate 🙂 ! But yours do look smaller and more filled and moreish and Eha perchance should have another try . . . especially since there is not a dim sum trolley within 40 kms . . .
I KID YOU NOT, Marigold is EXACTLY what I was thinking of!!! My buns definitely are a bit smaller, I find the really giant ones a bit too filling – I need space for all the dumplings!!!
Could not resist, even on a busy Sunday! My children have had children who have grown . . . they somehow still go ‘there’ and tho’ the reviews vary, some others also love the place tho’ it seems to have moved in the interim ? Sydneysiders: if a place manages to turn profit since ‘ancient’ me turned 20, just perhaps . . .
Nowadays you have to get there around 10.30 am if you want a table without too long a wait!!
Thank you for publishing my request Nagi. Have already passed it onto my friends.
You’re so welcome Fran! I’ve been wanting to do it for ages – I think I just needed a kick up the bum to get moving on it! 😂
Thanks a lot Nagi for this recipe – Can’t wait to try this. I am salivating already.
Hope you do Jenn! It’s totally worth the effort 🙂 N x
Oh I forgot – I just love the wonderful tip about the dryer – GENIUS – worth 10 stars
It works SO WELL! I do it for all my yeast baking throughout the cooler months 🙂
Nagi, Can’t tell you how much I enjoy your recipes and narrative’s. Pork Buns are one of our all-time favorites. My question is: “Can the Pork Buns be assembled, and refrigerated, several hours before steaming?”
Hi Jack, thanks for the compliment, I’m so glad you are enjoying my recipes! I haven’t tried doing that, my concern would be how that affects the rise power of the buns. It’s a great question though and the next time I make them I will try to remember to do it. If you’re wanting piping hot fresh buns, I can absolutely promise that microwaving cooked ones produces a near perfect result, and if you want the extra effect of freshly steamed, I would suggest microwaving just a bit then popping them in the steamer briefly to finish them off 🙂 N x
Amaizing video with great final shot!
Very tasty look!
Thank you Dasha! 🙂
Wow yummy buns! Dozer come visit us LUCA IS A TV HOG..just like you😂😂
Happy Canada Day Vivienne from Gillian in Toronto.. I apologize Nagi for using your site to give a shout out to a fellow Canadian.
I like your pleating technique much simpler than I was shown from a friend’s mother tks
Ha! Why am I not surprised that Luca is a TV hog too? 😂
“Mo-mee! The pictures in my head are flipping by too fast! First I’m in the park, then I’m in my crate, then I’m in the kitchen?!!” Wuzzupwithat?”
Finally, the secrets of Char Siu Bao revealed. Thanks so much…you make it look approachable…a must try. For Canada Day (this Monday), I will maybe(?) add a slight touch of red food colouring to the pork? That, with the white bun, would be fab.
And NOW he’s planting himself in front of the Foxtel box so I can’t change the channel!!! 🙂 The pork I use in the recipe is actually my homemade Char Siu which has red food colouring in it, but if you want more red in the sauce for the buns then by all means! Add away! N xx
I’m addicted to these! I love them when I go to dim sum at Empress Pavillion in Los Angeles. Glad I know how to make them at home now. Thanks!
I love them too!!! N x
HOW do you read my mind, Magic Woman? I was just wishing for these and wondering if I had the courage to try to make them! YES! Your video makes it look doable.
Thanks, Nagi!
It’s TOTALLY doable Sheri!! I promise 🙂 The hardest part is the wrapping of the buns but I promise, even if you just bundle them up like money bags, they taste just as good 🙂 They even look really authentic, they will just be missing the little signature pleats. Hope you do try it! N x
Wooohooo that’s my request! Thanks Nagi! Can’t wait to try this. Will let you know how I go. Thanks again.
Yay!!! I was so happy to see it on the request list, I’ve been busting to do it for ages. 🙂 Just needed a little kick up the bum to get a move on! N x
Thanks so much for this recipe, Nagi. Before I attempt these I will re-read your instructions – these look soooo good! I’ve never had Chinese Steamed Buns, so this will be a new venture for me. I’ll leave feedback once I’ve ‘tried’ to make these Nagi.
And Dozer – what can I say – you are a beautiful fellow, and obviously want to stay as close to Mama as you can – thus the interference with the remote!!!
On a serious note Nagi ….he is looking more comfortable then in some of the previous pics – on his way to recovery! Hurray, Dozer!!! (Was it embarrassing wearing a child’s floatie around your neck – ah! well, no need to worry Dozer, you looked quite handsome.)
He’s doing so great, thanks for asking P!! He is moving great – a little TOO great, if you know what I mean. I still have to have him on a leash at all times, even to go to the toilet, and he’s a nightmare, he lunges like crazy the second I open the door. He just wants to run free – but he’s not allowed! But he’s in great spirits, I am allowed to take him for short walks. 🙂 N xc
Enjoy every minute you have with him Nagi…..it is obvious there is a ‘love connection’ there…..we too have experienced that connection with our many pets…..we are thankful and have been blessed by taking each one into our home. So Enjoy Enjoy and Enjoy each others company, as it appears you both do :-).
And for the recipes – what can I say….except thank you! We had the Sesame Noodles last evening – my hubby is still proclaiming how wonderful it was!!! Hurray for me -and thanks to you.
Have a wonderful day Nagi, we never know how many we have……..
I truly am treasuring every moment P! I love him so much, he truly brings so much joy into my life. So much FUN!
Ooohhh, I’m excited Nagi. Super, Hyper, Mega excited about this one!
Will report back!
Thank you Jason! Worked super hard on this one so I love hearing that!