Fluffy steamed buns are slathered in hoisin sauce and stuffed with tender shiitake mushrooms in sweet and savory garlic sauce, quick pickled veggies and crunchy peanuts to make these scrumptious vegan bao buns!
I've been sitting on this recipe for over a year. And that's kind of a shame because these buns are so good!
So why the wait? Well, I guess I haven't been sitting on the entire recipe. I developed the recipe for the shiitake mushroom filling last summer after spotting frozen bao buns (that just happened to be vegan!) at an Asian market.
Sometimes I do that: I see some hard-to-find ingredient that I've been longing for and develop a recipe around it only to realize most people won't be able to get ahold of it and won't get to make the recipe.
In this case, fortunately, that ingredient was one you can make yourself. I just needed to develop a bun recipe to go with my filling.
If you can get your hands on some frozen vegan buns and just want to make the filling, go for it. The whole process of making these will be a lot easier.
But if you can't, fear not: making your own vegan steamed buns at home really isn't that tough.
Jump to:
Ingredients You'll Need
- Active dry yeast.
- Water.
- All-purpose flour. The recipe might work with other types of flour, like whole wheat, but I haven't tested the recipe with anything but plain old white flour, so use another variety at your own risk.
- Salt.
- Baking powder.
- Canola oil. Another neutral oil could be used if needed. Peanut oil, corn oil and vegetable oil are all good options.
- Rice vinegar. This is available in the international aisle of most supermarkets.
- Sugar. We're using organic sugar to keep the recipe vegan. Conventional sugar is processed with animal bone char in many regions.
- Cucumber.
- Carrot.
- Jalapeño pepper. You can leave this out if you don't like spicy food.
- Soy sauce. Tamari or liquid aminos can be substituted if needed.
- Maple syrup.
- Sambal oelek. This spicy chili paste is another ingredient you can get in the international section of the supermarket. It's also another one that adds heat, so leave it out if that's not your thing.
- Toasted sesame oil. This is a flavoring oil. Pick up a bottle while you're grabbing that rice vinegar and sambal oelek in the international section of the store.
- Liquid smoke. This smoky flavoring is totally vegan and can be found near the barbecue sauce at the grocery store.
- Shiitake mushrooms.
- Hoisin sauce. One more condiment from the international aisle. Last one, I promise!
- Peanuts.
- Scallions.
- Cilantro. Cilantro-haters can obviously leave this out.
Tip: If you'd like to use premade buns instead of making your own, you'll want to look for them in an Asian market. Be sure to check the ingredients, as they're not always vegan.
How They're Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
The buns start with a yeast dough that's not that much different from one you might use to bake bread. To make the dough, dissolve some yeast in warm water and let it sit while you mix up some flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add the liquid to the yeast and form your dough.
You'll knead the dough for a bit until it's smooth and elastic, then, just like with bread dough, let it rise until it's about doubled in size.
Split your dough up and roll it into balls. Then, roll each ball into a little circle with a rolling pin.
Fold and steam your buns until they're soft and fluffy.
Tip: A bamboo steamer is the best tool for steaming homemade bao buns. It's worth the small investment and is also great for steaming veggies. I love mine!
While the dough rises, prepare some quick pickled veggies. Toss some cucumber, carrots and jalapeño slices in a zippy rice vinegar marinade.
And finally, prepare the shiitake mushroom filling. Slice the mushrooms nice and thin, so you can pile a bunch into your buns after they're cooked.
Briefly brown the mushrooms for a few minutes on each side, then add some sauce. Let it cook for a few more minutes, until the sauce forms a thick, sticky coating on the mushrooms.
To serve, slather the steamed buns with hoisin sauce, then stuff with the mushroom filling, pickled veggies, peanuts, scallions and cilantro.
Tip: To save time on the day you serve your vegan bao buns, prepare the sauce and pickled veggies up to a day ahead of time. You can also make the buns a day ahead, or make them well in advance and freeze them.
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover vegan bao bun filling and pickled veggies will keep in separate airtight containers in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. The buns will keep in a sealed bag in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days, or in the freezer for about 3 months.
More Vegan Chinese Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Shiitake Mushroom Vegan Bao Buns
Ingredients
For the Buns
- 1 packet (1 ¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tablespoons organic granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
For the Pickled Veggies
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon organic granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ medium cucumber, julienne cut
- 1 medium carrot julienne cut
- 1 medium jalapeño pepper, sliced
For the Mushroom Filling
- â…“ cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons sambal oelek, or to taste (optional)
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)
- 3 tablespoons canola oil (or high heat oil of choice)
- 1 pound shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced into thin strips
For Serving
- 10 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- ½ cup chopped peanuts
- ½ cup chopped scallions
- ½ cup fresh cilantro
Instructions
Prepare the Dough
- Whisk together the water and yeast in a small bowl or liquid measuring cup. Let it sit for a few minutes while you prepare your dry ingredients.
- Stir the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together in a large mixing bowl.
- Stir 1 tablespoon of oil into the yeast and water mixture, then add the mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir to form a soft dough.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead it for about 7-8 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
- Lightly oil a medium bowl, roll the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl. Cover with a towel and place it in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.
To Make the Pickled Veggies
- While the dough rises, mix the water, vinegar, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the veggies and allow the mixture to sit while you make the filling and finish making the buns.
To Make the Mushrooms
- Stir the soy sauce, vinegar, maple syrup, sesame oil, sambal oelek, and liquid smoke together in a small bowl.
- Coat the bottom of a large skillet with oil and place it over medium heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the mushrooms in an even layer. Cook the mushrooms for about 4 minutes, flip and cook 4 minutes more, until lightly browned.
- Add the sauce to the skillet and flip a few times to coat the mushrooms. Allow them to continue cooking until the sauce is thick and forms a sticky coating, about 3 minutes more.
- Remove the skillet from heat and transfer the mushrooms to a plate.
To Steam the Buns
- Once the dough has doubled in size, divide it in half. Remove half from the bowl and divide it into fifths.
- Roll one of the fifths into a ball, then flatten it with your hand.
- Use a rolling pin to roll the ball into a 4-5 inch round. Brush the top with oil, fold it in half, and transfer it to a piece of parchment paper (I like to to place the parchment paper in the steamer, so I don't have to move it again later). Make sure not to crowd the dough rounds.
- Repeat for the remaining pieces of dough, then remove the other half of the dough from the bowl and repeat. You should have 10 rounds.
- Cover the dough rounds and let them rest for 15 minutes.
- Transfer the parchment rounds to the bamboo steamer if they're not already there. They may not all fit — just work in batches of that's the case.
- Layer the tiers in your steamer, place the lid on it, and place it over a large pot of water. Bring the water to a boil and steam the buns for 8 minutes.
- Very carefully remove the lid and remove the buns from the steamer.
To Serve
- Slather the insides of the buns with hoisin sauce, then stuff with mushrooms, pickled veggies, peanuts, scallions and cilantro. Serve.
Notes
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Hi Alissa, firstly thanks for all your approachable recipes. My family loves them.
I want to make this recipe but will need to buy a steamer. Is the bamboo one that you linked to a hassle to clean? I figured I could put a metal one in the dishwasher, but wondering if the bamboo one works better?
Thanks!
I'm glad you're enjoying the recipes! It's not difficult to clean at all. I've seen instructions online saying to steam it or soak it, but I've had mine for years and never done any of that. I just give it a quick scrub and rinse.
A friend made and brought these to a pot luck we were having. They were absolutely delicious!!! The buns were so nice and fluffy and oh so tasty. The pickled veg and shiitake mushrooms were perfectly seasoned. So, so good. She had pre-filled the buns, pinched the top together to seal the filling inside and then steamed. They were perfection. What a treat. Thank you so much!
The whole family loved this!! This recipe is a keeper! All the kids came back for seconds. 😃
Any suggestions for how to keep the flavor but lower the sodium?
Most of the sodium comes from soy sauce, so you could try using a reduced sodium variety.
Any way to make these without oil? I have a client who medically cannot eat any fat.
You might be able to just leave it out of the dough - the buns might be a bit drier but otherwise fine, I think. For the filling I'd try roasting the mushrooms without oil - maybe use a method like this one: https://theplantbasedcatholic.com/2020/04/30/oil-free-roasted-mushrooms/ - then heat them in a skillet with the sauce. I'd love to hear how it turns out if you give it a try!
Thanks for this! This recipe is definitely a keeper! Fun and easy to make alone and with friends.
I found the sauce to be very rich! So amazing that I forgot all about moderation and ran out of shiitake filling before everything else. The sauce was powerful enough that next time I might just use 20+ oz of mushrooms instead of 1 lb.
I actually tried this steamed bun recipe when I cooked alone, and later when cooking with friends bought a bao dry mix from the Asian market, thinking it would save time (only 10-min rise) and be "authentic". This recipe was way better, I guess there's really something about DIY yeast and leavening.
Hi,
I made this last night as our dinner. My husband and daughter like it so much. My daughter even asked me to make it again in her birthday. The recipe for the dough is for keeps. Thanks for blessing us with your recipe.
Wow, this was truly amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe, this definitely goes into my staple go-to recipes. The pickled veggies turned out perfectly sour-sweet to go with the sauce and buns.
Just a few notes to self or tips to others: I couldn't find any sambal oelek, so I substituted with 2 tbs of Sriacha sauce. Could maybe have added a few dried chilies as well for some more heat. And shiitake mushroms weren't availiable either, so I used a mixture of pleos mushroom, oyster mushroom and champignons. Also, I rinsed all the mushrooms first and then gave them a good 20 minutes over high heat to get out all the water, before frying them. I find this gives the mushrooms a firmer and "meatier" texture. I guess this sauce would work well with other types of mushrooms as well.
Thanks again!
Just made these and they're fantastic.
For those without a steamer here's what I did:
Grab the biggest (radius) pot you've got that has a lid , scrunch up three balls of tinfoil (about the size of a golf ball) and put a plate on top, I used a side plate. Fill with water until it's underneath the plate and then follow the instructions above. Whether there should be a gap or not I'm not 100% sure, I figured a bamboo steamer isn't going to be 100% sealed so left a bit of a gap.
Absolutely perfect.
Great idea! Thanks so much for sharing your method. I'm so glad you enjoyed these!
I have some bao buns in the freezer and am excited to try this recipe! Would it be good with (rehydrated) dried shitakes or are fresh advisable?
My personal preference for this recipe is fresh, just because they're more tender, but dried and rehydrated should work just fine!
ermygawwwwd these are great! I cheated with frozen bao buns from the grocery store, but I can vouch for the deliciousness of the mushrooms and the picked veggies. So glad I found your blog, thank you!
Wonderful! I'm so glad you enjoyed them! I've cheated and used frozen buns on occasion myself. :)
The mushrooms in this recipe - wow! They are so delicious. I could not stop eating them. The amount of liquid smoke in this recipe is perfect. I will be making these again for sure!!!
I'm so glad you like it! Thanks so much Morgan!
WOW, this is a recipe I will definitely enjoy (now that I'm a vegetarian). I got my shiitakes from https://www.burmaspice.com/ and the quality is amazing. THANK YOU so much for this.
Hi! I've made these twice and they've come out absolutely divine every time! My only question is regarding the sauce: in the beginning of the post and in the beginning of the recipe card, you write that the mushrooms are slathered in a "garlic ginger sauce", but I can't seem to find any mention of ginger in the recipe steps nor the ingredient list. Am I misunderstanding something? :) Either way, they taste great without ginger, too!
Lol. Whoops! I guess that'll teach me not to write those blurbs before the recipe is finalized! I just updated them (and confirmed with my recipe notes) - no ginger. I'm so glad you've been enjoying them!
At what point would you freeze the dough ?
I'd do it after step 5, and then maybe give it a bit of extra time to rise after it's thawed out.
When I made these, the buns became a little too puffy (still tasted amazing) but I hardly had any room for the veggie filling. Do you have any tips to make them thinner with more room in the middle?
You could try cutting down on the amount of baking powder, or even cutting it out completely. The yeast should provide enough air for the buns to rise - the baking powder is in there to make them extra puffy!
Thank you for the reply!! I’ll be sure to try this next time I make these! (Which I’m sure will be soon as they are AMAZING!!!)
This has become one of my favorite recipes, I have made these three times now and plan on making them many more times. Your blog is my holy grail, 85% of my meals are made from your recipes. Awesome job!
I'm so happy to hear that!! Thanks so much Dorothy!
Do you know if it's possible to freeze the dough? It would be great to make a big batch of these bao buns rather than have to make them especially everytime. It's so annoying that most of the off-the-shelf buns are not vegan!
I haven't tried freezing this, but I will for sure with my next batch! I've had luck freezing other yeasted doughs though, so I think it will work. :)
I don’t have a bamboo steamer. Do you think I could use my instant pot, on the steam setting?
I think that would work, but I don't have an instant pot so I can't say for sure. I'd love to hear how it works out if you try!
Hi Ann,
I also have an instant pot. No one who makes seitan should use anything else. I'm going to try mine as well, but try the pressure on low. We shall see!
This looks so good! Can't wait to try and make this bread on my own - thank you for the recipe!
Thanks Jerry!! I hope you enjoy it!
This looks wa wa oo!
Thanks Bethery!!
Is there a gluten-free option for the buns? Otherwise, I'll have to pass on this delicious-looking recipe :( Thx.
I'm afraid I'm not sure how I'd go about making this one gluten-free, but here's a recipe for gluten-free buns that could easily be veganized: https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/gluten-free-steamed-buns-recipe Just use a non-dairy milk and vegan butter. :)
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/chinese-steamed-buns-mantou-gluten-free-vegan/
this one is really nice and very simple to make
Do you have suggestions for things to use if you do t have a bamboo steamer?
You might be able to get away with using a metal steamer basket. I'd use one that's as large as possible, line it with parchment paper, and just be really careful when arranging the buns to avoid them sticking together. I'd love to hear how it works out if you try!
So, I bought the bamboo steamer and I love it! But, my buns didn’t come out fluffy like yours. They were flat and dense. Any ideas on what I might have done wrong? Everything else was so delicious, and I’d like to nail these buns!
My best guess is that either the yeast is dated, or it just needed more time to rise, which could be the case if your kitchen is on the cooler side. Did the dough take a long time to double when you let it rise? That would be a good indication that the kitchen is too cool. Old baking powder could also contribute to them not rising - test it by sprinkling some in a glass of water. It should fizz - if not, time to toss it! I hope that helps! And I'm really glad you enjoyed everything else!
I like these buns. Never thought of making something like this. They remind me of the flatbread from Subway, but they look much better. We make our dumplings by steaming them, so I have a sense of how the texture will be -darn good! :)
The texture is a lot like steamed dumplings! I hope you give them a try and enjoy them!