Are you a dim sum lover? Are you a baozi lover?
Well my dear friend, you and me both. Yes!
Today I'm sharing these super quick and easy Chinese steamed buns that you can conveniently prepare in your own kitchen. And guess what?
The buns don't need any yeast! Meaning no kneading, no proofing and no waiting.
You can easily enjoy these fluffy soft buns with delicious filling in less than 40 minutes.
Chinese Steamed Buns Or Baozi
Chinese steamed buns or also known as baozi in Chinese are a type of dim sum.
Dim sum is the Chinese style of I would like to say, tapa here in Spain. It's where you enjoy a varieties of delicious cooked food in small portions.
Baozi is a dim sum bun that has different types of filling in it. It has a bread like texture that usually requires the using of yeast in the dough.
The recipe that I'm sharing today doesn't need any yeast and the steamed buns are equally fluffy and soft.
Quick Steamed Buns Dough
I'm simply using baking powder as the leavening agent in the dough.
Super easy, right?
I've tested this recipe for 7 times (yes, believe me) to find the right combinations of ingredients and the ratios to be able to produce fluffy and soft buns while not using yeast.
It's my new and improved recipe.
My quick version is simply putting all the ingredients in a food processor and blend for a few seconds until everything forms into a ball of dough.
That's it.
Then it's just dividing the dough into portions, rolling them and assembling the buns.
Tips On Getting The Dough Right
The liquid for the dough is just the perfect amount to make the dough not too soft nor too stiff to handle.
The key is how you measure your flour. The most precise way is to use a kitchen scale. I always use it.
If you're using a cup to measure, it's important that you spoon the flour into the cup.
Don't compact the flour or scoop it with your cup because you will end up with more amount of flour and the liquid will not be enough to make a good dough.
But worry not.
Even if that happens, just add 1 tablespoon of liquid at a time while you're blending the ingredients in the food processor until it gets to the consistency like you can see in the video below.
Don't over do it because we don't want a dough that's too soft because then it will be difficult to pleat later.
I hope you'll give these quick and easy buns a try. Adjust the filling to your liking as that's the beauty of home cooking.
In Summary
These easy Chinese steamed buns are:
- quick to prepare without yeast
- soft and fluffy
- the dough is done is less than 1 minute
- can be served in less than 40 minutes
- super DELICIOUS and HOMEMADE
Before You Go
Here are some recipes that you might also enjoy:
- How to make dumpling dough or wrappers
- Chicken and shrimp dumplings
- Crispy beef spring rolls
- How to make Chinese egg noodles
- Ginger steamed fish
Video
📖 Recipe
Easy Chinese Steamed Buns (without yeast)
Ingredients
The Filling
- 1 garlic clove , grated
- ½ thumb sized ginger , grated
- 7 oz minced beef (200 gr)
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- 1 teaspoon honey
- ½ cup chopped spring onion (20 gr)
The Buns
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour (160 gr)
- ⅓ cup cornstarch (40 gr)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup coconut milk (125 ml)
Instructions
The Filling
- Heat some oil in a pan and add in grated garlic and ginger. Cook until they turn golden brown. Add in minced beef and continue until it's fully cook, breaking it into small pieces as you go.
- Place the meat into a bowl, discard any juice if any. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Cool completely before using.
The Buns
- Add all of buns ingredients into a food processor. Blend until everything comes together. Place on a working surface and knead into a dough and form into a log.
- Cut into 8 equal pieces and form each piece into a ball. Cover the dough with cling film when not using to prevent from drying.
Assembling
- Take a ball and flatten it a bit. Roll into a 3.5 inch (9 cm) disk with a thinner edges all around. You can do this by keep rolling ⅓ in to the center and twisting the dough.
- Place the dough on your palm and spoon some filling in the middle. Take one edge and bring it to the center and then keep pleating and pinching the rest of the edges, leaving a small hole in the middle.
- Note: You can watch how to do this in the video above
- Place the bun in a greased muffin liner. Continue with the rest.
Steaming
- Bring some water to a boil in a pan on high medium heat. The water should not be touching the bottom of your bamboo steamer.
- Arrange the filled buns in your steamer. Place the steamer on the pan and steam for 10 minutes or until the buns are fully cooked.
How To Serve
- These buns are best served immediately after steamed. Sprinkle some chopped green onion on top and serve directly in the bamboo steamer and enjoy them with some tea.
How To Get The Dough Right
- The ratio of flours and liquid is just perfect for this recipe. Use a kitchen scale to measure the flours in a more precise way (I always use it).
- Read my post above for tips if you're using cup measurement for your flours.
Make It Even Quicker
- I've tested not cooking filling. Meaning I just mix all of the filling ingredients in a bowl and have it ready to directly use it to fill the buns. Then I just continued following the steps from Steaming onwards. Even quicker!
m. says
Very tasty and fairly easy to make; learning to properly fold the dough over the meat took some time and I ripped the first few. Definetly worth it to let the meat sit on a paper towel for a bit to soak up the grease. I also used almond milk instead of coconut milk and it turned out great anyways!
Awesome recipe!! <3
Bea & Marco says
That's awesome! So happy to know you liked them. It takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it, it's not that difficult and so worth it 🙂 Great tip about the paper towel!
WhyDoYouNeedMyName says
i loved this! i'm a vegetarian, so i had to fill it with something else, but the buns themselves have a delightful texture! i also don't have a bamboo steamer, so i used my rice cooker, and i didn't think they'd puff up so much, so some dough stuck to the bottom of the lid. XD i think i know how i'll fix it for next time.
Bea says
Oh, such creativity! I wouldn't have thought it'll work in a rice cooker 🙌! Happy that you loved them. Perhaps you'd also like to try my quick pan-fried buns (with the filling of your choice). Thank you so much for your feedback!
Cerra says
Hello! Your recipe sounds amazing. I’ve recently learned I have a few allergies. Yeast, wheat, sugar, almonds and oats lol I’m not left with much to work with. My question is, would I be able to switch out the flour for rice flour?
Bea says
Oh sorry to hear that! I don't recommend rice flour as it reacts totally differently in this case and I haven't tested with gluten-free flours so I can't really give you suggestions though.
Zimra hellila says
I will make sure to give it a try. Seems nice.😁
Brenda says
Hi, thank you for your amazing recipes. I am looking at trying your super quick Chinese steam buns. By adding baking powder, does that cause the buns to be yellow?
Looking forward to your reply.
Brenda
Bea says
I think they are a bit yellow due to the type of flour, since all purpose flour is not totally white like rice or corn starch.
Valerie says
Can I use water instead of coconut milk? Steaming the buns, do I need those wood steamer? Can I use a pot steamer?
Bea says
Hi Valerie! I don't recommend using water since it needs some fat in it to help with the soft texture (somebody already tried using water and it didn't turn out good). Yes, you can use a pot steamer, no problem. Hope it helps and thank you!
Lara says
Hi instead of coconut milk can we use almond milk ?
Ricardo B. says
Hey, I don't have a food processor but I have a stand mixer with a dough hook. Do you know if I should use that or mix it by hand. Thank you!!
Aliyah says
Is there a certain type of coconut that needs to be used for this recipe? Canned milk or the refrigerated beverage kind?
Bea says
It's the canned coconut milk (for cooking), not the beverage one. Hope it helps!
Emily Chang says
What can I do if I don't have a food processor? Will mixing by hand work just the same?
Bea says
Yes, just don't over mix it. Hope it helps.
Kin says
Hi Bea, thank you for the recipe. Can I substitute corn starch with potato starch?
Kin says
And also, can I substitute coconut milk with 2% milk? Thank you in advance.
Bea says
I don't recommend that since it needs the fat to help make it soft and tender. Hope it helps.
Bea says
Hi Kin! I haven't tried it so I can't really say, sorry though!
Kin says
Thanks for replying Bea. I tried with with Lactaid 2% milk and potato starch. It came out pretty good, but probably not as good as yours!
Bea says
I'm glad that it turned out good! Maybe when this is all over and ingredients are not too difficult to come by, you'd want to give it another try. Thank you Kin!
Lansy says
Great recipe! I just tried it and they tasted so delicious!
Highly recommend to try this.
Thanks a lot!
Bea says
Thank you Lansy! I'm happy to know that 🙂
Russell says
Is it possible to use ratio's to adjust the recipe?
I would like to rework the amounts to they work for a single 400ml can of coconut milk (im going to assume for simplicity that the 400ml = 400g as with water, but maybe coconut is more dense?).
So, I'll calculate from flour as 100%, as in bread making:
1.0 all purpose flour (160 gr) => 512g
0.25 cornstarch (40 gr) => 128g
0.0015625 salt (1/4 tsp) => 4/5 tsp (0.8)
0.0125 baking powder (2 tsp) => 6 & 2/5 tsp (6.4)
0.78125 coconut milk (125 ml) => 400ml
I'll give this a go and see how it works, but would be good to know what your thoughts are.
Russell says
I should simplify/round off that for the salt and baking power to:
1.0 all purpose flour (160 gr) => 512g
0.25 cornstarch (40 gr) => 128g
0.0015625 salt (1/4 tsp) => 1 tsp (0.8)
0.0125 baking powder (2 tsp) => 6 1/2 tsp (6.4)
0.78125 coconut milk (125 ml) => 400ml
Eve says
Hi 🙂
I'm currently on Coronavirus lockdown, so I can't get yeast anywhere. So happy to have found a recipe not using it. i'm wondering however, can I follow this recipe without the cornflour and just use more plain flour? Cornflour is another item I don't currently have stocked in the house.
Thanks in advance!
Bea says
Hi Eve! Cornflour is what helps to get that soft texture but yes, you can skip it and use more plain flour instead. Let me know how it goes. Hope it helps.
Siti says
I tried this recipe but my bun texture does not turn out well. More like soft wantan than bun. Is it because of yeast absence? Or i need to put mix them longer in food processor?
Bea says
Hi Siti! Yes the dough doesn't require yeast but it needs baking powder as mentioned in the recipe. And no, don't knead it longer. Hope it helps 🙂
PJ says
I have some leftover sauce and wanted to make a filling for steamed buns with it. Thank you so mich for your recipe without yeast, it is currently out of stock where I live.
Bea says
I've also made this but pan fry steamed (bottom fried first then steamed in pan like pot stickers) and they were awesome. Do try 😀 ! And yes, it's not available where I am also. And also bread flour! Urgh!!
rae says
i'm not good at using yeast (and i can't be bothered to head out to get some. it's too cold. everything i use including the filling, i have it at home readily :D) so this recipe is fantastic.
instead of coconut milk, i used milk and they still turned out great. didn't think they would rise so well as I suffer from wrist pain (both wrists - first time mom. oh well) but they did! yes yes yes!
Bea says
Haha! Well I'm happy that everything turned out great! Thank you and congrats for being 1st time mom!! XOXO
El says
Can you use milk unread of coconut milk if so full fat?!
Megan Vinkemulder says
I just made these using whole milk. It came out a bit denser and chewier than in the picture, so maybe next time I'll use some water in place of the milk.
Jenny Chiu says
I have just tried, but I used 125 ml water instead of coconut milk, but the 8 buns turned out hard.
I wonder whether I beat it a bit too long?
Is it alright to use water?
I will try it again.
Bea says
You need to use coconut milk, not water since coconut milk has the natural fat that helps with soft texture. And yes, don't mix too long, the buns will come out hard also. Hope it helps.
Andy says
Do you think you could use a combination of water and oil? Most baozi dough recipes I've seen have a 10:1 liquid to fat ratio and this seems to be just about what coconut milk has. What is the fat content of the coconut milk you use? I've seen ranges from 3%-25% from various brands!
Bea says
Yes you can, the fat is needed in this quick recipe to help with the soft texture. My coconut milk is with 17% fat content. Hope it helps.
Woo Yuke Ying says
Hi,
Can we use milk instead of coconut milk?
Maureen
Bea says
Hi Maureen! I've tried with milk and for some reason the buns had spots on them and personally I didn't really like the texture.
Grace Lange says
This may seem like an odd question, but could alternative flours be used? (Almond&Coconut Flour to be exact)
I'm trying to go low carb, but I've always loved steamed buns and dumplings, so I'm trying to find alternatives.
Bea says
Hi Grace! Would love to help but since I haven't tried it with almond or coconut flour so I can't really say for sure. Sorry!
Honey Liew says
I love how you make your recipes so easy to follow Bea.
This is my go to steamed buns recipe. They are soft and tender.
God bless you and your husband for all the hard work. Thank you <3
Bea says
I'm happy to know that you liked them! Thank you so much!
Christina Seow says
Hi Bea!
Can I make this in advance and then either steam them then freeze or put them in a refrigerator and steam when ready? (Cooked within two days)
I am thinking of making these in advance in my kitchen and bring them to family who live in a distance.
Bea says
Hi Christina! Honestly I haven't tried making them in advance and I do feel fresh ones are better. Having said that, if I were to make them in advanced I would steam them first, leave them to totally cool and then freeze them on a baking tray for, say, 30 minutes until they harden. Then I would wrap them individually with cling film and into the ziplock bag and back in the freezer. I would thaw them first before re-steaming them for a few minutes to bring them back to life. Hope if helps.
Katrina Kelly says
Hi Bea,
This is the first time I am attempting to try one of your recipes. Recently I was given some frozen steamed buns but they had a sweet custard filling. I steamed them using a colander and the pot lid. They were totally delicious, and reminded me of a custard doughnut. I believe these would make a much healthier alternative to a doughnut though as they are not fried. My fussy eater of a daughter loved them too, and so I have been on the search for a simple steamed bun dough recipe so that I can make the sweet custard steamed buns at home as a healthier alternative to doughnuts. I have become inspired now to purchase a food processor and a proper bamboo steamer as I believe that the healthier option for such sweets is certainly worth the extra purchases. I am looking forward to trying your dough recipe and wonder if there are any variations to the dough if the filling is sweet (such as adding extra sugar to the dough mix to compliment the sweeter filling)? I assume at present that the normal dough should be sufficient but I would appreciate any feedback or such to point me in the right direction. The ones I tried in the past, I steamed straight from the freezer, just starting off with a low heat and steaming them over a prolonged period of time. They came out wonderful so I am assuming that this can be done (freezing) if they are steamed correctly. I guessed when it came to the steaming, as the buns I ate were a gift and unfortunately I was given no instruction but had to use common sense instead. I know at least that the freezing and then re-steaming works fine, at least with the custard filled buns. Also curious to know if you have any ideas for other sweet fillings other than custard (for example, a sweet rice cream filling also sounds lovely, but extremely filling) Perhaps a fruit and custard combination? Do you know of any other sweet recipes or do you have any other ideas?
Thank you for taking the time to read my comment
Kat
Bea says
Hi Katrina! For this buns dough recipe, I've never steamed them frozen. But yes, most store bought ones are frozen so I'm assuming yes, these ones also could be steamed frozen, right? As for the sweet dough, yes, you can add some sugar in the dough. I've tried sweet adzuki beans buns (filled with the bean paste, my favourite), sweet coconut buns (filled with desiccated coconut, coconut sugar), coconut custard, pandan custard, corn custard. I think the filling can be whatever you want. Hope you have fun making them and thank you! 😀
audrey chin says
I have tried your other steamed buns recipe and I loved them but these new ones are really amazing! they are softer and fluffier! thank you bea!
Bea says
I'm happy that you tried both and get to compare. Yes this is my new improved buns recipe, the buns are really better in texture. Thank you so much Audrey!