Vietnamese Steamed Pork Buns (Banh Bao)
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I remember as a kid helping my mom make Vietnamese steamed pork buns in the kitchen. The whole family would come together to spend the entire day just making these buns. We didn’t have a stand mixer so most of the day was spent taking turns, kneading the dough.
There was always an assembly line where each kid was tasked with one thing. I was usually in charge of cutting out circles from my school notebook to line the buns. Parchment paper? We don't need any stinky parchment paper. Authentic Vietnamese steamed pork buns are lined with school notebook paper. That's a fact.
Vietnamese Steamed Pork Buns (Bánh Bao)
What is Bánh Bao?
Vietnamese steamed pork buns, or Banh bao, is an adaptation of the Chinese steamed buns, but so much better. Hehe.
Banh baos are fluffy savory pork buns made with ground pork, wood ear mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs, and Chinese sausages.
The ground pork mixture is lightly seasoned with oyster sauce, sugar, black pepper, and sesame oil.
What you will need to make the filling for bánh bao: sesame oil, oyster sauce, Chinese sausage, wood ear mushroom, yellow onion, green onions, carrots and peas, ground pork, ground black pepper, sugar, and hard-boiled quail eggs.
What You Will Need
Ground pork — This is the main filling ingredient. You can substitute with another type of ground meat.
Chinese sausage — Called Lap Xuong in Vietnamese. This is a sweet sausage that’s an absolute must for banh baos. My favorite brand is Harbor Sausage.
Hard-boiled eggs — I like to use fresh quail eggs. Bring a small pot to a boil, then lower the quail eggs with a slotted spoon into the boiling water. Cook for about four minutes then immediately shock them in cold water for easier peeling. You can use canned quail eggs if you can’t find them fresh.
Banh bao filling
Dried wood ear mushroom — Sometimes called black fungus. This provides the crunch in the filling. Rehydrate with water and mince finely. I prefer dried over fresh wood ear mushroom. I find they taste better. Plus, dried wood ear is pantry-stable.
Oyster sauce — The main salty umami flavoring agent.
Sugar — Rounds out the saltiness of the oyster sauce. You will also need sugar for the bao flour so it’s best to use white granulated sugar to keep the baos white.
Sesame oil — for the nutty aroma and flavor.
Ground black pepper — for the peppery aroma and flavor.
My favorite banh bao flour premix that never fails: TL Bon Con Voi Corp brand (four elephants). Other brands simply suck, or a hit or miss. Use this.
Banh Bao premix flour — My go-to banh bao flour is TL Bon Con Voi Corp brand (four elephants). Other brands simply suck.
Whole Milk — This is needed for the bao dough.
Neutral Oil — Also needed for the bao dough.
White Vinegar — A tablespoon of vinegar is added to the water in the steamer basin. The acidity helps to get the baos white.
A large steamer basket — Can’t have steamed buns without a steamer. I like to use a large multi-tier steamer for faster cooking.
What you will need to make the wrapper for bánh bao: flour premix, sugar, milk, vegetable oil, and vinegar.
Why this Recipe Works
Included in the below recipe are techniques that are slightly different than traditional methods that make the process so much easier.
Making the Filling into Balls
In the traditional method, I have always found it tricky to wrap the dough around the different size pieces of filling: the raw ground pork mixture, the hard-boiled egg, and sliced Chinese sausage. These pudgy little hands of mine sometimes have the dexterity of a two-year-old.
The different sizes cause the filling to constantly slip and slide against each other, making wrapping difficult. It is a lot easier to chop up the Chinese sausages into small pieces and evenly incorporate them into the ground pork mixture, then mold the pork/Chinese sausage mixture around the quail egg.
The filling then becomes a simple ball that I can easily wrap with dough. Boom.
Wrapping Banh Bao
Precook the Pork Ball Filling
The traditional method involves wrapping raw filling into the bao dough. However, I like to steam the pork filling first. This has four advantages:
It removes excess moisture. This prevents soggy baos.
It allows for easier handling. The filling gets firmed once cooked and this makes it easy to encase the filling in dough.
It ensures my filling is completely cooked. I can see that the pork is cooked rather than guessing when it gets cooked inside the fluffy bao.
I can make this ahead of time. If you don’t have the time to dedicate to making banh baos all in one day, you can make the filling balls ahead of time and do the wrapping another day.
Baos ready for the steamer!
Storage and Reheating
These fluffy steamed baos are freezer-friendly! Double or triple the recipe. Enjoy some baos piping hot from the steamer, pack some for school/work lunches and freeze the leftover.
To freeze, it’s best to wrap each bao with plastic wrap first and they will last for months!
To reheat, simply take it out from the freezer and pop the frozen baos into the microwave. Heat on high for 30 seconds to one minute. The baos will again become fluffy and be delicious as if they have never been frozen. You can also steam them again for a few minutes.
Vietnamese Steamed Pork Bun Recipe (Bánh Bao)
Ingredients
Instructions
- Prepare the mushroom: In a medium bowl, hydrate dried wood ear mushroom with 2 cups hot water. Get started on the dough while waiting.
- Make the dough: TL Bon Con Voi Corp brand banh bao flour mix is my go-to banh bao flour mix that never fails. If you are using other brands, follow their package instructions instead. Add flour into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Set aside 1 tablespoon of flour for dusting. Mix milk and sugar in a small bowl then add the mixture to the flour. Use a hook attachment and beat on the lowest setting until the dough comes mostly together. Add oil and continue beating until the dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes. See the notes section below if the dough becomes too sticky.
- Make the filling: Back to the wood ear mushroom. They should be soft by now. Drain, rinse well, squeeze out excess water, then mince finely. In a large bowl, mix together ground pork, sugar, black pepper, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. You may test the flavor of the marinated meat by quickly cooking a small piece in the microwave and adjust to taste if needed. Mix in wood ear mushroom, green onions, yellow onion, frozen peas/carrots, and Chinese sausage until combined.
- Make the filling balls: Divide the ground pork mixture into 12 equal balls. Make an indentation in the middle of each filling ball. Insert a hard-boiled quail egg in the middle. Using the palm of your hands, work the pork filling around the egg to encase it.
- Prepare the steamer: Using a large steamer, fill the basin halfway with water. Add vinegar and bring it to a boil. The acidity of the vinegar will help to keep the baos white.
- Precook the filling balls: Steam the ground pork balls directly on the trays for 5 minutes. This will remove most of the moisture to prevent a soggy bao. Remove the pork filling balls from the steamer and set them aside.
- Wrapping: Dough should be ready for wrapping by now. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Dust your work surface and/or hands with the reserved flour to prevent sticking, particularly the bottom of the wrapper. If you don't have enough reserved flour, use a bit of self-rising flour (recommended) or all-purpose flour. Roll out the dough into a flat circle, about 5" in diameter, using a small rolling pin. Place the pork filling ball in the middle and pull up the dough to wrap the filling ball. Make overlapping folds (pleats) at the top and pinch to seal. Place the assembled baos onto cupcake liners. Set them aside, covered.
- Steaming: Transfer assembled baos onto the steamer trays, leaving 1½" room in between for expansion. Steam for 10-12 minutes or until the top of the baos burst open. If you are doing two batches, make sure to wipe down the inside of the lid after the first batch to prevent water droplets from dripping onto the baos.
- Serving: Enjoy them warm from the steamer. For leftovers, allow them to cool completely then individually wrap with plastic wrap and store them in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can also store them in the freezer for up to 8 months. When ready to serve, pop the frozen baos into the microwave or steamer to reheat.
Notes
You can substitute quail eggs with three hard-boiled regular eggs. Slice them into quarter wedges.
You can substitute cupcake liners with parchment paper cut into 3"x3" square sheets.
If the dough becomes sticky, use the reserved flour and mix again. This can happen depending on elevation, humidity, or just because. You will not have any flour for dusting, but you may not need it anyways. However, if needed, use a bit of self-rising flour (recommended) or all-purpose flour.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
321Fat
16 gSat. Fat
5 gCarbs
35 gFiber
1 gNet carbs
35 gSugar
25 gProtein
10 gSodium
292 mgCholesterol
103 mgThe values provided should be considered estimates. Factors such as brands purchased, natural variations in fresh ingredients, etc. will change the nutritional information in any recipe. To obtain accurate nutritional information for a recipe, use your preferred nutrition calculator to determine nutritional information with the actual ingredients and quantities used.
