Steamed BBQ Pork Buns (Char Siu Bao) Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is char siu bao made of? ›

Cha siu bao (simplified Chinese: 叉烧包; traditional Chinese: 叉燒包; pinyin: chāshāo bāo; Jyutping: caa1 siu1 baau1; Cantonese Yale: chā sīu bāau; lit. 'barbecued pork bun') is a Cantonese baozi (bun) filled with barbecue-flavored cha siu pork.

Bao Buns (pronounced “bow”), but also known as a 'steamed buns' or 'baozi' 包子, are a delicious, warm, fluffy treat of stuffing wrapped inside a sweet, white dough. Made with a mix of flour, yeast, sugar, baking powder, milk and oil, the bao is a tad sweeter than its closely related cousin, the dumpling.

Steaming from Frozen

Fill a pot one third full of water and bring to the boil. Position the buns inside the steamer and place it over the pot of boiling water. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Steam for 12 - 15 minutes, or until the buns are soft and heated all the way through.

Any rush of cool air could potentially make the buns collapse. If you're making fluffy yeasted buns, let the buns sit covered in the steamer for an extra 5 minutes after the heat has been turned off. This resting time is crucial. If you open the lid too quickly, the cool air from outside might deflate the buns.

A standard steamed bao typically contains about 200-250 calories, positioning it as a moderate-calorie food option. Additionally, bao serves as a source of protein and dietary fiber, particularly when made with whole grain flours or filled with vegetables or lean meats.

Arguably Char Siu may be carcinogenic. Despite the charred chunks, many may easily chomp down when the meat is carved and served in thin or thick slices on a plate, all because it is too delicious to resist the temptation. There are also many health enthusiasts who would not lay an eye on anything charred.

When it comes to the dip, hoisin sauce, sweet chilli or a simple soy sauce with sesame oil make great pairings. We love to eat bao alongside some bouncy or zingy veggies. For zingy veg, we suggest some quick pickled cucumber.

Place frozen Buns into a lightly oiled steamer and cover. Steam the Buns over boiling water for approx. 15 minutes. Buns are cooked when the meat inside is steaming hot.

I'm using a bamboo steamer which I pop on top of a pot of boiling water, but you can use a normal steamer too. Whatever you do, remember to line your steamer! The bao will stick if you don't and it will be a big mess. Steam for 10 minutes and they're done and ready to be filled.

Place frozen baos in your air fryer without pre-heating the air fryer. Set cooking temperature to 300 °F and cooking time to 18 minutes. Check and flip baos at the 12-minute mark. Internal temp should be around 170 degrees F.

Does Costco sell bao buns? ›

What To Do With The Costco Bao Buns. If you do wind up with a package of the bao, there may be a couple of ways to enhance the taste. Some of the Reddit users suggested that simply microwaving them may impact the overall flavor, and that steaming would produce better results.

Place the bao bun on a microwave-safe plate. You can line the plate with parchment paper to prevent the bao bun from sticking to the plate. If heating more than one bao bun, do not stack them and simply arrange them on a single layer. Heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute on high heat.

In order to get white bao, many Chinese American cooks use low-gluten (low-protein), bleached cake flour for their bao dough; cake flour is milled from soft wheat and has 8 to 10% gluten/protein. To make up for the flour's lack of gluten a touch of vinegar is added to result in more chewy dough.

You can replicate a steamer with very little effort by placing your buns in a common kitchen sieve or colander, then suspending it over boiling water. Creating a tower from plates and tea towels will stop the steam from escaping, causing your buns to steam cook!

The Bao ('bun') developed in Chinese culture as a filled form of 'Mantou,' a plain steamed dumpling which is often compared to bread. The story behind this steamed delight explains not just its unique shape, buy why its development into Baos (or Baozi) was such a natural one.

Char siu literally means "fork roasted" (siu being burn/roast and cha being fork, both noun and verb) after the traditional cooking method for the dish: long strips of seasoned boneless pork are skewered with long forks and placed in a covered oven or over a fire.

Pork is literally just “the meat of a pig” in the most general sense. Char siu is the anglicized rendering of the name of a Cantonese style of roasted pork (usually belly, back, loin, or neck), flavored with Chinese 5 spice and glazed with honey and red rice yeast that produces a rich, red color.

Char Siu is the Cantonese pronunciation of the Mandarin 'Cha Shao') and this translates as 'fork cooked' or 'fork roasted'. Ir refers to meats, most commonly pork, that is seasoned and cooked in a very hot oven on skewers (forks). Char Siu Chow Mein thus means any stir-fried noodle dish that includes Char Siu Meat.

Sticky Chinese Barbecue Pork Belly (Char Siu), is one of the most popular pork dishes in Chinese/Cantonese cuisine and one of the most ordered dishes in restaurants.