Bao bun chicken - Steamed buns with a delicious filling

Bao buns, also known as steamed buns, are soft, fluffy buns that originated in China and became especially popular in Taiwan. They’re white, folded flat, and designed to hold all kinds of fillings. Traditionally, they’re made with water, flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. The fillings can be as simple or adventurous as you like—pork belly, duck, shrimp, chicken, vegetarian or vegan. Pick your favorite filling, add a topping, and you’ve got yourself a perfect bao. In this recepi we will focus boa buns with chicken, avocado, carrot and spring onion! Don’t forget to look at our other amazing Asian inspires recipes!

Image: finalized assembly of the chicken-avocado-carrot bao bun!

List of ingredients for 3 persons

These are the ingredients to make chicken-avocado-carrot bao buns yourself. You can easily choose your own ingredients to make it vegetarian, vegan or with different meat and spices.

For the buns

• 160 ml (2/3 cup) full milk

• 220 gram (1 ¾ cups) self-raising flour

• pinch of salt

• 1 tablespoon oil

You can also use regular flour with 7 grams of baking powder instead of self-raising flour. For a vegan version, simply replace the milk with water.

For the filling

• 200 gram (7 oz) chicken, preferably chicken thigh fillet

• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon oil

• 3 cloves of garlic

• 2 pieces of spring onion

• 2 carrots

• 2 avocados

• 1 tablesoon full yoghurt

• Sriracha sause (spicy sauce)

• Optional: roasted sesame seeds and fresh coriander

Image: prepared garlic, Avocado, carrot and spring onion.

Step 1: Marinate the chicken for the boa bun

• Cut the chicken (200gr / 7 oz) into thin strips, about 0.5 cm (0.2 inch) thick.

• Slice the white part of the spring onions into small pieces and add them to the chicken. Set aside the green parts for later.

• Add yogurt, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce to the chicken. Mix well, then cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (longer if possible for more flavor).

Image: roll of dough cut in 10 'even' pieces.

Step 2: Prepare the buns

• In this recipe, we’ll make the bao buns from scratch. Combine milk (160 ml or 2/3 cup) self-raising flour (220 gram or 1 ¾ cups) and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Stir with a fork until the dough comes together, then knead by hand. If the dough is too sticky, add a little all-purpose flour.

• After kneading for a few minutes, roll the dough into a long cylinder of even thickness and cut it into 10 equal pieces.

• Cut 10 strips of aluminum foil, about 8 × 16 cm (3 × 6 inches). Roll each strip loosely from the long side so it forms a divider. These will be placed inside the buns while steaming to help them keep their folded shape without sticking together.

• Roll each piece of dough into an oval, about 7 × 14 cm (2.5 × 5.5 inches). Place a foil strip halfway across the dough and fold it over. Repeat for all buns.

• Arrange the buns on baking paper or a silicone mat in a steam oven (or steam basket).

Image: on the right you can see how the aluminum foil is rolled. Placing the rounded side of the foil inside the dough helps the bao keep its shape and prevents it from tearing when filling or eating the bao bun. Fold the flattened dough over the rounded side of the foil.

Step 3: steam the buns

• Place the buns in a steam oven or steam basket and steam for 15 minutes at 100 °C (212 °F).

Image: fluffy buns right after steaming to make chicken-avocado-carrot boa buns.

Step 4: Cook the chicken and prepare the vegetables

• Fry the marinated chicken in a pan until fully cooked.

• Add the pressed or finely chopped garlic about 2 minutes before the chicken is done to enhance the flavor.

• Cut the carrot into thin julienne strips.

• Slice the avocado and the green part of the spring onion into pieces about 3 mm (0.1 inch) thick.

Step 5: Assemble the bao buns

• Carefully remove the aluminum foil from the steamed buns.

• Fill each bun with 2–3 slices of avocado, some carrot, and a portion of chicken.

• Garnish with fresh spring onion, roasted sesame seeds, a drizzle of sriracha, and fresh coriander leaves.

Enjoy your home made chicken boa bun!

Shout-out to leukerecepten.nl for the inspiration. The original Chinese recipe of boa bun is with pork belly instead of chicken. Next to that, they use water instead of milk for the buns. If you make them with full milk, they will be softer and we think more enjoyable to eat. Lastly the original recipes do not use yoghurt to marinate the chicken. This will smoothen the chicken and enhances the sauce flavors.

Nutritional Information (Per Serving)

Nutrient	Amount
Calories	706 kcal
Total Fat	34.5 g
Saturated Fat	6.2 g
Sodium	1,340 mg
Salt	3.35 g
Total Carbohydrates	76.4 g
Fiber	8.1 g
Sugars	11.2 g
Protein	24.8 g

Hope you enjoy the boa bun. Let us know in the comments what you think and which alternative boa bun filling is your favorite!