How to Make Vegan Bao Buns
Bao buns are my favorite, unfortunately most of the bao buns you find in restaurants consists of milk product. This lead me to show you how to make vegan bao buns. This is best bao bun recipe. Dairy-free and fluffy bao buns. It is an easy recipe to follow.
It’s a simple process, but like all breads you have to have patience for the dough to rise. You can get dry active yeast here. This is a key ingredient to allow your bao buns to rise.
If you wanna know how to make vegan bao buns right, I would suggest getting an electric mixer. It will make your life so much easier. You have the option to mix the dough by hand, but it is so much faster and easier with a mixer. I use a KitchenAid with a dough hook.
You can easily purchase a cute linen colored KitchenAid mixer in our store.
Buy Linen Colored KitchenAID Mixer HERE
This recipe calls for the following ingredients:
If you don’t already have these ingredients in your kitchen, you can purchase them through the links above. Quick and easy!
This recipe just shows you how to make the bao buns, but you can get credit and put any filling you’d like. I made a vegan teriyaki beef tempeh and a tofu “chicken” katsu with a spicy mayo sauce. I added a lot of pickled vegetables into these bao buns. I pickled carrots, onions and radishes. I added chopped spinach and sprinkled some finely chopped green onions.
You can dress them up or dress them down. They also stay fresh for leftovers as you will have leftovers unless you’re sharing them with friends. If you do end up having leftovers, store them in the fridge. When you’re ready to eat them again just pop these bad boys into a microwave for a few seconds to get that oh so delicious fluffy texture. These are great little snacks, appetizers or if you eat enough these vegan bao buns can easily be a filling meal.
How to Make Vegan Bao Buns
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 1/2 cup warm soy milk
- 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
- 4 Tbsp cane sugar divided in half
- 2 Tbsp avocado oil (any cooking oil works)
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine warm water, warm soy milk, active yeast, 1/2 of sugar and oil. Whisk and let yeast and sugar dissolve for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine flour, remaining 1/2 of sugar, baking powder and salt into stand mixer. You can also mix by hand too.
- Once wet mixture has risen, pour wet ingredients into dry ingredient mixture. Use a dough mixing hook. Start slow speed to slowly incorporate all the ingredients together on medium speed until it becomes a dough shape. Keep kneed for 3 to 4 minutes on medium-high speed. The dough should be elastic, but should not stick to your fingers or mixing bowl.
- Remove the dough from the mixing hook and form as a ball. Place back into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for 2 hours. It should rise to triple the size. Let it sit longer if needed.
- Once dough has risen, place on a clean working surface. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut the dough 3 1/2 inch circles with a cookie cutter or glass. I was about to cut out 15 bao buns.
- Lightly brush oil onto one surface of the bao buns and fold in half. Gently press each bao bun with a roller and place in a steamer lined with parchment paper. Cover with a lid and let the bao rest for 30 minutes.
- While bao is resting, bring a large steamer pot or wok of water to a boil. Carefully place the steamer with the baos on top of the boiling water with lid. Make sure the water does not touch the bao buns. Cover and steam for 8-15 minutes.
- When they are done cooking, open the lid to slowly bring air to the buns for 2 minutes. You can use a little bit of water on your finger to help remove parchment paper from the bao buns if they are sticking.
- Use your favorite fillings inside of the buns and enjoy!
