These vegan steamed buns (bánh bao chay) remind me of growing up
to the mornings where my mom would make these fresh for breakfast <3
Growing up, I was very lucky to have a Vietnamese mother who loved food. Not only loved food, but loved to cook. We’d have huge family gatherings where people would come over and gorge on my mother’s huge spreads of steaming, fresh, Vietnamese food but I never really thought about how not every family was fortunate to enjoy home cooked meals every day, let alone epic Vietnamese ones bursting with flavour. I remember waking up for school groggy and unmotivated to get out of bed until I caught the scent of sweet, fresh steamed buns wafting upstairs from the kitchen. I have no idea how she did it, but every now and then my mom would wake up at 6 to cook these complicated dishes like banh cuon chay or these banh bao chay so I could enjoy them for breakfast.
Even when I was younger, I remember my mom tasking me to cutting pieces of paper into squares to sit underneath the buns in the steamer pot so it didn’t get stick to the metal. Back then I distinctly remember cutting up my blue, Hilroy lined sheets of paper, relishing in my ability to cut them evenly without needing to fold or measure them. When we ate them I always had to choose a bun that didn’t have one of the binder holes in its paper, despite the fact that it didn’t even make a difference.
The pork-filled buns my mom used to make were sweet and savoury with a wedge of hardboiled egg and fresh peas that often fell as I was more or less burning my mouth on piping hot bun. The sweet outer dough was tender and fluffy as a cloud. So many foods I thought I wouldn’t be able to enjoy again, I’m so happy to veganize and now enjoy. I hope one day my kids will be able to grow up knowing these Vietnamese delights, either made by me or my family, but hopefully anyone else out there who grew up with these can make them vegan to enjoy a part of their childhood again.
The video I made for the recipe was in collaboration with Rose from Cheap Lazy Vegan! For the video I had intended to double the recipe for the dough that I had been working with, but I doubled the flour and not the rest of the ingredients, which is why it was a hot mess for the video. But don’t worry, I retested the recipe and modified it to be what it is in this post haha. I hope you enjoy the shenanigans nonetheless. We also filmed my pho recipe (with some modifications) together if you want to check that out too!
This recipe has both weighted and volume measurements. The weighted version is obviously more accurate, but I tried to provide the volume measurements for those who don’t have a kitchen scale. If you’ve worked with any sort of pizza dough or bread dough before, this is just a sweet bread dough that is steamed, so the texture of it should be fairly tacky. Depending on where you live (if it’s more humid or more dry) you may need more flour or more water. Adjust as you need to, I had to do the same think in the video above and it turned out fine (just not as sweet as its supposed to be) even though I totally messed up the measurements =P
Vegan Steam Buns (Banh Bao Chay)
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 360 mL (1 1/2 cups) warm water or unsweetened soy milk
- 8 g (3 1/2 tsp) dry active yeast
- 120 g (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp) sugar
- 60 g (scant 1/2 cup) cornstarch
- 1 tsp salt
- 10 g (2 tsp) baking powder
- 500 g (4 cups) flour + extra flour for rolling out the dough
- 70 g oil (about 1/4 cup grapeseed oil)
For the filling:
- 2 tbsp grape seed oil
- 5 green onions, finely chopped, greens and whites separated
- 1 cup finely diced jicama (about 1/3 of a medium jicama)
- 1 cup finely diced carrot (about 3 small/medium carrots)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce (I used Golden Mountain Soy Seasoning), you'll be adding this tbsp by tbsp.
- 20 g (1 cup) dried black fungus/cloud ear fungus, hydrated and finely diced
- 1 package (12 oz/340 g) of vegan ground "meat" (you can also use hydrated TVP, but you may need to add some dark soy sauce and a bit of extra regular soy sauce for seasoning)
- 2 portions/bunches of mung bean vermicelli, hydrated and finely diced
- 1/2 tsp white pepper (or to taste)
To steam:
- 10-12 pieces of parchment paper squares (3x3 inches)
- ~1 tbsp (I just added a splash) of white vinegar
- 3 cups water (depending on the size of your steamer pot)
Instructions
To make the dough:
- In a separate bowl, combine water, yeast, and sugar and stir to combine and allow the yeast to bloom.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine cornstarch, salt, baking powder, and 4 cups of flour.
- Once the yeast has bloomed, combine the yeast mixture and half the oil to the dry mixture and stir to combine. It'll be a very sticky dough, but it should come together and be slightly tacky. Turn onto a clean and then lightly floured surface and knead until moderately smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
- Place the dough back into the mixing bowl (it should be relatively clean if you pull any extra dough off of it as you were mixing it). Coat the dough in the remaining amount of oil and mix in as well as you can. It will be quite tacky but that's okay. You should be able to incorporate most of the oil but turn the dough in the bowl to coat in oil just before letting it rest. The dough should absorb the rest as it rises.
- Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place (like microwave or oven) for at least 1 hour. It should rise a little but don't be too worried if it doesn't rise too much.
For the the filling:
- In a large wok/pot/or pan with high sides, cook the whites of the green onion with 2 tbsp of oil for a minute or two over medium high heat. Add the finely diced jicama and carrot and cook until carrot is tender. You may need to add 1 tbsp of the measured soy sauce and about 1/3 cup of water to cook and deglaze the bottom of the pot.
- Once carrot is tender, add the chopped black fungus and stir to heat through, about 3 minutes.
- Add the vegan ground round and stir into the mixture. Add 2 tbsp of the soy sauce and stir to combine and heat through (about 3 minutes again).
- Add the chopped, hydrated mung bean noodles, the last of the soy sauce, the greens of the green onion and stir to mix through. As the noodles cook, they'll absorb moisture from the rest of the mixture and sort of bind it together to make it easier to stuff the bao.
- Add white pepper to taste (you may need to add more soy sauce or salt if desired, but I liked it at 1/4 cup. Let it cool until it's just warm before you fill the bao.
To make the bao:
- After about an hour or so of the dough resting, turn it over to a floured surface and divide between 10-12 pieces (If you're really intense about exact measurements, it's about 100g per piece of dough). Cover the cut pieces with a damp towel while you're stuffing them so they don't dry out.
- Generously dunk the cut piece of dough into some flour then roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness (5-6 inches in diameter). Add about 3-4 tbsp of the filling into the middle of the dough then pinch the outside edges together and twist to seal the bun.
- Fill a steamer pot with about 5 cups of water + 1 tbsp of vinegar. The vinegar will help brighten the buns as they steam, resulting in a lighter bun in the end).
- Place the pinched bun on a perforated layer of a steamer pot on top of a parchment paper square. Repeat and fill the buns with the remaining filling. I tend to go quite heavy handed with the filling, and I ended up using all of the filling for these buns. If you find you have any extra leftover, put it on rice, in fresh spring rolls, or on lettuce cups for lunch.
- Try not to put the buns too close together like I did in the photos, if they're touching, they'll tear once you pull them apart after cooking. If you find you need them to touch, place some parchment paper in between so they don't stick.
- Steam on medium heat for 20 minutes, then take off the lid and let them steam for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let the buns cool on a wire rack.
- Enjoy!
- For any leftovers, wrap them as soon as their cool in some plastic wrap (if you put them in a container they'll dry out). To reheat, either re-steam or microwave for 2 minutes.
Tohar says
Thank you so much Lisa!
I made these today and they are soooo good! Made mine with spelt flour.
Lisa Le says
Yay I’m so glad!! Thank you for coming to leave feedback :) (If you have Pinterest, it’d really help me out if you said you tried it and liked it on the pin :D)
Ushmana Palmo Rai says
Greetings from Nepal,Lisa!
These look heavenly! We have similar dish in Nepal called “momos;” but smaller in size. Anything with filling inside is right up my alley. Definitely trying this on the weekned, thank you for sharing! xx
Maria says
Vietnamese food sounds amazing! My mum is Russian and she also cooked delicious food for me all the time when I was younger and I understand the joy of veganising favourite dishes from your childhood :) I am so trying these out!
Maria xo
Lisa Le says
Yes! Veganizing dishes from your childhood is so nostalgic and wonderful :)
Oanh says
Do you have any recommendations for the ground meat? Also, are we using dried and hydrated fungus? Where would I find this and are these just mushrooms? Sorry! I’m new to this Vegan thing. :)
Lisa Le says
Any vegan ground meat is fine, I used Yves but I’ve also used Gardein before and it’s been good. The black cloud ear fungus is that sort of brown noodley looking stuff in the bowl in the prep shot I took. You’d find this at most Asian grocery stores in the spice aisle (it’s dried and either like a flat whole ear of mushroom or shredded)
Al says
I made these today and they were sooo so so good! Thank you for the recipe! I used vegan pulled pork instead of the ground and it was great ?
Tine says
Dear Lisa, oh my gosh I failed so hard on these. usually I am great with yeast and dough, but this time… I don’t know, I really don’t. First time making steamed buns myself. The dough got so super soft and expanded real fast. Once I tried to shape and fill the buns, it got even softer and by the time they steamed they weren’t bun-shaped anymore, they were flat discs. I don’t know what went wrong, but ugh… I wanted to master these so badly! Well, you got me! Def not the last time trying to make these!
Lisa Le says
Oh no!! It sounds like there wasn’t enough flour :( Sometimes the humidity of where you are really affects it, so if you’re experienced with dough, just add a bit more flour until it feels right!
Sheila says
This looks interesting. These vegan steamed buns are so inviting. Will definitely try this soon once I am able to grab the ingredients needed. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
rathershortvegan says
I love your recipe. An would like to post it on my german vegan food blog, translated and referenced back to yourblog – of course – and would like to know if you would a prove of this.
Because i think this should be avialabe also for people which are not able to understand english. i would really appriciate it.
Best Regards,
RathershortVegan
Rosalie says
I made these before and they were just wonderful! I want to make them again badly but I’ve developed an intolerance to gluten…. what do you think about trying to make the dough with gluten free flour? not too sure if it would rise enough!
Perri says
Rosalie, I made these using Bob red mills gluten free pizza dough mix with a little extra sugar. I think you need to lower the amount of liquid the pizza dough calls for. Hope this helps!
Marco says
Hi
Can these be made the night before, stored in the fridge and then steamed the following day?
Thanks
Lisa Le says
Hi Marco,
Since there is yeast in this, it’d be better to be steamed right away. What you could do is assemble the filling and the dough and put the dough in the fridge for the first rise and then let it return to room temp in the next day and steam then :)
Caitlin says
I’d love to try these (they look amazing!) but I’m not sure how much a “bunch/portion” of the noodles is. Could you provide a more specific measurement, for those of us who are not familiar with mung bean vermicelli?
I’m also not sure how much TVP to use…do you have a suggested measurement on that?
Lisa Le says
Hi Caitlin,
Most mung bean vermicelli is separated in each package into these portions, but it’s about 1 cup once soaked per bunch? I show you guys in the videos I believe what it looks like.
Ve says
Thanks for this recipe!!!! I was wondering whether cooking the filling ahead of time is required? For my filling I’m using Chinese chives, shiitake mushrooms, and taro and i’m afraid of overcooking the veggies, or having too much moisture coming out from the veggies will flatten the plump-ness of the bao
Lisa Le says
Hi there! I think you should cook the mushrooms and taro first, but the chives you can probably add in just before stuffing them.
Stacy says
Have you tried making these with no oil?
Lisa Le says
No I have not ^^;
Tracey Vu says
can I use coconut milk instead soymilk?
Lisa Le says
Coconut milk will probably be a little thick, you may need to adjust the amount of coconut milk but either way you just need some sort of liquid.
Vicky says
Are these Gluten Free!? I have a health issues(I only have halve of my sm intestine/no bowel) and can’t do gluten in large amount or I take a strong enzyme pill to help with the Severe Bloat-Severe Gas. And isn’t yeast a non-vegan item! Thx
Lisa Le says
Hi Vicky! Unfortunately these are very gluten-full! And yeast is vegan :)
Hong says
Hello! I tried this recipe on making banh bao from scratch. I can’t remember if I’ve used it before but I wanted to make sure to get to a computer while I have a chance and express my appreciation and gratitude for you sharing your wealth of knowledge! It worked perfectly. Mine were plain (no filling) and so I figured I could shorten the cooking time. They still came out tasting wonderful. Thank you so much! :)
Chelsea says
Hi Lisa, help I cant find jicama anywhere where I from. Do you have any suggestions for substitutes I could use?
Cheers
Lisa Le says
You could use daikon or maybe water chestnut?
Megan Rose says
I love them! It’s my birthday and we are on lockdown so I decided to give them a go. Made them with spelt and oatmilk… and didn’t have cornstarch but I used arrowroot powder and they turned out perfectly!
I saw them in Spirited Away, researched them, found out they were bao and your recipe looked the best
Thank you! Xx
Lisa Le says
Aw yeah! I’m so glad you liked them, good to know that it worked with spelt! And tapioca starch and cornstarch are very interchangeable so I’m glad you gave that a try :)
Emilia says
Greetings from Netherlands! The buns are delicious, we’re making them with the family for the second time today and everyone’s in love with them! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes! Cheers! xx
Stephanie says
Hi what type of flour do you recommend? :)
Lisa Le says
I just used all purpose :)
KT says
I’ll admit I was skeptical, but man was I proved wrong. That dough turned out amazing, like I bought it from T&T. I always have trouble getting the same rise as a commercial bao but this was large and fluffy. I changed the filling (I had a bunch of veggies to use up and some old rice), but I am saving this recipe for all future bao needs. Thank you!
Mark says
Thank you for this recipe!!!!! :) Does the filling freeze well? I’d love to make a huge batch to have some on hand. I imagine the filling would also work well in a lumpia wrapper or even a lettuce wrap? :)
Lisa Le says
I think it would? I’m not sure about the noodle part of it though.
Tobbe says
Thank you for this recipe! The whole family agrees that this tasted way better than the Banh Bao we ate in Vietnam!
Getting a good thickness of the dough and then wrapping it around the filling is going to take some more practice though 😆 Absolutely nothing wrong with the recipe, it’s just my inexperience 😀
Saffron says
Hi Lisa!
I was wondering if you knew if I could swap the yeast for instant yeast (it’s all that seems to be available here), and if so, how it would change the recipe and also the quantities involved!
Thank you! :)
Lisa Le says
You could just use the equivalent (I use 2 tsp i think instead of the 2 + 1/4), and instead of blooming the yeast just add it straight to the dough :)