Vegan Bao Buns With Spicy Pulled Mushrooms

These vegan bao buns with spicy pulled mushrooms make the perfect Chinese-inspired dinner at home and can be customized with the fresh veggies you love. After lots of testing, we’ve perfected super fluffy bao buns and are going to walk you through exactly how to make them.

When you’re in the mood for a hand-held meal, but tacos, burgers, and pizza won’t cut it, it’s time to whip out the bao buns! A staple in Chinese cuisine, these are the perfect choice when you want something filling that’s both satisfying and loaded with veggies.

And today, we’re whipping up pulled mushroom bao buns, a vegan version made with all plant-based ingredients! The result is fluffy bun dough and crunchy, satisfying veggies and mushrooms in every bite.

grab these ingredients

If you’ve never used yeast in a recipe, now is your time to learn, as these buns are created with a from-scratch blend of all things good and doughy. Since many of the ingredients overlap with baking, you’ll likely already have nearly all of the items in your pantry!

Bao Buns

• The Wet Ingredients: You need some sort of liquid to create a dough, and good old water does the trick! You’ll also need some oil for brushing on the dough.
• The Dry Ingredients: Most doughs and breads contain at least a smidgen of sugar to “feed” the yeast, and this is no different. For the yeast, you’ll need instant yeast (not to be confused with quick-rise yeast). The rest is just all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt.

Vegan Filling

• Mushrooms: 4 king oyster mushrooms will make up the bulk of the filling. Find them in the refrigerator section of your local Asian supermarket!
• Oil: This will help all of the spices stick while crisping the mushrooms to perfection!
• Spices: To add flavor to the mushrooms, use 1 tablespoon of fresh minced ginger, 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and 2 cloves of minced garlic.
• Hoisin Sauce and Sriracha: Include 2 tablespoons of hoisin sauce. This contributes a flavor similar to soy sauce but sweeter! I also add a bit of sriracha for spice.

but are they healthy?

Pulled mushroom bao buns are like most other foods: perfectly fine in moderation! The buns are made with flour, yeast, sugar, water, and a few other ingredients. Like bread, they shouldn’t necessarily be eaten with every meal, but they’re certainly great here and there!

The fillings can be as healthy or unhealthy as you make them. In our case, we’ll be using an über healthy blend of oyster mushrooms, pickled red onions, hydrating cucumber, and antioxidant-packed carrots. The combo hits the veggie mark and supplies nutrients like Vitamins B5, C, and K, folate, iron, calcium, and magnesium, as well as protein and healthy carbs.

Let’s make these buns

This recipe is made in two parts: the buns and the filling. The bun recipe is a bit more involved, however, it’s easy to follow (even for beginners – you got this!).

Bao Buns

Step 1: Prep The Parchment
To begin, cut out 12 squares of parchment paper, about 4×4 inches each. Or, fish some cupcake liners out of your pantry and use those.

Step 2: Activate The Yeast
In a large bowl, stir together the water, sugar, and yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes until the yeast makes the water frothy.

Step 3: Create The Dough
In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the water mixture along with the oil. Stir the ingredients until a loose ball forms, and then knead by hand for 5 minutes on a clean surface. If you have a bread hook for a standing mixer, you can use this to knead the dough for 3 minutes.

Step 4: Let The Dough Rise
Add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set it somewhere warm. Allow the dough to rise until it doubles in size, which should take about 1 hour.

Step 5: Shape The Buns
Roll the dough out to be ¼ inch thick.* Using a cookie cutter or cup, cut 3- to 4-inch circles out of the dough. Lightly brush the inside of each circle with oil, and then fold the circle in half (the oil will prevent the bun from gluing itself closed while steaming). Flatten and reshape as needed.

*Alternatively, divide the dough into 12 balls and roll each ball into a 4 inch round. This method takes more time but gives you more buns because you’re not wasting the dough left after cutting out the circles.

Step 6: Prep the steaming station
Next, bring a pot of water to a simmer with a steamer basket set over it. Wrap a towel around the underside of the lid to catch excess steam.

Step 7: Steam the buns
Working in batches, transfer the buns (and their parchment paper) into a single layer in the steam basket. Cover with the towel-wrapped lid and let steam undisturbed for 10 minutes or until puffy and cooked through.

Vegan Bao Bun Filling

Step 1: Shred The Mushrooms
First, preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Clean the mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Using two forks, shred the stems and caps roughly into pieces and set the pieces on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

Step 2: Flavor and Bake The Mushrooms
Drizzle the mushroom pieces with the oil, ginger, paprika, salt, and garlic, and toss everything around to evenly coat. Bake for 20 minutes or until the mushrooms are a bit crispy and brown on the edges.

go wild with fillings

The great thing about this recipe is that it can be filled with whatever you’d like. Some people enjoy them with seitan or tempeh, and others love to pack in veggies like onions, carrots, cucumbers, water chestnuts, peppers, or other veggies. You can even add eggs!

more ways to use King mushroom

You might find yourself with a bit too much mushroom on your hands. If that’s the case, use it to whip up any of these tasty recipes!

• Vegan Pulled Pork is made with mushrooms and is so good that it’s meat-eater-approved!
• Mushroom Carnitas can be used to make tacos, wraps, nachos, bowls, and more!
• Vegetarian Philly Cheesesteak uses the classic method of making this Philly staple to make an equally flavorful vegetarian version.