These vegan bao buns are made with crispy fried king oyster mushrooms and served with sweet hoisin sauce, cucumber and spring onion. Growing up, crispy duck pancakes were always a special meal in my house. Since becoming vegetarian I’ve been looking for an alternative and these crispy mushroom hoisin bao are perfect. I never knew how delicious crispy mushrooms could be until I made these! As an added bonus this recipe is both vegetarian and vegan.
Vegan bao buns – pro tips!
Boiling the mushrooms before frying really helps them crisp up, just make sure they are completely dried off before frying. Boiling the mushrooms also changes their structure giving them a more meaty texture.
With the buns, you must ensure your steamer isn’t boiling too hard. If it is, water will get into the steaming basket and this can leave you with soggy buns!
The sauce that the mushrooms are cooked in gives them a delicious, umami flavour so just add a little bit of hoisin sauce so they don’t get too salty.
Sourcing ingredients
Most of these ingredients should be available in mainstream supermarkets.
For the buns I used Yutaka gua bao which I found in the frozen aisle in Sainsbury’s. Most Asian supermakets should also stock some bao buns if you cannot find them anywhere else. Alternatively you could try making your own. Why not try this recipe from Omnivore’s Cookbook?
King oyster mushrooms are the best choice of mushroom if you want a really meaty texture. If you can’t find these I would recommend using either Shiitake mushrooms or a speciality mushroom mix. The mushrooms must be fresh and not dried.
I used Lee Kum Kee Hoisin sauce but any hoisin sauce will taste fantastic in this recipe.
Substitutes and extras
These vegan bao buns are relatively simple and delicious on their own. If you want to make it yours then I have a few suggestions of substitutions and extra ingredients you can add to tailor the recipe to your liking.
Firstly, hoisin sauce is not to everybody’s taste. I think hoisin is delicious but many find its sweet and salty flavour a little overpowering. If you are not a fan of hoisin why not try adding some teriyaki sauce instead?
Teriyaki is a Japanese sauce which is also sweet and salty but it is less salty than hoisin. This is because hoisin is made using fermented soy beans whereas teriyaki’s main ingredients are soy sauce, mirin and sugar.
If you are having difficulty finding bao buns then I would recommend substituting Chinese pancakes. These are often cheaper and also taste delicious with the crispy mushrooms. Many mainstream U.K. supermarkets now stock these pancakes, however, they are very simple to make at home. Why not try this pancake recipe which only uses flour, water and oil?
I only added cucumber and spring onion to my bao but you there are many other toppings you could add. For extra texture, add some crushed peanuts and sesame seeds. For more crunch, I would recommend pickled cabbage or pickled carrots. If you like spice you could add a drizzle of sriracha or even some kimchi – whatever floats your boat!
Recipes similar to crispy mushroom hoisin bao
If you liked this recipe why not try more of my Asian-inspired recipes?
- Creamy mushroom miso udon
- Vegetarian poke bowl
- Speedy vegetarian japchae
- Vegan yaki udon
- Korean army stew
- Kimchi and cheese dumplings
Vegan Bao Buns
Ingredients
Method
- Using two forks, pull apart the mushrooms into shreds.
- Add the mushrooms to a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and, once boiling, cook for 2 minutes.
- Drain the mushrooms and pat dry.
- Coat the mushrooms in the cornflour.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan on a high heat.
- Fry the mushrooms until golden and crispy, around 10 minutes. Do not let them burn.
- Meanwhile combine the soy sauce, mirin and sugar. Set up a steamer and steam the bao according to packet instructions.
- Once the mushrooms are crispy, add the sauce and cook for a further 2 minutes.
- Remove the crispy mushrooms and drain on kitchen towel.
- Unfold the bao and fill with mushrooms, cucumber, spring onion and hoisin.
Tastes just like crispy duck, amazing!!