chicken katsu bao

If you guys are into the Asian food scene, like me, I know you’ve seen the Taiwanese gua bao pork belly sandwiches all over the place. They’re made from a steamed bread that’s shaped kind of like a taco shell and filled with pork belly and pickled veggies. These days, it seems like the hipster fusion food trend has taken the gua bao and stuffed pretty much ANYTHING inside. I’ve seen kalbi, fried fish… Molly Yeh even has a schnitzel bao recipe in her book! Anyway, I decided to give gua bao a try with comfort food from my own culture: chicken katsu.

Step 1: The Katsu (or Whatever Protein You Like)

To be real, I do not have my own chicken katsu recipe. I don’t even use a recipe. I just take some thinly sliced chicken breast, bread it with flour, egg, and panko, and fry. That’s it. If you need more detailed instructions than that, there’s tons of recipes out there. I recommend Just One Cookbook.

chicken katsu bao
Step 2: The Steamed Bread
steamed gua bao bread

For the steamed bread, I once again turned to my trusty mantou dough! I used this to make my Toy Story alien buns. It’s also featured in my char siu bao recipe! This is a super versatile steamed dough. You can make it just plain, for regular mantou as well. In this case, I made the dough through the first rise. Then, I divided the dough into eight equal portions and rolled out each piece into a roughly 4×6″ oval.

how to make gua bao

Now, here’s the trick: brush the surface of each oval with a tiny bit of oil. Fold the oval over in half and place each bao on a 4″ square of parchment paper. Place in your bamboo steamer (or whatever you’re using) to for its second rise. The oil keeps the two parts of the gua bao “taco shell” from sticking together. Genius!

gua bao ready to be steamed
Before the second rise
gua bao bread recipe
After being steamed

After steaming for 15 minutes, I filled my bao with a piece of katsu, some katsu sauce, and lettuce. I would’ve added in some daikon too, if I had any. End result: DELICIOUSNESS! This would be a great way to use up any leftover meat, actually.

I’ll post my bread dough recipe right down below, but let me know what other variations of gua bao you’ve tried!

steamed Chinese bread for gua bao
chicken katsu bao
5 from 1 review

Chinese Steamed Bread (Mantou)

This basic steamed bread recipe can be used for char siu bao, mantou, or cute character buns.
Servings: 4 buns
Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 15 minutes
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Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp active dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup warm water

Equipment

  • bamboo steamer

Instructions
 

  • Dissolve yeast in water.
  • Whisk flour, salt, and sugar, in a mixing bowl.
  • Add yeast water to your dry ingredients and lightly mix by hand.
  • Knead by hand or use a dough hook in a stand mixer (I use a dough hook because this dough is fairly wet) until dough can be stretched thin without breaking and its surface is shiny and slightly tacky (not goopy or sticky).
  • Cover and let rise for 2 hours.
  • When dough is done rising, divide into four portions. You can customize your buns with food coloring or fillings as needed depending on what type of bun you are making.
  • Place each bun on a square of parchment paper and place in a bamboo steamer.
  • Steam for 15 minutes.
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