These Chinese Pineapple Buns with Roast Pork Filling are a mashup of two Chinese bakery favorites: the char siu roast pork bun, and the crispy-topped, golden yellow “pineapple” bun. Their powers combined create a magical pastry concoction that aren’t long for this world once out of the oven.
A Combo of Two Chinese Bakery Classics
For readers who may not have grown up with Chinese baked goods, let’s talk buns. The type of Chinese bakery breads we’re talking about here, popular in Hong Kong and found in Chinatowns around the world, are all generally made using a soft, fluffy, buttery milk bread base that’s slightly sweet and akin to brioche (but with less egg). Buns can be topped, filled, or both.
Regular pineapple buns generally have a plain base bun, and are topped with a crunchy, sweet yellow topping that crumbles when you bite into it. There’s no actual pineapple in Chinese pineapple buns, which got their name for the cracked appearance of the topping, which resembles the texture of a pineapple.
Roast Pork Buns, or char siu bao, are a different beast entirely. They generally have no topping, but are filled with a mixture of glazed Cantonese roast pork, or char siu.
These Chinese Pineapple Buns with Roast Pork Filling are a combination of the two, offering that familiar sweet, soft texture of our acclaimed milk bread recipe, as well as the deliciousness of savory roast pork in the middle, and a crumbly, buttery pineapple bun topping on the outside. It’s hard to eat just one.
Here’s how to make them!
Pineapple Buns with Roast Pork Filling: Recipe Instructions
In the bowl of a mixer, add the dough ingredients: heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour, yeast, and salt.
Don’t Have Bread Flour or Cake Flour?
Feel free to substitute all-purpose flour for both! We have since extensively re-tested this recipe, and have not found that using 100% all-purpose flour in this recipe makes a meaningful difference to the result.
Use the dough hook attachment, and turn on the mixer to “stir.” Let it go for 15 minutes, occasionally stopping the mixer to push the dough together.
If you’re in a humid climate and the dough is too sticky, feel free to add a little more flour ¼ cup at a time until it comes together. If you don’t have a mixer and would like to knead by hand, extend the kneading time by 5-10 minutes.
After 15 minutes of mixing, the dough is ready for proofing. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 1 hour. The dough will grow to 1.5X its original size.
Meanwhile, prepare your filling and topping. To make the filling, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok over medium high heat.
Add the onion and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and dark soy. Stir and cook until it starts to bubble up. Add the water and flour.
Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring, for a couple minutes until thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the roast pork. Set aside to cool.
To prepare the Chinese pineapple bun topping, add the dry milk powder to a mixing bowl. If your dry milk powder has some larger clumps, crush them up with your fingers so it’s uniformly powdery.
Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and superfine sugar. Stir to combine. Add the shortening, milk, egg yolk, and vanilla.
Use your hands to mix everything together into a dough. If it’s too dry, add a little more milk a teaspoon at a time until it comes together. Cover with an overturned bowl or plate, and set aside at room temperature.
After the hour of proofing, put the dough back in the mixer and stir for another 5 minutes to get rid of air bubbles. You can also knead by hand. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and cut it into 18 equal pieces.
To assemble, divide the topping mixture into 18 equal pieces and roll each into a ball.
Roll each ball out into a flat circle using a rolling pin.
Take a piece of bread dough, and flatten with your hands into a rough circle. Put a heaping tablespoon of pork filling in the middle.
Wrap the dough around it.
Roll into a smooth ball between your hands.
Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, seam-side down. Top the bun with a circle of topping. Helps to use a thin spatula to get the topping off the counter.
Continue assembling until all the buns are made. Cover with a clean, damp towel and allow to rise for another hour.
After they’re done rising, position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Brush the topping with egg yolk and any exposed dough with egg white.
Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden. If you notice the topping getting too dark, tent the buns lightly with foil.
These Chinese Pineapple Buns with Roast Pork are great warm out of the oven, but they’re also great reheated in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge and reheat to enjoy!
Chinese Pineapple Buns with Roast Pork Filling
Ingredients
For the buns:
- ⅔ cup heavy cream (160 ml, at room temperature)
- 1 cup milk (235 ml, at room temperature)
- 1 large egg (at room temperature)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar (75g)
- ½ cup cake flour (70g)
- 3½ cups bread flour (500g)
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast (11g)
- 1½ teaspoons salt (7g)
For the filling:
- 2 tablespoons oil (30 ml)
- 1/2 cup finely chopped shallots or red onion
- 2 tablespoons sugar (25g)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (15 ml)
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce (30 ml)
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
- ¾ cup water (175 ml)
- 3 tablespoons flour (24g)
- 2 cups Chinese roast pork (char siu, diced)
For the topping:
- ¼ cup nonfat dry milk powder (30g)
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour (160g)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 2/3 cup superfine or caster sugar (150g, very important that it’s superfine)
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening (50g)
- 2 tablespoons milk (30 ml)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
To finish the buns:
- 2 eggs (separated)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a mixer, add the dough ingredients: heavy cream, milk, egg, sugar, cake flour, bread flour, yeast, and salt. Use the dough hook attachment, and turn on the mixer to “stir.” Let it go for 15 minutes, occasionally stopping the mixer to push the dough together. If you’re in a humid climate and the dough is too sticky, feel free to add a little more flour ¼ cup at a time until it comes together. If you don’t have a mixer and would like to knead by hand, extend the kneading time by 5-10 minutes.
- After 15 minutes of mixing, the dough is ready for proofing. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 1 hour. The dough will grow to 1.5X its original size.
- Meanwhile, prepare your filling and topping. To make the filling, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok over medium high heat. Add the onion and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and dark soy. Stir and cook until it starts to bubble up. Add the water and flour. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring, for a couple minutes until thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the roast pork. Set aside to cool.
- To prepare the topping, add the dry milk powder to a mixing bowl. If your dry milk powder has some larger clumps, crush them up with your fingers so it’s uniformly powdery. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and superfine sugar. Stir to combine. Add the shortening, milk, egg yolk, and vanilla. Use your hands to mix everything together into a dough. If it’s too dry, add a little more milk a teaspoon at a time until it comes together. Cover with an overturned bowl or plate, and set aside at room temperature.
- After the hour of proofing, put the dough back in the mixer and stir for another 5 minutes to get rid of air bubbles. You can also knead by hand. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and cut it into 18 equal pieces.
- To assemble, divide the topping mixture into 18 equal pieces and roll each into a ball. Roll each ball out into a flat circle using a rolling pin.
- Take a piece of bread dough, and flatten with your hands into a rough circle. Put a heaping tablespoon of pork filling in the middle, and wrap the dough around it. Roll into a smooth ball between your hands, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, seam-side down. Top the bun with a circle of topping.
- Continue assembling until all the buns are made. Cover with a clean, damp towel and allow to rise for another hour.
- After they’re done rising, position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Brush the topping with egg yolk and any exposed dough with egg white. Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden. If you notice the topping getting too dark, tent the buns lightly with foil.
- These are great warm out of the oven, but they’re also great reheated in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge and reheat to enjoy!
Can I substitute milk for heavy cream? I don’t have any left at home
Hi Samantha, the heavy cream is a bit necessary for this dough to be super soft.
why do you use both combination of bread flour and cake flour? will it make a difference if combine two kinds of flour? I have already heard that you should mix bread flour : ap flour for 4 : 1 but seems yours having a different ratio ? Can you explain me a little bit plis ? I am having a hard time to achieve some fluffy soft bun from Chinese bakery since the onein here taste like thy are using kind of bread improver ?
Hi there, great question! We had the bread flour and cake flour mix, because this recipe was adapted from our milk bread recipe, which was given to us by a family member, and that’s how they did it. however, we have since re-tested with 100% AP flour, and that is fine to use!
After tasting this once at a NYC dim sum restaurant, I have been craving it. Thank so much for posting this recipe. It was easy to make and so yummy.
You’re welcome, Claire!
I am having a hard time with the baking times, I already reduced the oven to 325 because my oven is very hot. I cooked it for 20 mins and the inside of the bun is not cooked all the way through yet, the dough is still a bit raw, but the top of the bun is nice and golden brown and the bottom is nice and golden brown as well. What else can i do?
Hi Grace, it sounds like your oven might run a bit hot—I would tent the buns lightly with foil to prevent them from browning further, and continue cooking them at the reduced temperature.
These were amazing! My family couldn’t get enough of them. A couple of them said it was the best pineapple bun they had ever had!
I added custard (from the nai wong bao recipe) and it was amazing! A must try!
Love it, Bree!
As a Dutch living in Hong Kong I really enjoy reading your newsletter and learning from your recipes. Especially the Cantonese recipes. Now I am a fan of Tim Ho Wan’s bbq pork buns and wonder if your recipe of the Chinese pineapple buns with roast pork filling are the same bbq pork buns as at Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong?
Hi Nicole, they’re not quite the same, but definitely inspired by those! I’ve had them at Tim Ho Wan in NYC.
Thanks so much for this recipe! I’m having issues with the bake time & temp and was wondering if you had any ideas – followed the recipe to the letter, but the bottom of the buns started to burn at the 8 minute mark. The tops were surprisingly fine. Thanks in advance!
Hi Tee, it sounds like the bottom of your oven runs a bit hot? I would position a rack higher in the oven to keep them farther away from that bottom heating element.
This looks amazing! Is there any way to reheat this so that the top is crispy again? I’m assuming the microwave only heats the bun up but doesnt bring back the crispiness, will putting it in an air fryer work?
Hi June, you could toast it in a toaster oven on “bake,” at around 325°F.