Want to try something different with your air fryer? I’ve got you right here with this Air Fryer Chinese Vegetables Buns recipe. It is basically classic Chinese Pan-Fried Buns but cooked in an air fryer instead. It totally works and, honestly, makes life easier. They are a little bit different to pan-fried buns because (1) they’re not pan-fried anymore – they’re air-fried; which leads to (2) these buns are going to come out like golden crispy buns instead of the traditional crispy bottom and steamed top. Traditional much? Not quite. Delicious much? Absolute yes.
The ingredients for creating the buns stay more or less similar to the Chinese Vegetables Pan-Fried Buns with just a few very little tweaks. The makings of the buns are pretty much similar too with one thing to note: you must seal the dough for the buns before cooking in an air fryer. This is because you wouldn’t want to see some flying chopped vegetables or have all the juices leaking out and make a mess!
How to make Air Fryer Chinese Vegetable Buns
There are four parts to this recipe: (1) Making the dough (2) Making the filling (3) Assembling the buns (4) Air frying the buns.
(1) Making the dough
Start with making the dough. Mix together instant yeast, sugar, plain flour, and water. Knead to form a smooth dough.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for at least an hour until doubled in size.
(2) Making the filling
You are free to swap out with different vegetables but I’ve used shiitake mushrooms, Chinese chives and leeks.
Prior to start making the filling, I’ve rehydrated the dried shiitake mushrooms by soaking them in hot water for about 30 minutes.
Once that’s ready, finely dice up the shiitake mushrooms. Place in a bowl and mix with chopped Chinese chives, chopped leeks, as well as ginger paste, garlic paste, red chilli flakes, salt, black pepper, cumin powder, sesame oil, soy sauce, and hoisin sauce.
(3) Assembling the buns
On a floured surface, knead the risen dough a couple more times and form into a large ball.
Divide the dough evenly into 16 portions. Each portion weighs around 20-25g. Roll them into a shape of a ball and then flatten them out with a rolling pin into a circle wrapper.
Disclaimer: I am a terrible dumpling wrapper! But I’m going to try my best to explain how I managed to wrap these buns out.
Place roughly 1½ teaspoon of filling at the centre of the wrapper. Lift one side up towards the centre and plucker into pleats, all the while rotating the wrapper until you reach the end. Give the pleated ends a little pinch to secure the top. It’s entirely up to you to whether completely sealing the top or not. I left mine a little open.
Most go through the folding process on one palm while the other hand sets to work, but I made an absolute mess out of it and folding it on a surface was easier for me.
(4) Air Frying the Vegetables Buns
Preheat air fryer to 180°C.
Brush the bottom of the air fryer basket with sesame oil. Place the vegetable buns into the basket and brush each of them with sesame oil. Cook for 5 minutes.
Apply another layer of sesame oil over the buns and cook for another 5 minutes until golden and crispy. Serve immediately with Chinese black vinegar and/or chilli oil.
Air Fryer Chinese Vegetables Buns
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
For the dough
- 85 ml Warm Water
- 1 tsp Instant Yeast
- 250 g Plain Flour
- 1 tsp Sugar
For the filling
- 30 g Dried Shiitake Mushrooms soak in hot water for 30 minutes to rehydrate, finely diced
- 1½ tsp Garlic Paste
- 1½ tsp Ginger Paste
- 1 tsp Cumin Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Red Chilli Flakes
- 120 g Chinese chives chopped
- 120 g Leeks chopped
- 2 tsp Hoisin Sauce
- 2 tsp Light Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil plus more for brushing
Garnish & serving (optional)
- Spring Onions chopped
- Chilli Oil for serving
- Chinese Black Vinegar for serving
Instructions
Making the dough
- Mix together all the dough ingredients and knead into a smooth dough. Add more flour accordingly if too sticky or add more water if too dry.
- Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a towel and let rise at a warm place for about an hour until doubled in size.
Making the filling
- Mix together all the filling ingredients until thoroughly combined.
Assembling the buns
- On a floured surface, knead the risen dough a couple more times and form into a large ball.
- Divide the dough evenly into 16 portions. Each portion weighs around 20-25g. Roll them into a shape of a ball and then flatten them out with a rolling pin into a circle wrapper.
- Place roughly 1½ teaspoon of filling at the centre of the wrapper. Lift one side up towards the centre and plucker into pleats, all the while rotating the wrapper until you reach the end.
- Give the pleated ends a little pinch to secure the top. It's optional whether you want to fully seal the top or not.
Cooking the buns in an air fryer
- Preheat air fryer to 180°C.
- Brush the bottom of the air fryer basket with sesame oil. Place the vegetable buns into the basket and brush each of them with sesame oil. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Apply another layer of sesame oil over the buns and cook for another 5 minutes until golden and crispy. Serve immediately with Chinese black vinegar and/or chilli oil.
Notes
- The recipe yields 16 buns.
- The vegetable filling can be swapped with any vegetables you prefer.
Save & pin this recipe
