3 shortcut Cantonese buns you can make this weekend
ready in just 45 minutes!
If you love Cantonese bakery buns like bo lo bao or gai mei bao, this one’s for you!
As someone who goes with the flow, I’ve always loved cooking, but often found baking much more intimidating. It requires precision in technique, temperature, ingredients — and once it’s in the oven, all you can do is cross your fingers… and hope for the best.
If you’re like this too, you’ll love these shortcut Cantonese bakery buns. Making them from scratch can be labor and time-intensive, but for these shortcut versions, we use store-bought Hawaiian rolls. They provide the perfect lightly sweet and fluffy base, and they’re ready in just 45 minutes!
recipe #1: shortcut pineapple buns (bo lo bao)
One of my most recreated recipes, these easy pineapple buns have their iconic sweet, crackly top. You can even make the topping ahead of time and store it in the fridge (up to several days) for whenever the craving hits.
See the written recipe here, and the tutorial video here.
recipe #2: shortcut cocktail buns (gai mei bao)
Another Cantonese bakery classic, cocktail buns are filled with a sweet, coconut filling. These were my brother’s favorite growing up! If you can mix ingredients together, you can make this one.
See the written recipe here, and the tutorial video here.
recipe #3: shortcut cheesy scallion sausage buns
This one’s my newest recreation, and quite possibly, my favorite of the series so far! Combining my two favorites, scallion buns and sausage buns, these cheesy scallion sausage buns are inspired by the ones you’d find at 85c Bakery.
See the written recipe here, and the tutorial video here.
I hope you’re enjoying this series as much as I am! More to come soon.
I’d love to know: which Cantonese bakery bun do you want to see in this series?
See you next week,
Susanna from smelly lunchbox