Siopao is a popular Filipino snack. They are steamed buns that are filled with savory-sweet saucy meat dish called Asado or meatballs. 
Steamed buns are very popular around Asia although it may be called differently in every country. Filipino Siopao Asado is similar to the Chinese Pork steamed buns 'Char Siu Bao'. Not surprising since it was the Chinese who introduced us this wonderful food.
Back home, Siopao is one of the favorite snacks and the usual choice is Asado or Bola-bola. Asado is a way of cooking meat that has a sticky sauce that is both sweet and salty, it can either be pork or chicken. Bola-bola, on the other hand, uses ground meat to make meatballs as a filling. I already wrote about Chicken Asado before and you can get the recipe here.
Siopao is usually sold in Chinese restaurants but it is also easily found in small stores or establishments or even sidewalk vendors, great on-the-go food.
I remember the first time Armin tried Siopao. It was during a long bus trip coming back from Bantayan Island to Cebu City. We had a shortstop and I was feeling hungry so I went down to look for something to munch. Lucky me, a store was selling some steaming Siopao Asado and I got just one for me because I was was not sure if Armin would like them. He is usually not a fan of food that is sweet and salty. But after I convinced him to try it, I ended up going down again to get two more because he liked them...too much I think! Peace hon! 😉
Printable Recipe
Siopao -Asado (Steamed buns with chicken filling)
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 pouch active dry yeast - about 1 Tbsp
- 2 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tablespoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons shortening or vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- Chicken Asado Filling
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix together the warm water, 1 Tbsp of sugar and yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- In a big bowl, combine the flour, rest of sugar and baking powder. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and the 3 Tbsp shortening. Mix well until a dough forms.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Coat the dough with oil and place in a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for an hour or until it doubled in size.
- Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a floured surface. Roll into a log and divide into 8-10 equal portions.
- Form one into a ball and then using hand of rolling pin flatten it into about 4-5 inch circle leaving a small bulge in the middle. Scoop a tablespoon of filling and place it in the middle. Gather the ends towards the middle from one side until you reach the other end closing the filling in. Pinch and twist to seal the ends together o top. Repeat with the remaining dough balls. Let them rest for 5-10 minutes.
- Before steaming, put a piece of parchment or wax paper at the bottom of each bun. Place the buns in the steamer leaving at least an each apart as they will rise and spread while steaming. Steam for 15 minutes. Turn off the steamer or remove from heat and let it stay closed for 5 minutes before removing the cover.
- Let the buns cool a bit before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Emelynda Sun says
I made chicken asado siopao using this recipe & it turned out really good. The dough stayed firm yet soft even after the next day. Just need to work on my 'pleating'🥰 Thank you. I will be making pork asado today as it's my family's favorite❤️
Aurora says
Why are there two different bun recipe one for asado and one for bola bola. Can I use just one recipe. Which one is better. I tried your bola bola recipe since I doubled the recipe I did put the other half in the fridge after the first rise and divided the dough into two but when I steamed it, it collapsed since it has risen more than the first batch. How do I resolved this?
Bebs says
Try to reduce the yeast and then just let the first batch rise longer.
Ditha says
This recipe is very good its just right consistency not too sweet or not too salty i would make this again.
Theresa says
Always my favorite recipe. Been using this for years! Really like a taste of home.
Lauren says
I don’t know what’s wrong, but when it cools down, it became flat🫣 what could be the problem?
Bebs says
Hi Lauren, it could be that the dough rise too much and deflated after cooking. You can try using lesser yeast and use a gentle simmer instead of a rolling boil for the steam.
Precy Barbiran says
All your recipes, I rate them 5 stars!
Bebs says
Aaaaw...that is so nice of you to say.
Faith says
made this evening with pork asado..turned out pretty well though my wrapping is not so tidy! Thank you!
Rob says
That's right, all these buns are derived from China, including the steamed buns in Korea, Japan & SE Asia. If you look at the word "Siopao", it sounds & looks a lot like "Siu bao", as in Char Siu Bao. This isn't the first time someone interpreted the spelling of a word from it's original nation/culture somewhat inaccurately & made it their own. The Japanese dumplings, "gyoza", sounds a lot like the Chinese "jiaozi", which is where it originated. "Boondocks" in the United States is a word that originated from Tagalog "bundók". And so on & so forth for many other thousands of words in the world throughout human history. Thank you for this recipe though, I want to make my own, because buying them in the store is expensive. I prefer the asado bbq (char siu) version rather than the vegetable/pork. I have also been watching videos of many Chinese cooks who know the art of pinching the tops of the steamed bao into a spiral.
~ Rob 12/14/2021