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Super Easy Chinese BBQ Pork Pull Apart Buns aka Cheater’s Cha Siu Bao

Posted February 4, 2019 by Stephanie

These easy Chinese bbq pork buns are here for you. You know, for when you have that baked char siu bao craving but aren’t anywhere near a Chinese bakery.

Here’s a question for you: baked char siu bao or steamed char siu bao? For me, I can never really decide. Steamed are so fluffy and pillow-y and associated with cozy dim sum memories. Baked are grab and go and also pillow-y soft and delicious. It’s a dilemma.

What isn’t a dilemma are these cheater’s baked char siu bao. They’re super easy to throw together and they taste AMAZING. The pull apart rolls are soft and fluffy and crisp thanks to a little bit of butter and the bbq pork is perfectly saucy and just the right balance of sweet and savory.

Here’s what you need to do: go to the Asian grocery store or Chinese bbq shop and get some bbq pork. Or, if you have some leftover from dinner, even better. Then, you pick up a pack of pull apart buns. You know, just your standard white dinner tray buns/rolls. Then you dice your pork, make a quick sauce, trim out the tops of the buns, pop the filling in, bake, and boom, satisfaction. Do it for the love of bbq pork buns! You know you want to :)

PS – If you need a recipe for homemade char siu, let me know in the comments. I didn’t include it because this is supposed to be a super easy recipe and I didn’t think that making your own char siu instead of going to the Chinese BBQ counted as easy.

Super Easy Chinese BBQ Pork Pull Apart Buns aka Cheater’s Cha Siu Bao | www.iamafoodblog.com

Super Easy Chinese BBQ Pork Pull Apart Buns aka Cheater’s Cha Siu Bao | www.iamafoodblog.com

Super Easy Chinese BBQ Pork Pull Apart Buns aka Cheater’s Cha Siu Bao
makes 6 buns


  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
  • 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon corn starch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
  • 1 cup char siu/Chinese bbq pork, cut into small cubes
  • 6 tray buns
  • 1/2 tablespoon butter, melted

In a pot, bring the soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, honey, and 2 tablespoons of water up to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk in the cornstarch slurry and cook, stirring, until the sauce comes to a boil and starts to thicken. Stir in the char siu cubes and set aside.

Leaving the rolls attached, place the tray buns on a baking sheet and cut a hole into the top of each roll, about 2/3 of the way down. Brush with the melted butter on the insides and outsides of the rolls. Scoop the char siu mix into the holes and place the rolls in the oven and bake until golden, about 5-8 minutes. Remove, let sit for a minute or two and enjoy hot.

7 Comments

  1. Kelly says:

    Yes – 100 times yes, I would like a recipe for homemade charsiu. I saw the post and I was like oh! this would be great for this weekend! and then I was disappointed because there was no recipe for charsiu hahaha.

  2. Nick says:

    I too would really like the recipe for the pork!!!

    1. Stephanie says:

      i’ll put it up soon, it’s super easy :)

  3. Raul says:

    Would love the recipe for the pork!

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