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Mantou (馒头) is a yeast-based Chinese steamed bun made of yeast, flour, sugar and water. This mantou recipe with sweet potato is so soft and fluffy. Learn how to make mantou with this easy and fail-proof recipe!
Mantou Buns
Mantou is one of my favorite Chinese food! In Chinese, mantou is written as 馒头, a staple food in China.
They are endless variations that you can try, with or without filling.
In this recipe, I added some mashed sweet potatoes (yam) to the dough and turn them into sweet potato mantou.
These Chinese steamed buns are so soft, fluffy, especially when they are fresh off the steamer. They are absolutely delicious!
Mantou Recipe Ingredients
In this recipe, you are going to learn the simple step-by-step for DIY homemade mantou from scratch.
My recipe calls for very simple ingredients:
- Yeast
- Sugar
- Water
- All-purpose flour
- Sweet potatoes
- Cooking oil
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
How To Make Mantou
It’s very easy to make mantou at home and the recipe is very simple and straight forward.
First, you will need a yeast mixture to make the mantou dough. To activate the yeast, add warm water and sugar to the yeast. The yeast mixture will become foamy once the yeast is activated.
Next, make the dough by combining the yeast mixture with flour, sugar and oil. For this recipe, I added mashed sweet potatoes to the dough.
Knead the dough until smooth and shiny. Divide and cut the dough. Let rise for 1 hour or until the dough expands.
The final step is to steam the dough in a steamer. After 10 minutes, you will have soft and fluffy mantou ready to serve.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely, you can wrap mantou with all kinds of sweet or savory fillings to make steamed buns or baozi.
Check out my char siu bao and steamed chicken bun recipes.
You can also use sweet filling such as red bean steamed buns.
I don’t recommend freezing the dough, however you can keep the dough in the fridge overnight.
When you are ready to proof the dough, just remove it and let rise and proof and continue with steaming.
This recipe is only 166 calories per serving.
What To Serve With Mantou
Serve these mantou as a breakfast item or afternoon snack. For a wholesome Chinese breakfast, I recommend the following recipes.
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for new updates.
Other Recipes You Might Like
Mantou (The Best Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1/2 tablespoon yeast
- 100 ml warm water
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 75 g (2¾ oz) sweet potato , (or "yam" in the United States)
- 250 g (9 oz) all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon oil
Instructions
- Combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water in a bowl. Stir to mix well and set aside for 20 minutes. The yeast mixture will rise and become foamy.
- Steam the sweet potato until soft, then discard any water that seeps out after steaming. Using a spoon, mash the sweet potato into a fine purée.
- Add the yeast mixture, sweet potato purée, flour, sugar, and oil to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.
- Knead on speed 1 for 6 minutes, until the dough becomes soft and shiny. If the dough is too sticky, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can knead by hand for 20 minutes or until the dough no longer sticks to your hands. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rest for 5 minutes.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin to form a 14×10-inch rectangle. Roll the dough up into a log, then roll the log back and forth a few times until the surface looks smooth and it reaches a length of 12 inches (30 cm).
- Cut the dough into 8 equal-sized pieces using a sharp knife or pastry cutter. Transfer each piece to a 3×4-inch (7 cm x 10 cm) piece of parchment paper. You may roll each piece of dough into a round ball after cutting.
- Place the dough balls into a steamer, ensuring there is enough space between each one so they don’t stick together. Cover the lid and let them rise for 60 minutes, or until the dough balls expand in size. Add water to the bottom of the steamer, and you may add 1 teaspoon of Chinese white vinegar to help make the steamed buns whiter. Cover the lid tightly.
- Turn the heat to high and steam for 10-12 minutes, or until the dough expands and becomes soft, puffy, and fluffy. Turn off the heat and serve the mantou warm.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I would love to make these for my toddler. I am wondering if I can substitute this with organic unbleached all purpose floor? You reckon? Thank you!
I think so. You can try!
i used cake flour and made them today it was good! fluffy and soft
I dont know for sure but i think if u allow the dough to proof twice and then also allow the buns to rise again covered for 15-20mins before steaming then u will get more fluffier buns :-) i dont know if it is the same with the potato in but when i proof more it makes them fluffier…but it is longer which is anoying haha
… but u cud try and half a batch do 1 each way and see if the difference in fluffiness is worth the extra waiting?
Hi..
I’ve tried this recipe today. I’ve been looking for mantao recipe quite some time (tried several batches last week, and didn’t satisfied with the result). This recipe worked so well. Thank you. The bun come out so soft, even when it’s cool. I can tell my kid enjoyed them too, he ate 3pieces right after i finished steaming the bun (i made them small). ^^ thanks a lot.
Btw, do you have any idea how to remove the smell of the yeast ?
I just made these today. They are so soft and fluffy, my family love it.Thanks for the recipe :)
These were so nice- they were a little bit sweet, soft and so fluffy. I used half the flour because I wanted to retain the flavour of the sweet potato, and it worked really well, thanks a lot!
Thanks Jamie.
Can I use this dough recipe to make Bao? I wanna put in char siew fillings.
Yes.
Good Morning Bee,
Lovely recipe but what do you served it with? I haven’t tried any of the plain steam buns, sweet Potato is one of my favourite.
Tell Samantha that she could get sweet Potato in London
You just eat them plain…that’s how we eat them, as a snack.
I used to be able to get bao or hong Kong flour at the Asian grocery store, but with COVID-19, everything is not available. I did find a wheaten flour with picture of bao on the packaging. Everything is written in Chinese which I can’t read. Is wheaten flour suitable?
Not, it’s not good. You can try all purpose flour for mantou.
Ok. Thank you!!
Hi, how will the recipe change if I use instant yeast?
I haven’t tried I am not sure, but should be OK.
I made these the other day and they are super duper yummy!! Everyone I shared them with loved them and asked me for the recipe, so I sent them the link to this page. Thank you for sharing yor recipe.