Air Fried Mantou (Chinese Steamed Buns)

Welcome to my no recipe recipe! Today we are making a very fast and easy air fried Mantou! Mantou also known as Chinese steamed buns is a soft steamed bread/bun. These can be found in basically any Chinese supermarket and possibly other Asian markets. I usually find it in the section near the fresh noodles, but they may also be stored in the freezer section. 

These buns are popularly steamed & fried to create the dessert known as ‘gold & silver Mantou’. You can sometimes find these at various chinese restaurants, and it’s definitely one of my favorite things to order! As much as I love this dessert, I wanted to find a way to recreate it without having to deep fry them. If you haven’t already noticed from a previous recipe, I have been obsessed with trying out new things in my air fryer. I honestly hate deep frying, because of the oil splatters and having to deal with disposing the oil afterwards. I also love that you don’t really have to preheat an airfryer and it heats up pretty fast.

The easiest and fastest way to make these is to just buy premade mantous! You can of course make your own at home, however that is a bit more time consuming. Most of the store bought ones are just as amazing. For this recipe I used a random brand I found in the supermarket, which I will show below and it came out awesome.

To make these you just want to place as many mantous as you want to eat into your air fryer for 3 minutes on 400°F. I personally like to place them all identically facing up so that they cook evenly. After the 3 minutes, flip all of the mantous and air fry once more for 2 minutes at 400°F. The outcome of these will be a nice and crispy golden outside with a nice and hot soft inside. If you wish to make it more crispier, you can cut them in half and air fry them in a similar manner. Once both sides are golden brown, serve it right away with condensed milk! I personally like to break them into smaller pieces and dip them into the condensed milk, but they can also be dunk as wholes.

You can also serve them with things like jams, nutella, or even peanut butter! The mantous are honestly super plain and will take on the flavor of anything you serve it with. They can also be eaten with savory saucy things as well.

Air Fried Mantou (Chinese steamed buns)

These air fried buns are a wonderful alternative for those who hate to deep fry!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Cook Time 5 minutes mins

Defrost time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine Chinese

Servings 10 Mantous

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 10 Store bought mantous fresh/frozen
• ½ cup Condensed milk
• Cooking Oil Spray Optional

Instructions

 

• If you stored them in the freezr, them them out to defrost for a minimum of 10 mins, or store in the fridge overnight
• Arrange 10 store bought mantous into the air fryer and air fry for 3 minutes at 400 degrees. If you happen to have a small air fryer, this can be done in batches. *Optional: Spray the buns with cooking oil spray.
• After the 3 minutes has passed, flip all the mantous and air fry once more for 2 minutes at 400 degrees.
• While the mantou is air frying, pour ¼ cup of condensed milk into a small bowl of choice and set it on a large serving plate that will fit all the mantous.
• After the second air fry, the mantous should be nice and golden on all sides! Serve and eat right away with the condensed milk.

Notes

*Note: While this recipe indicates 10 mantous, you can make more or less than 10. Its best to make enough to eat as they get hard as it sits out. Its also very fast to make them so I recommend just making them as you want to eat them.

Keyword Air fried mantou, Air fryer, Chinese, Chinese buns, condensed milk, Mantou, Steamed Buns

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Commonly Asked Questions:

If I don’t own an air fryer, can I bake these?
I personally have never tried baking them, but I’m sure you will get a similar delicious outcome! Note that it may take longer in an oven to achieve similar results.

What else can these be eaten with?
As mentioned above you can eat these with nutella, peanut butter, and basically everything and anything! I once saw a dessert spot cut them in half, deep fry them and served ice cream in between. There really is no limit to what you can eat these with!