My parents’ love language was food, so they always made sure they fed us small Filipino snacks, like siopao or beef empanadas, during our many family road trips to prevent hangry tantrums. Even as an adult, I love keeping these in the freezer or buying extra at the store to keep on hand.
What is siopao asado?
Siopao Asado, pronounced “shoo-pow,” is a Filipino steamed meat bun that shows the influence from Chinese immigrants and also Spanish colonialists. Siopao looks very similar to Vietnamese bánh bao, and Chinese char siu bao, except it’s much larger in size sometimes. I’ve had siopao that was bigger than the size of a fist! For the most part, siopao and char siu bao look very similar. They are white in color, steamed, and are sweet, but they differ in their fillings. The siopao asado filling is made of braised and stewed pork shoulder, hoisin, oyster sauce, and other ingredients, whereas char siu bao is made from roasted pork chopped into a thick red sauce of five-spice, sesame oil, and other ingredients. The asado filling may have had influence from Spanish colonialists due to its similar name as Mexican carne asada, but it’s similarities end there. The name asado comes from the Spanish word that means “grilled,” and Philippine asado evolved from grilled to braised and stewed meat. These days you can find siopao at many Filipino restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores that sell various types and flavors. They also have different markings at the top to signify which flavor is which. While there are also other fillings like siopao bola bola (a meatball version), I prefer siopao asado because I love the sweet stewed and peppered flavor. For this version, I added sliced, boiled eggs as a customary extra–always add eggs to everything!
Siopao dough
The dough for siopao needs to be super fluffy and soft, which is why I am using the same dough recipe as my char siu bao, steamed bao buns, and mantou recipe. Based on my experience the char siu bao dough has a similar flavor profile and texture, so I’m sticking with the same recipe.
Asado filling
The filling for siopao asado is just as important as the dough, sometimes more so (I went through a phase as a kid where I just ONLY ate the filling and gave my mom my siopao scraps). Yes disgusting, I know. To make the filling I followed a traditional process of braising and stewing to get ultra tender pieces of pork shoulder. In the beginning I also seared the meat to get a nice caramelization on the meat and enhance the flavor. After searing, I saute garlic and onions in the same pan and de-glaze all of the caramel goodness with water, soy sauce, and salt to make a flavorful liquid that the meat will braise in for an hour. I finish the asado by chopping the meat in fine pieces and cooking it down with some of the pork broth, oyster sauce, hoisin, dark brown sugar, pepper, and a mixture of cornstarch water to thicken. This viscous asado filling will give you a profile of sweet, savory, and peppery flavors all in one.
Cooking tips
Here’s some of my favorite tips for the getting great results with siopao:
To use your time wisely, I like to use the following timeline: (1) braise meat, (2) make dough & proof, (3) make asado filling, (4) boil eggs, and (5) assemble siopao. Note: I start with the meat first because you need time to cool the filling down before adding it into the dough. Braise your meat to get tender and flavorful meat. I know this takes an hour, but it’s worth getting that soft and melt in your mouth texture.Proof your dough until it’s doubled, even if that means two hours. I’ve made this dough in different temperatures and proofing can take from one hour to two hours and it’s necessary to build up the gluten and get fluffy soft siopao dough. Punch your dough after it’s done proofing to get rid of excess gas. Not doing this will give you bubbles in your dough when rolling out. Chop the braised meat to make sure you get meat in every bite. When rolling out your dough, leave the center a little thicker to ensure you get an even amount of dough in each bite. Since you’re folding the top over consecutive dough folds, it will end up thicker than the bottom. If you leave the center of your dough thicker, it evens out the top and bottom dough ratio. Proof the dough a second time for a shorter 15 minutes before steaming to get them super fluffy! I’m amazed at how much fluffier they get by proofing an additional time. Typically, by the time I’m done with folding all my siopao, my first batch is already done proofing so win win!Save extra siopao in the freezer in an airtight container for a snack in the future! They’re easy to reheat in the microwave, you just need to wrap it in a wet towel and microwave for one to two minutes on high.
