Spiced Chicken Stuffed Buns

These portable Spiced Chicken Stuffed Buns make snacking delightful! Filled with aromatic chicken that’s sauteed with ginger, garlic, and a plethora of spices, these are wonderful to take along on hikes or road trips!

These spiced chicken stuffed buns have never lasted long in our home. And, when I made them for some coworkers, they disappeared just as quickly!

These stuffed buns are completely made from scratch – meaning the bun, as well as the stuffing, were all made from scratch. With all the proofing and jazz involved, these buns take a little over 2 hours to make, but they are well worth it.

Now, if two+ hours is too long, then please feel free to use store-bought biscuit dough. I use it when I’m in a time crunch – like I did when I made these lentil stuffed buns and these peanut chicken stuffed buns.

A little history on these Spiced Chicken Stuffed Buns. During my younger years in Sri Lanka, all my aunts and uncles had their favorite stuffed bun recipe. Meat and veggie stuffed buns are big in Sri Lanka – kind of like sandwiches are here. The most popular being the Fish Bun and the onion confit bun.

Back then, while I immensely enjoyed that little handheld, stuffed buns, I was always befuddled as to how the stuffing got into the bun.

But, live and learn – right?

These days I make a wide variety of stuffed buns – from veggies to chicken.

What are the ingredients to make these stuffed buns?

These spiced buns remind me of an incident I simply have to share…

Last week, as my daughter and I were driving down the freeway sipping on our favorite beverages, we saw someone seemingly parachuting down.

We were on a stretch of the freeway without many cars on it, but, the thought that a wind gust might change that person’s trajectory left us unsettled…

But, as we got closer, we noticed that he was doing circles as he lost altitude … circles? 

Yup… circles… because he was tethered to the ground! 

That was the first time I had seen anything like it!

That tethered parachute rider led us to talking about some of our gravity defying bucket list items. My daughter’s is tandem skydiving. Mine is a hot air balloon ride.

My daughter, always wanting to help me cross off items off my bucket list, Googled balloon rides near us – and, found one that was to take place over the weekend.

It was a tethered balloon ride, but hey, am not picky.

We made plans for our weekend balloon riding adventure, even stocking up on snacking essentials! I also made these Spiced Chicken Stuffed Buns for us to snack on during the ride!

Then the weekend came along…

I chickened out and instead of a hot-air balloon ride, we went hiking instead. And we took along the batch of these Spiced Chicken Stuffed Buns I made for the hot air balloon ride!

Getting back to these buns… Most times I use store-bought flaky biscuit dough as the “bun” part. But this time around, I figured I’d break out the yeast and whole wheat and make a whole wheat bun from scratch.

I stuffed the whole wheat bun with ground chicken that was sauteed with onions, ginger, garlic, smoked paprika, coriander, turmeric, cumin and peas.

These Spiced Chicken Stuffed Buns are so portable and make a delicious snack after a hike, at a backyard picnic, or even on a balloon ride!

Spiced Chicken Stuffed Buns

4.69 from 29 votes

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Prep Time: 2 hours hours

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 buns

Author: Shashi

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These portable Spiced Chicken Stuffed Buns make snacking delightful! Filled with aromatic chicken that’s sauteed with ginger, garlic, and a plethora of spices, these are wonderful to take along on hikes or road trips!

Ingredients

For the whole wheat buns

• 1 cup warm milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 pkg Active Dry Yeast
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 3 tablespoons butter melted
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 tsp salt

For the Spiced Chicken Filling:

• 3 tablespoons oil I used EVOO
• 1 onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 lb ground chicken
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/3 tsp salt or to taste
• 1/3 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp chili powder optional
• 1/2 cup frozen peas thawed
• Black/white sesame seeds optional

Instructions

For the whole wheat buns:

• Warm milk by placing it in the microwave for 20 seconds or so.
• Add sugar to milk and mix well.
• Then add in the Active Dry Yeast and set aside for 10 minutes. The yeast should have "ballooned" by this time and be frothy.
• Add 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour to a bowl and then add the milk/yeast mixture to it. Mix with a wooden spoon – not metal, please.
• Then add in 1 (one) egg, salt, and melted butter (I melted my butter by placing it in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl and microwaving it on 20 second intervals until it was melted).
• Add in the other 2 cups of wheat flour and mix well. At this point, you can set the spoon aside and use your hands to knead the dough.
• When the dough is slightly tacky, place it in a large greased bowl. Wrap bowl with plastic wrap. Place a warmed towel over it and place in a dark dry place for 1 hour to proof.
• While this is proofing you can make the filling.

For the Spiced Chicken Filling:

• Chop the onion and add it to a pan over a medium flame with the oil.
• Let the onion saute for about 10 minutes, mixing as needed with a spatula.
• Chop the garlic and grate the ginger and then add these to the sauteing onion. Saute another 2 minutes or so.
• Then, push the onion mix to the side of the pan and add in the chicken.
• Sprinkle in the smoked paprika, coriander, cumin, and turmeric and saute until all the liquid from the chicken has evaporated.
• Then add in the tomato paste and salt and stir well. Add in the salt and pepper and chili powder if using. You might want to taste the filling at this point to see if the salt needs to be adjusted according to your taste.
• Then add in the peas, saute another 2 minutes, and set aside to cool a bit.

To Assemble:

• When the dough has proofed and has doubled in size, remove the plastic wrap and towel and punch the dough down. Then, split the dough into 2.
• Wrap one part with plastic to keep moist and spread the other one out using a rolling pin.
• Use a bowl to cut circles into dough.
• Spoon 2 or so tablespoons of filling into each circle.
• Seal the buns by flipping the sides over the filling and pinching them together.
• Then lay buns down, with the sealed side on the bottom on a parchment-lined baking tray.
• Repeat until all the dough and filling are used up.
• Preheat oven to 175 degrees Fahrenheit, place a damp kitchen towel over the stuffed buns, and place them in the oven to proof for another 30 minutes.
• When they are done, they should be slightly bigger.
• Remove the proofed stuffed buns from the oven
• And, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Beat the remaining egg and brush it over the buns.
• Sprinkle buns with sesame seeds and place in a 375-degree Fahrenheit oven for 20-22 minutes so buns bake and tops are golden.
• When time is up, remove buns from the oven and turn the oven off.
• Enjoy buns warm or at room temperature.
  

Notes

*You can use 2 cups all-purpose flour and 2 cups whole wheat flour for a more pliable/airy bun – or you can use pre-made, store-bought, flaky biscuit dough for the bun.

*If you have leftover buns, the stuffed buns can be refrigerated for up to 5 days and the buns can be reheated by placing them in a 350-degree Fahrenheit oven for 10-15 minutes.

Nutrition

Serving: 1bun | Calories: 335kcal | Carbohydrates: 39.5g | Protein: 18.9g | Fat: 11.4g | Saturated Fat: 3.5g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Fiber: 4.7g | Sugar: 6.3g

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