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!
My daughter and I love these spiced chicken stuffed buns because:
• They are so tasty
• They are great for snacking on the go, a picnic lunch, or even dinner in front of the TV!
• They are incredibly comforting!
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 particular buns have a long list of ingredients, with the buns being made with the following 8 ingredients, which are:
- warm milk,
- sugar,
- Active Dry Yeast,
- all-purpose flour,
- whole wheat flour,
- butter melted,
- eggs, and
- salt.
The spiced chicken stuffing requires the following 15 ingredients:
- oil
- onion
- garlic
- fresh ginger
- ground chicken
- smoked paprika
- coriander
- turmeric
- cumin
- tomato paste
- salt
- pepper
- chili powder (optional)
- frozen peas
- Black/white sesame seeds (optional)
Now you might have most of these ingredients already – and most of them can easily be found at your local grocery store.
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!
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.
Absolutely foolproof wonderful recipe ☺️
Never fails to impress
I wanted to make this ahead of time ..am I able to freeze them before baking ,defrost and then bake them ?
Can you freeze these after baking?
Really wish the thickness of the dough circles and size of the circles was included in the recipe instructions. Looking at the images we guesstimated and these turned out way too thick and parts were raw after baking
Yum! Haven’t had stuffed buns in ages. These look SO good — thanks.
I tried this recipe and the dough came out to be pretty tough and sweet. I’d reduce the amount of sugar and change the ratio of white to whole wheat flour. Otherwise the stuffing turned out great!
I tried this recipe and its sooo goood. Thank you so much, but can I please know whether I can leave the dough overnight please?
Hello,
I dont have wheat flour. Can I use only all-purpose flour?
@Sabeehah Ravat,
Hi Sabeehah,
I’m super late replying here but I attempted making these buns using all-purpose flour earlier this week, and am trying it again today.
The first batch turned out fine! I added two cups all-purpose, then added enough until the dough was able to be kneaded. Then I went by feel through the kneading process. I don’t think I used more than 3 cups all-purpose however, but was still able to make 12 buns.
Hope this helps!
Hello,
Is it possible to use cooked chicken meat leftovers to make those buns? What should I change?
Hi Jola – I don’t see why not. Is the cooked chicken spiced? If so, then you might just want to quickly saute it with onion, garlic, ginger, and forgo the spices. However, if it isn’t spiced, then use all the ingredients – but you won’t have to cook the chicken at all – just heat it up. Hope this turns out well for you.
Hi there, looking forward to asking these buns! What diameter of bowl do you use to make the circles and how thin should the dough be rolled? Thanks!
Hi Troy – I used a bowl about 10 inches in diameter.
Would you please comment on the size of the circle we are to use for each bun?
Thanks! Shelley
Hi Shelley – if you are referring to the size of the dough circle before being stuffed, I used a 3in cookie cutter to cut a circle and rolled it out a bit before adding in the stuffing.
Hi. If I want to make only six buns then do I decrease all the ingredients to half ?
Hi. I tried this recipe today. After the step where you’ve instructed that we place a damp towel and proof in the oven at 175 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, the towel stuck to the buns, tearing off the tops of the buns when I tried to lift the towel off after 30 minutes inside the oven. What would have otherwise been a perfectly good result was ruined because of the towel sticking issue.
So, is the damp towel mandatory? Alternatively can we proof the buns and room temperature for 30 minutes? I live in India and it’s hot throughout the year here.
Hi Sen, no – the damp towel is not mandatory – and if it is warm in your home, no need to let these proof in the oven. Thanks so much for trying this recipe – I’m sorry the tops of the buns were ruined. I hope next time these turn out perfect for you.
Thank you for responding! And yes I’m looking forward to trying them again soon 🙂
175°F?
Hey Nibha, Yes 175 – first you will proof the buns in an oven at 175 degrees F – unless your home is warm. After that you will bake it at 375 degrees F.
Recipe instructions on https://savoryspin.com/spiced-chicken-stuffed-buns-2/ are:
“Preheat oven to 175 degrees, place a damp 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 them from the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees”