Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Gua Bao (Pork Belly Buns)
Taiwan’s famous night-market bun: a pillowy folded steamed bun cradling red-braised pork belly, tangy pickled mustard greens, cilantro, and sweet peanut powder.
Taiwanese · medium · serves 6
prep 40 min · cook 90 min
~368 cal · 34g protein · 9g carbs · 21g fat · 2g fiber · 1g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Gua bao, Mandarin for cut bun, is one of Taiwan's great night-market snacks: a soft, folded, lotus-leaf-shaped steamed bun cradling a thick slice of red- pork belly. The is the classic Taiwanese red-cook, pork simmered slow in light and dark soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, and five-spice until meltingly tender and glossy.
But the bun is only truly gua bao with its three signature toppings: suan cai, the tangy lacto- pickled mustard greens that cut the richness; a handful of fresh cilantro; and a sprinkle of sweet peanut powder, ground fine with sugar, which is the detail that surprises the uninitiated and defines the real thing.
Sold from stalls across Taipei and beyond, gua bao is eaten out of hand, the fluffy bun soaking up the savoury while the pickles and peanut keep every bite bright and balanced. It is humble, messy, and completely addictive.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy- and egg-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
6 steamed bao buns (folded lotus-leaf buns)
1.5 lbs skin-on pork belly, in thick slices
1/4 cup total light and dark soy sauce
1/4 cup Shaoxing rice wine
for the braise sugar, five-spice powder, star anise, ginger, and garlic
1/2 cup pickled mustard greens (suan cai), chopped
1/4 cup sweetened peanut powder, to finish
1 small bunch fresh cilantro, leaves and tender stems
Instructions
1
Sear the pork belly slices to render some fat, then braise them low in the soy sauces, rice wine, sugar, five-spice, star anise, ginger, and garlic with a little water until meltingly tender, about 1.5 hours.
✎ Chef’s note
Low and slow is the whole point of a red-braise; a hard boil toughens the belly before the fat renders.
2
Meanwhile, rinse the pickled mustard greens to tame the salt, then chop and quickly stir-fry them with a little sugar until fragrant.
3
If making peanut powder, pulse roasted peanuts with a spoon of sugar to a coarse powder. Steam the bao buns until hot and pillowy, about 8 minutes.
4
Reduce the braising liquid to a glaze and coat the pork. Open each warm bun into its pocket.
5
Fill each bun with a slice of pork belly, a spoon of pickled greens, a pinch of cilantro, and a sprinkle of sweet peanut powder. Serve at once.
Taipei night-market tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Taipei. The beef noodle soup Taipei argues about was not born in Taipei. It is traced to Air Force military dependents' villages at Gangshan in Kaohsiung in the 1950s, where mainland veterans built a Sichuan-style braise on a local hot bean paste, at a time when most Taiwanese did not eat beef at all.
🗺️
Taiwan. Taiwan is a street-food paradise, famous for beef noodle soup, soup dumplings, night markets, and bubble tea, which two teahouses, one in Taichung and one in Tainan, both claim to have invented in the mid-1980s. Chinese regional roots and Japanese influence meet in bold, snackable, endlessly inventive food.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Taiwan
Taiwanese Beef Noodle SoupChewy wheat noodles in a dark, star-anise beef broth with melting shank and pickled mustard greens.
Dan BingA soft, chewy egg crepe rolled up and sliced, Taiwan's favorite hot breakfast off the griddle.
Lu Rou FanRice topped with glossy braised minced pork in a five-spice soy sauce, Taiwan's everyday braised-pork bowl.
Browse all Taiwan recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Steamer.
Storing it: Keeps 2 to 3 days refrigerated. Resteam or warm through gently to serve.
Make it a Taiwan meal
Bubble TeaDrink
Pineapple CakeDessert
Taiwanese Beef Noodle SoupDinner
Similar dishes from around the world
Yuca Frita con ChicharrónEl Salvador
Stegt Flæsk med PersillesovsDenmark
Tamales ColoradosGuatemala
Highlands Mumu (Earth-Oven Vegetables)Papua New Guinea
MulgipuderEstonia
OromoKyrgyzstan
Frequently asked questions
What is Gua Bao (Pork Belly Buns)?
Taiwan’s famous night-market bun: a pillowy folded steamed bun cradling red-braised pork belly, tangy pickled mustard greens, cilantro, and sweet peanut powder.
Where does Gua Bao (Pork Belly Buns) come from?
Gua Bao (Pork Belly Buns) is a Taiwanese dish from Taipei, Taiwan.
Can Gua Bao (Pork Belly Buns) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Gua Bao (Pork Belly Buns) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Gua Bao (Pork Belly Buns) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Gua Bao (Pork Belly Buns) take to make?
About 130 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 90 minutes cooking), serving 6.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.