Hezhou Steamed Buns 河州包子
Hezhou Steamed Buns is featured among the local specialties of Gansu.
Photo adjustments
EXIF orientation normalized; resized without changing aspect ratio; converted to WebP. No subject edits.
Hezhou Steamed Buns (河州包子) are steamed buns filled with mutton, spices and chives, listed by the government of Linxia (临夏) city in Gansu among the specialities of its local cooking.
How it is made
The wrapper is white and plump on the outside, thin but chewy; experienced pastry cooks get that texture by kneading and rolling the dough over and over. The buns are cooked in steamers, where they turn full and round.
Flavour and texture
The skin has a slight springiness when bitten, and then comes the filling: tender, juicy mutton blended with spices. Fresh chives in the filling offset the heaviness of the meat, giving each mouthful layers of flavour.
Where it comes from
Linxia city, the seat of the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, groups its cooking under the name "Hezhou flavours, Linxia food" (河州味道·临夏美食). Its official profile lists Hezhou Steamed Buns among these specialities, together with the Hezhou eight-bowl banquet (河州八大碗), hand-grabbed mutton (手抓羊肉), Linxia niangpi (临夏酿皮) and eight-treasure covered-bowl tea (八宝盖碗茶), and describes Linxia as a place where many ethnic groups live and several food cultures meet.
The buns are a morning food. On Linxia mornings people sit together in the bun shops of the streets and lanes to eat them.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-23. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.