Soft, pillow-y, and the perfect balance of sweetness. With the perfect golden brown top and fluffy, yet structured crumb – these homemade hamburger buns are sure to impress.
We’ve been leaning more and more into savoury baking and these homemade hamburger buns are our favourite recipe yet. Perfect for your next barbecue, a lunch time sandwich, or a levelled-up breakfast sandwich.
While they do require some time, the effort is minimal and can be made with a stand mixer or without one. Even better, you can make a big batch because they freeze super well.
Similar to brioche, this vegan homemade hamburger bun recipe uses our Portuguese Massa recipe. It’s subtle sweetness makes it the perfect balance for savoury dishes. To make this recipe all you need is a handful of ingredients, including vegan egg (we use Just Egg). After you bring the ingredients together, give it a knead for a few minutes until the dough turns to a smooth ball. Let it rise, form into individual buns, then rise again. After a quick bake – these golden and delicious vegan hamburger buns are ready to be enjoyed.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- Comes together with ease.
- The perfect level of sweetness.
- A soft and pillow-y crumb.
- Freezes well.
Top tips for making homemade hamburger buns:
- Use Just Egg. Sweet bread traditionally includes egg, its what gives it its light yellow colour and airy texture, not to mention the deep golden brown colour when baked. To get that perfect look and taste we use Just Egg in our recipe.
- Careful not to over knead the dough. This recipe requires just enough kneading to create a bread-like texture but not too much as it should still have a cake-like look. You’ll know you’ve kneaded enough when the dough becomes less sticky and forms a smooth dough ball. You can do this by hand or using stand mixer with a dough hook.
- Give the dough time to rise. This bread takes time to rise properly. If you can help it, don’t rush the process if you want the best hamburger buns. Alternatively the first proof can be done overnight if the timing works better for you.
- Line the baking sheet. This bread can easily stick to the baking sheet when baking. To avoid this we line ours with a silicone baking mat, but parchment paper also works.
- Bake until deep golden brown. This dough creates buns with a deep golden brown colour. It’s one of the signs I look for to know my bread is fully baked.
Ingredient Notes:
- Non-Dairy Milk – We use soy milk in this recipe, but any non-dairy milk should work. Just keep in mind that some may results in a subtle change to flavour. We’d recommend staying away from non-neutral tasting milks.
- Shortening – We use vegetable shortening from Crisco for this recipe.
- Vegan Butter – We use Becel Plant Based Sticks, but you can use any vegan butter.
- All-Purpose Flour – We use our local store brand unbleached all-purpose flour, any brand should work.
- Just Egg – This is key for this recipe to replace the eggs. It gives it the right structure, colour, and flavour.
- Vegan Egg Wash – We use a 1:1 combination of Just Egg and soy milk
Recipe FAQ:
Can you freeze hamburger buns?
Yes! These freeze very easily. We store them in a sandwich bag or reuse and old hamburger bun bag. Then remove as much of the air as you can, seal, and freeze. When ready to thaw, remove as many buns from the freeze you want and let thaw on the counter. Once thawed you can enjoy your buns how you wish.
Other vegan recipes you’ll love:
- The Ultimate Vegan Burger
- BBQ Ranch Burger
- Buffalo Oyster Mushroom Sandwich
- Vegan Portuguese Sweet Bread
- Vegan Salami Pesto Sandwich
How to make Homemade Hamburger Buns:
Homemade Hamburger Buns
Ingredients
Dough:
- ½ tbsp instant yeast
- 2 tbsp lukewarm water
- 100 g (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 360 g (3 cups) all-purpose flour
- pinch salt
- ½ cup non-dairy milk
- 24 g (2 tbsp) shortening
- 28 g (2 tbsp) vegan butter
- ½ cup Just Egg
Egg Wash:
- 1 tbsp Just Egg
- 1 tbsp soy milk
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast in water and add a pinch of the sugar. Set aside until foamy.
- Combine all-purpose flour and salt, set aside.
- In a small pot over medium-low heat add non-dairy milk, vegan butter, and shortening until melted and combined. Set aside and cool until lukewarm.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer beat granulated sugar and just egg until combined. Add yeast mixture, flour mixture, and the milk mixture and knead together with your hands or a dough hook until a dough forms. The dough will be sticky – we recommend using stand mixer but we have also made these by hand. Knead it until it comes together as a smooth ball. Cover the bowl with Saran Wrap and a kitchen towel and set aside to rise for 3-4 hours or doubled in size.
- Prepare a baking sheet by lining with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Set aside.
- Punch down the dough then divide into 8 even sections. Roll each section into a tight ball the place on the prepared baking sheet evenly spaced apart. Let rise again until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 300°F. We use the convection setting on the oven.
- Make the egg wash by combining Just Egg and soy milk. Using a pastry brush brush the top of the proofed dough with egg wash.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a deep golden brown. We tend to lean towards 30 minutes when we bake ours.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet. You can also enjoy them after just a few minutes, warm and with a little butter.
