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Meat Buns ~ Flashback Friday


It's 'Flashback Friday' and I am re-posting one of the first recipes I submitted to this blog...back on June 10, 2008.  It has also been one of our most viewed recipes and so I decided it was time to give it a bit of an update.  It is now re-formatted and has a new photo. The original photos appear in the collage at the bottom of the post.  Instructions for using instant yeast are also included.

There’s nothing quite like the meat perishky I recall from days gone by…a dainty meat-filled pastry. I have my mother-in-law's recipe but somehow couldn’t see myself rolling out all the dough and spending hours making tiny little pockets. So I adapted the recipe somewhat and came up with meat buns.  They are wonderful to have on-hand in the freezer and pull out for a quick lunch with pickles and cheese. 

Filling:

  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 1 package onion soup mix
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
  1. Brown ground beef over medium heat in large skillet…breaking up while cooking*.
  2. Drain. Add onions and cook for a few more minutes.
  3. Stir in onion soup mix and mushroom soup and heat through.
  4. Allow mixture to cool completely (can be made ahead).
*Tip: Use a potato masher to break apart the meat as it is browning.

Dough:
  • 2 Tablespoons yeast
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • ½ cup lukewarm water
  • 4 cups warm water
  • 1/3 cup potato flakes (instant mashed potatoes)...optional
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon salt
  • ½ cup oil
  • 1 cup butter or margarine
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 12 cups flour
  1. Dissolve sugar and yeast in lukewarm water. Let stand 10 minutes.
  2. In a large mixing bowl combine 4 cups water, potato flakes, sugar, salt, oil and margarine.  
  3. Add beaten eggs.
  4. Stir in softened yeast and beat in six cups of flour.
  5. Continue to add flour until dough leaves sides of pan.
  6. Knead until smooth and elastic.
  7. Allow to rise until doubled in size.  
  8. Then punch down and form meat buns. 
  9. Pinch off balls of dough about the size of a small egg.
  10. Flatten dough in the palm of your hand into about a 3-inch circle.
  11. Place a spoonful of filling on the center.
  12. Bring the edges of the dough up and around the filling and pinch together tightly to seal edges.
  13. Place pinched side down on a greased baking sheet.
  14. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place.
  15. Bake at 375 degrees F. for about 20 minutes...or until golden.
Alternate method using instant yeast:
  • 11 cups flour
  • 2 Tablespoons instant yeast
  • 4 cups warm water
  • 1/3 cup potato flakes...optional
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon salt 
  • ½ cup oil
  • 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  1. Combine instant yeast with 5 cups of flour.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine water, potato flakes, sugar, salt, oil and margarine.  
  3. Add beaten eggs. 
  4. Stir in the 5 cups of flour with added yeast. Mix well.
  5. Continue to add flour until dough leaves sides of pan.
  6. Knead until smooth and elastic.
  7. Allow to rise until doubled in size.  
  8. Then punch down and form meat buns...as in instructions above.


*One recipe of meat filling will not be enough to fill all the dough.  Use leftover dough to shape into regular dinner buns. 

66 comments:

  1. Thanks Judy for another keeper! Making pockets sure does take up a lot of time...these are so simple and will go so well with soup or pack for a lunch!
    Just yesterday a friend told me she was making meat buns..that planted a seed in my mind and now it has sprouted!!

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  2. you know what is so fun? I love to guess who posted the recipe before getting to the bottom of the page.
    I was sure this was going to be Kathy's because she makes these regularly for her family.
    Now I just have to try your recipe.

    I have spent the last hour or so trying to figure out how to put a print box for the recipes on this blog like the fancy schmancy blogs. I found one site. . but I'm a wee bit scared to fiddle with html. I need my techi sons here.

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  3. Yummy Judy, my family loves these, and my recipe is almost the same. Sometimes I made buns as you did and sometimes I make the wee little time consuming ones. We Mennonites are bread lovers. Kathy

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  4. I grew up on piroshky and you are making my mouth water here. My mom stuffs them with a ground beef mixture, a potato one and a cabbage one. I love them all...

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  5. Oh thankyou Judy. This will be on my Chem Sunday card for sure.... one last week of school for my son and he will love these in his lunches. You are terrific.

    I remember eating these when my preacher daddy took us on 'road trips' all day to this church and that country church on sundays. As we travelled between services that dad had to conduct, mom would pull the most yummy lunches to eat while driving from some mysterious bottomless bag by her feet in the car. "Perishky, rhubarb dumplings, homemade pickles, zwiebach, fresh farm milk (we all drank from the same mason jar) etc. Such memories

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  6. Judy,I recognized the recipe quickly as I saw the ring on your thumb.
    Those look so good. I have never made them.
    Something new to try!

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  7. I made these and they turned out FABULOUSLY!!!!!!!

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  8. Hi Guys, Great blog you've got going on. So many faves from childhood. Mom made her meat buns differently. She'd roast a pork butt or pork shoulder roast, caramelize some onion , and then put it through a meat grinder. Because the meat and onions are so moist you can squeeze it together to make little cork shapes. This can be done ahead of time and fun when done as a family. Next day you make your bun dough,and wrap what you've pinched off around the little meatballs.(Mom doesn't know , but I add some sauerkraut to the onions while I'm sauteing them and it adds a great flavor) This part is also fun when hubby and kids pitch in. We usually make these for Christmas.

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  9. Hi Ladies,
    I just found you through Diary of a stay at home mom and now I am hooked. I love the layout and the wonderful stories that go with your recipes. Such history!
    I made these meat buns today. I know they will be a huge hit with my family if only I could stop eating them! Thanks you.
    Marisa Sosa-Baca

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  10. Glad to have found your site. Now I plan on making these along with the Red Cabbage with Apples. Yum!

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  11. Oh my goodness, now why didn't I think of doing the bun part of the recipe like this?! The time factor is EXACTLY why I never make meat buns!! I will definitely give this method a try. (I use a different recipe for the filling though)

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  12. I love this recipe....since finding this website, I have made these 3 times, once with the traditonal filling, once with sloppy joes, and once with baked beans. We all LOVE all of them. The dough is delightful to work with, and they freeze fabulously! I love this site!

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  13. Great recipe!

    Just wondering if anyone has ever attempted using a breadmaker for the dough, or any thoughts on the idea???

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  14. Hello Judy,
    thanks for sharing a nice and delicious recipe, how many buns can you get out of the recipe??
    thanks

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  15. I finally had a chance to make these, and the are absolutely fabulous! My family practically inhaled them :)

    Definately a "keeper" recipe :)

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  16. A variation from the Baltic States: for the filling:
    start with a well smoked bacon slab, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices and then into cubes, Sautee gently to release fat, cut an equal amount of onions into approximately same size and sautee with the bacon. Tip pan slightly and drain fat and remove as much as possible, cool. You can use the fat when you make the yeast dough. the traditional shape is a half-moon, but any shape will do .... freeze well if your family lets you....

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  17. I used my breadmaker for the dough and it worked perfectly. I found the filling a lilttle bland, and will add some spice the next time. The girls in my bridge club enjoyed them. The froze well, and I have enjoyed them for breakfast

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  18. can you use whole wheat flour with this recipe?

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  19. Anonymous...I have never used whole wheat flour in this recipe, but I can't see why not!

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  20. My family loves them. Specially with the Sloppy Joe mix in the middle. Didn't have enough to freeze though after 2 days they were gone!

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  21. I'm so excited to try this recipe! And I love all of the comments and variations. Would these generally be served hot or cold?

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  22. I grew up with a meat bun that we called Bierrocks; a hamburger, onion and cabbage filling inside a yeast dough. Is that something others are familiar with? I expected to find Bierrocks listed in your Mennonite Recipes section but was surprised they weren't there.

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  23. I love meat buns!! They are one of my favorite things! I have always heard of making them with ground beef but I have always had them with ground roast, in my opinion it is much better but probably also more expensive, and I guess a little more work.

    Anytime my mom would make a roast if there was leftovers we knew we were getting meat buns the next day :)

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    1. My mom also used ground up roast beef. We mostly had the deep-fried kind made with the Roll Kuchen dough. These are my familys' favorites! I usually make them for New Years along with Portzelky...yum!

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  24. Judy...made these AGAIN today. The best and easiest fail safe bun recipe. I change up the meat mix from time to time but the buns always turn out wonderful with this recipe. Wish mine looked as wonderful and round as yours but I've taken to shoving them one against the other in the pan so that when they rise they pull apart in a random fashion anyway. It kind of hides my inability to make them so beautifully round! Grin.
    Just packing them up to go now. Their will be some happy Parks Canada employees tonight (many living far from home while they work here....its the least I can do..I'll drop them off at the info.ctre!) Thanks again

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  25. I used to have these all the time as a child. My mum made them with leftover turkey or roast beef dinner, and the filling included shredded potato and onion and carrot. She mixed in leftover gravy too. I love this version that you've posted! I never thought to make the filling with soup mix, and having been roasting beef and birds for years to have meat buns around lol. Thank you for this version, it was fabulous!

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  26. So, found this recipe and want to try it, but I want to substitute farmer sausage for the hamburger...not sure how it will play out, but am eager to find out :)

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  27. I first heard about these buns when working as a nurse at the local Mennonite nursing home. I wanted to try them but then just never did get the recipe. I didn't know the "technical" name for them but when I typed in meat buns Voila! there they were. Just did my first batch with sloppy joe filling. They are incredible!

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  28. I have made this recipe lots since my mother taught me how, many years ago. My family has always loved them, especially at Christmas. Now my husband has kidney disease and cannot have salt. He is traveling a lot so I have to send food with him. I made a new version of these.
    I left out the Onion soup mix and mushroom soup. I just cooked up a lot of onions with the hamburger and added, Celery seed(lots), basil,Kirkland No Salt seasoning , mustard, and some homemade tomato juice.
    He loves these and I must say they're not bad!

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  29. Thank you so much for this recipe! I made them for the first time for a dinner party a couple of weeks ago. :) I also attempted a borscht for the first time with them. I'm not mennonite. I had only had meat buns once before, and borscht a handful of times. I'm a little crazy like that to try a brand new thing for company! I was so relieved to find that everyone loved the borscht and mostly the buns at the dinner party!
    I had my family over the next day and they loved it too.
    Then, I brought it to work and my coworkers loved it all! I have had many people asking for the recipes. If I had more than 2 thumbs I would put them up too! :) But since I only have 2... 2 THUMBS UP!!!
    I only just now realized I changed the filling quite a bit though. I added minced garlic, taragon, and oregano. I didn't add the onion soup mix or the mushroom soup.
    Brittney

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  30. As the meat is cooking 2 silly questions - do you freeze them after baking? After freezing how do you reheat them? I am hoping to send these in my children't lunches to school and maybe out to the field with the men. Thanks so much!

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  31. I definitely freeze them! Just pull as many as you want out of the freezer and allow to defrost. They are best warm...either heated in the oven or in the microwave. But...I have often sent them in 'packed lunches' as well...and they are always a hit. Enjoy!

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  32. I LOVE this recipe. i have made it tons of times and every time it works out perfectly. I've tried different fillings and made the dough by hand and by bread machine. By bread machine I half it, and let the yeast prepare for 10 minutes in the pan, then add the liquids, the flour, and sprinkle the salt on top of the flour.
    My favourite filling so far has been taco meat with cheddar cheese. I usually have a couple buns left and no filling left, so I just stuff the last few with cheese.

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  33. You can make rolling out the dough even faster if you use a tortilla press and this dough recipe! You could then make the smaller-sized meat buns if you'd like them smaller. I'd use maybe a walnut or olive size piece of dough for the smaller meat pies like you were talking about. Tortilla presses are not in a lot of Wallyworld stores. They sell for under $10.

    Easier to use if you split a gallon size freezer bag down both sides (leave the bottom intact)and place inside the press. P;ace the dough centered, between the two halves. Put the top half of the press onto the bottom half of the plate, then, pull the handle down and SQUISH to the desired thickness. Much faster than rolling out dough, cutting circles and then rerolling out the resulting scraps. (Can also do this for cookie dough and biscuit dough. Just flour the dough first, so it doesn't stick as these doughs are usually more sticky than this bread dough is).

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  34. I found this recipe by an internet search for meat buns. My daughters boyfriend mentioned 2 years ago that Christmas just isn't the same since his grandma passed away, her tradition of meat bun making went with her. So I attempted this one......my family loves them!

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  35. I just tried this out and the dough is fabulous! I did use a different filling though, with cabbage instead. I also brushed the tops with an egg and water mixture so that they would come out shiny.

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  36. I love seeing these "flashbacks" and reading all the comments..... I need to try this recipe!

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  37. Thank you, Judy. This will be perfect for me as I live alone so I could defrost what I need and if company stops by just defrost more. I'm hungry for one right now!

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  38. I attempted to make these buns today...and they are delicious. I omitted the mushroom soup, knowing that my family would just prefer the ground beef. They took a bit of work while I tried to insert the meat into the bun...but it was worth the effort and will be the perfect bun to serve with a hot bowl of soup.

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  39. Oh how delicious these look and so easy, thank you for sharing, when I get to my daughters I'll be making these for the gang

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  40. Have made a variation of these for years for my kids lunches. Use pizza spice and sauce with mozzarella cheese in the hamburger. Freeze well and great for lunches on a day the alarm didn't go off.

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  41. I like this very much, meat bun is nice. I like this baking version, steaming buns are more common here at my place. Probably I like more vegetables in the fillings, some cabbage, chilli or scallions may be great in this. :)

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  42. I just made these, and they are fantastic! I have never attempted meat buns before but this dough is a dream to work with. My mom used to make meat buns every Christmas so I made my filling more like hers but I used this dough, and it seemed to go much easier than what I used watch my mom do. Thank you so much, I will make these at more than just Christmas time.

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  43. These are now a holiday tradition in our home. This year, I tried a new filling: I used the leftover turkey, gravy and chunks of potato. Ohmy, delicious!

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  44. I made these last year using a mix of chopped apples, cinnamon, sugar and a bit of butter for the inside filling to use up the last dough instead of making just regular dinner buns. Then I had savoury ones AND sweet ones! Soooo yummy!

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  45. wow! very nice food. I like this food. These foods are good for health. Thank's for sharing.

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  46. Found this while searching for ground beef recipes. Since it didn't look too hard, no fancy/weird ingredients I didn't have on hand, and I make bread all the time, I thought I'd give them a shot. The filling was delicious! I did make a few substitutions, though. I was out of onions, so I used a few tbls of minced dried onion added to the beef while it cooked, along with a few tbls of garlic/herb Mrs Dash. I used low sodium cream of mushroom soup, and an envelope of garlic/herb dry soup mix as that was what I had on hand. My mom loved them, and wants to make another batch today, lol. I mentioned another poster's comment about using basically an apple pie filling to make sweet buns as well as savory, and she wants to try those, too. Both my stepbrothers stopped by after work, and there are only 5 left now, out of a half batch of 24 buns. (Curse my nonindustrial sized mixer, that can only hold a half batch of dough at a time!). I just wanted to post how wonderful these turned out, and to thank you for posting the recipe for others to share and try out! Thanks again. (Goes to amazon to search for industrial sized bread making stand mixers...). - Ginger

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  47. it looks so yummy. now i have a new repice. I will try to make it for my kid.
    Thank for share.

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  48. My dinner this weekend will have this delicious buns. Thank you so much!

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  49. They are wonderful to have on-hand in the freezer and pull out for a quick lunch with pickles and cheese. meat grinder

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  50. It looks delicious and good for health. And your recipe is great. I will try this in my meal after workout. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!

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  51. It sounds so comforting. Seems like plain dough can be redone in many dishes in different countries and it is always comfort food. Thanks for another good recipe

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  52. Your recipe is very detail and easy to do. Thanks for sharing!

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  53. This looks so delicious and you make the picture look so great. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!

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  54. Thanks so much!! Ive made two batches so far, first failed because my yeast was expired.. oops! I substituted the meat filling with pizza sauce, a slice of garlic coil and a small square of chedder. Excellent alternative to school sandwiches, and SOOOOOO tasty and soft! My whole family loves them and my freezer is full =)

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    1. My 8 year old Emily just used a modified version of this recipe on her cooking channel! Delicious =)
      https://youtu.be/Auh7aMyrPts

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  55. How long do I let them rise after I fill them??

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    1. Until doubled in size...a good hour. The warmer it is, the quicker they rise.

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  56. Seriously so cute! And I just adore that fabric. So perfect for summer. Pinned! meat grinder

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  57. I' ready to make this delicious food. Thanks for your info.

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  58. A delicious food for Flashback Friday, thank you for sharing!

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  59. I'm using meat grinder to grind meat for making delicious food.

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  60. Looks delicious - Another recipe in which I can use my meat grinder.

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  61. A delicious food for us, thank you for sharing!

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  62. Do you have any suggestions for the meat grinder?

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