These Cheesy Meat Buns are a family-favorite make-ahead meal. The meat rolls are basically a cheeseburger with the filling tucked inside of a bun…which means they are super easy to eat for kids—and they store and reheat beautifully.
Cheesy Meat Buns
This recipe is from a family member and it’s taken me a handful of tries to get it right—which to me means they are easy to make, moist enough when baked, and approved by the kids. And wow, they are so darn delicious!
The bread is super soft and the meat and cheese are moist, which makes them easy for toddlers to chew. When my youngest was a toddler, she wasn’t a huge fan of the texture of meat. So I was shocked to watch her eat a half of one of these in one sitting—the texture gave her no trouble at all!
This is a great Freezer Meal or an easy weeknight meal to share with your family.
Table of Contents
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Ingredients You Need
To make this recipe you’ll need the following ingredients.
- Instant yeast: This works quickly and helps the dough to rise. You’ll want to look for little bubbles or for the mixture to look foamy when you add it to the water.
- Sugar (or honey): Either of these helps to activate the yeast.
- Whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour: A mixture of the two help the dough both have some whole grain and also still be tender and fluffy.
- Egg: Adding egg to the batter ensures that it’s soft and tender. (If there’s an egg allergy, you can omit it. Just be sure to knead the dough well.)
- Olive oil: Olive oil in the dough also helps add moisture and tenderness. I use extra-virgin olive oil in my cooking.
- Ground beef: I cook the beef with spices before adding it into the dough to ensure that it’s properly cooked. You can use any percentage fat of meat you like. If you see a lot of fat or liquid in the pan once the meat is cooked, you can drain it off.
- Oregano, onion powder, and salt for added flavor.
- Shredded cheddar cheese: This goes inside the bun with the seasoned meat for flavor and comfort.
Step-by-Step Instructions
These meat buns do have a few steps, but the process is straight forward. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Make the dough and let it rise for at least an hour. You want it to be doubled in size.
- Brown the meat.
- Cut the dough into portions. Flatten each into a disc and top with a little meat and cheese.
- Fold the dough over the filling, then over again to completely close the bun.
- Place crease side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake!
TIP: These reheat really well, so they’re great to make ahead and warm up for a quick meal.
How to Make Meat Buns Ahead
I make this recipe whenever we have a night coming up on our calendar that’s busy and when I know I won’t have time to make dinner in the moment. I store these in the fridge and then simply warm them in the oven or microwave. You can also freeze them, once fully cooled, in a zip top freezer bag, and warm them quickly.
They are just as good reheated as when freshly cooked, which is a must with make-ahead dinners!
Tips for Serving Meat Buns to Kids
My 5 year old simply picks up a bun and eats it like a roll. I do my best to make sure that the inside isn’t too hot though! For my younger toddler, I cut the roll into small pieces to ensure that she doesn’t try to put too much into her mouth at once (which she often tries to do).
The little one typically eats half of a roll; the older one eats 1…or 2! I’ve even been known to pack one for lunch in a thermos.
Is there a way to make these without homemade dough?
Okay, here’s the truth. They are best when you make the dough from scratch and it gets kneaded well. That, plus the egg, ensures that the baked bread is super soft, which is key when serving these to toddlers who are still learning to chew complicated textures.
BUT, you can definitely make these with purchased (or homemade) pizza dough to take a shortcut. The bread will be slightly less tender, but they are still pretty delicious.
TIP: To make these egg-free, you can use egg-free pizza dough or omit the egg from the recipe and add 1-2 tablespoons additional water.
Meat Buns with Ground Beef, Turkey, or Chicken
We usually make these meat buns with ground beef since it’s what my husband likes best (and this is his family recipe after all!), but you could totally do the same method using cooked ground turkey or chicken. Or even sausage! If there seems to be a lot of fat in the pan once you brown the meat, drain it off before adding it to the dough.
Best Tips for Success
- Poke the top of each bun with a fork to allow steam to escape and minimize the amount of cheese that leaks out.
- Add some finely chopped baby spinach, kale, or steamed broccoli florets to add a veggie into the mix.
- Try not to overfill the buns to ensure that they hold together.
- Cook the ground beef up to 3 days ahead and store in an airtight container in the fridge if desired.
- To make these egg-free, use pizza dough instead of the homemade dough.
Related Recipes
I’d love to hear your feedback on this recipe, so please comment below to share!
Cheesy Stuffed Meat Buns
Ingredients
- 2¼ teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar (or honey)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ pound ground beef
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Stir the yeast and sugar into 1 cup warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes or until puffy.
- Add the flours, salt, egg, and water-yeast mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix on medium-low for 10 minutes. Remove dough hook. Cover with a clean towel and let rise for 1-2 hours or until about doubled in size. It should look puffy.
- Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet. Add the beef and stir to break. Sprinkle with a little salt, add the spices cook for 8-10 minutes or until fully cooked through. Remove from heat.
- Divide the dough into 8 even sections. (I use a paring knife to cut it in half, then in half again and again, etc to make a pinwheel shape with 8 even triangles.)
- Working with one piece of dough at a time, coating with flour as needed if sticky, flatten into a disc that's about 6 inches wide. (It doesn't need to be precise!)
- Place 2 heaping tablespoons each cooked meat and cheese into the center and fold in the dough to enclose the fillings. The seams should press and hold together with slightly pressure and a little gentle pressing.
- Place roll onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and repeat to make all 8. Set aside and cover with a towel while the oven preheats.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake the buns for 20-22 minutes or until firm to the touch. Let cool slightly and serve warm.
Equipment
Notes
- To store: Let cool fully and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat for about 30-45 seconds in the microwave or about 6 minutes in a 375 F oven. Freeze fully cooled meat buns in a zip top freezer bag for up to 3 months. Reheat in a 375 F oven for 8-10 minutes or until warmed through.
- Egg-Free: Omit the egg and add 1-2 tablespoons additional water.
- Dairy-Free: Use dairy-free shredded cheese.
- Shortcut Dough: Use pizza dough in place of homemade dough.
- Poke the top of each bun with a fork to allow steam to escape and minimize the amount of cheese that leaks out.
- Add some finely chopped baby spinach, kale, or steamed broccoli florets to add a veggie into the mix.
- Try not to overfill the buns to ensure that they hold together.
- Cook the ground beef up to 3 days ahead and store in an airtight container in the fridge if desired.
Nutrition
This recipe was first published April 2018.
The crust on mine got really thick and hard. The dough underneath was nice and soft but it was tough to bite through the outside crusts. Anyone else’s have that issue? Any tips? I followed the recipe as written, but used a bread machine to mix instead of a stand mixer.
Is it possible that the difference is simply from the bread machine vs the stand mixer? I haven’t made them any other way than written so I’m not sure how that might change things…
The dough was flavorless (I made 24). I started rechecking the recipe to figure out why and realized the directions read: “Add the flours, salt, egg, and water-yeast mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.”
Rereading the ingredients and there’s no salt called for in the dough portion (only in the meet filling portion). Can you share how much salt is supposed to be added to the dough?
The 1/2 teaspoon salt is meant for the dough. Then “sprinkle with salt” in the step with the meat filling. Apologies if that was confusing.
I’m shocked that my very picky 2 year old is eating this!!!! She will barely eat Mac and cheese these days. I’ve tried many toddler friendly recipes and they all end up on the floor. I ate one and found it a little bland but that’s probably why she loves them. There’s so much room to spice up or season the meat too as tastes (hopefully) evolve. Thank you for helping me feed my kid something other than Cheerios. I am truly grateful <3
I’m so glad she likes them! And yes, you could totally take the flavorings up a notch too.
These look great!
Could I use only all-purpose flour? I know this wouldn’t be as healthy, but sometimes it’s all I have around. Would it change the baking time? Thanks!
Yes, that will work!
I would love to make these but our family is gluten free. Can I just substitute gf flour? Thank you!
I haven’t found a gf flour that holds it’s shape well enough to use it in this recipe, I’m sorry!
Have made these a few times and made some changes to subsequent versions.
For the dough on subsequent attempts, I added 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp of oil. I make the dough the way America’s Test Kitchen does it – flour (11 oz bread, 5.5 oz whole wheat), yeast, salt into the stand mixer. In a liquids bowl, combine the water, sugar or honey, olive oil and egg and whisk then add the liquids into the stand mixer.
For the filling on subsequent attempts, we made a chinese filling version – minced meat with veg (kale, carrots, onions, chives, garlic) with soy sauce, hoisin sauce and ketchup and then we made a cheeseburger version (minced meat with veg seasoned with salt, basic seasonings and then later mixed with some ketchup and shredded cheese)
The first versions were too big for our family (kids aged 3,5,8) so next versions I cut dough to 12 pieces. Made 6 with the chinese filling, 6 with cheeseburger filling.
I changed up the filling method too because the first version had this lopsided bready side that was unappealing. Subsequent versions are made more chinese bao style. Fillings in the middle and pleat/pinch the edges as you push dough in with your thumb so you have sort of a swirl pattern on the seam side.
Also brushed the buns with an egg wash because the first version was kind of unappealing looking without the shiny top. Sprinkled furikake on the chinese versions and sesame on the cheeseburger versions.
Baked for 20 minutes at 400 degrees like the original recipe.
Both versions were big hit in the family. we tried it the next day too and microwaved it for like 15 seconds and they were perfect.
This is a great recipe with lots of potential. The dough is super soft and very yum.
Thank you for great lunch option for my kids’ lunches!
Thanks for the feedback and I love the sound of your variations!
Hi! That sounds like a very interesting recipe! Would love to make it for my 20 month old toddler. I was wondering if I could use the same quantity as specified in your recipe to make smaller buns (perhaps 16 mini-cheesy meat buns instead of 8!). I don’t want to double the recipe, but to just reduce the size of the buns. How do I adjust the baking time if I do so?
Thanks!
Hi! The baking time would likely be similar if you make them smaller, but you could check them 2-3 minutes sooner. Another option is to make them as the recipe states and then simply cut them in half. That’s what we do so my toddler gets a half and the rest of the family has a whole one. Either way should work!
Made these last night and they were a hit! Served (for the grown-ups) with a side salad and mustard vinaigrette–because what goes better with a burger? Quick question: Do you reheat directly from frozen or thaw first?
Yay! You can do either. If you thaw them, they’ll warm faster, but I did them from frozen last week and did 12 minutes at 375 and they were perfect.
These were delicious! My family loved them. We shaped the dough like pigs to make “ham”burgers, and the children really enjoyed that. Thanks for a great recipe!
So cute!
What would you substitute for the cheese if there’s a dairy allergy?
It would be okay to just leave it out!
So simple, and so great! My kids AND my husband loved them. We added more spices and chopped up pickle. Will definitely be making these again!
Oh, I love the idea of adding pickle!
How do you not get so much dough on the bottom of the bun?! Great flavor, but most of the filling was at the top and a lot of dough where I closed the pocket.
Thanks!
Spread the dough piece out a bit more so it’s flatter and more even would be my suggestion.
Made these tonight but took the shortcut and used Trader Joe’s pizza dough. They were great and the whole family approved, including our sometimes “selective” 5-yr old and 19-month old! Excited to try them with the scratch dough when we have more time. Thank you, Amy, for another great recipe!
Hooray! I’m so glad that everyone enjoyed them!
These look great! Do you think I could use Pillsbury biscuit dough for these? I can also buy pizza dough at my supermarket, but i’m not sure how the size they sell matches up to the size of your scratch recipe.
If you buy a standard pizza dough ball (which will be 13-16 ounces in most cases), that will work well with this. I haven’t tried it with biscuit dough so I’m not sure if the baking time would be the same but I bet it would taste delicious!!
I’m making theae but don’t have a mixer so I’m doing it by hand. Any tips? I’m kneading it like I do for bread but I’m worried it won’t get enough air to make it light. Also, I’m doing the egg-free version.
I’m sorry that I was away on vacation when you asked this. I hope it turned out okay. Generally, kneading by hand for 5-10 minutes should work just fine!
My 4 year old who isn’t always a meat fan inhaled 2 of these! The 10 month old was happy to gnaw on a piece of his own. They were great, I’d like to try adding peppers and onions next time.
This will also make a great grab and go dinner on nights she has dance class!
Yay, thanks for letting me know how they went over! And I love the idea of adding peppers and onions—that would be yummy!