Beef Momos | Homemade Momo Recipe

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Beef momos make a great starter course or snack.

I absolutely love momos. No matter what filling you choose, they are always delicious and these beef momos are the perfect way to start almost any curry feast. You might also like to try chicken momos, vegetable momos or the now very popular fusion tandoori momos.

Making the wrappers is the most time consuming part of it all. I don’t find this difficult but if you are short of time or don’t want to make your own wrappers, you can use shop bought momo or Chinese dumpling wrappers. If you do, you will save yourself about an hour of work.

You might like to serve these with a selection of other popular starters or snacks like samosas or samosa chaat, chicken shami kebabs, poppadoms and of course fried, baked or air-fried onion bhajis along with some delicious chutneys and my new Chinese crispy chili oil.

What are beef momos?

Beef momos are a popular and delicious Tibetan dish that are now hugely popular in various parts of Asia. For religious reasons, you probably won’t find them in India. 

Momos are dumplings made with a thin dough, that’s filled with a mixture of finely chopped vegetables and often minced meat such as beef, chicken, lamb and pork. You can really choose which ingredients you use. I’ve made cheeseburger momos before and they were awesome!

Is it easy to prepare momos?

Yes. You will find the most time-consuming part being preparing the momo wrappers. If you are short of time and just want a good momo or ten, you can also purchase momo wrappers or Chinese dumpling wrappers for you beef momos.

Doing so, you will cut the preparation time and work down by about an hour.

Can you work ahead?

Yes. You can prepare the dough one or two days ahead of rolling them into wrappers. Just keep the dough, tightly covered in the fridge until needed.

You can also mix the ingredients for the beef filling a couple of days ahead of wrapping and steaming your amazing beef momos.

What are the typical filling ingredients for beef momos?

The sky’s the limit here. In the recipe below, you will find beef (obviously), chillies, chopped garlic and ginger, lemongrass, spring onions (scallions), salt and pepper. Soy sauce is often a popular addition too.

Just don’t feel like you have to use the same ingredients. They work for me but so do so many other ingredients. 

How long can you keep the momos in the fridge?

When you seal the momos, you can keep them in the fridge, covered tightly, for at least three days.

I don’t recommend steaming them and then storing in the fridge unless you plan on making tandoori momos. Even if you are making tandoori momos, it is best practice to steam them right before applying the marinade.

The reason for this is that once you steam the beef momos, they have a limited shelf life. The wrapper will become hard and no where near as nice as if you steam and apply the marinade.  

Can you freeze momos?

Yes. Just like you can freeze raviolis, beef momos freeze really well. You can store them in an air-tight container, before steaming for up to 6 months.

How do you serve momos?

This is finger food! You can serve your vegetable momos simply with a good hot sauce, chili oil or a selection of chutneys. If it sounds good, it will be.

Momos are best served just after you steam them. Don’t prepare them earlier in the day and attempt to keep them warm. They just won’t be as good as the wrappers will become hard. 

I know this from an unfortunate experience when I made them for a large group and they were a bit of a letdown.

What other momo recipes can you make?

There are so many. While you’re hear though, you might like to try my vegetable momos, chicken momos or the amazing tandoori momos!

Step by step photographs

Go ahead and get creative with the ingredients but be sure to get them all out and ready before you start. If it sounds good, add it to your momo filling!

Want to prepare your own momo wrappers? 

Just follow the instructions here or in the recipe card below.

Pour the flours and water into a large mixing bowl.

Begin kneading and forming into a dough. It will be quite dry at first but will eventually form into a nice, soft dough.

Take the dough out of the bowl and continue kneading for about 10 minutes until you have a soft, not sticky dough. Allow to rest, cover with a damp cloth for about an hour.

How should you slice the dough pieces for the wrappers?

Beef momos can be made large (3 bites) or small (1 to 2 bites). I usually go for the two bite option. 

If you have a kitchen scale and want all your momos to be the same size, slice the dough into 13 – 14g pieces. You don’t have to weigh it though. This can all be done by eye but I weigh them sometimes for perfection.

You can but do not have to weigh out the dough pieces.

Flatten and then roll out each piece of dough into a round shape that is approximately 2mm thick and 9cm in diameter. This is for 13 to 14g pieces.

Knead all of the beef filling ingredients together until well combined.

Place a good tablespoon of the meat on top of a wrapper.

How do you keep the momo wrappers fresh while preparing the beef momos?

There are two ways you can do this. I usually just cover the dough balls in a bowl with a damp cloth and take them out as I prepare each beef momo. That works great.

You could also prepare all of the momo wrappers first before filling them. To do this, keep the dough balls under a damp towel in a bowl. Roll one out and then dust with cornflour (corn starch). Then continue with the rest of the dough, stacking and dusting each wrapper liberally so that they do not stick together.

If you are working in a warm room, I recommend rolling and then stuffing each momo before moving on to the next momo.

Fold the circular momo wrapper in half around the meat. Then pinch one side closed and pleat the dough to seal, forming a small moon shape.

Prepare each momo and store them covered until ready to steam.

Steam the momos in batches if you need to for about 5 to 6 minutes. They should not be touching when steaming.

Enjoy with soy sauce or another sauce. Hot sauce is also good with these.

Have you tried this beef momo recipe?

If so, please give it a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I love receiving your feedback and I’m sure other readers of my blog do too. Thank you.