I love to serve my family green onion scallion pancake as breakfast or with other meals when I cook porridges or congee. Honestly, scallion pancake is one of the most frequently dish on my family table. However, after kneading dough and kneading dough for quite a long time, I am a little bit tired and thus developed a simplified version. No need to knead the dough and only 5 minutes preparation. Though the pan-cake comes out slightly different, it is quite satisfying too. And traditionally version instructions are listed in Chinese scallion pancake and a Shanghai style version in scallion pancakes.
I am using a pan 27cm in diameter and I end up with 4 pancakes by using this amount. This is perfect for me because I need to serve for four family members currently. But you can use any pan. The principle is you need to place a thin layer (as well distributed as possible) of mixture to cover your pan. At the first attempts, if you find it is difficult to make it a round pancake. It does not matter, as you will get yummy pancakes too. As for the shape, just keep practicing.
When serving the pancake, if yours are as big as mine, it might be better to cut the pancake into wedges.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour , measure after shifting
- 420-440 ml water
- 1 cup finely chopped scallion , wash and drain well
- pinch of salt
- 1/8 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder , optional
- vegetable oil for frying
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In a large mixing bowl, stir water to flour and keep stirring with an egg whisk. Make sure that the water and flour is combined completely. Set aside for several minutes.
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Go to the scallion, finely chopped and throw into the bowl with flour and water. Add pinch of salt and five spice powder; continue to stir until everything combined well.
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Heat up around 2 tablespoons cooking oil in a pan (either big or small, it does not matter). Scoop the mixture and pour into the pan. When pouring over the mixture, do not place all of them in center, swirl it evenly by rotating the spoon to make a basic round pancake. And then use a smaller spoon or your pancake turnover to make the pancake as well distributed as possible. Pan-fry over medium fire for around 2-4 minutes until one side becomes golden brown. Turn over carefully to fry the second side for another 2 minutes. Then fry each side another 1 minute for a darker color and crisper taste.
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Transfer out and then absorb the extra oil by kitchen paper. Repeat to finish all the pancakes.
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When serving, as I usually make larger ones because of time issue, cut into small wedges and enjoy with family.
Hi, what is a good substitute for the scallions?
Chive is a good substitute or other herbs you love.
when I’m out of scallions, I use onions!
Hello Elaine,
I found that it was difficult to have the interior of these pancakes fully cooked without the tops and bottoms becoming over cooked or slightly burned. Any suggestions?
Herman
Use more oil, Herman next time! And add oil immediately when you feel the bottom is too dry.
My pancakes didn’t really turn out like your images. More like a pancake pancake with a view darker spots. they don’t seem fully cooked on the outsides! what pan did you use?
Slow down your fire and move the pancake more frequently.
Can you tell me how the saturated fat & sodium levels are so high. I’m looking at the ingredients & there doesn’t seem to be that much for these percentages to be so high.
Lisa,
There should be some error happens when calculating the nutrition fact. I have already updated it.
I’ve used your Easy Spring Onion (Scallion) Pancake recipe so many times over the past few years but only just getting round to leaving a comment. This is my go-to recipe whenever I crave some spring onion pancakes and need a quick fix. It’s such an easy & straightforward recipe that always produces great and tasty pancakes for me. I sometimes change it up a bit using regular or red onions when I don’t have any spring onions, or I’ll add a bit of sesame oil to the batter. The pancakes are usually eaten for breakfast or brunch with some scrambled tofu or fried/braised seitan/wheat gluten. Sometimes I’ve had the pancakes as a side dish with my evening meal, or simply eaten them as a snack. They’re so versatile with how you choose to eat them.
Thank you for this recipe, and the many others that I regular use from your wonderful site. 🙂
You are so kind Yoyo. Thanks!!
I was looking for a recipe to recreate my mother’s green onion pancake recipe and came across yours. I could never get her thin chewy consistency. She uses chicken broth and an egg in her batter, and adds minced/diced shrimp for extra umami. I’m def going to try yours.
That sounds a lovely version, Jane.
Can I pre make them and freeze them?
Yes, assemble well and then place in air-tight bag. You can use oil paper to separate one pancake from the other.
Thank goodness for this recipe because I was in no mood to knead and roll dough! These are so yummy, I cooked them in a comal with butter and made a dipping sauce with 1.5tbsp soy sauce, 1tbsp rice vinegar, 1tsp red pepper flakes, and 1/4tsp sugar. I served them as a side dish but found myself eating them as snacks while cooking haha!
I am image how good your version can be with that fabulous dipping sauce. Well done!
I would love to try this recipe, unfortunately I’m celiac so I’m curious if there’s a non gluten flour recipe? Buckwheat, rice or oat maybe? (Cause on top of being celiac I’m allergic to soybeans, nuts and almonds 🙁 )I’ll definitely try figuring it out but thought I could ask before I start experimenting since it tends to take a bit of time to figure out measurements of ingredients that works well 😛
This is a wonderful recipe, quick and easy. I made it last night to go with my family’s meatless night offerings. It was a big hit with my children, according to them better than the more traditional scallion pancake recipe. They devoured them 🙂
I had to add extra water to my batch to get a thinner consistency and figure out oil to heat ratio. But that is always the case when trying new recipes 🙂 This will definitely become be made in my house!
Thank you for this recipe and many of the others I have tried over the years.
Emmeri!
Thank you for your lovely feedback. My children loves this version much better than traditional version too because this one is crisper. It is really super super great!!! It is ok to add some extra water to make the batter thinner so it would be easier to spread out.