Traditional and easy zucchini and green onion pancake is one of the best choice for a quick breakfast.
So several days ago, when I visit a Beijing style restaurant where excellent Zhajiang Noodles were sold, I encountered with this old fashioned zucchini pancakes. They were served along with garlic and vinegar sauce. I just cannot stop loving this combination. So I made this for the breakfast of the following day.
This kind of pancake with some shredded vegetables for example zucchini or potatoes and green onions, eggs and flour is named as “Hutazi” in Chinese which literally mean pancakes. Summer is a great time for zucchini, right.
In Chinese language, zucchini is named as western calabash but is has become one of the most popular daily ingredients now. Another representative should be broccoli. I have not seen it around 10 years back or so. But it has swept across the whole country.
Wash the zucchini and shred with a tool. Make sure that they are similar in size.Add chopped green onion, eggs, sesame oil, salt and Chinese five spice powder in. Mix well.
Add around 1 cup of all-purpose flour in. Mix in one direction until there is no dry flour left any more. Set aside for around 15 minutes.
Prepare the sauce and fry one by one. You can choose to pan all those mixture into a large pancake or fry them by batch for smaller ones. 
- 1 pound fresh shredded zucchini
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 green onions, finely chopped
- Around ½ tablespoon vegetable oil for frying the pancakes
- 1 garlic clove, smashed
- 2 teaspoons black rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- Wash the zucchini and shred with a tool. Make sure that they are similar in size.
- Add chopped green onion, eggs, sesame oil, salt and Chinese five spicy powder in. Mix well.
- Add around 1 cup of all-purpose flour in. Mix in one direction until there is no dry flour left any more. Set aside for around 15 minutes.
- Brush some oil on the surface of your pan. Heat it up. Scoop some mixture to the pan to fry until golden brown.
- Transfer out and serve directly or with the dip.
If you love Chinese style pancake for breakfast, there is another recipe you may want to try—Chinese scallion pancake.
Looks delicious! This is a great way to use all those summer zucchinis.
Yes, I cannot agree more. Holly. I am quite satisfied by the taste myself.
Holy moly, you seriously know your food. This looks awesome, so much easier to make than shallot pancakes (making them properly that is!) but I have a feeling this is going to be just as tasty. I can’t WAIT to try this, it is exactly the kind of food I love!!
Thanks Nagi. This version really is much easier than shallot pancake or green onions pancakes , which is perfect for summer days because the kitchen really is so hot!
I love zucchini and green onions together. This looks so yummy- it would make a great breakfast! I’ve never used black rice vinegar before, I’ll have to look for it to try.
Sherri,
Black rice vinegar is a common seasoning in Chinese cooking. But I think apple cider vinegar is also great for this recipe.
Thanjs fof this tip!
Hi Elaine – can I confirm that it is just 1 zucchini? Not 1 pound? It seems like a lot of flour for 1 zucchini, looking at your pictures. Though perhaps your zucchinis are bigger than the ones we get here!
Hi Nagi,
Yes, I just use 1 zucchini, I do not know the size of zucchini on your side. But here, we usually get large ones around 300g to 400g each one. So you can adjust the amount accordingly. I have realize that this is a serious problem other readers might come across. So I updated the recipe. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
Elaine, I made this last night and it was awesome!! I made miniature versions about the size of gold balls and I added chilli paste to the sauce. I hope you don’t mind that I plan to share it on my blog and give you full credit (not just stuck in the footer, but I want to write about you in the post as well). Please email me directly if you have any concerns. Thanks Elaine, this was SO awesome! PS I used a large zucchini that yielded about 1 1/2 cups when grated (not packed in tight). It seemed to be the perfect amount.
Thanks Nagi for your trust and feedback. I am so excited to see it on your blog. Chinese cooking sometimes is really free style, we usually adjust the ingredients, in most cases, based on past experiences. Thanks again for trying my recipes.
Hey Elaine! The post is up 🙂 I hope I did you recipe justice!! http://www.recipetineats.com/chinese-zucchini-pancake-bites/