Scallion Pancakes (Cong You Bing)

Scallions pancake (green onion pancake or Cong You Bing) is one of the famous and traditional Chinese street foods and the ideal Chinese breakfast. Those crispy and aroma pancakes are available all around China and it is the top star among Asian pancakes. Making your own scallion pancake at home is easy and enjoyable with this simplified recipe. My scallion pancake recipe is a simplified version so you can make it with the simpler steps, yet creating satisfying results.

What’s Scallion pancake

Chinese Scallion Pancake is a popular Chinese street food, a breakfast pancake with a lovely crispy shell and soft inside. The are some other names for the pancake, the Chinese name is Cong You Bing (葱油饼), sometimes called green onion pancake. Scallion Pancakes are made with flour, oil, and chopped scallions or green onions.

It is widely loved because of the strong aroma of scallions or in mainland China, we use green onions. I know that many Chinese restaurants in the world provide this lovely pancake. However, making some at home is a nice experience. Only with simple and everyday ingredients, we can make our own extremely aromatic scallion pancakes. In China, there are, actually, several types of scallion pancakes.

📖Versions of pancake

In northern provinces, scallion pancake (this version) is thinner, chewy, and with less oil. Those pancakes are usually made in very large pieces around 30 cm in diameter and sold by weight after cutting into small pieces.

In Southern China, for example, Shanghai, scallion pancakes are thicker and fried with a larger amount of oil and creating an even more crispy shell and softer inner part.

For chive lovers, you can also use chive to replace scallion to make a lovely chive pancake.

Why this recipe

I use limited steps to make the scallion pancake, it is the easiest way. I have tested several versions and find this one is the easiest method but still creates a lovely combination of the crispy, flaky shell and a soft inside. We don’t use any oil mixture (油酥) for this recipe.

More thought about the oil

Traditionally scallion pancakes are made with animal fat like pork lard because animal fat usually has a strong aroma which can give the pancakes their unique flavor.

However, you can make them with other oils like neutral vegetable oil to make scallion pancakes much easier to prepare and vegan-friendly.

How to make scallion pancake dough

In order to make the pancake chewy but still easy to cook, I use both hot boiling water and cold water. Hot boiling water dough (烫面) is soft when well cooked, while cold water dough (冷面) produces a chewier texture. It is a good combination to keep a balance.
I suggest using only the green part of the scallion or green onion. If you want to use the white part too, finely chop them.

Instructions

Make the dough

Mix salt with all-purpose flour. Prepare a large mixing bowl. Dig a small hole in the center and then pour the hot water in. Mix for a while and then stir in the room-temperature water and cooking oil too. Grasp everything to form a ball, cover, and rest for 10 minutes. You don’t need to knead the dough until very smooth at this stage because it may be hard to achieve. Just cover and let the flour and water combine.

After resting, then knead until very smooth (around 3-5 minutes ). Then divide the dough into 4 pieces. Shape each portion into a smooth round dough. Cover the rest for 20 to 30 minutes.

Assemble scallion pancake

Take one small ball out, and roll it out to a rectangle around 10cm wide and 8cm high. Brush some oil in the center part and then sprinkle Chinese five spice powder if using. Spread chopped scallion in. Fold up the rectangle into a cylinder. Repeat to finish all four cylinders.

Take one out, slightly lengthening the cylinder with two hands, and then roll from one end to the other to form a snail shape. Suck the end into the dough.

Repeat to finish all four. Remember to cover to avoid drying out.

Then roll out the pancake into a large round circle. Be gentle and use your hand as most as possible. To get a perfectly round pancake for beginners, get yourself a small pan (18 to 20cm in diameter) and push with your fingers to spread the dough over the pan.

Pan-frying scallion pancakes

Brush some cooking oil on a pan and then place the scallion pancakes.

Use middle fire to pan-fry until the surface becomes brown around 2-3 minutes. And turn over to fry for another 1 to 2 minutes. Use a spatula to twirl the circle from time and time especially the central part to ensure the circle is evenly fried.

You can serve the pancake directly or with a hot dipping sauce.

How to store scallion pancakes

Although I can finish my scallion pancakes every time, there are some tips for you if you really have leftovers.

It’s important to let the pancakes cool down completely before storing them. For best results, place the pancakes in an air-tight container or bag, it can be kept for 2 or 3 days. You can reheat the cooked scallion pancakes with a microwave or a pan on the stove. However, the reheated scallion pancake will be much chewier because of the decrease in water content. But it will be super crispy too.

What to serve with

Scallion pancakes can be matched with savory soups, stir fry, and porridge. Following are some of my best serving options: lotus root soup, Winer melon soup, hot and sour soup, plain rice porridge, tomato egg drop soup, Seaweed egg drop soup, or basic Chinese congee and soy milk.

Other Chinese pancakes to try

If you love this pancake, you can also check the following Chinese pancakes

1. Zucchini Pancakes Chinese Style
2. Chinese Meat Pie (Xian Bing)
3. Easy Scallion Pancakes, From Batter Directly
4. Spiced Multi-layer Chinese Pancake
5. Peking Duck Pancake
6. Steamed Duck Pancake

Dipping sauce

The scallion pancake itself is quite delicious but it can be even better with a dipping sauce. That’s the reason why I add a dipping sauce in this recipe. It is a hot Asian style dipping sauce.

By the way, we also have a simplified scallion pancake recipe made from batter directly. It only needs 5 minutes of preparation, remember to check that version too.