Scallion pancake (Cong You Bing), possibly the best famous Chinese pancake in western country, has its unique charms to its lovers. The crispy out shell, the softer inner part and the beautiful layers make it dominate other Chinese pancakes.
Making a perfect scallion pancake at home is quite easy. More fortunately, they can be frozen well. You can assemble them ahead and package each one with a air-tight bag before freezing. In a hurry morning, take it out and fry directly and serve with a blow of porridge or congee, even milk. Besides, there is an easy version developed by Elaine. With that recipe, there is no need to knead the dough as the pancake is directly fried from batter.
Tips before starting
- We recommend using hot water to make the dough instead of cold water. Hot water can help to shorten the frying time so there is no burnt outside and uncooked inner part. And it also helps to keep a softer inner part, forming an interesting contrast with the crispy out-shell.
- Whenever you feel the dough is sticky, brush oil on your hands, operating board and rolling pins. Never dust flour!!
- We have found the best way of folding the pancake instead of rolling up simply, you can get this hand folding fan method from the video. It brings beautiful layers.
- How to keep the pancakes: place one rolled up pancake into a air-tight container, press out with hand or rolling pin and seal completely. Keep in freezer up for 1 week.
Ingredients for Scallion Pancakes
Main dough: 300g (2cups+ 2 tbsp.) all purpose flour + 170g hot water
Oil Mixture(油酥): 1/3 cup vegetable oil + 1/4 cup all purpose flour + 5 scallion whites
Other ingredients: 2 cups finely chopped green onion or scallion, salt for garnishing and oil for brushing and frying.
Instructions
Make the main dough: Slowly stir the hot water to the flour. Wait until cooled down and knead until it forms a smooth dough. Or knead the dough with a stand mixer for 5-7 minutes with low speed.
Rest the dough: Cover with plastic wrapper or a wet cloth and rest for at least 30 minutes. When the gluten can be well rested, we can easily roll the pancake out.
Make the oil-flour mixture (油酥): heat oil over medium fire and fry green onions until browned. Discard the green onion and keep the oil. Pour flour into a small bowl and mix in the hot oil.
Roll out the dough: Cut the dough into 4 equal portions and roll one portion out to a large rectangle wrapper. Sprinkle salt and top with a layer of oil-flour mixture and then another layer of chopped scallion.
Roll-up the dough: Starting from the long end, roll the dough up like folding a hand fan. Slightly stretch and roll one side up to the middle and then the other side to the middle too. Overlay the two ends. Cover the dough and rest for 15 minutes or so. Repeat the process and finish all of the remaining portions. The former twos with more layers are assembled with the hand folding fan methods, while the two in the second line is made with simply roll up method.
Roll each portion to a large pancake (around 5 inches in diameter). If you plan to cook the pancakes later, package each of them with an air-tight bag and freeze up for 1 week.
Frying the pancakes: add around 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan and fry the pancakes until golden brown on one side (takes 3-4 minutes over medium fire), turn over the fry the another side for 3 minutes too. After turning over, slightly press the center of the pancake so they can be fried evenly.
See those lovely multi-layers?
Scallion Pancakes
Ingredients
Main dough
- 300 g all purpose flour ,2cups + 2 tbsp.
- 170 g hot water ,1/2 cup + 3tbsp.
Oil Mixture:
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup AP flour
- 5 scallion whites
Other ingredients:
- 2 cups finely chopped green onion or scallion
- salt for garnishing
- oil for brushing and pan-frying
Instructions
- Make the main dough: Slowly stir the hot water to the flour. Wait until cooled down and knead until it forms a smooth dough. Or knead the dough with a stand mixer for 5-7 minutes with low speed.
- Rest the dough: Cover with plastic wrapper or a wet cloth and rest for at least 30 minutes. So the gluten can be well rested and we can easily roll the pancake out.
- Make the oil-flour mixture: heat oil over medium fire and fry green onions until browned. Discard the green onion and keep the oil. Pour flour into a small bowl and stir in the hot oil slowly.
- Roll out the dough: Cut the dough into 4 equal portions and roll one portion out to a large rectangle wrapper. Sprinkle salt and top with a layer of oil-flour mixture and then another layer of chopped scallion.
- Roll-up the dough: Starting from the long end, roll the dough up like folding a hand fan. Slightly stretch and roll one side up to the middle and then the other side to the middle too. Overlay the two ends. Cover the dough and rest for 15 minutes or so. Repeat the process and finish all of the remaining portions. The former twos with more layers are assembled with the hand folding fan methods, while the two in the second line is made with simply roll up method.
- Roll each portion to a large pancake (around 5 inches in diameter). If you plan to cook the pancakes later, package each of them with an air-tight bag and freeze up for 1 week.
- Frying the pancakes: add around 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan and fry the pancakes until golden brown on one side (takes 3-4 minutes over medium fire), turn over the fry the another side for 3 minutes too. After turning over, slightly press the center of the pancake so they can be fried evenly.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
These look fabulous — and so easy! Congratulations on your video site! I’m linking in Facebook so my friends see this recipe — it’s perfect for vegans too.
Thank you, Kes. We have been spending lots of time on video recipes recently with the hope of showing the process more vivid. Really hope all of you will love them as me too.
Hi again Elanie,
This recipe looks delicious. I’m going to get some scallions later on and try this right away.
The video is a wonderful addition to your already fabulous website. 😀
Hi Elaine!
I note that you said these keep for 1 week, but I also came across a youtube video where it says you can keep this up to 1 month in the freezer.
Is there anyway we can push it past a week? It just seems so short!
P.S: I recently came across your blog, I am obsessed!
Kind regards
Kim,
It is ok if you plan to freeze them for a longer time. The store bought version usually can be kept for 3 weeks, but they add additives. But I do not suggest freeze food except fermented food over one week.
These were amazing! They were like a savory donut, just the best crispy texture and so delicious. I have to admit that I didn’t get the nice rings you showed. It was a bit tricky because the scallions were leaking out, but I hope with more practice to make them prettier. The layers in these reminded me of puff pastry. Everyone should try these!
Thanks Cristina,
You get every point of this dish! No worries about the shaping. It goes quite well along with your practice.
Success!!! Thank you so much. They have always been a childhood favorite and now I am so happy that I have finally made them myself. The video tutorial of the folding was super helpful too. Woohoo!!
Thanks Jessica. I am so glad the new invented method is helpful to you too. I love it very much and have been using this technique in other daily pancakes. Happy cooking!
I tried this recepie and it needed a little extra salt but it was so good! Highly recomended and will definetly try again.
Thanks for the feedback, Kira. Since the pancake is usually served along with dipping sauce, so the salt content is slightly reduced.
I just came across your blog and am going to try this recipe soon.
What are your ingredients for the dipping sauce?
Basically I use 1 tbsp. light soy sauce + 1/2 tbsp. sesame oil, chopped garlic and green onion, a very pinch of salt and sugar then load with chili oil as needed.
Absolutely love your site and videos! I finally made this version of your scallion pancakes. I usually make your quick batter version. They came out so good! Can’t believe that I made them in my own home. I posted pictures of my pancakes and links to your site on my facebook page. Thank you so much and keep up the great work!
Thank you Eric!
I love this recipe! Especially since I am no longer able to get scallion pancakes at any of my local restaurants.
If I do freeze some of the pancakes for later, do I need to let them defrost before I cook them or can they go in the oil straight out of the freezer? If they need to defrost, how long would you recommend waiting and should they defrost in or our of the refrigerator?
I don’t have a lot of experience cooking with oil and it makes me a little nervous
Marisa,
Don’t defrost the frozen pancake. Because defrosting may make water attached and making the pan-frying more difficult. You can place the pancakes in when the oil is just warm (not hot) and then use slow fire to fry.
I made your chinese scallion pancake recipe yesterday and my family devoured them very quickly. What is the difference between the Chinese scallion pancakes and this scallion pancake recipe?
This one is a simplified version, which is more friendly to home cooking. Real Shanghai style scallion pancakes requires shorting lard and oil layers.
Made these and they came out wonderfully!!! 🙂 Better than the frozen pre-packaged. So much oil used, but that’s what fives the layers. Make sure to have as THIN a layer when you roll out the dough. 🙂
Yes, rolling is the key for multiple layers.
Made these for the second time today, they turned out perfect! The layers were super crispy and so delicous to eat fresh out of the pan. Thank you!
Thank you Milly for your lovely feedback. I love this version more in cold winter days.