Flaky Chinese Scallion Pancakes

Sep 6

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If you’re looking for your new favourite savory bread recipe to be enjoyed any time of the day, then you must try these **Flaky Chinese Scallion Pancakes**! You’ll love the intoxicating aroma of the green onions and all the flaky layers! You only need a few basic ingredients to make these Scallion Pancakes today!

Are you looking for an amazing new bread experience? These Flaky Chinese Scallion Pancakes were a staple appetizer at one of the restaurants I used to work at, and I’ve always wanted to make them myself! Who knew that they would be so easy to make? With only a handful of ingredients and a little bit of hands-on work, you can make your new favourite flatbread! While these Chinese pancakes appear to be simple, they’re nothing short of aromatic and flavourful thanks to the chewy bread and aromatic green onions.

If China is a destination unseen for you, then these Scallion Pancakes are definitely a unique to explore more of Chinese cooking! I encourage you to try these out as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! You can get started for free today by signing up to my free email newsletter, plus all of my latest recipes will be delivered right to your inbox!

To follow along with the entire process from making the dough to perfecting the layers and cooking our soft and flaky Scallion Pancakes, be sure to watch the video at the bottom of this post! If you’re not already, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, and be sure to press the bell button to be notified when all of my video recipes are live! Let’s get cooking!

What Are Scallion Pancakes?

Scallion Pancakes, named Cong You Bing, are a Chinese savory flatbread. They remind me of the Indian Laccha Paratha because they are soft, thin, and flaky, with lots of layers. They are a popular street food item in China and are one of the most famous types of Asian pancakes. While a modern favourite, they actually are thousands of years old. The “Cong” in the name refers to the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279), which is the theoretical period in time when these pancakes originated.

These Scallion Pancakes are made with all-purpose flour, sesame oil and green onions, seasoned with Chinese 5 spice. You prepare your dough, roll it out, and then pan-fry to a crispy and flaky perfection. They are really simply made but they pack in so much flavour!

How Do I Keep the Scallion Pancakes Soft?

Make sure you use hot water while kneading bring the dough together as this will help to knead a softer dough and hence a softer pancake.
Additionally, after you have a rough dough, covering the dough tightly with plastic wrap will help keep any moisture within the dough and prevent evaporation.
Try not to overwork the dough since that will make the pancakes chewy. Rest time is also key to ensure the gluten in relaxed which promotes a softer final texture.
Using moderate heat and oil work together to help cook pancakes that are golden brown outside, have puffed sufficiently from the gentle heat. The oil also helps maintain a soft yet crispy texture.
Once the pancakes are ready, make sure to cover with a damp kitchen towel to prevent the breads from hardening up.

How Do You Get Perfect Layers in Scallion Pancakes?

The key really is to have a fairly regular rectangular shape when you roll out the kneaded dough with a thin layer of oil brushed on top and evenly scattered ingredients for the stuffing. When you roll the dough, you need to ensure you don’t roll it too tightly or loosely and you have the rolled up dough, seam side down before portioning further.

This will help to get evenly spiralized and layer dough portions that can be rolled out to form the pancakes.

Equipment Needed For Savory Chinese Pancakes

Ingredients To Make Scallion Pancakes

All ingredients and their quantities are listed in the FULL PRINTABLE recipe card, which you can find by scrolling to the bottom of this post or by pressing the “Jump to Recipe” button. You can also save the recipe for later, and you can use the recipe card to scale the ingredient quantities based on how many Scallion Pancakes you’re looking to make without having to do any ratio calculations!

How to Make Scallion Pancakes

Add the all purpose flour into a large bowl and then add the hot water. Start to mix either with a pair of chopsticks or with your hands until you get a loose ball, with no dried bits of flour. Add more water or flour to reach this consistency. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Apply vegetable oil on your work surface and unwrap the dough. Coat the dough with vegetable oil and begin kneading the dough by hand or by using a stand mixer. Knead until you get a smooth, elastic dough. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

After the dough has rested, roll out the entire dough ball into a large, thin rectangular shape.

Brush the dough with sesame oil, sprinkle Chinese 5-spice evenly and then sprinkle on the chopped scallions. Then, start to roll the dough into a spiral from the longer edge of the rectangular dough. The roll does not need to be too tight, once you have rolled it, place it seam side down.

Portion out the spiraled dough into 6 equal portions for medium sized pancakes or 4 equal portions for large, thicker pancakes.

Place each portion spiral side down and flatten using a rolling pan into a thin disk.

Heat a cast iron or non-stick pan on medium heat. Once the pan is hot, brush oil on the pan and then lay the pancake disk on the pan. Cover with a lid and cook for a few minutes. Once the first side becomes golden brown, flip the pancake, cover and cook the other side. Once each side is flaky, golden brown and crispy, set the pancake over a wire rack to cool down. Repeat this step for the remaining portions.

To serve, cut the pancakes into triangles and serve fresh and hot.

Variations of Flaky Chinese Scallion Pancakes

This version of Chinese Scallion Pancakes are vegetarian and vegan, with green onion being the highlight of the filling. However, if you wanted to, you could add in some cheese, such as a combination of mozzarella and cheddar to get the flavour and gooeyness. If you eat meat, you could try a beef or poultry filling, such as ground beef or chicken, flank steak, or shredded chicken from poached chicken.

Can You Make Crispy Chinese Pancakes in Advance?

For sure you can! While your Chinese Pancakes will be most delicious fresh right off the pan, they will be just fine if you want to make them in advance just to have them conveniently ready for you when you’re hungry or if you’ve made extra!

How to store Scallion Pancakes

In the Fridge

Simply place your cooked Scallion Pancakes in an airtight container. You can keep them in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. This is because your dough will start to get hard if left in the fridge too long, so the less amount of time you keep them in the fridge, the better they’ll taste reheated.

In the Freezer

You can keep your Scallion Pancakes in a freezer-safe container or in large Ziploc bags. You can keep them in the freezer for up to 4 months, because longer than this runs the risk of them getting freezer burnt. When you’re ready to enjoy your Scallion Pancakes, there’s no need to defrost them in the fridge overnight - you can reheat them directly from frozen as I’ll describe in the next section. They’ll just take a bit longer to reheat compared to as if you were reheating from the fridge.

How to Reheat Scallion Pancakes

The best way to reheat Scallion Pancakes, either from the fridge or the freezer, is on a pan over the stove on medium-low heat. This will ensure that the Chinese pancakes do not get soggy and maintain their flavour and texture, in addition to the delicious crispiness!

How to Serve Scallion pancakes

From my restaurant experience, Scallion Pancakes are served as an appetizer. I’ve personally had these as a snack when I was recording the recipe! However, I’ve read that in China, it can also be enjoyed as a savoury breakfast! Whatever time of day you make it, in my opinion you can enjoy them with a nice dipping sauce, such as soy sauce or chilli garlic sauce.

If enjoying these Chinese Pancakes as an appetizer, here are some mains that you can pair with them!

Other Tasty Stuffed Bread Recipes

Watch How to Make Flaky Chinese Scallion Pancakes Here:

Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!

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bread, vegetarian, vegan, Asian

Chinese

Yield: 6

Author: Anadi

The Most Delicious & Ultra Flaky Chinese Scallion Pancakes Recipehttps://youtu.be/-p-AsaxZ5UwLearn how to make the most delicious and ultra-flaky Chinese Scallion Pancakes with this easy recipe tutorial. These Chinese scallion pancakes make for a unique breakfast or a savory snack - they're a must-try easy bread!2024-09-06

Flaky Chinese Scallion Pancakes (cōng yóu bǐng 葱油饼)

If you’re looking for your new favourite savory bread recipe to be enjoyed any time of the day, then you must try these Flaky Chinese Scallion Pancakes! You’ll love the intoxicating aroma of the green onions and all the flaky layers! You only need a few basic ingredients to make these Scallion Pancakes today!

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 15 MinInactive time: 15 MinTotal time: 50 Min

Cook modePrevent screen from turning off

Ingredients

2 Cups all purpose flour
2/3 Cups hot water
vegetable oil, as needed
2-3 green onion stalks, finely chopped
2 Tbsp sesame oil
Chinese 5-spice
salt to taste

Instructions

Add the all purpose flour into a large bowl and then add the hot water. Start to mix either with a pair of chopsticks or with your hands until you get a loose ball, with no dried bits of flour. Add more water or flour to reach this consistency. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes.
Apply vegetable oil on your work surface and unwrap the dough. Coat the dough with vegetable oil and begin kneading the dough by hand or by using a stand mixer. Knead until you get a smooth, elastic dough. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
After the dough has rested, roll out the entire dough ball into a large, thin rectangular shape. Brush the dough with sesame oil, sprinkle Chinese 5-spice evenly and then sprinkle on the chopped scallions.
Then, start to roll the dough into a spiral from the longer edge of the rectangular dough. The roll does not need to be too tight, once you have rolled it, place it seam side down.
Portion out the spiraled dough into 6 equal portions for medium sized pancakes or 4 equal portions for large, thicker pancakes. Place each portion spiral side down and flatten using a rolling pan into a thin disk.
Heat a cast iron or non-stick pan on medium heat. Once the pan is hot, brush oil on the pan and then lay the pancake disk on the pan. Cover with a lid and cook for a few minutes. Once the first side becomes golden brown, flip the pancake, cover and cook the other side. Once each side is flaky, golden brown and crispy, set the pancake over a wire rack to cool down. Repeat this step for the remaining portions.
To serve, cut the pancakes into triangles and serve fresh and hot.