These flaky Green Onion Pancakes are a healthier take on the Chinese classic! Less greasy and salty but just as satisfying and easy to make at home.
Video Tutorial for Vegan Chinese Green Onion Pancakes
Ingredients for Vegan Green Onion Pancakes
To make these homemade green onion pancakes, you’ll need:
- all purpose flour,
- hot water,
- onion powder,
- garlic powder, and
- 1 stalk of green onion
How to Make Vegan Green Onion Pancakes
Make the dough by mixing hot water with the flour. It’s optional (but highly recommended) to add onion powder, garlic powder or other seasonings to make the pancakes more savory. You may want to keep them plain if you’re planning on using flavourful dips or if you’re planning on using the pancakes to wrap up other fillings.
After rolling the dough into flat rounds, brush lightly with oil and sprinkle on chopped green onion. The oil is necessary to create the flaky texture of the scallion cakes but you don’t need a lot. For this entire recipe, I used a total of one teaspoon of canola oil for brushing the dough here and for brushing the dough again just before cooking.
Roll up the rounds to make log shapes. Then coil them up to resemble little snails.
One final roll out and they will be ready to cook.
These scallion pancakes are very quick to cook. Just two minutes or less on a non-stick pan over medium high heat for each pancake.
Serve them hot, right away with dipping sauce such as my Spicy Peanut Sauce, hoisin sauce, or anything you like.
Printable Recipe for Vegan Green Onion Pancakes
Vegan Green Onion Pancakes
Chewy, flaky savory green onion pancakes can be found at many Chinese restaurants but they are also very easy to make at home. These are less salty and less greasy restaurant ones but they are still absolutely delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups flour [150g]
- 1/2 cup hot water [120ml]
- 1 teaspoon onion powder, optional
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder optional
- 1/4 salt + more for sprinkling, optional
- 1 teaspoon cooking oil
- 1 stalk of green onion (aka scallion/ spring onion)
Instructions
- Mix the flour with the optional onion powder, garlic powder and salt if using. Add just boiled, hot water to the flour and stir with chopsticks. The dough will form quickly.
- Using clean hands, gather the dough into a ball and knead it in the bowl or on a floured surface for one minute. Place the dough back in the bowl and cover with a plate or lid and set aside.
- Remove the root end from a washed and dried stalk of green onion. Chop both the green and white parts of the green onion finely. Set aside.
- Uncover the dough and separate it into 8 equal pieces. Roll them into balls, flatten, then roll into thin circles. Sprinkle flour over the work surface and dough as needed to prevent the dough from sticking. Dip a pastry brush lightly in the oil and brush all 8 pieces. They only need a very light coat of oil; there is no need to be too thorough. Sprinkle on the green onion. Adjust the amount to your preference.
- Roll up each dough round up to a log shape and pinch the ends. Then take each piece and curl it up to resemble a snail shape. Pinch the end in to seal. Flatten with your palm.
- Use a rolling pin to roll each flattened ball into thin discs. Make them as thin as possible without breaking the pancake.
- Heat a pan over medium high heat. Lightly brush one side of the pancakes with oil.
- Optionally, sprinkle a scant pinch of coarse sea salt on the pan before cooking each pancake.
- Cooking one at a time, place a pancake with the oiled side down onto the hot pan. Cook for about one minute. The bottom should become spotted with golden brown spots. Flip it and cook for another minute. You may need to adjust the heat or time. Keep an eye on the pancakes at all times and try to notice how the color changes as it cooks.
- Serve immediately with spicy peanut sauce, hoisin sauce or any sauces you would like. Alternatively, use the pancakes to wrap up other fillings like a tortilla.
Notes
To store these pancakes, let them cool to room temperature before storing in an airtight container to retain flexibility.
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[…] Main ingredients: flour, hot water, green onion. Ready in: 15 minutes. Recipe by: Mary Lin @ Mary’s Test Kitchen […]
Leave a Comment
Hi Mary
Can I check if I can use okara to make this instead of flour?
Thanks!
Hi Mary,
Sorry. What I meant is if I can use soy flour to make these.
Thanks
I don’t think so. Gluten is necessary in this recipe for the stretchy texture of these pancakes. The soy flour would not hold together without some other kind of binder.