These Taiwanese-inspired vegan scallion pancakes are ultra flaky, crispy, and packed with green onions! All you need are 5 simple ingredients to recreate this popular street food at home.
Like my tofu lettuce wrap, air fryer oyster mushrooms, and Asian cucumber salad, this recipe makes for a perfect side dish or appetizer for any Asian mains.
During my dietetics internship in Taiwan, I had the chance to explore vibrant Taiwanese street foods and instantly fell in love with scallion pancakes! These crispy flatbreads bursting with green onion flavor quickly became my go-to snack between rotations.
Once I got home, I knew I would need to recreate them. After several rounds of testing, this version is incredibly close to the one I get in Taiwan. It pairs wonderfully with Chinese mains like vegan orange chicken, green bean tofu, and peanut sauce rice noodles.
💚Why you will love vegan scallion pancakes
- Easy to make with detailed visuals on rolling dough
- Crispy with flaky, thin layers that are seriously addictive
- Aromatic vegan green onion stuffing made with oil instead of lard
- Versatile and can be served as an appetizer, side dish, or even breakfast!
🌾What you will need
- Flour - All-purpose flour works best in this recipe.
- Oil - Peanut oil adds a nice flavor, but feel free to substitute with other oils, including canola, sunflower, or light olive oil.
🔪How to make vegan scallion pancakes
Making the dough
Step 1: Add salt and flour to a mixing bowl and mix well.
Step 2: Drizzle in boiling water while stirring with a pair of chopsticks. This "cooks" the dough and relaxes gluten strands, preventing chewy dough.
Step 3: Slowly add in cold water while stirring. Using your hands, combine until a rough dough forms.
Step 4: Allow it to rest for 20-30 minutes before shaping. In the meantime, combine all ingredients for the flour oil paste.
Rolling the dough
Step 1: Divide dough into 5 equal pieces. Roll a portion out thinly into a rectangle.
Step 2: Spread the paste evenly, leaving about ½ inch of space around the edges.
Step 3: Generously sprinkle on green onions.
Step 4: Roll up the dough as tightly as possible from the longer side.
Step 5: Roll up the strip like you would a cinnamon roll.
Step 6: Tuck the end at the bottom.
Step 7: Gently press the dough down with your palm. Repeat for the remaining dough.
Step 8: When ready to cook, roll the pancakes out into 7-8 inches in diameter.
Cooking pancakes
Step 1: Heat a dollop of oil in a pan. Add a pancake and cook with the lid on for 2-3 minutes over medium to medium-high heat.
Step 2: Flip it over and cook for another 2 minutes, until the scallion pancakes are golden brown on both sides.
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✅Helpful tips
- Texture of dough - After kneading, the dough should be soft but not sticky. Add more flour or water to adjust the texture if needed.
- Avoid over-kneading - Mix until the dough is just combined. Overworking the dough can yield rubbery pancakes due to excess gluten development.
- Making the flour oil paste - Instead of brushing on oil, the flour oil paste will stay intact while working the layers.
- Cook pancakes covered - This helps prevent them from drying out excessively.
- Best served fresh - Scallion pancakes taste best right after cooking and will dry slightly after cooling. To revive stale pancakes, reheat them in a pan.
🥟How to serve
Dipping sauce - Make a simple dipping sauce, like the one in my tofu dumplings recipe. Or you could use spicy teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, or chili oil.
Serve it for breakfast - With other Chinese breakfast delicacies, including taro cake, bao, mantou, tofu egg rolls, or vegan wontons.
Pair it with other mains - Especially Chinese mains like my tofu stir-fry noodles and vegan egg fried rice. It is also great with bami goreng (Indonesian stir-fry noodles).
❄️Storing suggestions
Vegan scallion pancakes can either be stored raw or cooked. For the best texture, I recommend storing pancakes raw and cooking them only when ready to serve.
Storing cooked pancakes - They can be refrigerated for 3-4 days or frozen for 3 months. Reheat in the microwave or stovetop before enjoying.
Freezing raw pancakes - After rolling out the pancakes, stack them with a piece of parchment paper between each. Transfer them to a large Ziplock bag and freeze for 3 months.
Cooking frozen pancakes- Allow the raw frozen pancakes to thaw for a couple of minutes outside. Proceed to cook as per instructions above.
🍽️More vegan Chinese recipes
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📖 Recipe
Flaky Vegan Scallion Pancakes
Ingredients
For the dough
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup hot water
- 3-4 tablespoons room temperature water
Filling
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons light olive oil or canola/peanut/sunflower oil
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 stalk green onion chopped (scant 1 cup)
Instructions
Making the dough
- Add salt and flour to a mixing bowl and mix well.2 cups all purpose flour , ½ teaspoon salt
- Gradually drizzle in hot water while mixing with a pair of chopsticks or spatula until water is fully absorbed.½ cup hot water
- Slowly add in cold water while stirring. Using your hands, combine until a rough dough forms. The dough should be soft and slightly tacky, but not sticky.3-4 tablespoons room temperature water
- Cover it with a cling wrap or cloth. Allow to rest for 20-30 minutes, giving time for gluten to relax.
Make the flour oil filling
- Combine olive oil, sesame oil, flour, and salt in a bowl. Mix until a smooth paste forms.2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons light olive oil , 1 teaspoon sesame oil, ¼ teaspoon salt
Rolling the dough (visuals in the post above)
- Give the dough a few kneads and divide it into 5 equal pieces. You can weigh the dough out and divide it by 5 to standardize the size.
- Take one portion and roll it out thinly into a rectangle.
- Spread the oil and flour mixture onto the rolled-out dough.
- Generously sprinkle chopped green onion on top.2 stalk green onion
- Starting with the longer side, roll the dough tightly into a rope.
- Roll up the strip like you would do with a cinnamon roll.
- Tuck the end at the bottom and gently press it down. Repeat for the remaining dough.
- When ready to cook, roll out pancakes into 7-8 inches in diameter.
Cooking pancakes
- Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a pan. Add a pancake and place the lid on.
- Cook, covered, for 2-3 minutes on medium to medium-high heat, then flip and cook for another 2 minutes on the other side.
Notes
- Texture of dough - After kneading, the dough should be soft but not sticky. Add more flour or water to adjust the texture if needed.
- Avoid over-kneading - Mix until the dough is just combined. Overworking the dough can yield rubbery pancakes due to excess gluten development.
- Best served fresh - Scallion pancakes taste best right after cooking and will dry slightly after cooling. To revive stale pancakes, reheat them in a pan.
Save this recipe!
Email yourself a link to this page and come back later.
Also get a FREE high-protein vegan recipe eBook + weekly new recipes! Unsubscribe anytime.
Nutrition
Nutrition info calculated is just a rough estimate and is provided as a courtesy. Bear in mind that value will vary based on variables like specific brand or type of product used. To obtain the most accurate representation, it is highly recommended that you calculate it on your own with the actual amount and type of ingredient used.
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