- Chef Joanne Chang makes these pancakes with store-bought pizza dough for a time-saving shortcut.
- The finished pancakes have perfectly chewy centers and crispy edges, pan-fried to golden perfection.
- The sliced scallion pancakes are delicious dipped into a sauce of toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, and rice vinegar.
Make restaurant-quality scallion pancakes at home in just 45 minutes by rolling up pizza dough with sesame oil, salt, and minced scallions, then pan-frying until nice and crispy. Packaged pizza dough is ideal for replicating this popular Chinese snack — called “cong you bing” in Mandarin — with less effort and resting time. Once rolled out, the pancakes cook in just three minutes.
Pizza dough vs. regular scallion pancake dough
Rather than using batter, scallion pancakes are typically made with a simple hot-water dough, often containing just flour, boiling water, and salt. Traditionally, they are not yeasted — instead, the pancakes get their flakiness from lamination, a leavening technique that creates layers of dough and fat, which in turn create puffy air pockets as steam is released during cooking.
Store-bought pizza dough is yeasted, and will give the pancakes a slightly different texture, but rolling them flat right before they hit the pan means they won’t puff up too much. This shortcut also eliminates having to mix up and knead the dough — simply roll, shape, and fry.
Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen
- Be sure to use unseasoned rice vinegar in the dipping sauce; seasoned rice vinegar contains salt and sugar, which will throw off the balance.
- These pancakes are best eaten hot, right out of the skillet.
