This Korean green onion pancake will only take you about 15 minutes to cook.

This easy, yummy, and nutritious Korean green onion pancake (also called pajeon) is my lifesaver when I feel too lazy to cook.

Simply mix flour, water, and your favorite vegetables in a bowl, pan fry a full hand of green onions over the batter, pour an egg over the top, and flip the pancake until both sides turn golden and crispy…

I bet you all have these simple and healthy ingredients at home!

Grow Green Onions in Water at Home

How do you keep your green onions fresh? Store them in a plastic bag, then keep them in refrigerator?

The easiest and most environmentally friendly method is growing them in water:

• Place the green onions root-side down in a glass jar, so that you can observe the waterline and add water as needed.

• Fill the jar with 1 inch of water – just enough to cover the roots and bulbs.

• Put the jar by a window so that the green onions can get some sunshine and grow faster.

• Change the water every two days so that the roots won’t get rot.

• Cut off the leaf part (green part) to use as needed. The remaining part will keep growing into full-size green onions within about a week.  

Tips for making Korean Green Onion Pancake

1. Add rice flour (not glutinous rice flour) and baking powder to all purpose flour.

    If you buy a bag of Korean pancake mix and read its ingredient list, you will find: wheat flour, rice flour (some use potato starch or cornstarch), baking powder, sugar, salt, and food coloring. Rice flour and cornstarch can make the pancake chewier inside and crisper outside. Baking powder can make the pancake fluffier. 

    However, Korean pancake is a very typical home-style dish, which means that you should be able to make it easily using ingredients you already have in the kitchen. Sometimes when I don’t have enough ingredients or enough patience, I’d simply mix flour, water, and salt and call it a batter. It will also work!

    2. You have SOME freedom to choose the ingredients.

    In this recipe, I am showing you how to make the most basic version of Korean green onion pancake. You can always DIY your own pajeon by substituting or adding some ingredients.

    For example, it’s very popular for Korean people to add seafoods like squid and mussels to make seafood green onion pancake (a great haemul pajeon recipe from Hyosun). Or you can even skip the egg to make it vegan, like in this recipe from Jeeca. 

    I added kimchi, carrots, and onion in my pancake batter. You can substitute them with sweet pepper, mushroom, cabbage, shredded potato, zucchini, shrimp, firm tofu cubes … But, you should try to avoid using wet ingredients such as tomato, cucumber, lettuce, or silken tofu. Otherwise the pancake could be very soggy and won’t be crispy.

    3. The more oil you add, the crispier the pancake will get.

    Why does restaurant bought Korean green onion pancake always taste crispier than homemade ones?

    One, because restaurants use commercial pancake mix which contains some secret but might not be healthy ingredients to make the pancake tastier. Two, they use a generous amount of cooking oil to pan fry (almost deep fry) the pancake to create the extra crispy texture. 

    I usually only spray a thin layer of cooking oil spray in the skillet to pan fry my Korean pancake. I like the combined texture of the slightly crispy out layer, the chewy inside part, and the crunchy vegetables in between.

    If you are hungry for an extra crispy pancake, you can add up to 4 tbsps. of cooking oil (See “INGREDIENTS” section where I wrote “Some cooking oil spray or 2 tbsps. of cooking oil) to the skillet to pan fry the batter.

    No need to feel bad about the extra 2 tbsps of oil, you don’t eat Korean pancake everyday, and when you eat it you should be able to enjoy it!

How to Make Korean Green Onion Pancake

EQUIPMENT

• A skillet

• Measuring cups

INGREDIENTS

– Batter

• ½ cup all purpose flour
• ½ cup water
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• ½ tsp baking powder
• Optional: 2 tbsp rice flour + 2 tbsp water (Skip if you don’t have rice flour by hand)
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp sugar

– Vegetables

• ¼ cup kimchi – chopped (optional)
• ¼ cup carrot – shredded (optional)
• ⅕ cup onion – cut into slices (optional)
• 1 handful leaf part of green onions or scallions (I prefer using the leaf part only, about 20 green leaves.)

– Others

• 1 egg – beaten
• oil spray (or 2 tbsps of cooking oil)

– Dipping sauce

• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp chili pepper powder
• ½ tsp minced garlic
• ½ tbsp chopped onion or green onion
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Rinse and drain the leaf part of the green onions, get about 20 green onion leaves. Cut them into the length of your skillet.

2. Add all the “batter” ingredients to a large bowl (See ingredient section), mix until smooth.

3. Add chopped kimchi, shredded carrots, and onion slices to the batter. Mix well. (Feel free to substitute these ingredients with other vegetables or meat you like, e.g. bell peppers, shrimp, squid, cabbage …)

4. Heat up the skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes, spray with oil spray or add 2 tbsps. of cooking oil.

5. Pour the batter with vegetables over the skillet, spread it evenly with a spatula.

6. Before the batter gets fully cooked, quickly place the green onions over the batter.

7. Use a spatula to press the green onions into the batter, so that they are half-covered in the batter.

8. Pour 1 beaten egg over the green onions.

9. Cook over medium heat until the egg is not runny, and the bottom of the pancake turns golden.

10. Flip the pancake by tossing the skillet or with the help of a spatula.

11. Cook over medium heat until the egg is fully cooked. Transfer to a cutting board.

12. Cut the pancake into bite size pieces with a pizza cutter or a knife.

13. Serve with dipping sauce (see ingredient section above) on the side.

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