🍢 SNACK
Cong You Bing (Scallion Pancakes)
Hot-water dough rolled thin, spread with scallion-scented oil paste and chopped spring onions, coiled into a snail and flattened, then pan-fried until crisp and flaky outside and chewy within.
Chinese (Shanghai) · medium · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 20 min · plus 45 min hands-off time
~639 cal · 10g protein · 82g carbs · 30g fat · 6g fiber · 10g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Cong you bing, scallion oil flatbread, is sold from griddles on street corners all over China, and in Shanghai it is one of the city's signature breakfast and street snacks. Despite the English name it is not a batter pancake but an unleavened flatbread, laminated like a very simple puff pastry.
The dough is made with hot water, which keeps it tender, and rolled thin. It is brushed with oil, often an oil in which the white parts of the spring onions have been fried until fragrant, thickened with a little flour into a paste so it stays put, and scattered with chopped green onion and salt. The sheet is rolled up into a rope, coiled into a snail shape and rested, then flattened again, so that every layer of dough is separated from the next by a film of scallion oil.
In the pan the layers puff and separate, and the outside turns crisp and golden while the inside stays chewy. They are eaten hot, torn by hand.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 300 g plain flour (for the dough)
- 170 ml hot water, just off the boil
- 6 spring onions, white parts for the oil, green parts chopped
- 1/3 cup (for the scallion oil)
- 3 tbsp plain flour (for the oil paste)
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp , for frying
Instructions
- 1Stir the hot water into the flour with chopsticks until shaggy, then knead for about 5 minutes into a soft, smooth dough. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.✎ Chef’s noteHot water keeps the dough tender and easy to roll thin. If it sticks, oil your hands and board instead of flouring them.
- 2Meanwhile make the scallion oil: cut the white parts of the spring onions into pieces and fry them gently in the 1/3 cup oil for 5 to 6 minutes, until golden. Discard the onion, pour the hot oil over the 3 tbsp flour and stir to a thin paste. Finely chop the green parts.
- 3Divide the dough into 4. Roll each piece into a thin rectangle about 30 x 20 cm, spread with a quarter of the oil paste, sprinkle with salt and a quarter of the chopped green onion.
- 4Roll each sheet up tightly from the long side into a rope, then coil the rope round on itself like a snail, tucking the end underneath. Cover and rest for 15 minutes.
- 5Flatten each coil gently with your palm and roll it out to a round about 18 cm across, taking care not to squeeze out the filling.
- 6Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry one or two pancakes at a time for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until crisp and golden. As soon as they are done, push the edges in towards the middle with a spatula to loosen the layers, then cut into wedges and serve hot.
Shanghai street-food tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Shanghai. Shanghai cooks rich, sweet, soy-glazed food, soup dumplings (xiaolongbao), red-braised pork, and hairy crab in season. Its cosmopolitan history flavors one of China's most distinctive regional tables.
🗺️
China. China holds eight great regional cuisines within one border, the fire of Sichuan, the delicacy of Cantonese dim sum, the wheat noodles of the north, and more. Techniques like stir-frying, steaming, and braising, plus soy, ginger, and rice wine, unify an endlessly diverse table.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan.
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Cong You Bing (Scallion Pancakes)?
Hot-water dough rolled thin, spread with scallion-scented oil paste and chopped spring onions, coiled into a snail and flattened, then pan-fried until crisp and flaky outside and chewy within.
Where does Cong You Bing (Scallion Pancakes) come from?
Cong You Bing (Scallion Pancakes) is a Chinese (Shanghai) dish from Shanghai, China.
Can Cong You Bing (Scallion Pancakes) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Cong You Bing (Scallion Pancakes) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Cong You Bing (Scallion Pancakes) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Cong You Bing (Scallion Pancakes) take to make?
About 1 h 35 min in all: 30 minutes prep and 20 minutes cooking, plus 45 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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