🍳 BREAKFAST
Youtiao and Soy Milk
Crisp, airy fried dough sticks dunked into a bowl of warm fresh soy milk, a classic Chinese breakfast.
Chinese · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 15 min · plus 2 h hands-off time
~440 cal · 15g protein · 73g carbs · 8g fat · 2g fiber · 13g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Youtiao and soy milk is a classic Chinese breakfast, long, golden sticks of light, airy fried dough dunked into a bowl of warm, freshly made soy milk. The pairing is a morning ritual across China, cheap, comforting, and universally loved.
The youtiao is fried until puffed and hollow, crisp outside and chewy within, while the soy milk can be enjoyed sweet or savory (with soy sauce, pickles, and dried shrimp). Dunking the dough into the milk to soften it is the beloved everyday ritual.
Sold from breakfast stalls across China from dawn, youtiao and soy milk starts countless mornings.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and dairy-, egg-, nut- 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
- 2.5 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- as needed warm water
- 4 cups fresh soy milk, warmed
- as needed oil for frying
Instructions
- 1Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and water into a soft dough; rest a few hours.
- 2Roll into strips, stack in pairs, and press a chopstick down the middle.
- 3Stretch each pair and lower into hot oil.
- 4Fry, turning, until puffed, hollow, and deep gold.
- 5Serve hot with bowls of warm soy milk for dunking.
Chinese breakfast tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Sichuan. Sichuan cooks with the tongue-tingling má là of Sichuan peppercorns and chili, mapo tofu, kung pao chicken, and mouth-numbing hotpot. Bold, layered, and fiery, it's one of China's great regional cuisines.
🗺️
China. The eight traditions have names worth knowing: Shandong, Sichuan, Cantonese, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan and Anhui. Sichuan pairs chilli with the numbing tingle of its own pepper; Cantonese cooking is arranged so ingredients still taste of themselves; and Beijing's own noodle is zhajiangmian under fermented bean sauce, while the hand-pulled kind belongs to Lanzhou.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from China
Mapo TofuSilken tofu in a glowing, numbing-hot chili bean sauce, Chengdu’s most famous export.
Char Siu (Cantonese BBQ Pork)Lacquered, honey-glossed barbecue pork with burnished edges, Guangdong’s roast-shop crown jewel, oven-adapted.
Dapanji (Big Plate Chicken)A heroic platter of chicken, potatoes, and peppers in a star-anise chili sauce, with wide noodles for the gravy.
Browse all China recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Rolling pin.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Youtiao and Soy Milk?
Crisp, airy fried dough sticks dunked into a bowl of warm fresh soy milk, a classic Chinese breakfast.
Where does Youtiao and Soy Milk come from?
Youtiao and Soy Milk is a Chinese dish from Sichuan, China.
Can Youtiao and Soy Milk be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Youtiao and Soy Milk 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 Youtiao and Soy Milk 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 Youtiao and Soy Milk take to make?
About 2 h 35 min in all: 20 minutes prep and 15 minutes cooking, plus 2 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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