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Zucchini Pancakes
Zucchini pancakes are really easy to make. Treat it as breakfast, or one of the many side dishes for lunch/dinner, or snack.
Am I the only person who loves savory pancakes more than sweet ones? When I have plenty of vegetables and need to use them up quickly, invariably they become pancakes! This time I use my favorite squash, zucchini, to make this easy and delicious zucchini pancakes. Of course it doesn’t have to be zucchini, it can be carrots, bell peppers, even lightly blanched broccoli. And you can add some meat/seafood too if you want to make fancy pancakes.
Breakfast, Side Dish, Snack, Oh My.
Since this is a Chinese dish, we serve this more as one of the many dishes to eat with steamed rice for lunch or dinner. But I sometimes make this kind of savory pancakes for breakfast. So filling, and so delicious. If I must choose between savory pancake or sweet pancake for breakfast, I definitely pick the savory one without batting an eye. :D
Whole Eggs, or Just Egg Whites?
I was making some desserts that use only egg yolks and ended up with extra egg whites. You can make this with only egg whites, but I prefer to have some whole eggs mixed in with the egg whites. I think the yolks lend a more savory and umami feel, and I can definitely tell when a pancake doesn’t contain any yolk. Just to make things easier, make sure you have 1 cup of eggs, it doesn’t matter if it is whole eggs, or just egg whites.
Zucchini Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 zucchini (~ 500 gram/18 oz), julienned/grated
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs (or 4 egg whites + 2 whole eggs)
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1-2 jalapeno (or any fresh chilies), seeded and thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 to 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- Dipping sauce (mix together)
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice/rice vinegar
- 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds/nanami togarashi
Instructions
- Toss together zucchini with the 2 teaspoon salt in a large mixing bowl. Set aside for about 15 minutes, until zucchini wilts and water appears at the bottom of the bowl.
- Into the bowl, add eggs, scallions, jalapeno, sugar, pepper, and sesame oil. Mix well. Then add enough flour (start with 1 cup) to the mixture to make a pancake-like batter.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan, or a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, reduce the heat to medium. Brush with some oil, then pour a ladleful of pancake mixture to the pan, and sprinkle with some sesame seeds. Once the edges start to brown, gently flip to brown the other side. This should take about 2 minutes per side. Repeat this step until all batter is used up.
- The pancakes are best served hot. As is is great, but you can serve it with the dipping sauce if you want. Or with any chili sauce you currently stock at home.
Comments
Growing up in North China, I remember this as a favorite childhood comfort food. My grandma would grate the zucchini even finer and the result is soft, very green pancakes. I was always responsible for grinding garlic in a mortar for the dipping sauce, which is just simple garlic+salt+water. I’ve followed your blog for a long while because I have an affinity for Indonesian and Peranakan Chinese cooking but this blog reminds of my own memories. Keep up your great quest, Kak Anita!
That is such a sweet memory with your grandma Lezhi. Yup, you are right that the zucchini needs to be grated even finer, but I was armed only with a knife, and that's the best I could manage. :D And I will keep up with my quest!
Breakfast dishes can become boring and monotonous so I am delighted when I find something different and one I haven't tried before. Love that this is so tasty and perfect for the whole family.
I love savory pancakes too! My current favorite are green onion, but I definitely need to try these! Such a wonderful use for zucchini.
What a great way to get more vegges in. These look so delicious.
These were delicious, loved the vegetables. Thank you for sharing!
These zucchini pancakes are delicious!I love the dipping sauce too!
I really like how these are made and the sauce that you dip them in sounds wonderful. I can't wait to taste this.
was looking up a way to use leftover zucchinis and this is going to be it ! mmm.
These pancakes look absolutely delicious!! I love the addition of sesame oil! Definitely going to make these next week!
Followed your recipe to the T. Used 2 whole eggs, and 1.5 cups of flour. They turned out perfectly, and delicious! I admit, I'm always nervous to try "strange" new recipes, but I should have known better, Anita your recipes are so reliable! Thank you :)
Go team savory pancakes! I loved how loaded with veggies these are. I didn't have fresh chilies, but I added a glob of garlic chili sauce to the dip. I made mine with leftover egg whites, so they did seem healthier and maybe less crisp, but they're so easy and it's great to have a good standby recipe for zucchinis that serves so many purposes; a meal, a snack, breakfast, appetizer, etc.
The whole family loved it and most importantly the kids ate their veggies. We didn't have scallions so we put heaps of chopped red onions instead. I checked other zucchini pancake recipes (not Asian) and saw that they squeezed out the liquid from the zucchini but yours doesn't so we just mixed the liquid with everything else. Also, do you toast your sesame seeds? :)
Hi Liz, yes I don't squeeze out the liquid from zucchini since I always add a bit of water to the eggs when I usually make egg pancakes/omelettes anyway. :) I use toasted sesame seeds, and I'm going to update the recipe to reflect this. :)
This recipe is making me excited for summer zucchini season! Such a tasty idea. :)
We make these pancakes all the time and my kids love them! They don't even notice the veggies!
Great wholesome pancake recipe! Definitely making it again, it was super tasty!
These pancakes look and sound amazing! I'm going to try them with gluten-free flour.
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