This healthy recipe is for serious pancakes lovers, as it is loaded with flavor. Pancakes are for more than just breakfast, as this healthy eating idea goes to show. Green onions, ginger and almond transform these flapjacks from sweet breakfast treat to a loaded dinner option for any night.
Recently, I saw this recipe for Green Onion Pancakes, and was intrigued by the title. My first reaction was that the recipe was going to yield a dish like scallion pancakes, one of my all time favorite Chinese food appetizers. I took a look at the original ingredients list, and yelped to myself when I noticed that I already had everything on hand to make these.
However, a very curious thing happened when I was whipping up this recipe. When I was creating the batter, the more it seemed to me like I was creating traditional breakfast pancakes and not scallion pancakes. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, all original cooking bets were off.
“Savory pancakes,” I thought to myself, “Why not?” I’ve always been a huge fan of pancakes, so why not make them worthy for dinner? From there, I got to tinkering with the original recipe, and the end result was this recipe I’m calling Green Onion Flapjacks, a savory pancake loosely inspired by the flavors found in scallion pancakes.
Recipe: Green Onion Flapjacks
Summary: Inspired by Bee Yinn Low’s Green Onion Pancakes recipe, as found in her “Easy Chinese Recipes” cookbook.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup almonds, chopped
- Black pepper, freshly cracker
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons ginger, freshly grated
- 3 tablespoons garlic, minced
- 2 ½ cups vegetable broth
- 4 green onions, cut into rounds
- 4 Serrano chilies, diced
- 1 egg, beaten
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, almonds and black pepper.
- In another bowl, thoroughly combine the soy sauce, ginger, garlic, broth, green onions, chilies and egg.
- Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, mixing until everything is thoroughly combined.
- Heat a large wide pan or a skillet over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, drop the batter in two tablespoons at a time.
- Once one side is thoroughly browned, flip and flatten with your spatula.
- Once both sides are browned to your liking, plate and serve.
Cooking time: ten minute(s)
Substitutions: If you are gluten free, try using rice flour or almond flour for this recipe. I can’t guarantee that the texture and consistency will be the same, but I would think the resulting pancake would still be plenty tasty. If you are vegan, simply use a flax egg or just eliminate the egg altogether. If you do want to make this recipe egg free though, try using almond milk or coconut milk instead of the broth to add more creaminess and thickness to the batter. If you don’t eat nuts, try using edamame instead.
Notes: I thought these were an incredible quick and easy dinner option. The green onions and the ginger add brightness to the dish, and the almonds go a long way towards adding heft and bite to the pancakes. I didn’t think they were very spicy, so I topped my flapjacks with sriracha sauce. If you’re more prone to spice, then feel free to eliminate the fresh chilies. Overall, they made for a quick, tasty and budget friendly meal that I plan on enjoying again and again.
Your Turn: Breakfast Foods—Sweet or Savory?
