Love a good savory pancake? This Korean Pancake (Pajeon 파전) recipe with scallion and shrimp is absolutely delicious! Enjoy it with my spicy soy dipping sauce.
When we go out to Korean restaurants, my family always fights over the last piece of our favorite Korean Pancake or Pajeon.
At home, I sometimes make these pancakes for the kids after school before we head out to their after-school activities. They love hanging out in the kitchen with me and seeing how I make these pancakes. As soon as the pancakes are done, everyone dips them in the sauce and enjoys small bites of crispy pancakes.
Ingredients for Korean Pancake
Scallions are important for this recipe, and you can easily make it into vegetarian by omitting prawns. If you love seafood, you can add squid (Haemul Pajeon – seafood pancake). Prefer meat instead? You can substitute with thinly-sliced pork belly slices. It’s so flavorful and delicious! Whatever flavor you decide to go with, I’m sure your pancakes will turn out great! These crispy pancakes are seriously quite addicting!
Unique Texture of Korean Pancake
For this recipe, I used cake flour (薄力粉) instead of all-purpose flour. Cake flour is wheat flour that has a lower viscosity and protein content. My Korean friend suggested using it instead of regular flour, and the result was like the restaurants’. By using cake flour, the texture is crispier and lighter than using all-purpose flour.
Cake flour is available in the bakery section of supermarkets. If you can’t find it or want to make it yourself at home, please see my note in the recipe (below). I explained how to make cake flour by mixing 2 ingredients: all-purpose flour and cornstarch (super easy!). Of course, you can use all-purpose flour as well but it’ll be less crispy.
My mom recently shared another recipe with me that uses all-purpose flour and rice flour, and she said it’s pretty amazing. I’ll be testing out her recipe next time.
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Korean Pancake (Pajeon)
Video
Ingredients
For the Spicy Dipping Sauce
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- ½ Tbsp rice vinegar (unseasoned)
- 1 tsp green onions/scallions (thinly sliced)
- ¼ tsp gochugaru (Korean pepper flakes)
- ¼ tsp toasted white and black sesame seeds
- ⅛ tsp sugar (optional, to counter the vinegar‘s acidity)
For the Pancake
- 1 bunch green onions/scallions (about 10 stalks; don’t reduce the amount; use enough to fill the pan so that the pancake holds together when flipped)
- ½ large egg (50 g each w/o shell) (beaten; use half an egg per pancake)
- 1½ Tbsp neutral oil
- 4 oz shrimp (cleaned and deveined)
For the Batter
- ½ cup cake flour (weigh your flour or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off; you can make homemade cake flour)
- ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ½ cup cold water or sparkling water (add slowly as you check the consistency of the batter; you may not need all of it)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. I highly encourage you to weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale for this recipe. Click on the “Metric“ button at the top of the recipe to convert the ingredient measurements to metric. If you‘re using a cup measurement, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more flour than you need.
- Combine all the ingredients for the spicy dipping sauce—1 Tbsp soy sauce, ½ Tbsp rice vinegar (unseasoned), 1 tsp green onions/scallions, ¼ tsp gochugaru (Korean pepper flakes), ¼ tsp toasted white and black sesame seeds, and ⅛ tsp sugar (optional). Set aside.
- Cut off the ends of 1 bunch green onions/scallions. Then, cut the scallions in half crosswise. If you’re worried about flipping a large pancake, cut the scallions shorter and make smaller round pancakes so you can easily flip them.
- Beat ½ large egg (50 g each w/o shell) in a small bowl. Set aside half an egg per pancake for cooking.
- To make the batter, combine ½ cup cake flour and ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt in a medium bowl. Slowly add ½ cup cold water or sparkling water (you may not need all of it!) and whisk until just combined. The batter should be thinner than a Western breakfast pancake batter and thicker than a crepe batter. Do not overmix the batter because it’ll create gluten and the pancake won’t have a good texture.
- Place a nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. When it‘s hot, add 1½ Tbsp neutral oil. Then, spread out the scallions on the bottom of the pan and add 4 oz shrimp on top.
- Drizzle the batter on top to cover the scallions and shrimp. Make sure there is just enough batter between the ingredients so that they will hold together. Take care not to add too much batter, though, or you will end up with doughy pancakes.
- Lightly drizzle the beaten egg (I use half an egg for one pancake) over the batter. Cook for 3 minutes, until the edges of the pancake get crispy and the bottom is golden brown. Flip the pancake using a relatively large spatula or two spatulas, one in each hand. Cook for another 3 minutes, pressing down the pancake with the spatula occasionally, until the pancake is crispy and golden brown. Flip one last time and cook for 30 seconds.
- Transfer the pancake to a cutting board. Cut into small pieces and enjoy with the spicy dipping sauce.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
What size frying pan do you use for this recipe?
Hi Emily! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe!
Nami used a 10-inch pan, but this recipe makes one 7-inch-wide round pancake, so any size that fits is OK.
You may alternatively make two little pancakes if you like.😊
What do you do with the rest of the batter in your video? Can you make two or save the batter for another day? Also, can you use the whole egg and what’s the easiest way to flip the pancake? I’ve never flipped one so a bit nervous 😰
Sorry for all the questions! Novice to Asian cooking despite being Asian
Hi Kaya! Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe!
Yes, you may use leftover batter to make another pancake or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for the next day! To flip the pancake, you can use a large spatula or two spatulas, one in each hand. Or you can also make the pancake smaller in size. If you have another frying pan, you may cover and flip the pan as well.
We hope this helps!