Egg Foo Young. A delicious golden brown omelet with bean sprouts, shallots, and shrimp topped off with a savory gravy. Ready in 15 minutes or less!
This is a tasty main dish or side dish that you can enjoy with white rice. A great way to enjoy eggs in Chinese cuisine. It's also a fantastic low carb dish for a low calorie diet.
What is Egg Foo Young?
Egg Foo Young (aka Egg Foo Yung or Egg Fu Yung) is a fluffy Chinese egg omelette. Inside the egg patties are fresh bean sprouts, shrimp (or a meat of your choice), shallots (or onions or green onions). This egg dish is topped off with a savory brown sauce made of simple ingredients. It's usually garnished with chopped spring onions for color.
Growing up, my parents would make this easy egg recipe for us. This egg foo young recipe is such a simple dish made with fresh ingredients. The best way to feed a hungry family of 5 quickly.
Made with less oil
Your local Chinese restaurant is likely to serve this. It's also popular on restaurant menus like Panda Express. Usually, this Chinese-style omelet is cooked in a deep frying method. However, I share a version of these fluffy egg pancakes made with less oil just by pan frying them.
Easy Chinese Recipe
Chinese omelets are so easy to make at home! It's one of those Chinese dishes that comes together in less than 15 minutes. Making it extremely popular in Asian cuisine when time is of the essence!
In addition, this Chinese omelette is also made of common ingredients that you may already have in your pantry! Frozen shrimp, eggs, shallots or onions, are all ingredients I usually keep. If it's your first time making this Chinese food, don't worry, I share step by step visuals and a recipe video on how to make it.
Ingredients
You’ll need the below ingredients for Egg Foo Yong. Please scroll down to below recipe card for exact measurements.
Note: Most Asian grocers will carry these ingredients. You may find some at your select grocery store or online, like on Amazon.
- Neutral oil: like avocado oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil. Avoid olive oil, coconut oil or any heavy scented oils.
- Green onions: a garnish to add color to our Chinese egg foo young patties.
Omelette:
- Eggs: opt for fresh eggs. I like using free-range eggs with Omega 3's for that bright brilliant yolk.
- Large shrimp: you can use frozen or fresh raw shrimp. I like using the easy peel kind that has been deveined.
- I recommend using large shrimp for this. If you use jumbo shrimp, that works well too. I wouldn't suggest anything smaller or larger or it'll overcook or undercook the shrimp.
- Bean sprouts: either soybean sprouts or mung bean sprouts. The choice is up to you! I like using whatever is fresh at the market.
- Shallots: or substitute with onion. Either works fine!
- Sesame oil, toasted kind: a ½ teaspoon sesame oil helps to give extra flavor to that omelette.
- Salt
- Black pepper: or white pepper
Gravy:
- Oyster sauce: or substitute with vegetarian stir fry sauce
- Cornstarch: ½ tablespoon of cornstarch to help create that thick brown gravy similar what is used in a cornstarch slurry except we're cutting down the steps and including it right into the egg foo young gravy.
- If you’re allergic, substitute with potato starch or tapioca starch.
- Regular soy sauce: this is just all-purpose soy sauce or substitute with light soy sauce. This is not the same as dark soy sauce which is darker in color and much thicker.
- Shaoxing wine: a Chinese rice cooking wine that offers a wonderful aroma to the gravy. If you don't have this ingredient, substitute with Dry Sherry Wine or rice vinegar.
- Sesame oil: this offers a delicious nutty taste to our delicious sauce.
- Chicken stock or chicken broth, make sure it's the unsalted kind. You can also use beef stock or vegetable stock.
How to Make Egg Foo Young
In a small bowl, combine Gravy ingredients. Set aside.
In a large bowl, crack and beat your eggs.
Then add the rest of the Omelette ingredients (as listed) to your beaten eggs. Mix well and set aside.
In a large wok or 7-inch frying pan on medium-high heat, add oil. Once oil is hot. Pour in omelette into your hot pan and evenly spread out shrimp and other ingredients if needed. Try not to move the omelette around so it can form a crust.
Note: if you want to make small egg patties, scoop about 1 cup egg mixture to fry. Fry the smaller egg patties until they're golden brown on each side. Repeat this process for the remaining egg mixture.
Fry omelette on the first side for 3 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Flip over and fry on the other side for 2 mins, until golden and crispy. Remove and transfer omelet to serving plate.
Reduce to medium heat, pour in your Gravy. Allow this to simmer to thicken, about 1 minute. Once thickened. Pour over omelet.
Garnish with green onions. Enjoy!
Storage
This dish is best consumed same day as shrimp tends to have a fishy taste the next day when reheated. However, if you have leftovers, store it into an airtight container in the fridge. It will last up to 4 days.
FAQ
Can I replace the shrimp with a different protein?
Yes! The great part about this shrimp egg foo young recipe is you can replace the shrimp with any protein or meat of choice. The following choices work:
- Ground chicken or finely chopped chicken breast or thigh (Chicken egg foo young was our next favorite!)
- Ground pork
- Ground beef
- Leftover char siu
- extra firm tofu
- ham
- bacon
- pork belly, finely chopped.
Can I eliminate the meat and make this a veggie-based omelette?
Yes! Feel free to add in any of the following vegetable additions to make a vegetable egg foo young!
- frozen mixed vegetables
- bell peppers (like red bell pepper)
- bamboo shoots
- water chestnuts
- carrots
- peas
- corn
- green onions
- garlic chives
- more bean sprouts.
- broccoli
Other recipes you may enjoy!
Here are some other egg recipes you may enjoy:
- Korean Mayak Eggs
- Easy Ramen Eggs
- Egg Fried Rice
- Korean Egg Butter Rice
- Chinese Tomato Egg Stir Fry
- Egg Drop Soup
Easy Egg Foo Young
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or any neutral oil for cooking
- ½ green onion finely chopped (optional garnish)
Omelette:
- 3 large eggs
- 110 grams large shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 cup bean sprouts soy bean or mung bean sprouts work
- 2 shallots finely diced
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
Gravy:
- ½ tablespoon oyster sauce
- ½ tablespoon cornstarch or sub with potato starch/tapioca starch
- ½ teaspoon regular soy sauce (not dark soy sauce)
- ½ teaspoon Shaoxing wine or sub with rice vinegar
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ cup chicken stock unsalted kind (or sub with beef or vegetable stock)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine Gravy ingredients. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, crack and beat your eggs.
- Add the rest of the Omelette ingredients (as listed) to your beaten eggs. Mix well and set aside.
- In a large wok or 7-inch frying pan on medium-high heat, add vegetable oil or any neutral oil. Once oil is hot, pour omelette into hot pan. Evenly spread out shrimp and other ingredients if needed.
- Fry omelette on the first side for 3 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Avoid moving the omelette around so it can form a bottom crust.
- Flip over and fry on the other side for 2 mins, until golden and crispy. Remove and transfer omelet to a serving plate.
- Reduce to medium heat, pour in your Gravy. Allow this to simmer to thicken, about 1 minute. Once thickened. Pour over omelet.
- Garnish with green onions. Enjoy!
Did you enjoy my recipe?