Egg Foo Young (The Restaurant Way!)

This is our full guide to making egg foo young—with whatever protein you like. I cooked many orders of egg foo young in my parents’ Chinese restaurant, so if you’ve been chasing that nostalgic taste, but can’t find a restaurant version or egg foo young recipe that tastes like you remember, you’ve landed in the right place!

Learn the secrets to our classic egg foo young, how to make that perfect gravy, and even a lighter pan-fried version that uses the same batter. We also have links to the other egg foo young recipes on the site if you’re looking for a particular version. Consider this your one-stop page for access to all The Woks of Life’s egg foo young expertise!

What is Egg Foo Young?

Egg foo young is a Chinese omelet made with eggs, protein, and vegetables. The omelette patties are deep-fried, creating a golden, light, and puffy texture, which contrasts with juicy pork, shrimp, chicken, or beef and fresh bean sprouts and scallions. In American Chinese restaurants, you’ll find it smothered in a brown gravy on a bed of white rice.

Chicken Egg Foo Young, by thewoksoflife.com

Shrimp Egg Foo Young on a plate with white rice

The dish has multiple spellings in English, so you may also see it referred to as Egg Foo Yung, Egg Fu Yung, or egg foo yong. It’s the same dish however you spell it, but it can be difficult to find a classic American Chinese takeout egg foo young these days!

Egg foo young was popular throughout the 20th Century. If you grew up eating Chinese food in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, you may have an affinity for this dish. While it began to fall out of favor in the 80s and 90s, Shrimp Egg Foo Young was still one of the most-ordered dishes in my parents’ Chinese restaurant, which opened in 1983.

Today, however, it’s rare to even find it on Chinese takeout menus. Along with Americanized Chow Mein and Chop Suey, as well as other rarely seen classics like Butterfly Shrimp with Bacon and Shrimp Toast, Egg Foo Young has definitely become retro.

The Classic Egg Foo Young: Your Search is Over!

Egg foo young’s scarcity these days is part of why it’s hard to find an egg foo young recipe that tastes like what you remember. Folks have tried to replicate the flavors they knew, but don’t have the correct restaurant techniques for making those fried egg patties.

People often don’t know that egg foo young patties are deep-fried, since many recipes instruct you to cook them in a skillet. Restaurant-style egg foo young is deep-fried in a wok of oil, which makes the egg patties fluffy and crispy.

This recipe comes straight from my parents’ restaurant, Sun Hing. It uses the original deep-frying method, which not only creates the right taste, it actually makes the egg foo young pancakes a bit lighter and speeds up cooking time.

So many readers have made our egg foo young and told us, “THIS IS IT!” Try this recipe, and your search will be over too.

That said, if you don’t want to deep-fry your egg foo young in the traditional way, we also have pan-frying instructions. Pan-fried egg foo young is still delicious, though more like a regular omelet.

The Original Egg Foo Young Recipe?

The original egg foo young or 芙蓉蛋 (foo yong daan in Cantonese or fúróng dàn in Mandarin), is a Cantonese dish that gets pan-fried (though in not a small amount of oil) rather than deep-fried. We use many of the same ingredients—eggs, char siu roast pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts. Chinese chives add a delicious flavor and sweetness. While there’s no gravy, you can serve it with a light drizzle of sauce.

Sarah created this original Hong Kong-style Furong Omelet recipe for our cookbook, The Woks of Life: Recipes to Know and Love from a Chinese American Family. Grab a copy and check it out! It’s one of our favorite recipes from the book.

A Word on Egg Foo Young Gravy

The rich brown gravy is a crucial component of any plate of egg foo young. I’m always eager to drizzle additional gravy over the egg patties during my meal!

We use both a flour-based roux and cornstarch to thicken the gravy here. The roux offers a robustness to the gravy, while the cornstarch creates a silkiness and smoothness to the gravy and mitigates that thick skin from forming on top of the gravy.

Egg Foo Young with Gravy on plate with rice

This post provides the gravy recipe, but you can find even more in-depth information (addressing gluten-free adaptations, chicken stock alternatives, and storage and reheating instructions) in our dedicated egg foo young gravy guide.

Consider this recipe a blueprint for making whatever egg foo young you want—shrimp, roast pork, chicken, beef, or even tofu.

Our step-by-step instructions and videos below show you how to properly mix the ingredients (mixing too much or too early is where you can go wrong!), how to get that loose batter into the frying oil, an alternative pan-frying method, and how to treat different types of protein.

Let’s make egg foo young!

How to Make Egg Foo Young: Recipe Instructions

Prepare your protein:

You’ll need 8 ounces cooked protein such as Chinese roast pork/char siu or pan-fried tofu (or 10 ounces raw protein, such as shrimp, boneless skinless chicken thighs, boneless pork shoulder, or beef flank steak, sirloin, or chuck. You will need 1 additional teaspoon each of cornstarch, oil, and oyster sauce to velvet it. No velveting is needed for shrimp.

If using cooked protein, such as Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu), pan-fried tofu, or leftover cooked steak, cut it into small cubes and set aside.

If using shrimp, roughly chop it and set it aside. You do not need to pre-cook it.

If using raw chicken, pork, or beef, cut it into small cubes. In a medium bowl, toss the cubed meat with 1 teaspoon each of cornstarch, neutral oil, and oyster sauce. For beef, you can also add ⅛ teaspoon baking soda as an optional tenderizer. Marinate for 15-30 minutes. Heat a wok over high heat until it just starts to smoke. Add a couple tablespoons of oil to coat the wok, and sear the meat for 1 minute per side. Then stir-fry for 1 minute, until it’s 80% cooked through. Remove it from the wok and set aside to cool.

Make the gravy:

In a wok or saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of neutral oil over medium heat. Whisking constantly, add the flour, turmeric, and paprika to make a roux.

Oil, flour, turmeric, and paprika in wok

Continue whisking for 15-20 seconds, then add the garlic and shallot, and whisk another 30 seconds.

egg foo young gravy roux with onion and garlic

Next, whisk in 3 cups of the chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the oyster sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper.

Combine the cornstarch with the remaining ¼ cup of chicken stock (or use water) to make a slurry. Slowly stir in two-thirds of the mixture.

whisking cornstarch slurry into gravy mixture in wok

Let the gravy cook and continue to thicken for 30 seconds. Add more slurry if needed, until the gravy’s thick enough to coat a spoon. Adjust seasoning with additional salt or soy sauce to taste.

Set the gravy aside, and reheat right before serving.

Make the batter & fry the patties:

In a wok or deep pot, add your frying oil (it should be at a depth of a few inches). Heat the oil to 350°F/175°C. The oil temp will lower when you drop the egg foo young in, and the optimal frying temperature is 325°F/160°F. Use a thermometer to check and maintain the temperature. When your oil is close to the target temperature (NOT BEFORE), make your batter.

Place your cooked protein (or shrimp), onion, and bean sprouts into a mixing bowl. Add the eggs, sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. Use a large soup ladle to fold the mixture together until just combined. The eggs should look slightly beaten and only just mixed with the rest of the ingredients. Do not overmix.

cracking eggs onto shrimp, bean sprouts, scallions — Above: Mixing batter for shrimp egg foo young

ingredients for egg foo young batter in glass mixing bowl — Above: Mixing batter for shrimp egg foo young

pork egg foo young mixture with bean sprouts, onions, eggs — Above: pork egg foo young batter

mixing pork egg foo young batter — Above: pork egg foo young batter

By now your oil should be at the right temperature.

reading oil temperature in wok with instant read thermometer at 350°F

Ladle about ¾ cup of the mixture, and tilt the ladle close to the oil, starting from the edge where the oil meets the wok. Slowly pour the batter in, with the ladle barely touching the oil.

Using ladle to drop egg foo young batter into oil in a large wok

Prolonged contact between the ladle and the oil will cause the egg to cook while it’s in the ladle and stick, and you won’t have a smooth drop for the next patty. Once the patty has released from the ladle, you can push it away from the edge. Repeat to drop in two to three scoops of the mixture. Take a break to quickly clean and dry the ladle if needed.

Fry the patties for 40 seconds. Gently ladle some hot oil on top of each uncooked patty to help them set more quickly. When each patty is solid and turning golden brown on the bottom, flip (in the same order you dropped them in). Fry for 1 more minute.

flipped egg foo young patties in hot oil

Scoop each patty onto a mesh strainer (first in, first out), giving it a few taps and a gentle squeeze to remove excess oil. Place each patty on a wire rack (or paper towel) on a sheet pan to drain. Repeat to cook all the patties.

using wok spatula to squeeze excess oil out of egg foo young patty

Squeezing excess oil out of egg foo young patties

Serve your patties over steamed rice. Ladle the hot gravy over the top, and sprinkle with scallions. Enjoy!

Deep-Frying vs. Pan-frying

If you’d rather not deep-fry, you can also shallow-fry your egg foo young in a skillet or even pan-fry it without the excess oil. The result is more like a regular omelet.

Here’s how: Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Or use a carbon steel, stainless steel, or cast iron skillet, and heat it until a splash of water beads and dances in the pan. This will create a non-stick surface. Spread 1-3 tablespoons of oil to the pan (1 tablespoon per patty). Ladle 3/4 cup the batter into the pan for each patty. Reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom. Flip, and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining patties.

deep-fried and pan-fried egg foo young patties side by side

Top Egg Foo Young Tips & Restaurant Secrets:

Be sure to use an instant-read thermometer to accurately check the oil temperature. Too high, and the patties will burn. Too low, and they’ll fall apart or end up greasy!
Wait until right before you’re ready to cook the patties to mix the batter. Making the batter in advance will allow the egg protein to relax, resulting in a looser batter that won’t hold together in the oil.
In a similar vein to the point above, do not overmix the egg foo young batter. If you over-mix the eggs, the whole mixture will become too watery and will not form a patty during frying.
Do not add any salt or seasonings to this mixture, or again, your patties may not hold together when frying!
When ladling the batter into the oil, do not let the ladle touch the oil. The egg may cook on contact and stick to the ladle.
After frying, you can press the patties between the mesh strainer/spider strainer and the bottom of a spatula to squeeze out excess oil.

Egg Foo Young

Can’t find an egg foo young recipe or restaurant version that tastes like you remember it? This is THE classic recipe you’ve been looking for!

serves: 4

Prep: 45 minutes

Cook: 25 minutes

Total: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

For the egg foo young:

▢ 8 ounces cooked protein, such as Chinese roast pork/char siu or pan-fried tofu (or 10 ounces/280g raw protein, such as shrimp, boneless skinless chicken thighs, boneless pork shoulder, or beef flank steak, sirloin, or chuck; see note 1)
▢ 4 to 6 cups neutral oil (such as vegetable, canola, or peanut oil, for frying. You can also pan-fry; see note 2)
▢ 1 medium onion (diced, 1 medium onion = about 1½ cups, 6 ounces, or 165g)
▢ 2 cups mung bean sprouts
▢ 6 large eggs
▢ ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
▢ 1 teaspoon cornstarch
▢ 1 scallion (chopped)