Egg Foo Young is a fluffy Chinese egg omelette filled with vegetables and pork or shrimp, smothered in a tasty Chinese Sauce. An easy Chinese recipe that’s quick to make and versatile as you want it to be.
Egg Foo Young – terrific quick dinner idea!
I know most of us think of omelettes as a breakfast thing and no matter how often I endorse it for dinner, I feel like it will never stick.
But trust the Chinese to come up with a way to plant omelettes firmly in the dinner rotation!!
What is Egg Foo Young?
Egg Foo Young is a Chinese omelette – egg mixed with vegetables and usually some type of protein (prawns / shrimp or pork are common) then smothered in a Chinese stir fry sauce. It is believed to have originally been created by Chineses Chefs in America as a way to use up leftovers, so it’s not strictly authentic though there are similar dishes in China.
The fillings vary as much as the name, which is sometimes spelled egg foo yung, egg fu yung or egg foo yong. Kind of like the many spelling variations we see for San Choy Bow (Chinese Lettuce Cups)!
“Egg Foo Young is a recipe invented to use up leftovers. So don’t get too hung up if you don’t have all the vegetables – in fact, you SHOULD use what you have!”
Egg Foo Young appears on Chinese menus in some countries simply as “omelette”. Sometimes they are smaller, like I’ve made them, and sometimes as large as dinner plates!
The Egg Foo Young Formula
Egg Foo Young can be made with almost any vegetables and proteins because it’s a recipe that evolved as a way to use up leftovers. Use:
2 cups of Add Ins for every 6 eggs.
Add Ins being cooked proteins, raw shrimp/prawns, fish, mince/ground meat and vegetables.
Prawn/shrimp and pork are the two most common versions on restaurant menus so I’m sharing both of these today.
Any raw vegetables that are finely chopped enough to cook through in a few minutes in the omelette are ideal here. If using vegetables that will take longer to cook, for example, diced zucchini, then sauté first in a little oil and perhaps garlic for extra flavour, then add to the batter.
How to make Egg Foo Young
To make Egg Foo Young, your Add Ins of choice (pork, shrimp and vegetables) are mixed directly into whisked eggs then cooked just like a normal omelette in a skillet. It’s served with a Chinese brown sauce which is a simple 4 ingredients sauce that takes just a few minutes to make.
Make the Egg Foo Young gravy first: just soy sauce, Oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine) OR Mirin*, sesame oil, cornflour/cornstarch for thickening and pepper. Just combine and simmer to thicken;
Pork or other mince/ground meat option: If making a pork or other ground/mince meat version, mix through soy sauce, sugar and oyster sauce to add flavour. Then drop in dollops of the raw pork straight into the egg mixture. Trust me, it cooks through in the time it takes for the omelette cooks!
Prawn / Shrimp option: If making the shrimp version, just drop the raw shrimp straight into the batter. If you’re shrimp are large, chop them into small pieces;
Add vegetables: Now add whatever vegetables you’re using. In this recipe I use bean sprouts and green onions.
Cooking Egg Foo Young is no different to cooking a normal omelette! Simple ladle the mixture into a skillet and cook.
Serve smothered in the tasty Egg Foo Young gravy!
Is Egg Foo Young authentic Chinese?
Egg Foo Young is a Westernised version of a Chinese dish, much like many Chinese takeout favourites like Chow Mein and Beef and Broccoli. In China, there are stuffed omelettes but it’s not doused in a thick brown gravy like Egg Foo Young, they are usually just drizzled with soy sauce.
Is Egg Foo Young healthy?
Egg Foo Young is one of the healthiest Chinese takeout meals if made at home! While restaurants tend to cook the omelettes in a LOT of oil, when made at home it’s a low fat, high protein, low carb dinner option.
Load it up with extra nutrition by topping it with a handful of extra vegetables like fresh bean sprouts, as pictured.
And before you ask – YES the Egg Foo Young Sauce can be made with Charlie*. 🙂 Directions are in Note 1 of the recipe! – Nagi x
* Charlie is my standby All Purpose Chinese Stir Fry Sauce. Simple to make, lasts for weeks, just add water!
Egg Foo Young
Watch how to make it
In the video, I made a half batch of each pork and prawn/shrimp Egg Foo Young.
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Egg Foo Young (Chinese omelette)
Ingredients
Sauce (Note 1 for Charlie option):
- 4 tsp cornflour / corn starch
- 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce , or all purpose (Note 2)
- 2 tsp Oyster Sauce
- 1 tbsp Chinese Cooking Wine (shaoxing wine) OR Mirin (Note 3)
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 cup / 250 ml water
- Dash of white pepper
Omelette:
- 6 eggs
- 2 cups bean sprouts (just eyeball it)
- 4 shallots/green onions , white part only, sliced
- Salt and white pepper
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 garlic clove , finely chopped
- ONE Filling of Choice, below (Prawn or Pork)
Option 1: For Prawn /Shrimp Egg Foo Young
- 100 – 120g/3.5 – 4 oz chopped raw small prawns/shrimp , peeled and deveined (Note 4)
Option 2: For Pork Egg Foo Young :
- 100 – 120g/3.5 – 4 oz ground/mince pork (or chicken, turkey, beef or veal)
- 1/2 tsp EACH soy sauce and Oyster Sauce
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- Dash of sesame oil
Garnish (optional):
- Sesame seeds, sliced green onion
Instructions
Sauce:
- Mix cornflour and soy sauce. Then add remaining ingredients.
- Pour into a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to simmer, stirring constantly. Simmer for 1 minute until sauce thickens to thin syrup consistency. Remove from stove, set aside.
- MICROWAVE option: Microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir very well, microwave for another 1 1/2 minutes until thickened. Mix well again.
Pork Filling:
- Place pork in a bowl, add remaining ingredients. Use fork to mix through.
Omelette:
- Whisk eggs in a bowl.
- Add beansprouts, green onions, pork or prawns, salt and pepper. If using pork, crumble the raw pork in with fingers (see video). Mix through.
- Heat 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil and drizzle of sesame oil in a non stick skillet over medium heat. Add a bit of garlic and quickly saute (10 seconds) and push into centre of skillet.
- Ladle in 1/4 of batter. Use spatular to push edges in to form a round(ish) shape.
- Cook until the underside is light golden (about 1 1/2 minutes) then flip and cook the other side for 1 minute. The raw meat will cook through in this time. Repeat with remaining egg to make 4 omelettes (use 2 pans if you can!).
- Slide omelette onto plate. Pour over sauce. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions, if using.
- Serve with a side of rice and steamed vegetables of choice. Double the sauce if you want enough to pour over the rice and veggies! (Click on Servings to scale recipe up).
Recipe Notes:
* Raw non ground/mince chicken, beef etc, cook first then dice and mix into the egg mixture.
* Raw vegetables – For things like chopped leafy Chinese greens, cabbage, grated carrot, just add them raw into the egg mixture.
* Cooked vegetables – For vegetables like onion, capsicum/bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant, sliced mushrooms, chop, grate or slice then cook in a little oil and perhaps garlic before mixing into the egg mixture. Onions – The green onion can be substituted with finely chopped red or white onions, or cooked leeks or brown/yellow onions.
1. CHARLIE* option: mix 3/4 cup water, 1 1/2 tbsp Stir Fry Sauce, 1/2 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch. Cook per recipe. * Charlie is my homemade Chinese All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce that lasts for weeks and weeks. Yes I named it. 😜 2. Soy Sauce: Light or all purpose soy sauce (eg Kikkoman) is fine here. Don’t use soy sauce labelled as Dark or sweet soy sauce, or kecap manis. 3. Chinese cooking wine – Mirin is a near perfect sub. Also sub with dry sherry or cooking sake. If you can’t consume alcohol, omit it and use low sodium chicken broth instead of water AND reduce soy sauce to 1 tbsp. 4. Shrimp/prawns: Even precooked will be fine. If using frozen, thaw and pat dry before using. 5. Nutrition per omelette, including all sauce.
Nutrition Information:
Originally published July 2018. Updated with new step photos and writing tidied up. No change to recipe!
More Chinese Takeout Favorites
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Life of Dozer
Move cushions. Cover armchair with sheet. Get him settled. Tuck in current favourite toys.
Now – Prince Dozer. Is there anything I can get you? A tea perhaps?😂
Whoa! This looks like my kind of breakfast!
I’ve decided in my next life instead of being a porn star I want to come back as Dozer.
😂 I made the mistake of taking a sip of tea when I read this – and almost choked!!
Thank you Nagi for your wonderful recipes. I made your chicken tikka masala for my visiting family and WOW! It was scrumptious! Would you let us know the wattage of your microwave please so that the cooking time can be adjusted if necessary. Mine is 1200 Watts.
Mine is 1200 Watts too Marea! I’m so glad you enjoyed the Tikka Masala, I dragged my family in to help me perfect that one! N xx
Hi Nagi,
My daughter was so happy when I told her you posted an Egg Foo Young recipe – her favorite Chinese food. Although any breakfast-y food is her favorite, so this one is a must try for us. Heehee.
Glad to see Dozer baby doing so well. We.re sending love and good wishes to you both!
I love hearing that!! I hope she likes it 🙂 And Dozer says WOOF! N x
I am looking forward to making this…I love Egg Foo Young and your sauce looks pretty light.
Must give you feed back on other recipes. 1) smashed potatoes…the bomb! I made them 2 nights in a row over the July 4th weekend… A BIG HIT.
Garlic Chicken thights…another hit..tasted delicious..but mine didn’t come out as brown as yours…What did I do wrong? I will make them again for sure…Thanks
Hi Lyn! So glad the smashed potatoes were a HIT! With the thighs, just keep them in the pan for longer / turn up the heat. That’s the only thing to make them browner! N x
No HARD rules, love IT. THATS MY WAY OF cooking. Dobar is soooo comfortable. BE good and tri NOT to Eat too much, says WHO …..its Cold outside.
You and me both Vera! Love flexible recipes! N x
Hi Nagi,
I made this recipe for supper tonight. It was excellent. Two of us eating, my son and myself. We each ended up with 4 small omelettes using 6 eggs. I fried each one separately, so it was a little time consuming, but definitely worth it. The sauce was so tasty. I used the pork and was a little concerned it might not be thoroughly cooked, but it was perfect. Will definitely make again. Thank you for another great recipe.
That’s great to hear Linda! Thank you for letting me know you and your son enjoyed this! 🙂 N x
Thanks, I was worried 2 1/2 minutes wasn’t enough time to cook raw meat.
I should have mentioned something to assure you it does 🙂 Once the raw pork is “crumbled” it’s quite amazing how quickly it cooks! N x
I am eating this right now. It is absolutely delicious. Thanks Nagi!
That’s so great to hear Kim!! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it!
Nagi, does the 6.7 grams of carbohydrates in the nutritional information panel include the carbohydrates in the sauce/gravy?
It sure does David! it assumes all the sauce is consumed 🙂
That’s great news for people on a low-carb diet. I was afraid of the cornflour (cornstarch) in the sauce.
I LOOOVE egg foo yung! Thanks for featuring this recipe! =)
You’re so welcome Trish! What’s on your agenda for this week? 🙂
Hi Nagi, this looks incredibly good. I am allergic to shell fish and cannot use oyster sauce so what could I use instead of it. Thank you very much. I would love to try this.
Hi Mary! I would use Hoisin sauce. It will give the sauce a touch of Chinese Five Spice fragrance which is really lovely! Aside from that, the flavour base and consistency is sort of similar and is easy to find too 🙂 N x
I’ve made egg Foo young without any oyster (shell fish) sauce and maybe add a touch more soy sauce to taste and it is still very good. Or if you add a non shellfish, fish ingredient (tuna?), it will add a similar eliment to the overall flavor. Just a possibility.
Thanks John and Alan, for offering up suggestions for Mary! 🙂 N x
I’ve seen vegetarian oyster sauce here in New Jersey. Not sure what it tastes like, but since oyster sauce doesn’t taste like oysters, maybe it’s a good substitute.
I’m a vegetarian and use vegetarian oyster sauce in all my Asian recipes that call for the original and I’ve never had anyone notice. I’m in Hamilton, Ontario and you can find in even basic grocery stores inexpensively now (about 2 CAD). I would just sub it in.
You look great Dozer. Love the updates mom post for us. Tell mom I love her recipes and have made several. So good.
His head gets so big from all the compliments!!
Wait, is that Dozer up on furniture. Didn’t think that was allowed. He finally got to you didn’t he.
Love the Chinese omelette recipe and will look forward to trying it for our evening meal soon.
ONLY when he is invited, and it is only when I feel sorry for him and I make the effort to cover the furniture with a sheet!!!
Always looking for a great Egg Fu Young and this one looks jus the ticket! It’s how we judge Chinese restaurants — the quality of the Egg Fu Young and Hot and Sour Soup! Can’t wait to give these a try! Thanks Nagi!
Now I’m nervous about sharing my Hot and Sour soup!!!
Perfect Pick!!!!!
Any day, anytime of year.
Hey to “Hound Boy” I feel his pain…. I get to start my PT this week!
I hear you Blaine… I hear you!
Greetings Nagi: Another great recipe…along with your last 3 postings of which I plan to make, after our major heat wave has
passed. The heat and humidity is unbearable, (Southern Ontario, Canada) so I refrain from cooking heating up the stove. I am eating salads, cold soups and sandwiches.
I can’t wait to get back on track …cooking again…hopefully soon.
Thanks for all you share with us here.
Dozer looks so beautiful and comfy!
Today I shared a recipe for YOU!! Check the notes for a no cook option using rotisserie chicken 🙂 Enjoy the warm weather, it’s ugg boots weather over here! N x
I have been following you for the past year and I am so happy to have found you. All your recipes are lovely and I love your Dozer. We have a wonderful golden named Max and I always look forward to seeing how your Dozer is doing. Thank you for making your recipes accessible and delicious.
Awww Max! Is that the little photo I see of him?? 🙂 Give him a hug from me!
Oh Nagi, this looks fantastic! It has been a long time since I had Egg Foo Young. I forgot how easy it is to make. Good to see Dozer doing so well. That precious pup looks very content.
Gosh – you were either up very early or very late to get in first on this one! Hope you and your mum are well Dahn 🙂 N x
ha ha, I was up very early, Nagi. Cursed with insomnia :-