Egg Foo Young is a Chinese Style Omelette that is crispy from the outside and is loaded with veggies like mushroom, bean sprouts, and meats like shrimp, ham, beef, etc.
The omelet is topped with a silky gravy. It’s a fav Chinese takeout dish and can be easily made at home. Here is how to make it.
If you love to make Eggs for breakfast, here are some more recipes for you – Perfect Scrambled Eggs, Healthy Spinach Egg White Muffins, Akuri, Mushroom Omelette, and Egg White Scramble.
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About This Recipe
Egg Foo Young is a Chinese version of an omelet. Also spelled as egg fooyung, egg foo yong, egg foo yung, or egg fu yung, it is an egg dish found in Chinese Indonesian, British Chinese, and Chinese American cuisine.
Literally meaning “Hibiscus egg”, it is prepared with beaten eggs and most often minced ham and is a great option for a healthy filling breakfast.
This recipe was invented to use up all the leftovers of the kitchen, which includes veggies and meats and thus this can be prepared with a variety of vegetables as well as meat.
It may be made with various vegetables such as bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, cabbage, mushrooms, spring onions, and water chestnuts. Roast pork, shrimp, chicken, beef, or lobster meat can also be added to this.
In America, it is served with brown sauce or gravy. A tangy sauce that instantly takes the dish to another level.
The vegetables in the eggs, the slight hint of umami flavor from the soy sauce, and sesame oil, this Omelette is different. This one is definitely a favorite breakfast dish in any Chinese restaurant,
This dish is,
- Easy to make
- Non-Vegetarian
- Tasty
- A popular takeout dish
- Perfect for everyday breakfast
- A twist to your regular Omelette
Ingredients
Eggs – Eggs make the base of this recipe of homemade egg fooyung. It’s mostly hen’s eggs but you can use any other egg too.
Vegetables – Bean sprouts, mushrooms, spring onion, garlic, etc are added to the eggs to give it a nice crunch and flavor.
This dish is one of those clean your refrigerator kind of dish, where you can toss in all the leftovers into the eggs and cook it into an omelette. So if you are short of one of the mentioned veggies, just swap it with whatever you gave at hand.
Shrimp – I have added chopped shrimp in the recipe. You can add any meat of your choice like beef, chicken, etc.
Other Ingredients – Other than the above ingredients, I have used red chili flakes, salt, and a dash of Homemade Chinese Five Spice.
Sesame Oil – The omelette is finally fried in hot oil. I have used sesame oil as it gives a very traditional Chinese flavor to it but you can use oil of your choice.
Sauce – This Omelette is served with a delicious sauce that is made with Chicken Broth, Soy sauce, Corn Flour, Rice Vinegar, and Sesame Oil.
Step By Step Recipe
Whisk eggs in a bowl.
Add garlic, shrimps, mushrooms, bean sprouts, spring onion greens, salt, five-spice powder, and red chili flakes and mix well.
Heat a 5-7 inch frying pan. Add 2 tbsp oil in the pan and let it heat.
Once the oil is hot, pour ¼th of the egg mixture in the pan and cook on medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes, until the egg is crisp and browned from the bottom.
Flip and fry from the other side as well. Remove on the serving plate.
To make gravy, mix cornflour with 2 tbsp water and make a slurry. Add all the ingredients in a pan.
Cook for 4-5 minutes until the sauce thickens.
Pour the sauce over the eggs and serve hot.
Frequently Asked Questions
The egg is high in protein and it is also loaded with vegetables, and thus with a little change in the frying technique, it can be considered healthy for people following a low fat, low carb, and high protein diet.
Use less oil to fry the eggs.
The main difference between the two is the set of ingredients mixed in the eggs. While Omelette generally uses only onion, tomato, green chilies, and basic spice powders, Egg Fooyung uses garlic, various veggies, meat, five-spice powder, and red chili flakes.
Omelette is cooked in less oil while Egg Foo Yung is fried in oil.
Also, Omelette is just cooked and served as it is or with Toast, but Egg Foo Young is served with a delicious sauce.
Variations
You can make this recipe with only vegetables or add meat of your choice like shrimps, ham, chicken, beef, pork, lobster, sausage, etc.
Vegetables – Add vegetables like mushrooms, celery, green onions, peas, carrot, bell pepper, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, and bamboo shoots.
Shrimp – Add chopped cleaned shrimp in the egg mixture and cook as mentioned. If you are using small shrimp, you can use them whole as well.
Pork, Beef, or Chicken Mince – Add the mince directly in the egg mixture. The heat will cook the meat while the omelette is cooking.
If not using mince but the meat, make sure to cook it beforehand otherwise it may be raw at the end.
Shredded Chicken – You can also add boiled or grilled shredded chicken in the egg mixture.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve it on its own for a high protein breakfast or along with a bed of white steamed rice for a delicious Chinese meal.
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Recipe Card
Egg Foo Young Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 Eggs
- 1 tsp garlic (Minced)
- 10-12 Shrimps (Cleaned and Chopped)
- ¼ cup Bean Sprouts (Chopped)
- ¼ cup Spring Onion Greens (Chopped)
- Salt to taste
- ¼ tsp Chinese Five Spice
- 1 tsp Red Chilli Flakes
- Oil for Frying
For the Sauce
- 1 cup Chicken Broth
- 2 tsp Soy Sauce
- 1 and ½ tbsp Corn Flour
- 1 tsp Rice Vinegar
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil
Instructions
- Whisk eggs in a bowl.
- Add garlic, shrimps, mushrooms, bean sprouts, spring onion greens, salt, five spice powder and red chilli flakes and mix well.
- Heat a 5-7 inch frying pan.
- Add 2 tbsp oil in the pan and let it heat.
- Once the oil is hot, pour ¼th of the egg mixture in the pan and cook on medium low heat for 3-4 minutes.
- Flip and fry from other side as well.
- Remove on the serving plate.
For the sauce
- Mix corn flour with 2 tbsp water and make a slurry.
- Add all the ingredients in a pan and cook for 4-5 minutes until the sauce thickens.
- Pour the sauce over the eggs and serve hot.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!