Chinese Garlic Chives Pancakes or Jiu Cai Bing (韭菜餅) is a traditional Chinese dish that can be served as a snack, appetizer, or light meal. It’s actually not super hard to make either! I’ll show you step by step in this post.

What are Chinese Garlic Chives Pancakes

Chinese Garlic Chives Pancakes or Jiu Cai Bing (韭菜餅) is made with chopped garlic chives, eggs, and dried shrimp, filled in flat pancakes and then pan fried to crispiness!

It’s very similar to Scallion Oil Pancakes or Cong You Bing (蔥油餅), except the main ingredient in scallion oil pancakes is scallions aka green onions, vs Garlic Chives pancakes is made with garlic chives. Also, The filling is wrapped up inside the middle of the garlic chives pancakes, where as scallion oil pancakes have the ingredients mixed within the dough when it is pan fried.

You can often find both types of pancakes sold by street food vendors in China and Taiwan.

Garlic Chives

Garlic chives 韭菜, aka Asian chives, Chinese chives, Chinese leek, is a vegetable native to the Chinese province of Shanxi. Nowadays it’s cultivated and naturalized in many other countries across the world.

Garlic chives is known as garlic chives because they have a strong garlicky flavor! (And if you know me, you know I love garlic!) It is often used similar to scallions to add an extra taste to dishes, and so it’s often in stir fries, or dumplings.

This veggie is healthy too! It’s rich in Vitamin C, riboflavin, potassium, vitamin A, iron, thiamin, and beta carotene – which helps blood count increase, maintaining blood pressure, and increasing immune support.

By the way if you’re wanting to learn more about Chinese vegetables – definitely check out my Chinese vegetables article here! There’s bok choy, water spinach, napa cabbage, celtuce, and more!

Also, if you’re looking for a recipe that uses garlic chives, check out my Stir Fry Bean Sprouts and Garlic Chives recipe!

How to reheat Garlic Chives pancakes?

There are a few different ways to reheat garlic chives pancakes:

Oven / Air Fryer: Place pancakes on baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees F for about 5 minutes.

Stovetop: Place pancakes in a non stick skillet with no oil on medium high heat, and crisp for about 1 minute on each side.

How to make Chinese Garlic Chives Pancakes

First, gather your ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups of water (as needed)
1 small bunch of garlic chives, chopped finely
2 eggs
1 tbsp dried shrimp
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt, to taste

Make the dough by mixing the flour and water until they form a nice consistency, which is soft and not sticky. This is usually 3 cups of flour and 2 cups of water for me, but you can adjust as needed.

Knead the dough until the surface is smooth and shiny, usually takes about 5 minutes.

Shape the dough into a ball and then place it in a bowl and cover and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.

While you wait for the dough to rest, chop up your garlic chives. You can line the garlic chives up, and then taking your knife chop it them down to tiny pieces.

In a large mixing bowl, add garlic chives, eggs, dried shrimp, vegetable oil and salt, and mix well.

When the dough is ready, divide the dough in to 6 equally sized balls. Place each dough ball on a floured surface, and using a rolling pin, roll out the dough in to a flat circular shape, make it as thing as possible. Do this to all the dough balls so end up with 6 pancakes.

Spoon garlic chives mix on to the dough pancake, and spread evenly in a thin layer, leaving about 1 inch border.

Place a second pancake on top and then tuck the sides in and then press the edge to seal.

Do this with all of the pancakes and garlic chives mix.

Heat a large flat cooking pan or skillet on medium high. Do not add oil, and add one of the pancakes on the pan and allow it to cook for about 3 minutes, then flip pancake and allow it to cook the other side for another 3 minutes or until cooked thoroughly.

Once it is cooked, remove and cook the rest of the pancakes.

You can cut pancakes in to 2 slices, 4 slices, or 8.

Serve while warm!

Chinese Garlic Chives Pancakes

Name: Chinese Garlic Chives Pancakes
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 53 min
Ingredients: 3 cups all purpose flour; 2 cups of water (as needed); 1 small bunch of garlic chives, chopped finely; 2 eggs; 1 tbsp dried shrimp; 2 tbsp vegetable oil; Salt, to taste

Chinese Garlic Chives Pancakes or Jiu Cai Bing (韭菜餅) is made with chopped garlic chives, eggs, and dried shrimp, filled in flat pancakes and then pan fried to crispiness!

Prep Time 35 minutes

Cook Time 18 minutes

Total Time 53 minutes

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups of water (as needed)
1 small bunch of garlic chives, chopped finely
2 eggs
1 tbsp dried shrimp
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt, to taste

Instructions

Make the dough by mixing the flour and water until they form a nice consistency, which is soft and not sticky. This is usually 3 cups of flour and 2 cups of water for me, but you can adjust as needed.
Knead the dough until the surface is smooth and shiny, usually takes about 5 minutes.
Shape the dough into a ball and then place it in a bowl and cover and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
While you wait for the dough to rest, chop up your garlic chives. You can line the garlic chives up, and then taking your knife chop it them down to tiny pieces.
In a large mixing bowl, add garlic chives, eggs, dried shrimp, vegetable oil and salt, and mix well.
When the dough is ready, divide the dough in to 6 equally sized balls. Place each dough ball on a floured surface, and using a rolling pin, roll out the dough in to a flat circular shape, make it as thing as possible. Do this to all the dough balls so end up with 6 pancakes.
Spoon garlic chives mix on to the dough pancake, and spread evenly in a thin layer, leaving about 1 inch border.
Place a second pancake on top and then tuck the sides in and then press the edge to seal.
Do this with all of the pancakes and garlic chives mix.
Heat a large flat cooking pan or skillet on medium high. Do not add oil, and add one of the pancakes on the pan and allow it to cook for about 3 minutes, then flip pancake and allow it to cook the other side for another 3 minutes or until cooked thoroughly.
Once it is cooked, remove and cook the rest of the pancakes.
You can cut pancakes in to 2 slices, 4 slices, or 8. Serve while warm!

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1/4 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 146Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 32mgSodium: 67mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 1gSugar: 0gProtein: 4g

The nutrition information for this recipe is an approximate total per serving. Please double check the nutrition information for your exact ingredients and brands for more precise nutrition information. Keep in mind that if there is a marinade, often times not all the ingredients will be consumed.