This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my privacy policy.
Egg Foo Young is a delicious Chinese-style omelet filled with ground pork and a mix of vegetables. This is an authentic Egg Foo Young recipe, prepared just like it's done in Chinese restaurants.
What Is Egg Foo Young
Egg Foo Young is a Chinese-style omelet filled with ground pork and various vegetables. Sometimes misspelled as “egg foo yung” or “fu yong,” it is a staple in American Chinese food, and its name comes from the Cantonese language.
“Foo Young” or 芙蓉 (fúróng) means lotus, as it is said the dish resembles that of a lotus flower.
In this recipe tutorial, you will learn how to make an authentic and the best version of Egg Foo Young
A long time ago, when I first set foot on US soil for higher education, I went straight to middle America. I flew from Malaysia and arrived in the state of Iowa. After touching down, I dined at a Chinese restaurant, and the first dish I ordered was Egg Foo Young.
When the food arrived, I was shocked to find out that the American Chinese rendition was greasy and puffy, with a thick filling of vegetables inside the eggs, and doused in a thick and gloppy brown sauce. The taste was very bland and unappetizing. It was a major culinary culture shock, and alas, that was my first (sad) encounter with American Chinese food.
Difference Between Egg Foo Young And Omelette
Egg Foo Young and omelets differ in ingredients, cooking methods, appearance, texture, and cultural origins.
Egg Foo Young consists of beaten eggs mixed with vegetables including bean sprouts, shredded carrots, mushrooms, onions, and scallions, along with protein like shrimp, pork, and chicken. It’s fried until they puff up and turn golden brown in color, resembling a thick pancake. It’s commonly served with a savory Chinese brown sauce.
Omelets, on the other hand, are made by cooking beaten eggs in a skillet, then folding them over a filling of cheese, vegetables, and preserved meat such as ham. They are thinner in texture and there is no sauce doused on top of regular omelets.
Furthermore, Egg Foo Young is cooked until it is golden brown, with a slightly crispy and puffy exteriors. Omelets are softer, with a moist or creamy interior.
In short, egg foo young is an Americanized version of Chinese-style omelet, similar to shrimp omelet; it’s filled with an assortment of ingredients, seasoned with Chinese seasonings of soy sauce and oyster sauce.
Ingredients
My egg foo young recipe calls for the most basic ingredients as I believe in less is more.
- eggs
- bean sprouts
- ground pork – you want a bit of fat in the ground pork. A good ratio is 80% lean meat and 20% fat.
- shrimp
- Shaoxing wine – you may use Chinese rice wine, Japanese cooking sake, or dry sherry. If you cannot consume alcohol, skip it altogether.
- soy sauce and oyster sauce – two of the most important seasoning sauces in Cantonese cooking.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
How To Make Egg Foo Young
The cooking process consists of four simple steps below:
Step 1. Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat them with a fork. Add the remaining ingredients to the egg mixture and stir well to combine. Ensure that the oyster sauce is fully dissolved in the egg mixture.
Step 2. Heat a wok or pan on high heat. Add the oil. Once the oil is fully heated, ladle the egg mixture into the pan, ensuring that the diameter of the omelet is about 4-5 inches (10cm-12cm) wide.
Step 3. Use a pair of chopsticks to transfer the bean sprouts and other ingredients to the middle of the omelet, making it thicker in the center. Allow the omelet to set for about 3 minutes before flipping it over.
Step 4. Fry the omelet until both sides are golden brown and nicely puffed up. Repeat the process with the remaining egg mixture to make a total of 3 omelets. Serve immediately with steamed rice.
Egg Foo Young Gravy
If you are looking for the Americanized egg foo young gravy recipe, please trust me on this: you do not need the brown sauce. If you are wondering if Chinatown egg foo young is healthy for you, it’s not if you have the sodium-laden and starch-heavy gravy.
The brown sauce is made with chicken broth or stock, seasoned with soy sauce, MSG, and thickened with cornstarch slurry. There is no nutrition in it, and all it does is make the eggs soggy, losing their original crisp texture.
My recipe presents this iconic egg dish in the authentic way, and it’s much healthier and more delicious than your Chinese takeout, I assure you.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is 263 calories per serving.
What To Serve With This Recipe
Eggs pair well with steamed rice. For a wholesome Chinese meal at home, I recommend the following recipes to accompany it.
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for new updates.
Other Egg Recipes You Might Like
Egg Foo Young
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 oz (60g) bean sprouts
- 2 oz (60g) ground pork
- 4 medium-sized shrimp, peeled and cut into small pieces
- 1 scallion, cut into small rings
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine, optional
- 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 pinch sugar
- 3 dashes white pepper
- 3 tablespoons oil
Instructions
- Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat them with a fork. Add the remaining ingredients to the egg mixture and stir well to combine. Ensure that the oyster sauce is fully dissolved in the egg mixture.
- Heat a wok or pan on high heat. Add the oil. Once the oil is fully heated, ladle the egg mixture into the pan, ensuring that the diameter of the omelet is about 4-5 inches (10cm-12cm) wide.
- Use a pair of chopsticks to transfer the bean sprouts and other ingredients to the middle of the omelet, making it thicker in the center. Allow the omelet to set for about 3 minutes before flipping it over.
- Fry the omelet until both sides are golden brown and nicely puffed up. Repeat the process with the remaining egg mixture to make a total of 3 omelets. Serve immediately with steamed rice.
Notes
- You want a bit of fat in the ground pork. A good ratio is 80% lean meat and 20% fat.
- You may use Chinese rice wine, Japanese cooking sake, or dry sherry. If you cannot consume alcohol, skip it altogether.
- Soy sauce and oyster sauce – two of the most important seasoning sauces in Cantonese cooking.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The last time I had egg foo young in a Chinese resturant I got food poisoning, so I only eat egg foo young I make at home and your recipe is my favorite. When I make it for others they rave about it.
Awesome David and you don’t need the brown sauce. :)
Amazing job with this recipe, so easy to follow and delicious!
Mmm, Mmmm, Mmmmm dee-li-shush-niss! I NEVER thought I’d get (at home) Asian food right. Not only is this recipe delicious, it’s also very easy to make.
This was surprisingly, “off the chain good!” And you’re right Rasa, no need for the “brown sauce.” I must admit I like the brown sauce. I like the Cantonese egg foo young I get at the Chinese restaurant here in Humble, TX called Jade Palace (although they used to cook it better than lately). But honestly, I have no need to return to Jade’s…your take is a winner!
Hi Tonitia, thanks for trying my egg foo young recipe. :)
My mom always used a brown gravy she made with molasis water and a few shots of soy sauce
No pork. However shrimp sounds good
Bean sprouts, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts
And eggs
Lay it on a bed of rice. But it was a sweet meal not salty.
The next morning I’d take the leftover rice add milk sugar and cinnamon and make rice pudding.
No point in letting the rice go to waste.
I vote for Brown Sauce and all of its Sodium Laden Goodness..
I also lived in Tanjong Bungah … usual protein in filling was crab, i.e foo young hai, but also had with prawns or chicken.
Hi Brian, but never with sauce!
Like your website. When preparing this Egg Foo Young, which ingredients make up the egg mixture and which are added with chopsticks after the eggs have begun setting-up in the wok/pan? Instructions say this makes 3, so about how much of the egg mixture is used for each one?
You just cook everything all at once. You don’t cook separately for each person.
He is asking home much egg mixture per patty. I use 1/3 of a cup.
when I lived on Penang one of my favourite dishes was crab foo yung; the omelettes were generally made as you described yet there was always a light clear sauce, like maybe a thickened stock or something like japanese dashi, which took the already tasty omelettes to a new level. I still make with the sauce as it seems lacking if without.
Crab foo yung in Penang shouldn’t have any sauce. I have never had any egg dishes with sauce in Penang. Are you sure? All foo yung dishes in Malaysia is dry.
Very sure, and often a little thinner so the omelettes would be stacked similar to pancakes. The sauce was not gluggy or such that the omelettes were drowning in it but translucent and light. Very popular in the restaurants around the northern side of the island from Pulau Tikus to Tanjong Bungah. Our amah also made them this way.
That’s very strange because I live in Tanjung Bungah and Green Lane areas and I have never seen egg foo young with sauce in Penang ever. It might be a different egg dish you are talking about and not Egg Foo Young. Egg Foo Young is never stacked when served in Penang or Malaysia. You can check this link for the egg foo young in Penang. Never a sauce and never stacked up, ever: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS766US766&biw=1334&bih=759&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=O7QBW_OCD8vqjwS14r-4Cg&q=%E8%8A%99%E8%93%89%E8%9B%8Bpenang&oq=%E8%8A%99%E8%93%89%E8%9B%8Bpenang&gs_l=img.3…28760.37486.0.39812.15.15.0.0.0.0.159.1557.8j7.15.0….0…1c.1j4.64.img..1.0.0….0.qI1xMS7N5KY
What type of oil do you use…peanut, vegetable, or sesame…thank you.
Can you give us the recipe you would eat before your
egg foo young became Americanized? Please!