Egg Foo Young is a Chinese egg omelette dish made with vegetables like carrots, peas and bell peppers with an easy gravy topping.
We love easy Chinese recipes in our house including Classic Chinese Chow Mein, Chicken Lo Mein and Easy Mongolian Beef and this Egg Foo Young is the perfect, easy recipe to round out your favorite Chinese takeout meal made at home.
Egg Foo Young
Egg Foo Young is sort of the classic leftovers meal made into a restaurant favorite. At our local Chinese restaurant the classic egg version of the dish comes out with a different assortment of ingredients mixed in almost every time we go.
I’ve asked our favorite waiter (who puts up with our circus of a family) why the fillings change and he explained to me that Egg Foo Young is a leftovers recipe and that when they have more or less of certain vegetables they just adjust the filling to what they have.
So if you’re asking yourself what makes this Chinese omelette dish stand out? The fillings, the slight umami flavor from the soy sauce in the mixture and the sesame oil the egg mixture is cooked with. You don’t need a lot of ingredients to take a classic omelette from a breakfast dish to this Chinese restaurant favorite.
Create a free account to Save Recipes
It also seems that the fillings can be regional just as the name is. When I first started recreating the recipe at home I looked up all the fillings and styles of cooking the dish and found there are even name variations for Egg Foo Young (just like Moo Shu Pork) including Egg fooyung, egg foo yong, egg foo yung, and egg fu yung.
Long story short, don’t skip this recipe if you don’t have one of the vegetables in the list. Simply swap it out.
Vegetables used in Egg Foo Young:
- mushrooms
- green onion
- peas
- carrots
- bell pepper
- water chestnuts
- bamboo shoots
- bean sprouts
On top of the wide options of vegetable mix-ins I guarantee your local restaurant has options that aren’t vegetarian. You can mix in any leftover meats you have as well. Just made sure the meat is cooked ahead of time. This dish cooks so quickly raw meat would stay raw by the time the eggs were cooked.
Like This
Like this recipe? Then Like us on Facebook!
Meats used in Egg Foo Young:
- chicken
- Chinese sausage
- roast pork
- shrimp
- beef
- ham
- lobster
Now let’s talk Gravy. I personally am not on team gravy when it comes to Egg Foo Young. But my husband LOVES it. Here’s a classic and beyond easy gravy to add to the top of your dish if you’re team gravy
Egg Foo Young Gravy:
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon dry sherry
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- Add everything to a small sauce pan and whisk well before the liquid heats up.
Cook and whisk until thickened.
Egg Foo Young
Ingredients
- 8 large eggs
- 1/2 yellow onion chopped
- 1/2 cup carrots chunks chopped and steamed
- 1/4 cup green peas
- 1/2 cup green bell pepper chopped
- 1/4 cup bean sprouts cut in half
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil divided
Instructions
-
Add the eggs, onion, mushrooms, bell pepper, bean sprouts and soy sauce together in a bowl and whisk to combine.
-
In a large skillet heat 1 teaspoon of sesame oil at a time for each pancake you cook on medium heat
-
Add about 1/3 cup of mixture per pancake and cook for 3-4 minutes on the first side and 1-2 minutes on the second side.
Recipe Notes
Egg Foo Young Gravy:
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Add everything to a small sauce pan and whisk well before the liquid heats up.
Cook and whisk until thickened.
Hi! I am just starting a low carb diet. Are you certain about the carb count? Is it with the sauce?
If you are on a strict diet, I would suggest using your own calculator for nutritional information. The one in the recipe card is a plug in that calculates based on the ingredient list.
How many does this recipe cook for
This yields 6 servings. Enjoy!
Can I make the gravy without the dry sherry?
Yes, you can substitute with white wine, brandy or dry vermouth. Even vinegars would work although any substitute might adjust the original flavor a bit. Good luck!
I’ll usually mix in a large can of drained albacore tuna to the egg mixture, so easy, super fast and delicious!
Wow I just made Egg Drop Soup in less than 10 minutes! Amazing taste!!!All your recipies are spot on in directions and your comments! Winner!
Thanks, Eileen.
Just proves there is no magic in cooking only magic people who show you how easy it is
Thank you
If you really want to up your gravy game, try 1-2 tbsp of oyster sauce.
Thanks
Can the patties be frozen?
Certainly. You can freeze them after they are cooked for up to a month. Reheat in the oven. Hope this helps!
Great it’s in my grocery shopping list budget
Yay! Love to hear that!
I have always made my egg foo yung with mushrooms. I always precook them so they do not liquify the eggs by going watery. As noted by another comment made this recipe needs seasoning.. 1 grated garlic clove and 1/4-1/2 tsp grated ginger along with black pepper to your taste.
Thanks for the feedback.
Do I have to use sesame oil?
It will greatly change the flavor if you leave it out.
You can always add oyster sauce to the eggs.
I’m trying this recipe for dinner tonight. Just one question, what measurement amount is it for the mushrooms?
I’m so sorry, my final testing of the recipe didn’t include mushrooms and it looks like I forgot to take it out in the instructions portion. Feel free to leave them out too or if you want to use them, inlcude 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms. I just found that they released too much water in the 2nd to last testing that’s why I decided not to use them. Hope this helps!
I am going to try this recipe it looks great. I have been so disappointed with the egg foo young in the south west it is so different than what I grew up with on the north east. The egg foo young in the south west is awfully it has a bread/muffin like consistency without any indication of eggs at all. My husband and I are longing for some good Chinese food.
I hope you enjoy it!
Sabrina,
I tried making your gravy from this recipe. I whisked and cooked this for at least 20min, and it would never thicken. It only turned brown, the color of tea. You instructions kept me wondering! Should it come to a boil, first? How high should the heat be? How long should it take?
Can you give further instructions, on how to cook this gravy?
It sounds like your heat might have been too low. You’ll want to have it over medium heat and it should take about 10 minutes to make. Hope this helps!
If it doesn’t thicken, you can add 1 tsp. of cornstarch and 1 tsp. of water mixed into slurry, then added to the sauce.
This recipe was not too badd in my opinion you need an extra half a cup of bean sprouts, some seasoning added to to egg mixture 1/2t garlic powder and 1/4t ground black pepper. All in all this was a great recipe, tysm for sharing it here.
Egg Foo Young is our FAVORITE! I am definitely going to try this!
I hope you enjoy it Cathy!
Looks like something my kids will love! I can’t wait to give this a try!
Enjoy!
Sabrina, you are my hero(ine)!!! I cannot tell you how long I have been looking for an Egg Foo Young recipe-especially without napa cabbage or bok choy-as it is served in Central GA at EVERY restaurant, as they claim that it “Can’t be made without it” although I grew up without ever having it served with cabbage in the Midwest!!! Anyhoo, I am beyond thrilled to try this recipe “House style”!!!! Thanks SO MUCH for this and all of your fabu recipes!! Will let you know how this turns out!
You just made my day! I hope you enjoy it!
This looks so good! I have to give it a try!
I hope you enjoy it Krista!
Never had this before – will need to try!
It’s fun trying new things! Enjoy!!
This is seriously making me hungry!
I’ve never had egg foo young. I need to make your recipe soon! Love this idea for leftovers!
Amazing job with this recipe, so easy to follow and delicious!
Thanks Amanda!