Pajeon Recipe (Easy Korean Scallion Pancake): Seafood, Vegetable or Kimchi

Pajeon is a popular Korean pancake that is easy to make and is a crowd-pleaser with many different toppings. It reminds us of being wrapped in a fuzzy blanket on a cold, rainy day. It is also a yummy side dish for home meals like Kimchi ramen and Korean BBQ. 

Our easy Korean scallion pancake recipe will show you how to make pajeon using green onions, vegetables, kimchi, or seafood. It's also the perfect dish if you have too many green onions in the fridge.

We've tried to keep the ingredients as simple as possible, so there's no need to shop to find them.

Jump to:

• What Is Pajeon? 
• What Is Korean Pancake Mix Made Of?
• Pajeon Ingredients
• How To Make Pajeon Batter
• How to Fry Crispy Korean Scallion Pancakes
• Pajeon Dipping Sauce
• Pajeon Recipe (Easy Korean Scallion Pancakes)
• Crispy Pajeon Cooking Tips 
• How to store
• Frozen Korean Scallion Pancakes
• Korean Scallion Pancake Variations
• Gluten-Free Korean Scallion Pancakes
• Korean Scallion Pancake Calories

What Is Pajeon? 

Pajeon is a pan-fried Korean pancake with scallions. "Pa" stands for scallion, and "Jeon" means pancake in Korean. So, pajeon literally translates to scallion pancake, and the standard pajeon pronunciation is "pajun". 

It is easy to recognise this dish because of the visible scallions on the pancake. The pancake is generally round and looks like a fried pizza. Some say it resembles the Chinese scallion pancake, Cong You Bing (葱油饼). However, the difference is that the Korean version is less dense and doughy.

Unlike most Korean dishes, the Korean pancake is not spicy or garlicky. Instead, it is savoury and toasty. It also smells and tastes similar to a fried egg. Texture-wise, this Korean dish is crispy along the edges yet soft and chewy in the centre. 

What Is Korean Pancake Mix Made Of?

Korean pancake mix typically consists of wheat flour, corn starch, rice flour, and baking powder. It also contains different flour and seasonings, such as garlic, corn, and pepper. This mix is known as buchimgaru.

Our recipe will show you how to make pajeon from scratch. The pancake batter will use simple ingredients like all-purpose flour, cornstarch, egg, garlic and onion powder, salt, sugar and cold water. So you don't have to go to buy a unique pancake mix. Use what's already in your pantry. Making it from scratch allows you to adjust the batter according to your preference. However, you can save time and make a foolproof recipe with a premade mix. Plus, it is a safe choice when you want to create an authentic Korean pancake.

Pajeon Ingredients

Our easy pajeon recipe does not require complicated ingredients. Here are the pajeon ingredients you will need.

• All-purpose flour
• Corn starch
• Medium-sized egg, lightly beaten.
• Garlic powder and onion powder
• Green onions or spring onions
• Vegetable oil
• Sugar
• Salt 
• Cold water

Corn starch is commonly combined with flour to make Korean pancakes crispy. However, you can also use potato starch if you don't have corn starch. 

We like to add garlic powder and onion powder to the batter to give more umami to the pancakes.

Some recipes recommend using a seltzer or a fizzy soda, but cold water makes the pancakes slightly crispier.

How To Make Pajeon Batter

Korean pancake mix is essential to creating a chewy and crispy pajeon texture. Our recipe below makes 2 medium-sized pajeons, each around 9 inches in diameter.

1. Make the pancake batter by combining the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, cornstarch, sugar, salt, onion powder, and garlic powder. Mix well. 
2. Then, add the lightly beaten egg and cold water to the centre well of the dry mix. Combine well until there are no more clumps. 
3. We recommend transferring the pancake batter into a pouring jar to make spreading the pancake batter on the pan easier. This is a trick to keep it thin and, hence, crispy.

This batter is a staple in Korean homes and makes many pancake-like dishes. Koreans combine buchimgaru with twigimgaru (frying mix) to make crispier pancakes. The ratio for this would be 1:1.

How to Fry Crispy Korean Scallion Pancakes

1. Turn on the stove to medium heat and pour oil into the pan. Once it's hot, swirl the oil around the pan to ensure it covers the whole pan.
2. Once the oil is hot, spread the green onions across the pan, ensuring none are stacked, and one layer of green onions is formed.
3. Pour the batter over the green onions across the pan. You want to pour just enough batter to keep the pancake thin. Avoid overpouring; otherwise, the pancake will turn out thick. 
4. Fry the pancake over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until the underside turns golden brown. One way to tell if it's crispy is to look at the edge.
5. Once the underside is ready, remove the pancake from the pan and put it on the side. Use two spatulas, if you need to, to avoid the pancake from breaking. 
6. Quickly add oil to the pan and swirl it around. Once the oil is hot, flip the pancake upside down and fry it back on the pan. It's easier to flip the pancakes using two spatulas. 
7. Fry the pajeon for another 4-5 minutes under medium heat. Sometimes, air bubbles get trapped under the pancake, causing it to not cook evenly on the underside. Use your spatula to press on the pancake to flatten it and help it cook evenly.
8. Once both sides are fried till golden brown, remove the pancake and place it on a cutting board. Cut it into bite-sized squares and serve while it's still hot.

Pajeon Dipping Sauce

Preparing the dipping sauce is very simple. You can prepare and set it aside before cooking your pancakes.

The ingredients to make pajeon dipping sauce are:

• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of Gochugaru
• 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame seeds
• Some chopped green onions

You can also use white vinegar or apple cider vinegar instead of rice vinegar. Gochugaru or Korean red pepper flakes give your dipping sauce a kick, but they're optional.

How to make the dipping sauce:

1. First, pour all the ingredients into a bowl.
2. Set it aside and mix it once you're ready to enjoy your pancake.

Crispy Pajeon Cooking Tips 

We use a 9-inch-diameter pan to make our pajeon. Our recipe below makes 2 medium-sized pajeon. If you need to figure out how big your pajeon should be, we recommend making smaller pancakes first.

Trying to make one large pancake is more difficult because it tends to be thicker in the middle and less crispy, and flipping one big pancake would be quite the challenge for beginners.

Use plenty of oil for frying to make the pancake extra crispy. Adjust the heat level accordingly when cooking the pancake. We use medium heat for our stove, and our pancakes turn golden brown close to the 5-minute mark. Always ensure the heat is not too high since the pancake can quickly burn. The cooking temperature should also not be too low because the pancake can get oily and soggy. 

Press down the pancake using a spatula to make it crispy. Use it to make some gaps in between the scallions when frying. You will know that the green onions are cooked once steam comes up from the cracks. 

We recommend using a big spatula or two spatulas to flip the pancake over. Fry the pancake until it turns golden brown and the vegetables are lightly charred on each side. 

Batter

Use cold water to make the pancake batter. You can also add ice cubes to keep the batter cold.

Add sparkling water instead of flat water to make your pancake batter crispier. However, note that this will also make your batter thicker. Hence, the sparkling water batter will spread slowly on the pan.

Transfer the batter into a pouring jar so you can easily pour it onto the pan later. This gives you better control over thinly spreading the batter on the pan.

How to store

You can keep the pancake ingredients separately in an airtight container. The Korean pancakes can be refrigerated for up to two days before cooking.

Prepare the dipping sauce in advance to enjoy fresh and crispy pajeon right after cooking them.

Frozen Korean Scallion Pancakes

If you have leftover cooked Korean pancakes, you can refrigerate or freeze them. Frozen scallion pancakes can usually last for up to 3 months. Keep them in a Ziploc bag and place wax paper between each slice. This will keep the pancakes from sticking to each other. 

However, we don't like freezing them, nor do we recommend it. When you reheat them, the green onions will become soggy and not fresh. We strongly suggest finishing them once you cook them.

Place them onto a non-stick pan to reheat and heat both sides over medium-low heat. You want to avoid charring the cooked pajeon. This is the best way to reheat the pancakes and maintain their crispiness. Alternatively, you can also reheat them using an air fryer or oven to make them crispy again. 

We don't recommend microwaving them, though. It will make the pancakes soggy.

Korean Scallion Pancake Variations

The pancake batter ingredients and scallions are basically all you need to make pajeon. But there's no harm in throwing in other ingredients to make the dish. This Korean dish also comes in many variations. 

Vegetable

We love sticking to the basics and letting the green onion flavour shine for our vegetable pajeon recipe. Typical ingredients are mushrooms, carrots, bell peppers, and onions.

Adding ingredients like carrots and onions will make it closer to the Japanese kakiage or the Malaysian cucur sayur. However, it is incredibly forgiving, so you can throw in whatever vegetable. Koreans love it because it is super easy and quick to prepare. 

Pajeon Kimchi

As the name suggests, this riff of the Korean pancake has kimchi in it. Due to that, it is usually red and spicier than other variations. Moreover, it is popular among Koreans since it goes well with rice as a side dish. Furthermore, it is the perfect dish when unsure what to do with leftover kimchi.

Use well-fermented sour kimchi for the best-tasting Kimchi pajeon. We also highly recommend using all the kimchi juice you can get when preparing the batter. It will give the batter a distinct flavour and a nice orange-red colour. 

Pajeon Seafood

This version is called Haemul Pajeon. "Haemul" means seafood in Korean, so it contains seafood. It usually includes a selection of seafood like squid, shrimp, and clams. Koreans love this version of scallion pancake as it goes well with alcohol like makgeolli.

Oyster Pajeon

This Korean pancake is a bit plumper because of the juicy oysters. It is very common in Korea since oysters are cheap. It is also particularly popular in the fall and winter since oysters are the most common.

In this recipe, we will guide you on how to make pajeon with scallions. However, our easy pajeon recipe will allow you to try other additional toppings you want.

Gluten-Free Korean Scallion Pancakes

You can make the dish gluten-free by using rice flour instead of the regular flour. The amount used for the gluten-free version is the same as regular flour. Therefore, 1 cup of regular flour equals 1 cup of gluten-free flour.

Use a 1 to 1 ratio. However, from our experience, it won't turn out as soft in the centre and will be slightly harder than our regular version, as rice flour hardens when fried.

You can also make the pancake mix with rice flour, buckwheat flour, and corn or potato starch. Combining it with rice flour and cornstarch will make the pancake as crispy as the regular version.

Korean Scallion Pancake Calories

Korean scallion pancake contains 300-450 calories, depending on the pancake size. It is quite calorific despite it being served as a light snack or side dish. Therefore, we recommend consuming it only occasionally, although this greasy goodness can be very tempting.

Nowadays, pancakes are a typical side dish to any Korean meal. However, most Koreans also enjoy them as a rainy-day snack with beer, soju (Korean liquor), or makgeolli (rice wine). Hence, this Korean dish is also known as anju, a.k.a. food that pairs well with alcohol. You can find this pancake in many Korean restaurants, but it is also effortless to make at home, as we've shown you.

We look forward to seeing your delicious Korean scallion pancakes. Snap a photo and share it with us by tagging @honestfoodtalks on Instagram. Remember to follow.