A guide to pancakes in Asia, from jianbing and pajeon to bánh xèo and hotteok

Long before pancakes were boxed, buttered or stacked, Asia was already cooking batter on hot metal. Wheat travelled along trade routes; griddles existed long before ovens; oil, water and starch were universal tools. What emerged were not “pancakes” in the Western breakfast sense, but practical foods: portable, filling, fast and adaptable to scarcity or celebration. Some were born of war, others of ritual, migration or street-side ingenuity. Many predate the Western flapjack altogether. Pancakes in Asia became canvases for sauces, scraps, sugar, smoke and sound.

What follows is not a taxonomy, but a table spread across Asia: dishes that look unrelated until you notice the shared logic of batter meeting heat, and culture stepping in to finish the job.

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Jianbing (China)

Jianbing is one of the most popular breakfasts in China, widely available from streetside stalls (Image: AI generated via Imagen 3)

Legend traces jianbing back to the Three Kingdoms period, when soldiers cooked batter on heated shields after losing their woks. Today’s version is made from wheat and mung bean flour, spread thin on a griddle and cooked in seconds. An egg is swiped across the surface, followed by hoisin, chilli, scallions, cilantro and a brittle cracker called baocui that snaps when folded. It’s eaten standing, often on the way to work, steam fogging the air around the cart. The pleasure lies in contrast: soft crepe, crisp interior, sauce that stains your fingers.

See more: When texture is the point: how 9 Asian dishes turn contrast into pleasure

Cong you bing (China)

Crispy layers and fragrant scallions define a good cong you bing (Image: AI generated via Imagen 3)

Unlike jianbing, cong you bing starts with dough, not batter, rolled thin, brushed with oil and layered back onto itself. This lamination—fat trapped between flour—creates flaky strata that puff and shatter when fried. Scallions are folded in, not sprinkled, ensuring they perfume every bite. The pancake is cut into wedges and eaten plain or dipped into black vinegar. It’s the same techniques use for flaky pastry, scaled down to a street stall.

Chunbing/ Peking duck pancakes (China)

The chunbing in a Pekind duck dish is a wrapper that exists to disappear (Photo: Polina Tankilevitch / Pexels)

Not top of mind when you think of pancakes in Asia, but these are no doubt some of the most delicious. Chunbing are paper-thin steamed pancakes traditionally eaten to welcome spring, their name literally meaning “spring pancake.” They’re soft, elastic and nearly translucent, designed to cradle slivers of duck, cucumber, scallion and hoisin without tearing. Unlike bread, they contribute no flavour of their own; their job is balance and containment. Historically, biting into them symbolised the first taste of the season. Even now, they function as edible punctuation marks around richness.

Okonomiyaki (Japan)

Japanese okonomiyaki rose from scarcity and necessity (Photo: Roméo A. / Unsplash)

Another one of the most iconic pancakes in Asia, okonomiyaki began as funoyaki, a thin Buddhist sweet, before it thickened over the years. After the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and World War II, rice shortages pushed wheat flour into daily cooking. Cabbage, scraps of meat or seafood, and batter were mixed into a dense pancake cooked on a griddle. The name means “grilled as you like it,” and customisation remains the point. Finished with sauce, mayonnaise, bonito flakes and seaweed powder, it eats like comfort assembled from whatever was available.

Dorayaki (Japan)

Dorayaki pancakes are Japanese desserts with a round, deliberate pause (Photo: Gu Ko / Pexels)

Pancakes in Asia are hardly like the sweet ones in the West, and Japanese dorayaki is one of the few that does tempt the sweet tooth. This dish consists of two small, fluffy pancakes enclosing a filling of sweet red bean paste. Its name comes from dora, or gong, and a folk tale involving a forgotten instrument used as a cooking surface. The pancakes are honeyed and sponge-like, closer to castella than breakfast fare. Dorayaki is eaten slowly, often with tea, and rarely hot. It feels designed for hands, not plates.

Soufflé pancakes (Japan)

Soufflé pancakes are engineered upward (Photo: Matthew Michael / Unsplash)

Soufflé pancakes emerged in the 2010s, made possible by stiff meringue folded into batter and cooked in molds. They rise dramatically, trembling when touched, their interiors closer to custard than crumb. This pursuit offuwa fuwa—maximum softness—is a throughline in Japanese food culture. One of the trendiest pancakes in Asia, they’re served plain or lightly dressed, often timed for the moment they’re tallest. Collapse is inevitable, and part of the experience.

Hotteok (Korea)

Hotteok, Korea’s adopted pancake, reengineered for cold streets and sweet cravings. (Photo: eunyoung LEE / Pixabay)

Hotteok arrived in Korea in the late 19th century with Chinese merchants, originally closer to the savoury xian bing than the sugar bomb it would become. Koreans adapted it quickly, swapping meat fillings for brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped nuts, turning it into something unmistakably local. The dough is yeasted and soft, pressed flat on a griddle until the filling melts into a molten centre that threatens to spill at first bite. Street vendors use metal presses, flipping the pancake with practised impatience as steam escapes through cracks in the crust. Hotteok is eaten standing up, hands sticky, heat radiating through the paper sleeve—winter food that announces itself before you even see it.

Pajeon (Korea)

Pajeon are wide, crackling pancakes from Korea designed for bad weather and good company (Photo: Sharphyun / Wikimedia Commons)

Pajeon is built from batter, scallions laid across the pan like scaffolding, anchoring seafood or pork in place as the mixture sets. It’s less about fluff than surface area: wide, thin and fried until the edges crisp while the center stays tender. Traditionally paired with makgeolli, it’s associated with rainy days, when the hiss of oil on the griddle echoes the sound of water hitting pavement. The pairing isn’t poetic so much as practical—fat, starch and mild alcohol working together. Pajeon is shared, torn rather than sliced, its informality part of the appeal.

Gamjajeon (Korea)

Gamjajeon is a study in restraint, powered entirely by potato starch (Image: AI generated via Imagen 3)

Gamjajeon uses no flour at all, relying instead on the starch released from grated potatoes. The liquid is drained, then reincorporated, a small act of thrift that produces a pancake both crisp and elastic. Cooked slowly in oil, it develops a pale, almost lace-like crust that shatters lightly at the edges. This is mountain food—born in regions where wheat was scarce and potatoes reliable. It’s eaten hot, often with nothing more than salt or a light soy dip.

Apam balik (Malaysia/Singapore)

Apam balik is a folded pancake that favors abundance over delicacy (Image: AI generated via Imagen 3)

Apam balik is thick and spongy, closer to a griddle cake than a crepe, folded over itself like a filled omelet. Introduced to Southeast Asia by Hokkien immigrants, it evolved into something more generous—stuffed with crushed peanuts, sugar, and sometimes sweet corn. The exterior browns lightly, while the interior stays airy, collapsing slightly as it cools. Vendors fold it quickly, slice it into wedges, and hand it over still steaming. It’s portable, filling, and unmistakably designed for eating on the move.

Banh xeo (Vietnam)

Vietnamese bánh xèo is a pancake designed to be dismantled, not devoured (Photo: 1900mmc/Pixabay)

Bánh xèo announces itself by sound first—the batter hitting the pan with a sharp sizzle that gives the dish its name. Made from rice flour and turmeric, it spreads thin, turning yellow and brittle as pork, shrimp and bean sprouts cook inside. Despite its size, it’s never meant to be eaten whole; pieces are torn off and wrapped in lettuce with herbs before being dipped in fish sauce. The pancake is only one component in a larger choreography of crunch, bitterness and acid. It’s communal food, assembled bite by bite, never rushed.

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