Inspired by the egg foo young I grew up with in Mauritius, these Chinese-style vegan vegetable pancakes are crisp at the edges, tender inside, and made with chickpea flour and sweet potato.
There are meals that come from planning, and then there are meals that appear because life sends you a little more than you expected.
Three bags of sweet potatoes arrived at my door one winter afternoon. I had meant to order three individual sweet potatoes. Instead, I found myself facing a small orange mountain that needed attention. When groceries are ordered online during freezing weather, small surprises happen.
With only two of us at home, I knew I had to use them thoughtfully. Sweet potatoes do not disappear on their own. So, I started folding them into everyday cooking: a spoonful into sauces for body, mashed into bread, stirred into stews. They bring a natural sweetness and help thicken without heaviness.
These savoury vegetable pancakes came from using what was already there.
They are inspired by the Chinese egg foo young I used to eat growing up in Mauritius. That familiar vegetable-packed pancake, pan-fried until lightly crisp around the edges, was a regular sandwich filler during school days.
This version keeps the structure and flavour direction, but replaces the eggs with chickpea flour and adds mashed sweet potato to soften the interior. They are fully plant-based and gluten-free.
At home, savoury pancakes are often a weekend brunch. Adding sweet potato to the batter gives them a tender centre while the outside develops light caramelisation in the pan. The sweetness is subtle and the vegetables remain the focus.
If you find yourself with extra sweet potatoes, this is one way to put them to work.
Why Add Sweet Potato to the Batter?
Sweet potato serves two roles here:
- It adds natural sweetness without sugar.
- It helps create a softer interior texture.
- It contributes body to the batter without extra flour.
The result is a pancake that holds together well, stays moist inside, and crisps along the surface when pan-fried.
Ingredients You’ll Need for Vegan “Egg” Foo Young
- Chickpea flour
- Mashed cooked sweet potato
- Carrot
- Spinach
- Fresh coriander
- Turmeric
- Baking powder
- Water
- Salt
Chickpea flour replaces eggs and gives structure. The vegetables are flexible and can be adjusted based on what you have available.
Vegetable Variations
This recipe is very adaptable. You can substitute or combine:
- Finely shredded cabbage
- Kale, chopped small
- Bok choy
- Scallions
- Bean sprouts
- Shiitake mushrooms, finely sliced or chopped
Keep the total vegetable quantity similar so the batter remains cohesive.
Serving Suggestions
These pancakes work well:
- As a brunch dish with chutney, soy sauce or chilli sauce
- As a light lunch with a side salad
- Cut into wedges for party bites
- Packed into lunchboxes or used as sandwich fillers
They are satisfying without feeling heavy.
Storage and Reheating
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Reheat in a skillet to restore crispness.
- They can be frozen between parchment sheets and reheated directly from frozen in a pan.
Watch the Video
Follow the step-by-step process in the video below.
Chinese-Style Vegan Vegetable Pancakes with Sweet Potato
Ingredients
- 100 g chickpea flour, (1 cup)
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- Salt to taste
- 180 ml water, (3/4 cup), adjust as needed
- 65 g cooked mashed sweet potato, (1/3 cup)
- 180 g carrots, (2 cups), grated
- 100 g fresh spinach, (4 cups), wilted and chopped
- 50 g coriander leaves, cilantro, (1 cup) finely chopped
- Oil for light brushing
Instructions
- If using fresh spinach, wilt it in a skillet over medium heat until reduced. Remove from heat and chop finely.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the chickpea flour, turmeric, baking powder and salt.
- Add the water and whisk until a smooth batter forms with no lumps.
- Stir in the mashed sweet potato until fully incorporated.
- Fold in the grated carrots, chopped spinach and coriander. The batter should be thick and hold the vegetables together. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water only if it feels overly stiff.
- Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and lightly brush with oil.
- Spoon a portion of batter onto the skillet and spread into a thin, round pancake.
- Cook for about 3-5 minutes, or until the underside is golden and lightly crisp.
- Flip and cook for another 3-4 minutes until set and cooked through.
- Flip once more and cook for 1 additional minute to deepen the colour and crisp the surface.
- Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining batter.
Video
Notes
- If your pan is large enough, you may cook more than one pancake at a time.
- For larger pancakes, spread more batter in the pan and cook slightly longer if needed.
- If omitting sweet potato, add 2 to 3 tablespoons additional water to maintain consistency.
- Reheat in a skillet to restore crisp edges.
- Suitable for freezing. Separate with parchment and reheat directly in a pan.
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Awesome recipes.
Hard to find easy, healhy, vegan and gluten free recipes. Gonna try this one. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm glad you like the recipes. I had a look at your blog. You have some nice Mauritian recipes too. 🙂 I cannot seem to find the comment section on your blog though.
I never know what to do with sweet potatoes. I cannot really get into them. But your recipe looks awesome and I'm gonna try it. It's a good way to broaden my horizon:)
Hi there! I'd like to know if I can cook this same recipe without the cooked potato. Should it be the same or will it change drastically? Thanks! And awesome recipe!
Yes, you can make this without the sweet potato. You may need to add a little more water then. Wait until you've added all the vegetables and see if the batter is a little stiff or test by cooking the first pancake and see if you like the texture (then add a few tablespoons of water to the batter if required).
I know this would be right up my street. I'm a recent convert to the joys of sweet potato for sauces (vegan mac and cheese with a sweet potato sauce was a real revelation for me!) and I love veggie fritters and pancakes in all their forms. I'm not sure I'd be overjoyed if three bags of sweet potatoes landed on my doorstep, but if it was an excuse to make these pancakes, I wouldn't complain too hard.
For a long while, I've been having them just baked or steamed on their own, until I started to incorporate them in a few recipes and thought they work well. So yes, it's definitely an ingredient that can be used in a lot of different ways.
Vegan mac and cheese with sweet potato? Wow, I'd love to try this one. I still got a few to use up. Luckily the bags were not extra big. They were about 2kg each but still 6kg of sweet potatoes is quite a lot for me when it's unexpected.
Wow, those are some tasty looking veggie pancakes! Awesome job of using up all the sweet potatoes and in such creative ways. 🙂
Wow, that is one creative dish! I was so surprised when I found you on YouTube, yay! I'm just a lurker, though, since I don't have a YT account. 🙂
It was a good opportunity for me to test out some new recipes too. 🙂
The Youtube Channel is still a rather recent thing. I started a few years ago but then dropped it. But recently I got at it again. Happy lurking! 😀
That looks amazing, they look like 'eggy' pancakes already! What a clever way to use these sweet potatoes…I want to soak them in a saucy chili sauce already!
I can’t wait to try this recipe but can I replace the chickpea flour with rice or oat flour ?
Rice flour will work I think (although I haven’t tried it), it will not be the same taste though. Oat flour might cause the texture to remain too moist or it will take longer to cook, I am guessing this from the plain oat pancakes I sometimes make, they tend to be more moist.
Hi, does the batter store well? Or best to use it all up? Just cooking for two over here! Maybe cook it all and store the pancakes in the fridge? Newbie chef
Lasts for three days safe .
Love your recipes!
I don’t really like cooking but your recipes are so tempting that I always give them a try! Turns out yum! 🙂
Thank you for the amazing recipes!
Regards 🙂
You’re welcome and thank you so much Nilisha. It really pleases me to hear this. If you are on social media, you can send me a little snap of the food you’ve made. I’d be so happy to share it on my social pages. 🙂
Sounds delicious but with what kind of vegetables can we replace the spinach? Thanks for the receipe.
Hi gdo, you can replace the spinach with other greens like kale, bok choy. Or you can use some grated courgette (zucchini). You don’t need to precook the courgette. Just add it with the carrots but make a thicker batter as it will ooze out some liquid as the pancake cooks.
Sounds delicious but with what kind of vegetables can we replace the spinach? Thanks for the recipe.
Looks delicious, do you think a gf flour would work?
It depends on the blend and ratio of starch to flour. I know rice flour with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch works.
Can’t wait to try these! I have a question about your pan: It looks like a non-stick pan (is it?) but what is the size and brand? All my cookware is stainless steel but I would like to get one nice non-stick pan like yours. It seems like it would be very useful.
I don’t remember what brand this pan was. The non-stick has worn out now and I don’t have it anymore. I now use a cast iron pan. When well seasoned regularly, it is non-stick and will last a lifetime if not more. It’s the one that you can see on the side bar at the moment. 🙂
Tried the okra recipe and it was ??? Cant wait to try this one too! Wondering if i can substitute the sweet potato with butternut squash? Thanks!
Thank you for your comment Ashyb. I’m so glad to hear you like the okra recipe 🙂
Butternut squash should be fine in the pancakes. It think it will be a delicious substitute actually. I hope you enjoy them.
Once again, a delicious dish. Thank you so much…..
I love this recipe! I make it 3 or 4 times a week, with some tiny tweaks. I can’t eat chickpea flour anymore, so I swapped in cassava flour (avail. at Amazon and any health food store), which is the only one I’ve found that cooks right. (The nut flours I tried all absorb too much water and don’t hold together well enough for pancakes, imo.) I also lightly sautee a handful of chopped shitakes (any mushroom will do, but I love the shitake texture) and a quarter onion for a few minutes before I throw the spinach on top for wilting. No need to overcook — they’ll finish cooking the rest of the way in the pancakes. No need for more water or flour either. Those ingredients blend in just fine.
The other change I make is cooking with coconut oil. You can cook hotter, so the pancakes get crispy on the outside more consistently. As a result of higher temps, though, by the time I get to end of the batch, I’ve reduced the cooking time to 2 minutes per side. Your mileage will vary, but it’s worth taking a batch or two to experiment. I love that “crispy on the outside, moist on the inside” result, so it’s easy to make them exactly perfect every time.
No kidding, I cook this recipe more than any other I’ve ever found, everywhere. It’s made a huge difference for us, and it’s so, so delicious! It also looks gorgeous, so we regularly serve to guests, too, and they’re as amazed as we are!
I saw it on YouTube and I’ve tried it today but without carrots because I forgot to buy. The taste is a bit bland should I add more salt or is because of the lack of carrots and also I used wheat flour instead of chickplea.
I’ll try it again with complete ingredients. Is there an alternative to chickpea flour? I’ll keep on watching for other recipes. ☺️
Hi Carolyn, the carrots and chickpea flour do make a difference to the taste. It should work fine with wheat flour but it will be more like a regular pancake rather than the crispy texture you’ll get with the chickpea flour. You can also use rice flour or spelt flour but you may need more care with the rice flour as the pancake will tend to break unless you add 1-2 teaspoons of cornstarch to the batter. And of course, you can adjust the salt to your taste. 🙂
Found a link today and made them already. Love love love these. My not so vegan son loved them too! Will be taking them for lunch this week. The sweet potatoes really add the best flavour.
That’s great to hear. Wonderful! 🙂
Wow! These pancakes are really great! I love your recipes! Thank you!
Thank you for the lovely feedback Joshua. 🙂
I lightly oiled the pan but my pancake stuck to the pan. I think I will have to add more oil next time. Mine also came out very lumpy. Do you think I need to just add more water? I did think they were delicious. Thank you
So tasty!!! My entire family loved these including the 20 year olds. You have inspired me in so many ways! I’m still afraid of rolling out dough..ha! But I’ll get to it. Thank you for your beautiful videos and recipes. Your hard work is much appreciated!
I am a new vegan relatively speaking and my son’s mother who was a vegan gave me some of these pancakes to try. I loved them and after getting ur recipe I have had these for breakfast every weekday at work for the last year. I make 2 batches every weekend, divide them up into sandwich baggies and then the freezer. Convenient and a great, tasting breaky ! Thank you !
Is it possible to make these using a different flour (Rice or Oat)? Also, can you bake these to remove traces of oil? Thank you so much–your recipes are wonderful, your utubes calming.
Thank you
You can use rice or oat flour, you may need to adjust the amount of flour needed in this case. You should be able to bake it too if you’re avoiding oil, although it might turn out a little dry. You can also cook it without oil on a good quality non-stick pan. Hope this helps.