What is Egg Foo Young?
Egg Foo Young is a Chinese-style omelet filled with ground pork and various vegetables. Egg Foo Young (sometimes misspelled as “egg foo yung”) is a staple in American Chinese food. In this recipe tutorial, you will learn how to make an authentic version of this popular egg dish.
A long time ago, when I first set my foot on the US soil for higher education, I went straight to the middle America. I flew from Malaysia and arrived in the state of Iowa. After touching down, I went straight to a Chinese restaurant and the first dish I order was Egg Foo Young.
When the dish came, I was shocked to find out that the Egg Foo Young in the America was puffy and doused in a thick brown sauce. There was a thick filling of vegetables inside the eggs. The taste was very bland and unappetizing. That was my first (sad) encounter with American Chinese food.
How to Make Egg Foo Young
Despite my horrible experience, many people love this egg dish. So I developed this Egg Foo Young recipe. I filled the omelet with ground pork, shrimp and bean sprouts. I combined the seasonings with the eggs, so there is no brown sauce on top of the eggs.
Egg Foo Young Gravy
If you are looking for the Americanized egg foo young with the brown gravy, please trust me on this. You do not need the gravy sauce. If you are wondering if egg foo young is healthy for you, it’s not if you have the sodium-laden and starch-heavy gravy. My recipe is healthier and delicious, I assure you.
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Mary Gallagher
You don’t say if the pork and shrimp are already cooked before adding to the omelet. I am assuming so.
Rasa Malaysia
Raw pork and shrimp. They will be cooked when you make the omelet.
Sherry
This looks delicious… I love how your recipes take me back to when my mom used to make me authentic Filipino dishes. I like Chinese but I always feel that the Chinese in the restaurants isn’t truly authentic…
I would love to see your take on authentic Egg Foo Yung. :) I would try both this one and the more authentic one! And to be honest, I was never too huge on the gravy, either. It just gets too rich at that point.
Kim
Thanks for your recipe. I have been wanting to cook Egg Foo Yong but did not bother to search the website for the recipe. I have tried it before at one of the restaurants in Johore many years ago and liked it very much. Now that I am in Texas, I have to learn how to cook and I will definitely cook this!
janmaus
Depending on where you live in Texas, you may have wonderful Chinese food or dreadful. I spent many years in Austin where there are quite a few excellent ones.
My first experience with egg foo yung was actually with a LaChoy cooking kit when I was a teen–decades ago–and it turned out more like yours (if made with canned veggies) than the photo of the bad one. Thanks for posting–I had forgotten how much I enjoy a really good egg fu yung!! it’s a terrific dish for a fast and easy supper. I like mushrooms in mine, too.
Ps–grew up in Iowa, but the Chinese restaurants there weren’t quite as awful as those in NC.
Debra
Ooh, looks delicious. I like that you cut out the unnecessary parts! Look forward to trying this out.
Rasa Malaysia
LOL. It’s actually good, I like this egg foo young.
Mark Olberding
I generally love your recipes and this one is no exception. One question I have to ask; what city in Iowa? I live in Iowa and am just curious.
Rasa Malaysia
Sioux City. King Sea restaurant. Is it still there?
Mark Olberding
No idea. I am 3 hours away from Sioux City. A quick web search shows it is not.
John
http://www.newkingsea.com/menu.html
IF that’s the place, its still there.
Jayne
oooh… I winced a little hearing about your experience. It’s a sacrilege to douse the eggs with gloopy brown sauce! I much prefer the Malaysian version. Fresh and fragrant without the need to boost flavours up with suspicious additions.
Rasa Malaysia
Agreed.
Lisa
Oh gawd! I dream iof the brown sauce made at Lim’s Cafe in Redding CA! I grew up with it, and although I’ve tried other “Chinese” Americanized recipes, the only place that sauce was perfect was Lim’s. If I had $$ I would take a helicopter and fly just to eat there again. The egg foo young was thin and crispy, savory brown gravy on top, sprinkled with chopped green onions. I looked up this just to find out about the secret gravy. And I know how to make gravy. So, I guess I will try some beef broth and soy sauce, and test it out. I promise it was not brown gloop.
Rasa Malaysia
Great good luck. I just don’t think we even need the brown sauce!
Lisa
Hey! The first time I enjoyed egg foo young was at Lim’s in Redding too! I did love the sauce but this looks really good and easy so I’ll give it a try. It’s my boyfriends fav and he converted me to liking it. Next time I go to Lim’s I’ll try to find out how they make it. Heehee. Happy I can make it at home now!
Lisa
I tried to give 5 stars but it posted 4
Simpson Wong
Here is my Egg Foo Yong.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/12/19/dining/20121219-BESTOFDISHES-5.html
kgompper
Now you have me curious about the sauce. I was raised on the CA west coast by a little bit of a foodie mom. I don’t ever remember any brown sauce or gravies ever, except on Thanksgiving. Maybe brown sauces are more common elsewhere but to me ‘brown sauce’ is English. I wonder if it found its way onto the top of egg foo young while in England. Or maybe Hawaii. You ever have Plate Lunch on the islands?
AnakMalaysia
Greeting from Malaysia ….
Thank you for the recipe
Instead of ground pork, I always use roast pork (char siew), cut in julienne strips. I also add some red chili , also cut in julienne strips for presentation.
Rasa Malaysia
Yes, that’s a great idea.
Lin
That is so strange the British version of egg foo young looks more like scrambled egg and you wouldn’t find it with brown gravy or sauce in any restaurant or takeaway here. How interesting that in different countries, cooking style is so different and unique. Egg foo young is also very popular here in the uk :)
David carlson
We made this the day you posted – it is the best egg foo young ever.
Rasa Malaysia
Thank you David. And you don’t need the brown sauce. :)
David Carlson
If you use a frying pan, use a small one 4 inch or so works well. If you make this to thin it gets dry and not as tasty. Moist is good, dry, well, then you need brown sauce
Dorach
I woke up that morning u posted this recipe, wondering what to cook for dinner. I checked my email & thankfully there is an e-mail from Rasa Malaysia abt egg foo yong. I had all the ingredients in my fridge. This is yummy & easy & wholesome. My family likes it, and that makes me happy :-)
Not sure if there is gravy in egg foo yong in NZ. Never ordered this at restaurants.
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Dorach, so great that you love the recipe.
Wendy
I just searched for egg foo young, I too dislike the brown gravy. I missed the way my grandma used to make them when I was growing up in Hawaii. This recipe is very similar (without the crazy stuff added, that’s what fried rice is for!).
I do however may be able to shed some light for you about the brown gravy addition… In Hawaii, there are a mixture of cultures as you know, and ‘plate food’ or ‘truck food’ as you know is always loaded with calories, rarely paletable, but filling! Much of the plantation food was created this way and then later translated to ‘plate’. This part of the history I know for sure.. the part I dont know and will guess is this: how it got to the mainland is a mystery. Hawaii became a state in 1959 and with it came a lot of marketing, political turmoil and tourism. The other guess, before statehood, (from my CA history, WA history and HI history classes).. the trade routes between all three states dates back to the early 1800’s, not just commodities, but humans got around this way also, including what they chose to eat.
Trish Butler
I love egg foo young and no one makes it right. Yours looks like the right one. I can’t wait to try it. A lot of times it’s served with a gravy. Do you have a recipe that would go with this dish? I thank you for your time and talent.
Rasa Malaysia
You don’t need the gravy, it shouldn’t have gravy to begin with.
Russ Pichlik
My introduction to egg foo young happened about sixty-five years ago in Chicagoland. The venue was a small mom and pop take out restaurant in the suburbs. On a Saturday after shopping for groceries and such(mom didn’t drive a car)a quick meal would be something from the takeout restaurant. Egg foo young was my favorite. And sorry to say to you, brown gravy was included and relished. Makes little difference to me whether you call it Chinese or whatever. It was just right for me. Perhaps being a purist appeals to some, but frankly what appeals to me is food which satisfies my tastebuds regardless of what trademark you wish to attach to it!!!!! Carry on!
Michele Simpson
I tried this recipe and even my two picky children loved it. My son asked for more! Thanks for posting this, it is so flavorful and juicy, it was a great hit at our house.
Brandy
How do you make it fluffy? Mine is kind of runny, not fluffy like the pic. Love it from the resturant as its fluffy mine was flat
Rasa Malaysia
Use the spatula to spread the egg mixture towards the middle so it’s thick and not flat. Use a smaller round pan will help so there is no chance for the egg mixture to spread.
Brandy
Thank you
I’ll try that
Apells
I just made this (the egg part, I had leftovers for the veg and protein), and it is fabulous. I’ve never liked the weird brown sauce this comes with, and these eggs would be insulted if I topped them with it. Thank you!
C.B. Teng
Hi! I was looking for the recipe “Foo Yong Prawns or Crabmeat” and I noticed that the net doesn’t give me the recipe that I have in mind.. What the recipes have here are deep fried foo yong.. Mine is more on the vegetable version and the ingredients are more in terms of vegetables.. I was disappointed that I couldn’t find the one that I know of which I cooked quite often when I was still living in Penang..
thanks for your recipe though.. I just hope I can find what I was looking for…
Keith
Thanks for the recipe..
Grew up with Egg Foo young with gravy in Hawaii and can find it in many restaurants in Hawaii and California with the gravy. The gravy is just chicken broth, shoyu and slurry of corn starch and water. It’s easier if the pork and shrimp are cooked and mixed in with the vegetables. Of course there are many ways to make this.
Nishi
I have to have gravy with egg foo young. But not the cornstarch based sauce stuff–it has to be made with a roux and using stock made with pork and chicken bones that has been simmering for hours.
urbanus
I spent my teens living on Penang and can honestly say I never ate anything resembling most american-chinese food. In fact I never even heard of some dishes until I visited the USA. Anyhow, egg foo yung is a case in point; as you note what we ate on Penang is nothing like the stodge served up in the USA. The dish was always served with sauce and never on rice. The sauce should be very light and tasty to enhance but not smother the dish; I thought it was made by diluting oyster sauce with a little stock, maybe some rice wine or water.
Your posts bring back great memories of the place I still consider home away from home. I used to regularly enjoy a feed of crab foo yung, or foo yung hai, and occasionally oyster omelette (this was one dish that was usually made better in Singapore). Maybe you could have a crack at these? Other egg dishes I used to like were egg sambal and chilli crab (best from Nibong Tibal village on the mainland) … awesome.
Stuart
I love your website! When preparing the Egg Foo Young, which ingredients go into the egg mixture and which are added after the eggs have begun setting-up in the wok/pan? Thanks very much!
Ed
Tasty looking recipe but I will be using the sauce……..very similar to the type on Broccoli Beef…..and not SMOTHERED. I think the “smothered” is a bit of an exaggeration.
Liz
Nice recipe. Thanks so much
Adeline
Hi! I’m totally new to cooking stuff, so excuse me if this is a very simple question but:
I have one of those induction cookers with a billion temperature settings. For Asian/Chinese cooking, what temperature range should I be cooking in? I tried this dish out – the first one was too hot and it got charred, the second didn’t look as nicely browned as the one in the picture, though it tasted good.
Thanks!
Rasa Malaysia
Sorry but I am not familiar with induction cookers.
k mommy
Hi Bee, I saw in the picture that it looks like you add some spring onions, is this correct? Thanks. PS: I love your recipes, I have tried many of them for my family and they love it!
Rasa Malaysia
Yes. Thanks. :)
lisa
This Egg Foo Young recipe was a total hit for my family, even the kids!! This is a keeper, “Thank you” for posting this recipe. I can’t wait to try your other recipes.
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks Lisa.
shimi
I am loving the recipes you have been posting lately! Reading my mind about the foods I miss from Singapore. This egg foo young recipe is awesome. I’m not a big fan of pork however. What else could I sub in for the ground pork?
Rasa Malaysia
Ground chicken.
Camille
Shrimp egg foo yung is my absolute favorite. But I have to admit I love the peanut oil gravy that comes with it (not the dark brown sauce). Do you happen to have a recipe for the peanut gravy? If so please share it because only a few restaurants serve that way thanks.
Wyguy
What a great egg foo young. Thank you Bee.
phil
Hi
I precooked the onions, mushrooms and shrimps first…….and then added mixed veg (frozen and diced)
do you mix all the liquids / oils together with the eggs ?
i did and although the mixture looked darker it seemed to work
Rasa Malaysia
Yes everything is mixed together.
Melissa Adams
Just had to tell my story. First though, yes, king sea is still there. It is downtown. My hubby grew up in Sioux City and I grew up in Storm Lake, IA.
I haven’t tried your recipe yet but sounds delicious. There was a “Chinese” restaurant in Yankton, SD. OMG I loved their Egg Foo Yung! BUT, they were small and fairly thin and had a thin, dark dipping sauce you could use or not. I have never been able to duplicate it, nor found a recipe similar.
Anyway, While in Rochester, MN (Mayo Clinic) hubby took me out for my favorite. (Egg Foo Yung. What I was served was what looked like a huge steaming plate of runny cow poop! An inch of bitter yet tasteless cloudy brown goo over a rubber tire with raw veggies and bean sprouts. Disgusting!!
Your recipe sounds delicious. It will be my first attempt at even eating Egg Foo Yung since that unfortunate instance. SO HAPPY THAT I FOUND YOUR SITE!!!!
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Melissa, thanks for your comment. If you go to King Sea again, please say hi to the owner from Malaysia for me. :)
Melissa Adams
Would you please correct the recipe and tell us which ingredients to mix with the eggs and which to add after they start to set? I’m guessing the sugar and the liquids go with the eggs and the vegetables and meat after. Is this right?
Thea Pappalardo
In my opinion, egg foo young without gravy is like spaghetti and meatballs without sauce.
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Thea, egg foo young is not supposed to have sauce to begin with, I mean the real egg foo young. The thing about spaghetti without the sauce is that it’s not edible. But egg foo young without sauce is edible and actually SO MUCH better, as the flavors are already inside the eggs.
Jim
Ive always liked a brown gravy made with oyster sauce wit my egg foo yung.
kc
Is there any substitution for shaoxing wine?..I cannot find 1 in AK. Thanks! :)
Rasa Malaysia
You can skip it.
gloria kourounis
I have loved egg fu yong since i was a teenager but never tried to make it. I will be making it this week according to your recipe and I’m sure it will turn out just great.
I am of hispanic origin and cannot get the ingredients i need to make the food of my country here in Greece. So, since I have no problem getting chinese food ingredients here in Greece, I have decided to cook Chinese recipies! I will let you know how the egg fu yong turns out. Thx, GK
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks Gloria I hope you like it.
Vlad
I keep coming back to your Egg Foo Young recipe. It is so easy and tasty.
I have found if I drop the ground meat into the oiled wok for a quick fry to help crumble it just barely, toss in the vegetables, and pour the egg on top. Seems to dent the heat and prevent the eggs from browning too quick.
Sauce? On rare occasion a touch of hoisin, nothing more.
Rasa Malaysia
Great that you are enjoying my egg foo young recipe!
Lillian
Egg foo yung
It’s never left for me. I’ve had bad one and good ones and this recipe looks real good
So don’t say it making a come back when it’s never left
Ellie
It doesn’t say how to make the gravy, I always have problems with making gravy
Rasa Malaysia
My egg foo young doesn’t have any gravy. You don’t need the gravy. This is better without it.
Manhattan Elite
In America the Egg Foo Young is Defined by the Delicious brown gravy! Of course the dish itself must be well made but also As well made as the brown gravy. Yes this is Not Malaysia! And This is how we do it And like it in America. Especially us folks who were raised in New York in and around China Town. Foodies will most likely be people here you will be corrected by, again… And agai
Rasa Malaysia
I beg to differ. The brown sauce doesn’t add any taste to the egg foo young, instead it kills the dish. Why don’t you try my egg foo young recipe and tell me that if you indeed need the brown sauce?
Carmen
Manhattan Elite, you come off as rather rude. You do not speak for all Americans, and to insult the author”s recipe without trying it? I was born and raised in Chicago, and am quite familiar with egg food young – it is one of my favorite dishes – and always specifically order it WITHOUT GRAVY. I HATE THE GRAVY personally. Remember to each his on her own, and why not have an open mind and try new things? And for the record, this recipe is exactly what I was looking for and delicious!!!!
Ellen
I must take your word for the sorry egg foo young you had in Iowa, but I’ve never had any that had flour or starch in the egg mixture. Seems to me it’s referred to as a “pancake” because the little omelet is shaped like a pancake rather than the traditional omelet Americans are used to. Just eggs with mostly bean sprouts and scallions has been my experience. With, of course, the brown sauce. Americans do love some sauce to put on their rice!
Alta
Hi, I lived in Chicago and now live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We have excellent egg foo young in several places here. I usually get the “house” specialty that has both shrimp and pork, and when I make it myself I use both. Actually, I like a good brown gravy on mine but this is the way I learned to eat it in China Town in Chicago. I know which place to buy good egg foo young. Most of the owners of Chinese Rest. here are actually Vietnamese so I make certain I eat at one owned and run by Chinese, it makes a difference. My favorite food is Filipino and I cook an excellent adobo, pansit & lumpia. Thank you for the egg foo young recipe as I am sharing it.
Kalpana
Hello ! Thank you for sharing egg foo young recipe. I tried this and my family was so impressed . Any easy recipes for making banana pancakes ? Thanks and waiting for hear back .
Jude
I have to have the recipe for the sauce for egg foo young??? Love that sauce.
thank you
jg
Kathy
Can you give us the recipe you would eat before your
egg foo young became Americanized? Please!
Mark I
What type of oil do you use…peanut, vegetable, or sesame…thank you.
Brian Farside
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.
Rasa Malaysia
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.
Brian Farside
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.
Rasa Malaysia
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
Jerry
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?
Rasa Malaysia
You just cook everything all at once. You don’t cook separately for each person.
Brian Farside
I also lived in Tanjong Bungah … usual protein in filling was crab, i.e foo young hai, but also had with prawns or chicken.
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Brian, but never with sauce!
VegasDude
I vote for Brown Sauce and all of its Sodium Laden Goodness..
Bobbg
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.