Jianbing - Chinese Breakfast Crepes (Without Mung Bean Flour)

a jianbing (chinese breakfast crepe) on a wooden board

Jianbing - Chinese Breakfast Crepes (Without Mung Bean Flour)

5 from 10 votes

Jianbing is one of the most popular Chinese street food breakfasts. You will love the various layers of flavors and textures! The crepes are cooked with an egg layer and filled with sweet bean sauce, coriander, some crispy bacon, a hot dog sausage, cheddar, lettuce, and a crunchy fried wonton cracker. It's the perfect breakfast to fill you until lunchtime!

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: Chinese

Yield: jianbing

Calories: 521kcal

Author: Emma Choi

Prep Time: 30

Active Time: 10

Total Time: 40

Equipment

Non-stick frying pan (10-11” / 26-28 cm)
Spatula
Basting brush

Ingredients

Filling

4 eggs
4 hot dog sausages
4 tbsp sweet bean sauce | or hoisin sauce
lettuce
4 cheddar slice
8 bacon slices
4 wonton cracker squares
coriander
1 tbsp black sesame seeds

Batter

100 g all-purpose flour (Note 2)
300 ml water
salt
cooking oil

US - M

Instructions

Fry the wonton crackers - Take one wonton wrapper and wet one side with water. Superpose another wonton wrapper so that they stick together. Slice the wonton wrapper into two equal parts. In a fryer or in a pan, heat the oil to 180°C/350°F, and fry the wontons for about a minute or until golden brown. Remove from the oil and let them cool on a paper towel.
Cook the bacon - In a pan, cook the bacon slices on both sides until they get crispy.
Cook the hot dog sausages - Use the same pan to cook the hot dog sausages (about 2 minutes over medium heat)
Make the batter - In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt and water.
Cook the crepes - Heat up a pan over medium heat and use a paper towel to wipe the pan with a generous amount of oil. Pour ¼ of the batter and let it cook until the crepe has set (Note 1).
Crack one egg on top. Using the back of a tablespoon, break the egg and spread it all over the crepe. Sprinkle some black sesame seeds.
Once the egg looks cooked, carefully flip the crepe over.
Assemble - In the middle of the crepe, add a handful of coriander. Lay the cheddar slice (cut in half) on top. Once the cheese has melted, transfer the crepe to a plate.
Add the rest of the fillings: bacon slices (x2), hot dog sausages, fried wonton cracker and lettuce.
Fold one side of the crepe, then fold the left and right sides (just like a burrito). Last, roll the crepe to close it (Note 3).
Serve as soon as it is cooked and wrapped.

Notes

1. Batter: the batter of these crepes only consists of water and flour therefore it is a little sticky as opposed to regular sweet crepes. For this reason, it’s important to oil the pan properly AND to be very gentle when flipping the crepe.

2. Flour: traditionally these crepes are made with mung bean flour (which can be difficult to source abroad). If you can find it, you can use 60g all-purpose flour + 40g mung bean flour. Mung bean flour also helps with the consistency of the batter, and the crepes usually don’t stick at all.

3. Folding the crepe: if you’ve been too generous with the amount of filling and you’re having a hard time folding the crepe, you can also just roll it like a tortilla rather than fold it like a burrito :)

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