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Pancakes, crackers, meat, and vegetables—these are what you can expect with jian bing, or Chinese crepe. It is a crepe dish with a customizable filling, so you can add eggs, crispy wonton wrappers, soybean paste sauce, and your choice of meat and vegetables. Serve this for breakfast or as a light snack.

What To Love About Jian Bing (Chinese Crepe)

Jian Bing, also known as Jian Bing Guozi, holds a revered status as one of the most beloved breakfast options in China. This iconic street food is often hailed as “Chinese crepes” due to its thin, pancake-like appearance and delicious fillings.

Jian bing is just like your typical sweet crepe dessert. But instead of a sweet filling, it is stuffed with fried wonton wrappers, chopped green onions, lettuce, and meat. Basically, it is a sandwich-style meal but with a rolled pancake made with flour and cornmeal.

For extra flavor, the exterior of the pancake is first coated with beaten eggs and black sesame seeds. Then, the interior of the pancake is brushed with soybean paste sauce or your choice of Chinese sauce. When the base flavors are combined, you can now add your favorite meat and vegetables.

I added ham as my main protein and lettuce for fiber, but you can change this to other meat and vegetables you like. The star ingredient for jian bing is the fried wonton wrapper, which gives the crepe a delightful crunchy bite. You don’t need any special crepe-making equipment here, just your regular non-stick flat pan will do!

If you love breakfast, sandwiches, or pancakes, check out these recipes as well!

Recipe Tips And Alternatives

Here are some tips on how to customize your Chinese crepe. Basically, the main ingredients to keep in mind are the batter, coating, sauce, and filling.

Batter: You will need plain flour, cornmeal, and water.
- Plain flour: Plain flour also known as all-purpose flour, is versatile and suitable for various bun recipes like Bunny Steamed Buns, Piggy Buns, and Peach Buns. You can also use wheat flour, just make sure to avoid special flour types like glutinous rice flour as this will yield an unideal texture.
- Cornmeal: Mixing cornmeal with plain flour improves its taste and texture. It makes the crepe puffy and provides a yellowish hue and sweet-savory taste. In addition to cornmeal, you can also use wholemeal flour, mung bean flour, and soybean flour.
- Water: You need about 600g of water. This is divided into two parts, so you can mix the batter slowly until you achieve the right consistency. Do not add this all at once in order to gently mix the batter without creating too many air bubbles.
- Egg: Simply crack the egg on top of the cooked pancake and spread it evenly. This serves as the outer layer of the rolled crepe, giving you an eggy taste and texture on the outside. You can omit this from the recipe if you have an egg allergy. If you want to replace this with the closest alternative, you can use a chickpea flour and water mixture. Mix 3 tablespoons of chickpea flour with 3 tablespoons of water. Season it with a bit of black salt to add an eggy taste.
Black sesame seeds: After spreading the egg on top of the pancake, sprinkle some black sesame seeds for a nutty and slightly bitter taste. You can replace this with white sesame seeds, which have a similar flavor profile but are milder. Either way, both black and white sesame seeds will add a nutty, earthy taste and a slight crunch.
Sauce: The other side of the pancake is seasoned with a Chinese sauce of your choice. For this recipe, I used soybean paste.
- Soybean paste: You may find different varieties of soybean paste in the market labeled with different names, such as sweet soybean paste, broad bean paste, or doubanjiang. Some are sweet, while some are spicy and salty. Generally, since it is made from fermented soybeans, it can have a soy, nutty, and funky taste.
- Optional flavoring ingredients: If you want to play around with the taste of the sauce, you can mix it with other seasonings like oyster sauce, chili garlic sauce, peanut sauce, and fermented bean curd.
Filling: On top of the sauce, you can now add your meat and vegetables.
- Green onion: Green onions or spring onions have a fresh aroma and mild sweet oniony taste. If you don’t have green onions, you can substitute this ingredient with chives, shallots, white onions, yellow onions, or red onions.
- Lettuce: Add fiber and a hint of a sweet, earthy taste with lettuce. You can replace this with other green, leafy vegetables, such as spinach, kale, and cabbage. In addition, you can mix in some shredded cucumber and coriander.
- Meat: I prepared 2 thin slices of ham. Swap this with other meat choices, such as chicken strips, BBQ chicken, meat floss, sausage, boiled eggs, tuna, or roast beef. For meatless meals, I recommend fried tofu, BBQ tofu, mushrooms, or soy meat.
- Wonton wrappers: Like I said, fried wonton wrapper is a main ingredient for this recipe, so don’t try to remove it. For a decorative touch, I make two cuts at the center of the wrapper. Then, it is deep-fried until golden brown and crispy. You can buy wonton wrappers in Asian supermarkets or in the international aisle of grocery stores. It is usually in the refrigerated section sold in squares in plastic packaging. If you want to make your own wonton wrapper, simply follow my guide – How To Make Authentic Wonton Wrappers. In this guide, you will need an egg, water, flour, and cornstarch. The recipe steps involve mixing, kneading, resting, and shaping the dough into a wonton wrapper. Leftover wonton wrappers offer versatility in the kitchen. You can utilize them to prepare various types of wontons such as Sichuan Wontons, Beef Wontons, Shrimp Wontons, or Pork And Shrimp Wonton Soup. Additionally, you can repurpose them into Crispy Fried Wonton Strips, offering a crunchy and flavorful topping for soups, salads, or as a standalone snack.
Oil for frying: You will need oil to fry the wonton wrappers. It is best to use oil with a high smoke point, which is more heat stable. Moreover, it reduces the amount of oil oxidized and can cook better at high temperatures. Use avocado, peanut, canola, and corn oil. But if you want a healthier option, use olive, avocado, sesame, or safflower oil. If you want a neutral taste, use peanut, soybean, or vegetable oil. Ideally, the temperature of the oil to cook wonton wrappers should be at 160°C or 320°F. This is usually the point where the oil starts to smoke and sizzle. You can test if the oil is ready by placing a small amount of batter or wonton wrapper and checking if it sizzles and bubbles. If not, the oil is not yet ready and the wonton wrappers won’t crisp up, making them soggy.

Ingredients & Kitchen Tools

You may already know that crepes are usually made with a crepe pan and a batter spreader. However, you don’t need these special tools since you can simply make jian bing using a non-stick pan with a flat bottom. If you have a round griddle or non-stick cast iron, you can use that as well.

Other helpful tools that will make this recipe a lot easier to make are a batter spreader, spatula, and oil brush. If you have trouble flipping the crepe using a spatula, using a lid helps by turning the pan over to the lid. In this way, you don’t have to worry about the crepe tearing.

Here are the ingredients to prepare:

16 Wonton wrappers (adjust the amount according to the number of crepes)
Oil for frying
200 grams of plain flour
100 grams of cornmeal
600 grams of water (divided into two: 300g + 300g)
8 egg (beaten)
A dash of black sesame seeds
Oil spray
Soybean paste (spread thinly onto the crepe)
½ cup of chopped green onions
16 pieces of lettuce
16 pieces of ham

10 Steps To Make Jian Bing

Fry the wonton wrappers, cook the crepe batter, and assemble the ingredients. And you’re done! Watch how I did with my short tutorial video on Instagram or TikTok.

I’d love to know your thoughts on this recipe, so be sure to leave a comment in the comments section. Finished making your very own jian bing? Snap a photo and tag me @kitchenmisadventures so I can see your recipe versions!

Slice two cuts in the center of the wonton wrappers.
Heat oil in the pan. Fry the wonton wrappers at 160°C until golden brown and crispy. Set aside.
For the batter, mix plain flour, cornmeal, and 300 grams of water until you get a thick consistency. Then, add another 300 grams of water and stir until the batter becomes thinner.
Pour the batter into a heated non-stick pan, spread evenly using a batter spreader, and let it set. Cook over medium-low heat.
When the batter solidifies, add a beaten egg and spread evenly.
Sprinkle black sesame seeds on top and spray some oil.
Carefully flip the crepe to the other side.
Brush the surface with soybean paste.
Add your filling: chopped green onions, lettuce, ham, and fried wonton wrappers.
Finally, the Jian Bing is carefully rolled up and then sliced into two pieces, making it easier to eat and enjoy on the go.
Easy Jian Bing Recipe (Chinese Breakfast Crepe)

Pancakes, crackers, meat, and vegetables—these are what you can expect with jian bing, or Chinese crepe. It is a crepe dish with a customizable filling, so you can add eggs, crispy wonton wrappers, soybean paste sauce, and your choice of meat and vegetables. Serve this for breakfast or as a light snack.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes

Course Side Dish
Cuisine Chinese

Servings 4
Calories 299 kcal
Ingredients
16 Wonton wrappers adjust the amount according to the number of crepes
Oil for frying
200 grams of plain flour
100 grams of cornmeal
600 grams of water divided into two: 300g + 300g
8 egg beaten
A dash of black sesame seeds
Oil spray
Soybean paste spread thinly onto the crepe
½ cup of chopped green onions
16 pieces of lettuce
16 pieces of ham
Instructions
Slice two cuts in the center of the wonton wrappers.
Heat oil in the pan. Fry the wonton wrappers at 160°C until golden brown and crispy. Set aside.
For the batter, mix plain flour, cornmeal, and 300 grams of water until you get a thick consistency. Then, add another 300 grams of water and stir until the batter becomes thinner.
Pour the batter into a heated non-stick pan, spread evenly using a batter spreader, and let it set. Cook over medium-low heat.
When the batter solidifies, add a beaten egg and spread evenly.
Sprinkle black sesame seeds on top and spray some oil.
Carefully flip the crepe to the other side.
Brush the surface with soybean paste.
Add your filling: chopped green onions, lettuce, ham, and fried wonton wrappers.
Finally, the Jian Bing is carefully rolled up and then sliced into two pieces, making it easier to eat and enjoy on the go.
Video

Nutrition
Calories: 299kcalCarbohydrates: 57gProtein: 9gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 26mgPotassium: 186mgFiber: 4gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 228IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 24mgIron: 3mg

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