I know, I know, two cabbage recipes in a row? While I’m sure some of you are delighted, some might be totally “over” cabbage. But I’m all about reducing waste over here, so I needed to find a recipe to use up my leftover cabbage, carrot, and green onion from my Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry. I decided to try my hand at Okonomiyaki, or Japanese savory cabbage pancakes. And as per usual, this is my interpretation of Okonomiyaki, not a traditional representation of the dish. I love putting spins on classics to make them work for my pantry and taste buds.
What Else Can You Add to Cabbage Pancakes?
What attracted me to this dish is the extreme flexibility of ingredients, which makes it a great “sweep the kitchen” recipe. And you know how I love recipes that accept whatever leftovers you might happen to have in the fridge at the time!
I didn’t buy anything special ingredients for my cabbage pancakes. Instead, I used all the ingredients that I had on hand, and you can too. Other vegetables that would be great in these pancakes include:
- kale
- bean sprouts
- radish
- shredded broccoli or Brussels sprouts
- zucchini.
In addition to vegetables, you can toss all sorts of meat into your pancakes. Try:
- shrimp
- canned salmon
- shredded chicken
- pork
- bacon
Have Fun with Toppings!
And that’s just what you can put IN your cabbage pancakes. Don’t even get me started with what you can put ON your pancakes. Traditionally, Okonomiyaki has a special sauce that is kind of sweet-salty-tangy (here’s a great Okonomiyaki Sauce recipe from Just One Cookbook if you want to give it a try!). But since I was using what I had on hand today, I went a different route.
I kept it simple with a drizzle of sriracha mayo, sesame seeds, and sliced green onion, but you could do hoisin sauce, toasted seaweed snacks, a fried egg, bonito flakes, pickled ginger, kimchi, or anything else you like. Honestly, the toppings are where it’s at for this recipe. It’s like pizza (and sometimes called Japanese pizza). The toppings make it fun, unique, and just all around extra special.
So, what do you have in your fridge that you could put in or on a savory cabbage pancake?
Cabbage Pancakes (Okonomiyaki)
Servings 6 6-inch pancakesIngredients
PANCAKES
- 2 extra large eggs ($0.53)
- 1/2 cup water ($0.00)
- 1.5 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.14)
- 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil ($0.33)
- 3/4 to 1 cup all-purpose flour ($0.07)
- 4-5 cups shredded green cabbage ($1.78)
- 1 carrot ( $0.11)
- 3 green onions ($0.17)
- 2 Tbsp oil for frying ($0.04)
TOPPINGS
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise ($0.28)
- 2 Tbsp sriracha ($0.10)
- 1/2 Tbsp sesame seeds ($0.04)
- 2 green onions ($0.11)
Instructions
- Remove any wilted leaves from the outside of the cabbage. Cut the cabbage into quarters and remove the core. Thinly slice or shred half of the cabbage, or until you have 4-5 cups shredded cabbage. Peel the carrot and shred it using a large-holed cheese grater. Slice the green onions.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, soy sauce, and sesame oil until smooth. Begin whisking in the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until it forms a thick, smooth batter (about 3/4 to1 cup total flour).
- Add the cabbage, carrots, and green onion to the batter and stir until the vegetables are mixed and everything is evenly coated in batter.
- Heat 1/2 Tbsp oil in a non-stick or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add 3/4 cup of the vegetable and batter mixture. Press it down into the hot skillet to form a circle, about 6 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick. Place a cover on the skillet to hold in the steam, which will help the cabbage soften as it cooks. Cook the pancake until golden brown on the bottom (3-5 minutes), then flip and cook until golden brown on the second side. Pile the cooked pancakes on a plate and cover with foil to keep warm until ready to eat. Add more oil to the skillet as needed as you cook the pancakes.
- To prepare the sriracha mayo, mix together 1/4 cup mayonnaise and 2 Tbsp sriracha in a small bowl. Drizzle the sriracha mayo over the pancakes just before serving, followed with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and sliced green onion.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Cabbage Pancakes – Step by Step Photos
Begin by shredding the vegetables. You can use a food processor, mandolin, or just a knife. Just remember, the thinner the better. Shred 1/2 of a small head of cabbage (4-5 cups once shredded), 1 carrot (about 1/2 cup), and slice three green onions.
In a large bowl, whisk together 2 extra large eggs, 1/2 cup water, 1.5 Tbsp soy sauce, and 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil until smooth.
Begin whisking in flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until it forms a thick, smooth batter. You’ll need between 3/4 to 1 cup flour.
Add the cabbage, carrots, and green onion to the batter, then stir until everything is well mixed and coated in batter.
Since eggs and flour both like to stick to surfaces when cooked, I highly suggest using some sort of non-stick surface in addition to the oil. I used a cast iron skillet. Heat about 1/2 Tbsp cooking oil in the skillet over medium heat. Once hot, place about 3/4 cup of the vegetable and batter mixture into the skillet. Press the mixture down to form a 6-inch circle that is about 1/2 inch thick. Place a lid on the skillet to hold in the steam (this helps soften the cabbage) and cook until it is golden brown on the bottom (3-5 minutes). Flip the pancake and cook on the second side until golden brown as well. I could actually fit two pancakes in this skillet, but doing one at a time made for prettier pictures. :P
To make the sriracha mayo, stir together 1/4 cup mayonnaise with 2 Tbsp sriracha.
Drizzle the sriracha mayo over the savory cabbage pancake and then top with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and more sliced onion. Dig in!
Great recipe. So happy to find one for okinomiyaki.
I baked mine, and it was delicious. 375 degrees for 23 min, flip, and then another 7 min. I am not at altitude.
I also added 3/4 tsp baking powder per other recipes online, and it worked out well. Not sure what it would be like without the baking powder.
Happy to hear it Jake!
Hi Beth, I love many of your recipes! This has been bugging me for a while (every time this recipe pops up on facebook): I think it’s a bit misleading to say that you can put anything ON okonomiyaki (in it, sure! that’s what the _okonomi_ part is referring to). I’m Japanese. I’m not going to stop people from putting sriracha mayo on their okonomiyaki if they like the taste of it, and I don’t think you’re necessarily making a claim of authenticity in this recipe. But I wonder if you could put a note somewhere that it’s traditionally served with okonomiyaki sauce (can be store-bought or homemade, here’s one recipe https://www.justonecookbook.com/okonomiyaki-sauce/), a drizzle of (Japanese) mayo, bonito flakes, dried green seaweed (aonori), and red ginger. Sriracha and sesame seeds definitely don’t go on them traditionally. I totally understand that you’re offering a budget version of okonomiyaki, which means that the traditional toppings would likely be too expensive and not super accessible. But it makes me a bit uncomfortable as a Japanese person to see this advertised plainly as “okonomiyaki”. If people unfamiliar with Japanese cuisine walked away from this recipe thinking that this is okonomiyaki, that would make me a tad sad. Would you be willing perhaps to add a note that this is “okonomiyaki-inspired,” or the like?
I sure will, and thank you for bringing that to my attention and in such a diplomatic way. :) I appreciate this type of suggestion very much, as I try to be culturally sensitive while still putting my spin on things. Thank you for understanding and for your kind approach! <3
Thank you for your equally kind response :) You’re awesome, and thank you for being a good ally. I’m 200% more excited to be following your page!
What a lovely, encouraging, peaceful exchange. I appreciate both of your diplomacy and understanding in the way you expressed yourselves. What a great thing to see! :)
For real? I’m French and don’t give a flying brioche about the number of “traditional French recipes” filled with anything but traditional French dishes. Beth is a sweetheart and obviously has to be diplomatic on her website but I feel like I just have to say that girl, I’m rolling my eyes at you.
I didn’t have carrots but I had beets… Still amazing! And beautifully pink. Thanks Beth :)
Thisis my go-to recipe for a quick, nutritious meal. It makes enough for me to have easily reheated leftovers too.
I made this for a holiday breakfast this morning and it was delicious! I first tried okonomiyaki when we had Japanese exchange students visiting during my high school years. This recipe was just as good as I remember okonomiyaki to be and it was super easy. I can’t eat wheat due to an allergy so I made this with Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour and 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum instead of the all purpose wheat flour, and i used wheat free soy sauce, other than that I followed the recipe exactly. I topped the pancakes with smoked salmon, green onion, and the siracha mayo. Everyone loved the result. I will definitely make this again.
SO SO GOOD!! I made these this morning for breakfast. I actually chopped up two pieces of bacon and fried that to add to the batter, and then cooked the pancakes in the bacon drippings. I took your suggestion to use what we had and I chopped up some bok choy and half an onion with the cabbage. My husband LOVED it and I saved half the batter to make tomorrow morning. Yum! Thank you for this recipe.
Excellent! So tasty and easy to make! My family and I really like these! We’ll be making these often.
If you would have told my 13 year old self that I would have seconds of a cabbage pancake and love every min of it I would tell you that you are crazy, but here we are. I changed nothing and will be making this again and again. The mayo really was a nice touch. I had it as a side to grilled porkchops because I was a bit scared if we would like it, next time I will have it with a sunny side up egg as the main course.
I love reviews like this, thank you! :)
When you think about it, there IS a cost for the water, it’s simply difficult (if possible??) to figure out the cost for 1\2 cups from your water bill!
It would very likely be less than 1/100th of a penny and I round everything to the penny, so that would still be represented as zero.
Gonna try this recipe as my friend made it for me the other night and it was so delicious! As respond to an earlier comment, she used cornflour instead of normal flour, or something gluten free, if that was the issue :)
This recipe is right up my alley…. just a question, what can the flour be substituted with? Thanks for your reply
Unfortunately the flour plays a very important role in this recipe and I’m not sure there is anything that would work in its place. :(
Hello, I am used to adapting recipes to avoid wheat due to an allergy. I made this with Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour and 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum today and it worked very well. For paleo or keto you could probably try coconut flour, 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum and add another egg to bind things, you would just want to remove 3 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of water due to the extra moisture from another egg. I hope this helps. This is a delicious recipe.
Thank you so much for providing some gluten-free/low-carb options!
I just made these for dinner and we loved them! We used about half red cabbage and half a bag of this shredded broccoli / green cabbage / carrot mix that we’d used in another recipe. Garnishes were the sriracha Mayo, sesame seeds, green onions, crispy onions (I have a problem), and a bit of sweet soy. We made 4 giant pancakes and my husband and I ate all of them…wouldn’t recommend that part, but they were so good! Next time I’ll probably halve the recipe and top with a fried egg along with the garnishes so I don’t eat too much! We think we’ll start making these regularly—thanks for the recipe! Would never have come up with this on our own.
I’ve made these twice. I halve the recipe and get 4 good sized cakes out of it. I never seem to have green onions so each time I’ve used whatever onion I do have. I love these, so easy to make, the first time I used the remainder of a head of cabbage after I made kimchi, the second time I made these I bought cabbage for the sole purpose of making these. Today I made them and put a little of the kimchi I made on them and it was spectacular. I’m on a budget and also trying to eat more veggies, so this recipe fits both, despite using mayo, it’s not a lot of mayo. Husband approves. This makes a perfect weekend lunch but I would make this for dinner too.
I tried this and it was delish! I used red cabbage instead (I have a ton to use up) and it still worked (although I used a bit less – 4 cups – as it’s a bit tougher in texture than green cabbage). I topped it with sriracha, a bit of soy sauce, sesame seeds and a “relish” I made using chopped red onion, cilantro and lime juice. Super tasty! Thanks for this recipe :)
Any suggestions for substituting the egg?
The egg is pretty critical to keeping these pancakes together and unfortunately I’m not well versed in egg substitutes.
There’s actually a very similar Korean dish called jeon that doesn’t use egg at all! The batter is essentially just flour and water (with salt, sugar, and kimchi juice for flavour), so you’d probably just have to mess with the liquid/flour ratio a bit until you have the right amount and consistency to coat the veggies. The finished texture is obviously a bit different from one that contains eggs, but it still works!
Chickpea flour!
Delicious! The only thing I’d change is to shred my cabbage next time rather than just slicing it with a knife, because it was a little too chunky for my taste. User error! Great recipe!
For vegan friendly version, try substituting the egg with liquid from a can of beans. It does a good job binding the batter without altering the taste. Cakes usually substitute eggs with apple sauce, but in savory dishes . You can also add a table spoon of cooked amaranth seeds (with liquid), or make a small portion of chia seeds porridge to benefit from their binding properties. Mix 1 table spoon of chia seeds with 3 tablespoons of water. Another great egg substitute is arrowroot powder, or even some mashed up tofu.