When it comes to cooking, it’s pretty clear that we’re big on tradition at The Woks of Life. But when we discover a quick and easy kitchen shortcut, we’re also eager to bring it to our readers’ attention! These mandarin pancakes, made with dumpling wrappers, are our latest discovery.
What Are Mandarin Pancakes?
Mandarin pancakes are thin pancakes made from a simple dough of flour, salt, and boiling water. The pancakes are cooked in a wok or frying pan and served as a “wrap” for dishes like Peking duck or moo shu (check out our recipes for moo shu chicken and vegetable moo shu).
Things to Serve with Mandarin Pancakes
Mandarin pancakes are like the Chinese version of a flour tortilla. Like a burrito, you decide what goes into it. In addition to the Peking duck, moo shu chicken, and vegetable moo shu dishes already mentioned, here are a few other dishes that would go nicely with Mandarin pancakes:
- Five Spice Tofu with Pork
- Pork Stir-fry with Sweet Bean Sauce
- Chinese Tofu Salad
- Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu)
- Instant Pot Braised Pork Belly
- Instant Pot Soy Sauce Chicken
You can serve these along with lettuce leaves, sliced red onion, and/or julienned cucumber, scallions, cantaloupe, or carrots. You may also want to serve with some hoisin sauce or spicy bean sauce, depending on the filling.
As you can see, with some cooked char siu pork, I was able to quickly put together the spread shown in these photos.
In short, Mandarin pancakes are extremely versatile. So instead of taco night, how about a Mandarin pancake night? Sounds fun to me!
The Shortcut: Dumpling Wrappers
If you’re looking for a traditional mandarin pancake recipe, we have that too. Click here to see it. While that recipe is relatively easy, making mandarin pancakes with dumpling wrappers is even easier. So if you’re short on time, this method is perfect.
Making dumpling wrappers into a mandarin pancakes is a simple matter of stacking them, rolling them out, and steaming them.
Each dumpling wrapper turns into one Mandarin pancake, so if you have leftover wrappers, simply wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag with all the air forced out of it. Then transfer to the freezer. Or better yet, turn them into scallion pancakes (another dumpling wrapper shortcut we shared this year)!
Who knew a pack of dumpling wrappers could jazz up a meal this much?
Other Shortcuts to Authentic Chinese Dishes!
Before we go into the recipe/method for these Mandarin pancakes, here are a few other shortcuts to Authentic Chinese dishes for you to try:
- Shortcut Scallion Pancakes: as we already mentioned, this is another winning application of dumpling wrappers, yielding a crisp, chewy scallion pancake that you’ll have to try yourself to believe!
- Asian Milkbread: a soft, fluffy milk bread recipe that you can make without the trouble of using tangzhong (a water/flour paste common in Asian bread recipes).
- 20-Minute Congee: a simple technique to make a congee with slow-cooked flavor in just 20 minutes!
- Chinese Garlic Chive Boxes: Instead of making dough from scratch for these, we use spring roll wrappers!
Ok, on to the recipe!
Easy Mandarin Pancakes with Dumpling Wrappers: Instructions
On a large, clean cutting board, place a dumpling wrapper in front of you. Brush the top lightly with oil, and stack another dumpling wrapper directly on top of it.
Brush lightly with oil and repeat these steps until you have 8-10 layers. Each wrapper should be brushed with oil except the very top layer (the oil keeps the layers separated, even after rolling and steaming).
Gently press the stack with your palm to flatten. You can also gently press with the side of your rolling pin, moving the rolling pin up and down the circle so that it flattens evenly. Make an effort to keep the stack even! Turn the stack upside down and repeat the same actions on the reverse side.
Once the stack has increased by about 50% of its original diameter, start rolling. Every so often, turn the stack a quarter turn to the right or left to maintain its round shape. Roll until the diameter of the stack is around 7 inches (about 18 cm).
Repeat the above steps to ensure you make enough pancakes. You can steam up to 2 stacks together (just remember to brush oil between the two stocks so they don’t stick). If you need to make more, you can do so using a multi-level steamer or steam them in batches.
Set up your steamer, and bring the water to boil. Steam each batch for 10 minutes. Once the steamed wrappers are cool to the touch, peel each layer to separate. Thanks to the oil, they should come apart easily. Keep them covered under a warm, damp kitchen towel before and during serving to prevent them from drying out.
Note: It’s also important to keep the dumpling wrappers under a damp kitchen towel or paper towel while you’re rolling the wrappers to prevent them from drying out. When exposed to air, especially in dry climates, they will dry out quickly.
Once the pancakes are done steaming, you can gently pull them apart.
We then folded them and put them on a plate.
At this point, you can keep them on the plate and hold them until you’re ready to serve. Right before serving, you can steam them again for a few minutes to reheat.
We served our mandarin pancakes with char siu, hoisin sauce, and julienned scallions, cucumber, and cantaloupe.
To assemble, spread a little hoisin sauce on the pancake…
Followed by your other fixings.
Then roll it up into a burrito…
And enjoy!
Watch Video!
Easy Mandarin Pancakes (using Dumpling Wrappers)
Ingredients
- 1 package dumpling wrappers
- vegetable oil (for brushing)
Instructions
- On a large, clean cutting board, place a dumpling wrapper in front of you. Brush the top lightly with oil, and stack another dumpling wrapper directly on top of it. Brush lightly with oil and repeat these steps until you have 8-10 layers. Each wrapper should be brushed with oil except the very top layer (the oil keeps the layers separated, even after rolling and steaming).
- Gently press the stack with your palm to flatten. You can also gently press with the side of your rolling pin, moving the rolling pin up and down the circle so that it flattens evenly. Make an effort to keep the stack even! Turn the stack upside down and repeat the same actions on the reverse side.
- Once the stack has increased by about 50% of its original diameter, start rolling. Every so often, turn the stack a quarter turn to the right or left to maintain its round shape. Roll until the diameter of the stack is around 7 inches (about 18 cm).
- Repeat the above steps to ensure you make enough pancakes. You can steam up to 2 stacks together (just remember to brush oil between the two stocks so they don’t stick). If you need to make more, you can do so using a multi-level steamer or steam them in batches.
- Set up your steamer, and bring the water to boil. Steam each batch for 10 minutes. Once the steamed wrappers are cool to the touch, peel each layer to separate. Thanks to the oil, they should come apart easily. Keep them covered under a warm, damp kitchen towel before and during serving to prevent them from drying out. To reheat, simply pull the pancakes apart and fold them on a heat-proof plate. Re-steam for another few minutes.
Thank you for posting this. Getting Peking Duck tonight with friends for takeout but our go to spot is Cantonese and serves theirs with the steamed bao buns. While those are still tasty I prefer the Mandarin pancakes. I tried to make them myself (didn’t use your recipe) and well I just stink at making dough. And when I did a google search for a substitute I found this recipe. This is such a gem. THANKS SOOOO MUCH!
You are so welcome, Annie.
I would love to make the Peking duck with pancakes, however, an injury will not permit me to make the pancakes. What is the different between wonton and spring roll wrappers and could I use either of those?
I don’t have an answer for you but after reading your comment and doing Judy’s recipe I am curious as well. I assume you are referencing the spring roll wrappers meant for the fried spring rolls vs the Vietnamese non-fried spring rolls. If you can’t make this recipe – it could be a good thing to try out. May need to play around with the steam time and also cut the wrappers to be round (or not).
I am sorry, Dori, can’t use either of those for Peking Duck.
A real joy to discover your website!!! Can’t wait to try out most of the scrumptious looking recipes. Thank you sincerely.
Welcome! we are here if you have any questions :-)
Thank you! A great shortcut method
You are very welcome, Christine.
You mentioned mooshu chicken. Would you use the same recipe for mooshu pork? Mooshu pork is my favourite, but no restaurant here in England does any kind of mooshu anything. So I’d love to make it.
Hi Kris, yes, you could use pork instead of chicken ;-)
Can sesame oil be used instead of vegetable oil to separate the pancakes?
Hi Carl, sesame oil has a very strong taste that can overpower a dish if used too much. For that reason, it is usually added to a dish at the very end for flavor only. That said, if you like it, you can use it in place of vegetable oil.
Hey guys, been following ever since I used the 红烧肉 recipe.
Just wanted to drop by and say I’m really enjoying the top 25 recipe cookbook!
Merry Christmas,
Sergei
Thank you for your lovely comment, Sergei.
Hi there, I’m loving all your recipes and tips! Thanks so much!
Which type of dumpling wrappers are you using? There are so many different types I can buy in Melbourne!
Thanks
Julie
Hi Julie, I used store-bought (fresh, not frozen) dumpling wrappers.
What a great idea.! I’ve made the pancakes using your regular recipe, and they were great, but I can’t wait to try this. Now all I have to do is FIND dumpling wrappers 😉
This is a great short-cut, hope you like it.