People seem to like Taiwanese Street Food a lot, street food is a big part of Taiwanese culture. This is one of the most famous street foods – Taiwanese oyster omelette 蚵仔煎. If you like oysters or seafood, this is a great choice for you, if you like omelettes too then you’ve hit the jackpot! This omelette isn’t exactly the same as one of the western style omelettes it doesn’t just rely on egg to make the ‘pancake’ – the flour and water mixture is about half of the material in the omelette itself. Add to this the vegetables and finish with the special ‘secret’ sauce – Joanne shows you her secret sauce for this classic street food!

Oyster Omelette, fresh out of the pan

Oyster Omelette and sauce ingredients
The ingredients (for 2 people/omelettes) 食材;
- SAUCE
- 250ml water
- half spring onion
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 2 tbsp sweet chili
- 1 tbsp peanut butter
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp sour plum powder 酸梅粉
- 1 tbsp flour to thicken
- OMELETTE
- 200g oysters
- 2 eggs
- 275ml water
- 6 tbsp sweet potato flour
- lard
- 3 tbsp tapioca (or corn) flour
- ginger, spring onion, garlic
- fish sauce
- green vegetables
The method 作法;
- Start with the sauce. Get all your ingredients together in the amounts shown.
- Heat up the flour in a frying pan and add a little oil, keep stirring
- Now add about half of the water into the frying pan
- when it’s bubbling add all the rest of the sauce ingredients into the pan
- check the thickness of the sauce, if it’s too thick for you add some more water, if not, that’s OK, we made it like ketchup thickness, then we put it through a sieve to make it smooth
- set the sauce aside now, in a warm place, we are going to make the omelette
- in a frying pan melt a little lard, just so the pan bottom has been covered thinly
- add a little of the garlic, ginger and spring onion on a medium heat
- add the oysters, about 8 to 12 pieces
- after a few minutes they are cooking nicely and you will add a dash of fish sauce
- now add about 3 or 4 tbsp of the 2 flours mixed with the 275ml water
- when it starts to set but is still a bit wet on top add some of your vegetables – we used a handful of rocket leaves
- pour a beaten egg over the vegetables on the omelette
- cover the frying pan with a lid so the steam cooks the veg
- once it’s a bit more solid, flip the omelette and cook it about 1 minute
- put the omelette on a plate and serve with the sauce we prepared earlier, as much or as little as you like – taste first to check the strength of the sauce. We hope you enjoy this authentic Taiwanese dish!

oyster omelette with special secret sauce on
Joanne has recorded a Taiwanese oyster omelette 蚵仔煎 cooking video so you can see and follow the timings, chopping sizes, and method step by step, as she prepares this Taiwan Street Food classic. Hope you like it, we were delighted with the flavours!
How to make Taiwan street food: Taiwanese oyster omelette 蚵仔煎, cooking video
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9 comments
Gooffy says:
Mar 3, 2012
I really like it each time she does the flip e.g. how she flipped the omelette. I dont think I can do it or how should I do it?
Will you teach us how to cook the oyster sticky mee sua? Also a famous taiwan street food.
cindy says:
Nov 4, 2012
can I skip the Peanut butter and the sour plum powder? or is there a substitute for these two recipe?
jj.lymm says:
Nov 4, 2012
It is very flexible, if you don’t like it leave it out. Sometimes I use sweet chilli sauce, that’s nice to go with it.
Taiwanese Oyster Omelette Reduxe says:
May 20, 2013
[…] Duck and its excellent step-by-step video on how to cook (and flip) the oyster omelette. Mrs. Duck—okay, fine, her name is Joanne—is quite […]
Tricia says:
Jun 11, 2013
Thank you!!! Been wanting to eat this for so long. I am Taiwanese and I love our authentic food we have.
Taiwan: Oyster Omelette | Food Touring says:
Feb 24, 2014
[…] People seem to like Taiwanese Street Food a lot, street food is a big part of Taiwanese culture. This is one of the most famous street foods – Taiwanese oyster omelette 蚵仔煎. If you like oysters or seafood, this is a great choice for you, if you like omelettes too then you’ve hit the jackpot! This omelette isn’t exactly the same as one of the western style omelettes it doesn’t just rely on egg to make the ‘pancake’ – the flour and water mixture is about half of the material in the omelette itself. Add to this the vegetables and finish with the special ‘secret’ sauce. (Taiwan Duck) […]
‘Oyster’ Omelette (蚵仔煎) | Clarrie Noms says:
Aug 15, 2014
[…] omelette, check out youtube videos on how to make it. This website was particularly helpful – Taiwanese Duck. The auntie in the video is very adorable. She tries her best to speak in English but once in […]
Robert says:
Sep 25, 2014
Tapioca (or corn) flour. 太白粉? 玉米粉? Potato starch? Can you explain the difference and when it’s appropriate to use what? Thanks!!
mark says:
Apr 7, 2019
For best results simply follow the recipe and instructions as provided above.