I love crepes. Crepes are super simple to make. Perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. You can make them sweet or savory with whatever is in your fridge. Sometimes I make my crepe batter with discarded sourdough starter. Sometimes I make it without the starter. I have both recipes here for you. I consider crepe shells a kitchen staple and believe every home cook should have a basic crepe batter up their sleeve. Because crepes are so versatile, it’s worth scaling this recipe up to have crepe shells for the whole week.
You can make a bunch of crepes up ahead of time and store them in the fridge until ready to use. They’ll last at least 5 days in a ziplock in a the fridge. I never sweeten my crepe batter so it can be used for either sweet or savory crepes.
Crepes are a great way to clear out your leftovers. Any filling you would put in a stuffed pasta, empanada or pot pie could be put in a crepe pocket and baked with some sauce. You can warm a savory crepe, serve it over a bed of sauce and top it with a little salad of baby arugula (or watercress, or baby spinach) for a super easy meal that looks fancy. Leftover pot roast, duck confit (or any confit), bulk sausage, and trim pieces all make great fillings for savory crepes.
Savory Crepe Filling Ideas:
- Ground sausage, cheese, sautéed vegetables
- Pot roast, cooked vegetables, served over mushroom reduction (or other sauce)
- Duck Confit, mushrooms, served over cherry-port reduction (or other savory fruit sauce)
- Sauteed mushrooms and herbs over creme fraiche
- Ham, egg and cheese
- Cooked salmon, sauteed mushroom and spinach, poached egg, over creme fraiche.
Sweet crepes are also fun. A great way to use up overly soft or bruised fruit. Crepes with fresh berries, lemon curd and whipped cream is a favorite for breakfast or dessert. Apples cooked with butter and sugar, rolled in a crepe and topped with whipped cream make a great fall dessert. Crepes filled with nutella and strawberries and sprinkled with powdered sugar. The possibilities are endless.
Sweet Crepe Filling Ideas:
- Apples sautéed in butter and sugar, drizzled with caramel
- Berries, lemon curd, topped with powdered sugar or whipped cream
- Nutella, topped with powdered sugar
- Red fruit (cherries, strawberries, rasperries) and melted chocolate
- Peanut butter, bananas, honey, nuts
- Peaches and pastry cream (or whipped cream), drizzled with honey
When cooking crepes, you will want to preheat your pan over medium heat. Once hot, give it a quick spray with Pan or drop a little butter or oil in it and spread that around. Pour about 1/3 cup batter into the center of the pan. Pick it up and rotate the pan immediately in a circular motion. Once you get the batter into the circular crepe shape, put it back on the flame and cook it for a minute or 2, then flip it and cook for another minute on the other side. Transfer to a rack to cool.
I’d love to see your crepe creations on instagram or pinterest or hear what you came up with in our comment section.
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Easy Crepes
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 6″ crepes 1x
- Category: Basic
- Method: Saute
- Cuisine: French
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This is a super easy crepe batter recipe that every home cook should have up their sleeve. Crepes are versatile and can be served both sweet and savory for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. They are perfect for dressing up leftovers.
Ingredients
Basic Crepe Batter
1/2 cup flour
1 T whole wheat flour (optional)
1/2 cup milk (or another liquid)
pinch of salt
2 eggs
Crepe Batter Made with Sourdough Starter
1 cup sourdough starter
2 eggs
1 pinch salt
1–2 T milk/flour to thicken or thin as needed.
Instructions
Whisk or blend all ingredients together until the batter is free of lumps.
Heat pan on medium high. Pour about 1/3 of batter in the pan at a time. Immediately rotate pan to spread the batter into a circular shape. Flip after about 2 minutes and cook for 1-2 minutes on the other side. Transfer to a rack to cool.
Notes
You can substitute all or some of the flour with whole grain, buckwheat, rye flour, etc.
The milk can be replaced with any liquid that makes sense for your dish. Chicken stock/beef broth/ vegetable broth are good substitutions for savory crepes. Coconut, almond or soy milk work well for both sweet and savory crepes.
For sweet crepes, you could add sugar, vanilla extract or almond extract. I don’t add sugar to mine because I think they are plenty sweet once you fill them with lemon curd, dust with powdered sugar or drizzle with honey, but that’s just personal preference.
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