In the battle between crepes and pancakes, I’ll side with crepes any day. Why? Because they’re endlessly versatile (serve them up with sweet or savory fillings) and their thin and delicate texture means I can enjoy a lot more of them before feeling overly stuffed. 😅 I mean sure, a big stack of fluffy pancakes always has its place, but crepes for me are just tops. Especially when they’re as easy as this recipe for homemade crepes. Need more convincing? Keep reading…
What’s the Difference Between Crepes and Pancakes?
Crepes, like pancakes, are made with a simple batter comprised of flour, eggs, milk, and butter. The main difference between crepes and pancakes is the ratio of ingredients in the batter which creates different textures once cooked. Crepes are very thin and flexible, making them perfect for filling, folding, and rolling. Their delicate flavor also pairs well with both sweet and savory ingredients. American pancakes, on the other hand, are thick, fluffy, far more cake-like, and are almost always served with sweet toppings.
Ingredients for Crepes
Crepes are incredibly easy to make and don’t require any unusual ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy homemade crepes recipe:
- All-Purpose Flour: Flour gives the crepes body and a nice flexible texture. You can substitute up to half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour, if desired.
- Eggs: The eggs serve three purposes in crepes: binding, leavening, and flexibility. They act as the glue that holds the batter together, they create some steam action when cooked which helps leaven the crepes just a touch, and they keep the crepes nice and flexible.
- Milk: Milk serves as the liquid in the batter. I used whole milk for a richer crepe, but you can substitute with any milk, dairy or non-dairy, that you like.
- Butter: Butter keeps the crepes rich and delicious, and add a nice flavor.
- Water: A little extra water helps hydrate the flour to keep the crepes nice and soft.
- Salt: Salt helps flavor the crepes so they don’t taste pasty or too much like flour.
- Oil: Oil is used to cook the crepes so they don’t stick to the pan and so they brown nicely on the surface.
Make Sweet or Savory Crepes
Our homemade crepes recipe below is neutral in flavor and pairs well with either sweet or savory fillings. If you want your crepes to be a little sweeter and more dessert-like, you can add 1 Tbsp granulated sugar and ½ tsp vanilla extract to the batter for a sweeter finish.
Filling Ideas for Crepes
The best part about crepes is filling them with all sorts of fun ingredients! Scavenge your fridge and pantry for anything you might need to use up, and come up with your own fun flavor combinations, or try one of these filling ideas for crepes:
- Yogurt and jam
- Ham and cheese
- Lemon curd and whipped cream
- Nutella and berries
- Spinach and goat cheese or Swiss cheese
- Peanut butter and chocolate chips
How to Serve Crepes
Once you’ve chosen some fun fillings for your crepes, you can either fold or roll those fillings up in the crepe. To fold the crepes, cover half of the crepe with your toppings, fold the crepe in half to close, and then fold in half once more so it’s in a quarter-round. To roll the crepes, place your toppings down the center, or slightly to one side, then fold one side over the toppings, then continue to roll to the other side.
How to Store Leftover Crepes
…If there are any leftovers! Leftover crepes are stored well in the fridge for quick use later in the week, and you can even freeze crepes for longer storage. Keep refrigerated crepes in a gallon-sized zip-top bag or other air-tight food storage container for 4-5 days. To freeze, make sure to place a piece of parchment between each crepe so they don’t stick together once frozen. Thaw frozen crepes in the refrigerator overnight, or at room temperature for 30-60 minutes, then microwave briefly until warmed through.
Easy Homemade Crepes
Servings 6 crepesIngredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour ($0.07)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 2 large eggs, room temperature* ($0.46)
- 1 cup milk, warmed* ($0.20)
- 3 Tbsp melted butter ($0.33)
- 1/4 cup water ($0.00)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil, for the skillet ($0.08)
Instructions
- Add the flour, salt, eggs, milk, melted butter, and water together in a large bowl until it forms a smooth and slightly thick batter.
- Let the batter rest at room temperature for 30 minutes, or cover and refrigerate up to two days.
- When ready to make your crepes, heat a 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Once hot, brush with about ½ tsp oil.
- Pour about ⅓ cup of the batter into the skillet and begin to tilt the skillet in a circular motion to allow the batter to evenly cover the surface of the skillet.
- Allow the batter to cook until mostly set, then flip and cook until golden brown on the second side. The total cook time for each side will vary depending on your skillet and stove top. You may need to adjust the heat up or down as you go.
- Repeat with the rest of the batter, adding more oil between crepes as needed. As you cook the crepes, stack them on a clean plate and cover with a towel to keep warm. Once all of the crepes are cooked, fill, fold, or roll the crepes then serve.
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Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Crepes
In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup all-purpose flour, ½ tsp salt, 2 large eggs (room temperature, 1 cup milk (room temperature), 3 Tbsp melted butter, and ¼ cup water.
Whisk the ingredients together until it creates a smooth batter that is thin enough to run off the spoon. Let the batter rest at room temperature for 30 minutes, or cover and refrigerate for up to two days.
Heat a 10-inch non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Once hot, brush about ½ tsp oil over the surface of the pan.
Pour about ⅓ cup batter into the center of the pan, then immediately tilt the skillet around in a circle to allow the batter to thinly cover the surface.
Getting the batter to evenly cover the surface may take a little practice, but don’t worry, even if they’re not perfectly shaped they still taste great! And it can make for a fun Saturday morning game. Once the batter is mostly set, it’s time to flip the crepe.
Flip the crepe and cook until golden brown on the second side. The time needed to cook the crepe until golden brown on each side will vary depending on your skillet and characteristics of your stove, so you may need to play around a bit and adjust the heat as you go.
As you cook the crepes, pile the finished crepes onto a plate and cover with a clean towel to keep warm. This recipe will make about six crepes.
Once they’re all cooked, it’s time to fill and enjoy! To roll the crepes, place your fillings down the center or slightly to one side, then fold one side in over the toppings and continue to roll to the other side.
To fold the crepes, place your fillings over one half of the crepe, then fold to close.
Fold in half one more time to create a quarter-round.
And then once the crepes are filled and folded or rolled, you can top them with even more ingredients like powdered sugar, whipped cream, or maple syrup.
What is your favorite crepe filling? Share in the comments below. :)
These are great! I tried the triangle fold as in use to the skinny cigar roll and might prefer it more! These were quick to whip up on a Saturday morning.
If you freeze them what do you do to eat them? Defrost and eat or do you need to reheat them somehow?
They should thaw very quickly at room temperature because they are so thin, and you can either eat them cold or just reheat briefly in a warm skillet. :)
Had these for brinner tonight. We enjoyed them a lot. I cuadrupled the recipe to make enough for us and we filled them with a variety of sweet fillings. Thanks for another easy, yummy recipe
I LOVE LOVE LOVE crepes. Every time I eat breakfast at a restaurant I get sweet crepes. Never been able to nail them at home though…
Thanks so much for the recipe! I know it was posted a looong time ago, but I’m wondering if you know what will happen if we don’t have a refrigerator for the batter to rest in? 30 minutes on the counter okay? I know that would freak a lot of people out, what with the perishable ingredients that are involved and all… Skip the 30 minutes and just go straight to the griddle? Thanks for any insight!
30 minutes at room temperature should be okay. For food safety, you don’t want to leave food unrefrigerated for more than two hours. :)
Thanks for replying Beth!!
Awesome! Easy, flexible and pretty quick. I chopped canned peaches and did whip, could have tried cinnamon and nutmeg, but still delicious. I’ve got left overs for tomorrow. I really want to try some cheese and lunch meat on there :o Thanks!
You went to Prague!? I spent a couple of months in Czech Republic and developed a HUGE fondness for Crepes! The girl I stayed with had a super nice landlord that invited us to eat with him and his family and he made Nutella crepes. Sautée some bananas and add some strawberries with Nutella spread and you’ll find your new favorite dessert!
Also, didn’t realize this was from 2015… it just showed up on my Pinterest! I love your recipes by the way… they were life saving for me when I was living on my own making $9 an hour!
Hey thank you very much for your post ! I ate some delicious creps in Galapagos but I forgot to ask them how they did them. Thank you very much !
What the purpose of having the two different flours? Can I just use one type of flour?
You can use just one type of flour, but I was just trying to get a little more texture and fiber in there. :) It was just personal preference. If you are using just one type of flour, you may need to adjust the amount of liquid used to get the right consistency.
Thanks! Great recipe! I’m going to try it!
Just one question. Can I use an electric (pancake) griddle or would oil in a pan be better?
Hmm, I’m not sure. I’ve never used an electric griddle before. It sounds like it might be difficult to pick up and tilt to get the batter to spread around, though.
My mom would make us crepes all the time for breakfast (or breakfast for dinner!) We’d always fill them with some smucker’s strawberry jam, roll them in the cigar shape, and dust with powdered sugar. We loved them. Slightly too sweet for me now, maybe, but now that I’m thinking, maybe some cream cheese and a bit of jam would make a good filling. When I went to Philadelphia last summer, Reading Terminal Market had a crepe place, with all sorts of savory and sweet fillings. They had gluten free crepes as an option, which was really cool. I’m not super sensitive to cross contamination, so I got one, with a savory filling for lunch, and again the next day. Very nice.
Banana and Nutella is the best filling for crepes!!
I made these once for my Jane Austen movie group, with everyone bringing in things for fillings, and I swear it’s all anyone has talked about ever since! And it’s been at least 8 months at this point! So yes, definitely a hit.
That’s such a cool idea!
Beth, would soy milk be okay to sub?
I haven’t tried it, but it seems like it should work okay in this recipe. :)
You had me crepes!
Thank you for the recipe.
The crepe is very airy and amazing, so everyone in my family loved it.