EASY CREPES RECIPE! Crepes may sound difficult, but they are actually quite simple to make! These thin, flat pancake-like confections are sweet and buttery and can be folded around any number of your favorite fillings โ both sweet and savory!
Looking for some sweet crepes filling ideas? You’ll go bananas for my caramelized banana crepe filling (see what I did there?) and my blueberry crepe filling is the ultimate sweet and fluffy filling for breakfast or dessert crepes!
If you think back to my German Pancake recipe, you’ll remember that it was a really fluffy, thick, flavorful pancake. Also referred to as “Dutch babies,” “hootenanny,” or, if you’re my kids “patty cakes” (which is so adorable, I think whoever names foods should officially change the name), these are always a big hit at our house.
But maybe not everyone is into the thick kind of pancakes. I get it. To those people I offer the complete, total, polar opposite of a German pancake: a crepe. Crepes are the thinnest pancake you can get without being completely see-through, yet still considered part of the pancake family.
The best thing about crepes is that you can fill them with literally anything. Jams, jellies, nut butters, chocolate, lemon curd, fruit, caramel, berries, yogurt, toy trucks…seriously anything!
So when you’ve grown tired of the same-old, same-old pancake recipe, try your hand at easy crepes!
What is a Crepe?
Crepes are just really thin pancakes that are typically filled with goodies on the inside. Like a breakfast burrito filled with sweets instead of eggs.
You’ll notice though, that unlike pancake batter, there was no baking soda or powder in this French crepes recipe because there is no need for them to rise or be fluffy like regular pancakes. You want these to be thin.
Recipe Ingredients
I’m telling you, crepes may look complicated but they’re not. Plus they’re made with just six easy ingredients that you probably already have on hand.
- Flour
- Milk
- Eggs
- Granulated sugar
- Salt
- Butter
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar (optional, for serving)
How Do You Make Crepes?
I know I mentioned these are so easy to make. I do confess there is one slightly “tricky” part for lack of a better word, and that’s just making sure the crepe is thin enough and that you can flip it over. Also you have to watch it carefully because it only cooks for about 2 minutes total.
But really, even these tasks are easy in the grand scheme of things. Once you do one or two you’ll totally get the hang of it. Promise.
- In a bowl, whisk together flour, milk, eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla until the mixture gets frothy on the top.
- Next, grease a small-to-medium-size skillet (8-10 inches) with butter set over medium-high heat. Pour ยผ cup of the batter into the center of the pan, then immediately lift the pan off the heat and tilt it all around until the batter covers the entire bottom of the pan.
- Return the pan to the heat and cook for 30-60 seconds. Use a spatula to carefully flip the crepe over and cook for just one minute longer on the other side until it’s light brown or golden brown. Remove the crepe from the pan and put it on a plate. Cover it to keep it warm while you continue the same process with the rest of the batter.
- Serve with your favorite fillings inside.
Filling Ideas for Crepes
I mentioned you can put just about anything inside this best crepe recipe in the world, but here are some of my favorite ideas:
- Chocolate chips and whipped cream
- Peanut butter and thin slices of banana
- Berries and whipped cream cheese
- Caramel sauce
- Lemon curd (store bought is fine)
- Nutella and sliced strawberries
- Berries and yogurt
- Chocolate sauce
- Syrup (maple or fruit)
- Peaches and sweet cream
- Cinnamon and sugar
- Marmalade and whipped ricotta
- Pears and Nutella
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Whisk thoroughly and wait until it gets frothy before pouring the batter.
- If you don’t want to whisk then use a blender to mix together the batter.
- Grease your pan in between each crepe and use a non-stick pan if you have it for extra insurance against the batter sticking.
- Although it’s tempting to cook the crepes at a high temperature, you’ll want to keep it at medium-low heat to make sure the crepes do not burn. They don’t take long at this heat to cook anyway, so let them go low.
- Cover up your crepes each time you add a new one to the finished crepe plate. You want to serve them warm for sure. That’s how they taste best!
- Do use a ยผ cup (or an ice cream scoop would work too) to measure the batter for each crepe. You want them to be uniform in size, but also you want them to be thin or you won’t be able to fold them around your toppings โ and that’s the best/most fun part!
- Do pick up the pan and tilt/swirl the batter around to make the batter go to every inch of the bottom of your pan โ that’s the other trick to make them uniformly round and thin.
- To keep your crepes from getting stuck together while cooling, you can separate them with a piece of wax paper.
More Amazing Breakfast Recipes
- French Toast Casserole
- Easy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
- Sausage & Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole
- German Pancakes
Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC! Please rate the recipe below!
Easy Crepes Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour - spooned and leveled
- 1 ยผ cups milk
- 3 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ยพ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter - melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- butter - for cooking
Instructions
- Whisk together flour, milk, eggs, sugar, salt, melted butter, and vanilla until mixture starts to get frothy on the top.
- Grease a small-medium skillet (about 8-10 inches) with butter set to medium-low heat. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the center of the pan. Immediately lift the pan off of the heat and tilt the pan to allow the batter to fill the entire bottom of the pan.
- Return pan to heat and cook for 30-60 seconds. Use a spatula to gently flip the crepe and cook another minute or so on the other side until golden. Remove from heat, cover to keep warm and repeat with remaining batter.
Absolutely positively the most wonderful recipe. First time making a crepe and this was AMAZING!!!!!!
Thank you!
Thank you for your sweet review! So glad you enjoyed them so much! ๐
Easy and everyone loved them!
Not a fan of this recipe. I love making crepes, but wanted a recipe that was quick and easy instead of my usual traditional recipe. I followed the recipe provided exactly, and even after cooking the crepes for several minutes they were greasy and tasted of raw flour.
Hi. Will the crepe batter and blueberry topping store in the frig for later use?
I would say you can store in the fridge for up to 48 hours.
These were a hit with our Wednesday evening fellowship/bible study at church. I made 2 batches of the crepe batter. With each crepe measuring about 7-8″ in diameter, I ended up with 12 crepes per batch, so 24 total. So I made 3 different flavors: lemon curd, strawberry & blueberry/cherry. (I would suggest adding a drop or two of red food color to the strawberry, as that flavor was a little pink in color rather than red).
I had no problem with them being too buttery. I used a teflon pan, about a teaspoon of butter, melted, then whiped with a paper towel to absorb the extra.
One thing I did after the first crepe folded up when I tried to flip it, was use a wide silicone spatula that would bend slightly to slide under the crepe, but I also rubbed a little butter on the end of the spatula to help it slide under easily.
Also, I could not whisk the lumps out, so used the blender to mix, which produced a lovely, smooth mix.
Thanks for a great recipe!!