French Buckwheat Crepes are most amazingly delicious savory crepes in the world! Learn how to make a light, airy batter and form a thin crepe in a pan! Originally from France, they are infinitely versatile as a sweet or savory option for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner or dessert!
Buckwheat Crepes in France
Buckwheat crepes are easy to make and dreamy to eat and even if you haven’t made them before, I’m sure you’ve heard of them. They’re the French cousin of the pancake, known for their paper-thin texture and versatility.
I first fell in love with the savory crepes while visiting Paris, where a bunch of crepe stores pop up every where you turn around the city. They sell buckwheat crepes with a variety of delicious fillings: strawberry and cream cheese, pear and chocolate drizzle, ham and cheese, spinach and feta. Never syrup or butter! And always paired with a glass of wine! Not a cup of tea, or coffee. Wine! Which goes so well with savory crepes.
I couldn’t believe that these places sold crepes accompanied by red wine, but once I saw the menu, I realized how many different ways you can prepare them. I personally never enjoyed a “regular” pancake and never regularly had one until I started making gluten free buckwheat crepes.
Savory Buckwheat Crepes
Buckwheat crepes are traditionally savory. These are naturally gluten free, and have a distinct nutty flavor because of the buckwheat flour.
- Savory buckwheat crepes are typically served for lunch or dinner, but they also work just as well for breakfast/brunch too.
- If you are anything like me – I love carbs and love to eat crepes on their own with only a sour cream!
- Savory crepes can (and should) be filled with savory fillings like bacon, ham, mushrooms, herbs and other types of meat filling too.
- You can even go completely savory and stuff them with spinach and cream cheese.
Sweet Buckwheat Crepes
Sweet buckwheat crepes are usually slightly sweetened with sugar. They are different in taste from their savory siblings and are perfect for breakfast or dessert (with a brunch overlap)!
- Sweet buckwheat crepes are typically served with powdered sugar, fruits, chocolate, whipped cream, or even ice cream.
- A more fancy version would be to have the crepes with the sour cream mixed with Grand Marnier and strawberries. But I also enjoy my sweet crepes with a simple dusting of sugar and some blueberries.
- You can also roll them around a whipped cream filling, or serve them with fresh strawberries.
- I love to eat them with caramelized apples and dark chocolate!
- How about drizzling them with chocolate?
- Finally – drench those crepes in various sweet sauces, such as Nutella!
What Kind of Buckwheat Flour to Use
There are so many choices nowadays when it comes to buckwheat flour! And I love the robust flavor of buckwheat!
You can buy it in a regular supermarket in the specialty section (gluten free or organic alley) or online.
I like to use organic AND gluten free flour in bulk, but if you want to try individual pack, you can find it here.
Personally, I prefer buckwheat flour crepes over regular flour cremes. There is something about their amazing texture and the crisp on the outside of the crepe that makes it taste a lot more substantial than a regular crepe.
Making Buckwheat Crepes is Easy!
These homemade crepes require only a handful of ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry: buckwheat flour, salt, eggs, milk, and butter.
Making them is super simple. Just mix, griddle, and breakfast or brunch is served!
First, you will sift the dry ingredients. Then make a well in the dry ingredients and whisk your wet ingredients. Now warm a skillet and cook a small amount of batter, flip, and serve. Easy, isn’t it? Now let’s go!
How to Cook Crepes (Detailed Steps)
- Use a whisk to mix the crepe batter ingredients together, or you can use a blender too. If you’re using a whisk, mix the buckwheat flour with about half of the milk to create a smooth thick paste.
- Then add the rest of the milk and mix it in, to make a smooth crepe batter.
- And for perfect results, I recommend leaving the crepe batter to rest for a little while in a fridge.
- Although you can buy a special pan for making crepes, all you really need is a large non-stick skillet!
- You will heat it over medium heat. Grease the pan lightly and add about ¼ cup of batter, swirling it around the pan to form a large, thin crepes.
- Cook for 30 seconds or so on each side, flipping once, until lightly golden.
- This quick cooking time allows the crepes to be soft and have crispy edges, without drying out.
What Kind of Pan to Use?
While there are fancy crepe pans in the market, you don’t need an expensive crepe pan to make perfect basic crepes. A regular non-stick pan works just as well. You can use a cast iron or carbon steel skillet to make the buckwheat crepes as well, just make sure that you butter the pan well so that the crepes don’t stick.
If you’re new to making crepes, a regular non-stick pan is the best option.
In this recipe I used a 10 inch pan to make 10 inch crepes. But you can also use an 8 inch or 12 inch pan as well, depending on what you have at hand.
How to Serve Crepes
These amazing crepes taste great hot off the skillet. You should them serve warm and dusted with powdered sugar.
French Buckwheat Crepes
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ cups milk
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt, ( or use ¼ teaspoon to lower sodium)
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 3 tablespoon butter, (melted)
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
Instructions
- Add eggs, milk, baking soda, sea salt, sugar, and melted butter to a bowl and whisk for a few seconds. Add buckwheat flour and continue whisking until smooth. The mixture will be runny.
- Refrigerate batter for 30 minutes.
- Heat a large non-stick skillet to medium heat. When skillet is hot, lightly grease it with a little butter or cooking spray.
- Hold the handle of the skillet and as you pour a few tablespoons of batter in, tilt the skillet around in a circular motion to allow the batter to evenly coat the bottom of the pan, in a thin layer.
- Cook for 30 seconds-1 minutes or until the edges of the crepe curl slightly and the bottom of the crepe is lightly golden. Flip to the other side and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Adjust your heat between medium-medium high while your crepes are cooking in about 30 seconds on each side. Re-grease your pan every few crepes, as needed.
- Remove crepe to a plate. Add more crepes to the plate as you cook them, and cover the plate with tinfoil to keep them warm.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only. This information comes from online calculators. Although whatsinthepan.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Homemade buckwheat crepes are ridiculously easy to make, and difficult to mess up! And if you still have room in your tummy, how about these gluten-free double-chocolate Buckwheat cookies?
FYI the traditional recipe doesn’t contain egg.
This recipe doesn’t work.
Can I use all purpose flour instead?
Absolutely!
We love buckwheat crepes when in Europe but the buckwheat four I find here(Kansas) seems to be more refined & the crepes don’t taste the same. Where do you get the buckwheat flour & what brand do you use?
Donna, I use Arrowhead Buckwheat flour. I buy it online in bulk (but can also look at the price of the individual buckwheat flour package here even though it’s more expensive per ounce).
I tried these two times. One recipe did not call for baking soda nor sugar. Both totally failed! They started to crack as they cooked. What do you think I did wrong. Thank you.
What do you mean “one recipe did not call for baking soda nor sugar) – you need both sugar (for taste) and soda (for bubbles) as stated in the recipe. As far as the cracking, did you use two eggs as the recipe states? The eggs is what keeps the batter together.
What do you mean by soda for the ingredient- is that seltzer, baking soda or something else?
Baking soda
I believe buckwheat galettes(crepes) should only be savory and contain only buckwheat flour, water, salt. They are beautiful breton food
How about an egg to hold the batter together? Since buckwheat contains no gluten, there should be something that binds and holds the molecules of the batter together while cooking.
If I want to make these dairy free, what kind of milk would you suggest?
It would be challenging to hold them together with the dairy free milk. However, I’m thinking if you were to mix coconut cream and coconut milk together – the might work.
Tried the recipe for the crepes and they turned out perfect! I didn’t even need to grease the pan!!
Filled them with savoury fillings (creamed spinach, sautéed mushrooms, goat cheese).
Thanks a lot!! This will be my go to recipe for crepes now 🙂
I’m so glad you liked it! I love buckwheat crepes.