Savory Crepes

Savory crepes are French-style pancakes you can fill with any savory filling of your liking.

You can make savory crepes with an egg-based batter or chickpea flour-based batter.

We love making them with an easy and nutritious chickpea flour batter, then filling them with comforting sautéed mushrooms, kale or spinach, and an easy white sauce filling.

We encourage you to take this recipe as a guideline and customize the filling to your liking. Feel free to add other vegetables, cheese, or any filling you love.

Thanks to the chickpea flour, this savory crepes recipe is naturally vegan and gluten-free – although to make the filling gluten-free and vegan, you’d have to use gluten-free and dairy-free ingredients.

For sweet crepes that you can fill with Nutella, or serve with lemon juice and sugar, check out our vegan crepes recipe.

Savory crepes batter

Chickpea flour

Chickpea flour or garbanzo bean flour is a versatile ingredient that enables us to replace eggs and regular flour in this crepe recipe.

You can find chickpea flour in most supermarkets these days, and if you don’t know how to use leftovers, check out our chickpea flour muffins or vegan frittata – they are delicious.

Olive oil

Extra virgin olive oil adds flavor and a little fat necessary to make these pancakes delicious.

Water

To make the batter. Cold tap water is fine.

Salt

Sea salt or kosher salt to add flavor to the batter.

Mushroom and spinach filling

Mushrooms

You can use white mushrooms, brown mushrooms, cremini, baby Bella, portobello mushrooms, chantarelle, or any other mushroom of your liking.

Greens

Use spinach, kale, or chard for the filling. They are all perfect with mushrooms.

Garlic

The garlic aroma is perfect with this recipe. You can use a teaspoon of garlic powder if you don’t have fresh garlic.

Salt, pepper, olive oil

We use sea salt, black pepper, and extra virgin olive oil to sauté the mushrooms.

Quick white sauce

Milk

You can use any milk, from whole milk to unsweetened soy milk.

Fat

You can use olive oil, unsalted butter, and dairy-free butter.

Flour

We recommend all-purpose flour for white sauce.

Salt and pepper

Add a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for flavor.

Make mushroom filling

In a large skillet, warm up the olive oil. Add a crushed clove of garlic, sliced mushrooms, and chopped kale leaves.

Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes until the pan is dry and the mushrooms start to brown.

Make white sauce

In the meantime, make a quick white sauce. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Add the flour and stir until the mixture bubbles, then add milk, salt, and pepper.

Stir over medium heat until the white sauce thickens; it should only take about 5 minutes.

For this recipe, you want a relatively liquid white sauce, so don’t overcook it, as it will keep getting thicker as it cools down.

Set aside, remembering to stir it from time to time to avoid lumps, then prepare the savory crepes batter.

Note: we like to keep our white sauce simple; however, if you want a richer and creamier white sauce feel free to add cream cheese, grated gruyere cheese, sour cream, grated parmesan cheese, or shredded cheddar. Alternatively, you can add shredded dairy-free cheese.

Make the savory crepe batter

Add chickpea flour, water, olive oil, salt, and pepper to a mixing bowl.

Blend with an immersion blender for a few seconds until the batter is smooth and without lumps.

Warm up a non-stick pan and brush it with oil. Our pan is 28 cm or 11 inches, but a smaller one will do too.

When the pan is hot, lower the heat and pour a ladleful of the batter in the center, rotating the pan to distribute the mixture.

Cook on low heat for about 1.5 to 2 minutes, then turn the crepe and cook for another 30 to 60 seconds without letting it get too dry. 

Once cooked, place the pancakes on a plate and repeat the process until you run out of batter. With our doses and an 11-inch pan (28 cm), you’ll get 6 pancakes.

Serve the crepes

Option 1

Spread two tablespoons of white sauce onto half a pancake, add two to three tablespoons of mushroom filling, a sprinkle of pepper, and roll the pancake on itself. 

Note: The picture shows mushrooms first, but actually, it’s better to put the white sauce first, then the mushrooms, then roll them.

Arrange the pancakes on a plate; one to two per person should be enough.

Drizzle them with some more white sauce, then some mushrooms, another drizzle of white sauce, and optionally a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and fresh parsley on top.

Option 2

Take an oven dish, cover the base with white sauce, then roll the crepes as instructed in method 1. 

Arrange them into the oven dish, one next to the other, and cover with white sauce, then mushrooms on top, and more white sauce.

Sprinkle with parmesan or dairy-free cheese and gratin in the oven at max temp and with the broiler function on for 10 – 15 minutes until the cheese melts and the crepes are warm.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Serve with a crisp green salad, such as:

• Easy green side salad: ready in 5 minutes, the easiest way to get your fresh greens
• Tomato and cucumber salad: a perfect side salad for spring and summer
• Green bean salad with almonds and crumbled feta
• Italian fennel salad with orange wedges and pomegranate seeds

Variations

Fill with leftover stews and salads; it’s a great way to clean up your fridge! Try these veggie-packed ideas as fillings:

• Eggplant caponata
• Italian bean stew
• Mashed chickpea salad
• Easy avocado salad

Refrigerator: to store savory crepes without the filling, put them on a plate, one on top of the other, then cover them with plastic wrap and keep them in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

To store with the filling, put the crepes in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, then reheat in the microwave or a preheated oven at 350°F or 180°C for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Freezer: you can freeze the crepes with and without the filling. To freeze the crepes without filling, let them cool down, stack them on a plate, wrap them in plastic and freeze them for up to three months—Thaw in the microwave.

To freeze them filled, do so directly in the baking dish for up to three months. Next, thaw them in the microwave, then bake them in a preheated oven at 350°F or 180°C for 15 to 20 minutes.

More chickpea flour recipes

If you’re new to cooking without eggs, take a peek at these easy egg-free recipes:

• Easy vegan frittata with sauteed veggies, a quick and wholesome lunch idea
• Savory frittata muffins with peas and grated carrots, a colorful side dish, and an appetizer idea!
• Socca with chickpea flour: Italian-style chickpea pancake perfect as a starter
• Zucchini pie with chickpea flour filling, perfect for picnics and cookouts!

For many more dinner ideas, check out our mains category page.