Sweet vegan buckwheat crepes spiced with a hint of cinnamon, vanilla and coconut sugar. These easy gluten free crepes are made with only five core ingredients and are the perfect vehicle all of your favourite fillings and toppings, go wild!
Each time I posted about making crepes on my Instagram, everyone went wild for it. I mean, it’s hard not to love a stack of crepes covered with sweet toppings, but even still the enthusiasm levels were high! So, I though it was about time I popped up my recipe for vegan buckwheat crepes.
Making lovely gluten free, vegan crepes is simple once you get the batter right, but I did need to do some testing. Without the stretchy-ness of gluten or an egg to bind the recipe together, it can be difficult to create a nice crepe that you can roll or fold – but I just really wanted to nail a simple, plant-based recipe. After quite a few batches, I decided the best fix is adding a small amount of ground flaxseed. This helps to keep the crepes supple.
Once you’ve got that silky batter down pat, it’s just a matter of briefly cooking in the pan and then it’s onto a plate to be smothered in toppings.
These vegan buckwheat crepes are given a gentle flavour with a little coconut sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. You don’t have to add all of those ingredients, though I do think the little bit of coconut sugar helps to brown the crepes and make them go a little crispy on the edges (YUM). The cinnamon and vanilla are definitely optional.
In the recipe below I’ve also included a super simple recipe for a no-cook, dairy free/vegan chocolate sauce. Because sweet crepes and chocolate sauce belong together, right! It’s literally just:
- nut butter (smooth peanut butter, cashew butter, almond butter, whatever you fancy. Maybe hazelnut butter for a Nutella-ish feel)
- cacao powder
- liquid sweetener (I used coconut syrup for the crepes pictured but you can use maple syrup, honey etc.)
- milk of choice (I used a coconut-rice blend but almond, rice, oat, hemp etc. would also work)
Just whisk it all together and voila. A little chocolate loving for your sweet vegan buckwheat crepes!
Sweet Vegan Buckwheat Crepes
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup buckwheat flour - 45-50 grams
- 2 tbsp brown rice flour - 18-20 grams
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed - 7-9 grams
- 80 mL coconut milk - carton coconut milk, NOT canned. Substitute rice, oat, almond, etc. as you like
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon - OPTIONAL
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract - OPTIONAL
- water
Instructions
- Combine buckwheat flour, brown rice flour, flaxseed, coconut sugar and cinnamon (if using cinnamon) in a bowl.
- Add the 80mL milk, vanilla extract and 120mL of water to the dry ingredients. Whisk with a fork until smoothly combined.
- Place the batter in the fridge and leave to rest for at least one hour. (You can leave it overnight; I recommend covering it if leaving it for a while).
- After resting remove batter from the fridge. Add another 3-4 tbsp of water or milk to the batter and whisk again. It should be thin; almost as thin as the consistency of cream.
- Heat a non stick pan up to a medium heat on the stove, and very lightly oil. Pour in about 1/4 cup of the batter and tilt the pan around so the batter spreads out thinly and evenly. Cook the crepe for about 3 minutes, until it's basically cooked through and the edges are looking a little crisp (they may curl up a little). Then, gently flip and cook for one more minute.
- Repeat the process with the remaining batter; you should get 4 crepes. As they finish cooking, place them inside a tea towel that's folded in half on a plate, to keep them nice and warm. Then serve them with your favourite toppings/fillings!
Notes
- 1 tbsp smooth natural peanut butter
- 2 tsp coconut syrup
- 2 tsp cacao powder
- a coconut-rice milk blend
If you like sweet, warming, yet healthy breakfasts, you might also like:
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes
- Healthy Carrot Cake Oat Porridge
- Paleo Baked Oatmeal “N-oatmeal”
Hello, can I use tapioca flour instead of the rice flour? And psyllium husk instead of flaxseed?
As I am on an autoimmune paleo diet, but these look delicious
Hi Rachel, I think you could use the psyllium husk instead of the flaxseed, but as psyllium is more absorbent I would reduce the amount. I’m not sure if tapioca flour would behave the same way as brown rice flour, however as the amount used is pretty small you could give it a try! They might just come out a bit more chewy/sticky. If it doesn’t work you could try using something else starchy like cassava flour. Let me know if it works! 🙂
Hi there! This recipe looks delicious! I’m wondering what kind of buckwheat flour you use? Everytime I use buckwheat flour, the batter and resulting product is a muddy grey/brown color – which is fine, but I always see people’s recipes where the final product is a lovely golden brown more like you’d get with a traditional flour. I can’t seem to find any info about refined v unrefined buckwheat flour. I don’t use a roasted buckwheat flour, and do understand the difference between kasha/roasted buckwheat and non-roasted. Thanks in advance! Can’t wait to try these!
Hi Shayna, thank you for your message 🙂 I will try to describe for your as best possible what kind of buckwheat flour I use. However, I don’t think there are different “types” when it comes to flour. I know there is the whole kasha v non-roasted thing but I think this only applies to the whole groats; I think the flour is always made from the non-roasted. I don’t think there is a refined v unrefined distinction.
The specific flour I used for these crepes when recipe testing was purchased from (1) The Source Bulk Foods (a bulk foods store) and (2) the brand Lotus Foods. (Not sure if you are in Australia like I am). The images pictured show crepes made with the Lotus Foods buckwheat flour.
In terms of the colour – I find my buckwheat flour usually has a grey-ish, muddy tinge to it. In these crepes, I don’t think you notice it as much because the crepes contain a tablespoon of coconut sugar, which helps to caramelise and brown the crepes in the pan for the more golden effect you see in the picture. If you look at one of my other buckwheat recipes which is very popular – Vegan Buckwheat Bread – you will see the flour is kind of grey-ish in that loaf (it’s only quite brown around the outside where it’s browned up in the oven because I add bicarb soda to my bread which browns it). Sugar, bicarb, baking soda etc will give a browning effect and can change the colour of the flour that you see in finished products. Keep in mind some people may heavily edit their photos too.
I hope this has helped a little, I’m sorry I can’t be more specific about the flour! 🙂