How to Make Crêpes (Dad’s Recipe)
My French-Canadian dad knows best! This is his recipe for classic French crepes that are perfectly thin with buttery, crispy edges. Customizable with your favorite sweet or savory fillings, make them with only 9 basic ingredients and no special pans required.
Servings: 12 crepes (roughly)
Equipment
- 8” nonstick skillet, or a smaller nonstick skillet if you don’t have an 8”
Ingredients
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup whole milk
- ½ cup water
- 2 eggs beaten
- 2 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Butter to grease pan and optional to top
- Maple syrup optional to top
Instructions
- Whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, powdered sugar, and salt – in a large bowl.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients by pushing dry ingredients to the sides of the bowl, leaving a bare spot in the center.
- In a separate bowl, combine beaten eggs, whole milk, water and vanilla extract.
- Pour wet ingredients into the well of the dry ingredients. Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients using a whisk. Use the whisk to crush any large lumps in the batter. The batter should be very loose and have small lumps in it.
- Heat an 8” nonstick skillet over medium/low heat. Add a teaspoon or so of butter to the hot skillet. Use a large spoon to add just enough batter to the pan so that the bottom is just covered in a thin layer of batter.
- After 1-2 minutes, use a spatula to lift the corner of the crepe to see if the bottom is golden brown. If not, let cook for an additional 1-2 minutes until the bottom turns golden.
- When golden, flip the crepe and cook the other side until golden brown, about 1-3 minutes.
- Transfer the crepe to a plate. Serve however you’d like or the way my dad would serve: slather with butter, use 2 forks to roll the crepe into a spiral, and drizzle with maple syrup.
Video
Notes
- A 5 to 8” nonstick skillet works. 8 inch is best. A larger skillet will not work since the batter is very loose.
- The way my dad served crepes was with a pad of butter and maple syrup, but you can stuff crepes with savory toppings or sweet toppings before rolling. Filling ideas are included in the blog post above!
- Experiment with crepe thickness by adding a little less or more batter to the pan. Also experiment with doneness (light golden vs. dark golden crepes taste different!).
Nutrition
Serving: 1crepe | Calories: 54kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Trans Fat: 0.003g | Cholesterol: 29mg | Sodium: 101mg | Potassium: 42mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 64IU | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 1mg