As a French person, I have been baking vegan crepes and buckwheat crepes since I was a kid. Buckwheat crepes are indeed part of the French food culture. It’s a typical recipe from the Brittany region, and it’s always used as a base for savory crepes filled with cheese and ham and a fried egg on top! All of these options are far from a plant-based diet, but buckwheat flour is so nourishing and healthy that a vegan buckwheat crepe option is a must! So here I am sharing my favorite vegan, gluten-free buckwheat crepes! It’s an adaptation of the classic French recipe but without eggs, dairy, or oil!
Are Buckwheat Crepes Vegan?
No, authentic buckwheat crepes contain eggs and sometimes milk. So they are not a vegan recipe, and it needs a few tweaks to make them plant-based.
Ingredients and Substitutions
The basic ingredients you need to make a vegan crepe with buckwheat flour are:
Buckwheat Flour – There’s a large variety of buckwheat flour on the market, and the color of buckwheat flour varies a lot from country to country. In Europe, buckwheat flour is grey and dark, while in New Zealand, it’s light grey, almost pale white. So that’s why the color of my crepes is light and golden. But anyway, the color won’t change the recipe ratio. Cold Water – Use tap water. You don’t need almond milk to make vegan buckwheat crepes. The water makes the crepes soft, flexible, and crispier on the sides. Vanilla Extract – If you want to use the recipe for a sweet crepe. Sugar – You can add a pinch of coconut sugar or unrefined cane sugar to the recipe to make the batter sweet.
How To Make Vegan Buckwheat Crepes
It’s very easy to make buckwheat crepes without eggs, just like classic vegan crepes. The trick is to use more buckwheat flour. Many recipes will ask for a flax egg or other egg replacer, but it’s absolutely unnecessary. It actually makes the batter fragile because the flax egg stretches the batter too much in the crepe pan and splits the crepe apart.
Filling Options
Buckwheat crepes are most of the time served hot with a savory filling. To make savory buckwheat crepes, return the cooked crepe onto the pan, add the ingredients below in order, on half of the crepe:
Vegan cheese Roasted vegetables – like zucchini, red bell pepper, and mushrooms. Plant-based proteins you like – crumbled tofu, roasted chickpeas, black bean, cooked textured soy protein. Sauce – you can add some tomato paste, hummus, and vegan aioli.
Fold the crepe in half and cook until cheese is melted, then serve with lettuce on the side. For sweet buckwheat crepes, try some of the toppings below:
Peanut butter Almond butter Homemade baby jam Sliced almonds Sliced banana Berries Chocolate Spread Maple syrup Vegan whipped cream
Storage
You can store the crepe batter in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 24 hours. It means you can make ahead the crepe batter the day before and store it in the fridge overnight. Also, you can store the cooked crepes in the fridge for up to 3 days. Then, place the crepes on a plate and seal the plate with plastic wrap to prevent the crepes from hardening and drying out.
More Buckwheat Recipes
If you like recipes with buckwheat, you’ll love these:
