These super easy Vegan Buckwheat Crepes are thin breakfast pancakes with a delicious nutty, earthy flavor from buckwheat flour. They are naturally gluten-free and dairy-free and perfect as a healthy, nourishing breakfast or lunch wrap filled with savory food.
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.
- To make the buckwheat crepes batter combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Whisk the wet ingredients in another bowl and pour them onto the dry ingredients.
- Whisk well to remove any possible lumps and rest the batter for 10 minutes before cooking. This is the number one tip for your crepe to hold and not break in the pan.
- Next, make sure you use a non-stick crepe pan or non-stick skillet. Buckwheat crepes are thicker than regular crepes and very fragile as well.
- If you are not using a non-stick crepe pan, the crepe takes much time to cook and sometimes breaks.
- Warm the crepe pan over medium heat, add 1 teaspoon of coconut oil or olive oil to the center of the pan, and tilt to spread.
- Remove any excess oil using a piece of absorbent paper to rub the pan surface.
- Pour about 1/2 cup of batter into a 10-inch (26cm) pan, and tilt gently, working in rotation movement to evenly spread the crepe batter onto the pan surface.
- Return over medium heat and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the sides are crispy and unstick from the pan.
- Then, slide a long flat spatula under the crepe and flip to cook an extra minute on the other side.
- Transfer the vegan buckwheat crepes to a plate and repeat the above steps with the remaining batter.
- Cool the crepes down on top of each other on a cold plate. You can place a piece of foil on top of the crepes to keep them lukewarm.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
The color of buckwheat flour varies a lot from country to country, but luckily, the color doesn’t affect the taste and also doesn’t impact the recipe measurements.
This happens when the pan is too hot and sometimes for the first crepe, as it takes time for the pan to reach the right temperature.
French people like to say that the first crepe is always a miss! So keep trying, making sure the pan is hot but not burning hot – it should steam!
Add some more water, 2 tablespoons at a time. But don’t add too much water, or the batter won’t hold in the pan.
You can’t swap buckwheat flour for all-purpose flour with the same ratio. However, you can use my vegan crepes recipe to use wheat flour.
Yes, Buckwheat Flour is 100% gluten-free. Its name contains the word wheat but it’s unrelated to wheat.
Buckwheat flour contains 15 grams of protein per cup, about the same as Wheat Flour.
More Buckwheat Recipes
If you like recipes with buckwheat, you’ll love these:
Did You Like This Recipe?
Leave a comment below or head to our Facebook page for tips, our Instagram page for inspiration, our Pinterest for saving recipes, and Flipboard to get all the new ones!
Vegan Buckwheat Crepes
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups Raw Buckwheat - or Buckwheat flour
- 3 cups Cold Water
Optional
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2-3 tablespoons Sugar - or coconut sugar
Instructions
Blender option
- Rinse raw buckwheat groats in a sieve under cold water. Add in the jug of your high-speed blender with cold water and salt if desired
- Blend on high speed – speed 10 of a Vitamix for 30 seconds or until the batter is smooth – it should look quiet liquid not very thick.
- Transfer to a mixing bowl and rest at room temperature before cooking
Mixing bowl option
- In a large mixing bowl, add buckwheat flour, salt, and sugar if used. Whisk to combine.
- Whisk in cold water and vanilla extract if used. Whisk until smooth, it won't be very thick
- Set aside for 10 minutes at room temperature before cooking.
Cooking crepes
- Heat a 10-inch Tefal Crepes pan (26 cm) over medium heat, add 1 teaspoon coconut oil in the pan, tilt to spread, or rub onto the surface of the pan with a piece of absorbent paper. Don't keep too much oil on the pan, or the crepe will fry.
- Add ⅓ to ½ cup of batter in the pan, tilting the pan and rotating at the same time to evenly spread the batter all over the pan. If the pan is too hot, the batter can split, so make sure the pan is warm, not producing steam that means the pan is overheated.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes on one side on medium heat or until the sides of the crepes get crispy and unstick from the pan easily.
- Use a long flat spatula to slip under the crepe and flip on the other side.
- Cook for an extra 1 minute on the other side and cool down on a plate.
- Meanwhile, regrease the pan, and repeat the steps above to cook the remaining crepe batter.
Storage
- Store the cooked crepes in the fridge on a plate sealed with plastic wrap.
- Store the uncooked crepe batter for up to 24 hours in the fridge in a sealed container.
Serving
- Serve with jam, peanut butter, or fruit slices for a sweet breakfast. Or add some savory toppings like hummus, roasted red pepper, and zucchini.
awesome crepes, I made them and they came out perfect! thank you so much for this nutritious, high protein and GF recipe. these crepes are my favorite brunch meal on Sundays.
just made these with the flour, turned out beautifully and yummy, looks just like the picture they are quick and easy:)
thank you soooo much
Eva
I’ve been gluten free for over a year and could not enjoy crepes until now. Thank you! My first try turned out pretty good, the crapes were a little fat but that is probably because I tried to make them on the griddle instead of a pan so spreading was not as easy. I was wondering, can I add protein powder to these without messing up the batter? What would be the recommended ratio of flour to protein? Thank you!
I have never tried this recipe with protein powder, but I assume it would work if you add a little more liquid or swap 1/4 of the flour for it.
Hi! Thanks for the recipe – can’t wait to try! Any idea if these would freeze well?
I don’t think they freeze so well. Buckwheat tends to become a bit crumbly over time and they might break when defrosting them.
From what I’ve read and my own experience, ready-bought Buckwheat flour is darker because it uses only the outer husk. The one you blend yourself using the whole groat is lighter because it also contains the inner part which is lighter. I’ve tried both and the darker, ready-made tastes slightly more bitter to me.
How do I prepare/grind buckwheat into flour if I can’t purchase buckwheat flour?
I don’t recommend making your own buckwheat flour, the buckwheat groats are very difficult to pulse into a thin flour and often recipes won’t work as well if homemade.
This is just the best crepe! Both sweet and savory versions turn perfect