Making French crepes that are both vegan and gluten-free can seem like a huge challenge! You may wonder how they can hold their shape if there are no eggs and no gluten to keep it all together. We are happy to report that it's actually pretty easy if you use the right ingredients: a flax egg to replace the eggs and a blend of gluten-free oat flour, rice flour and arrowroot powder work like magic! These vegan almond milk crepes hold together, are easy to flip and super flexible. Plus, they taste heavenly good! If you're looking for more vegan crepe recipes, you may also like these 3-ingredient buckwheat crepes.
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Why you'll love these crepes
- This is the only gluten-free vegan crepe recipe you'll need. We don't want to brag too much, but these crepes have the perfect shape, texture, and flavor.
- You can make it on many different occasions, whether that's a Sunday brunch, as an afternoon snack or as an easy breakfast. We love making them on birthdays, too!
- This sweet almond milk crepe recipe can be turned into a savory version as well. If you want savory crepes, simply leave out the coconut sugar.
Key ingredients and substitutions
Flax eggs are obtained by mixing water and ground flax seeds. The gel it forms is often used to replace eggs in vegan baking. We recommend, using ground golden flax seeds if you want your crepes to remain light in color. The easiest way to grind flaxseeds is to use a coffee or spice grinder. If using a small blender, make sure to add enough flax seeds to obtain a fine powder. Always store ground flax seeds in an air-tight container in the fridge to prevent oxidation and rancidity.
Gluten-free oat flour is the base ingredient for this recipe. It helps the crepes hold their shape. You can buy oat flour or make your own by blending oats in a food processor until you obtain a really fine powder. Make sure to use gluten-free oats if necessary.
Brown rice flour improves the texture of these almond milk crepes and provides crispy edges. You can replace the brown rice flour with white rice flour or more gluten-free oat flour. Note that the texture will be slightly gooier.
Arrowroot powder is a crucial ingredient in vegan and gluten-free crepes as it makes them soft and flexible (and prevents them from breaking). We think that you could substitute arrowroot powder with tapioca starch (often sold as tapioca flour) but have not tried it yet.
Coconut sugar is great to make sweet crepes. You can substitute it with regular brown sugar or leave it out completely.
Almond milk adds a delicate flavor to the crepes. If you want to make these crepes nut-free you can use soy milk or any other plant-based milk alternative.
Vegan butter will be added to the batter to refine the texture and used to grease the pan. You want to use vegan butter in sticks or blocks, not a vegan butter spread. Alternatively, use coconut oil.
Elo's tips
Using the right pan is key to making the perfect crepes: a crepe pan or a non-stick pan is great to prevent the thin crepes from sticking and eventually breaking. However, we also like heavy-bottomed stainless steel pans, which provide even heat that helps the crepes cook evenly without cracking. If using a stainless steel pan, make sure to grease the pan with a little vegan butter on a paper towel after each crepe.
Make sure your pan is hot to prevent messing up the first crepe. To do so, we like to melt the butter that we'll add to the batter in the pan over medium-high heat. The pan can already start heating and you'll have one bowl less to clean afterward.
Add a drop of batter to the pan to check if it's warm enough. If it sizzles and sets right away you know that you can move on. If it doesn't, it's preferable to wait another minute or two before pouring in the first ladle of batter.
The crepes will soften as you stack them: when you remove the crepes from the pan, they are relatively crispy on the edges. As you stack them on a plate, they will soften and become very flexible due to the heat and the steam.
Step-by-step with pictures
Make the flax egg. Add a tablespoon of ground flax seeds to a small bowl and pour in 2 tablespoons of warm water. Give it a good mix and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes until it thickens and forms a gel. You can buy flaxseed meal or grind some flax seeds in a coffee grinder, spice grinder or small blender until you obtain a fine powder.
Combine the dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, mix the oat flour with the rice flour, arrowroot powder and a pinch of salt.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until the crepe batter is perfectly smooth. There should be no lumps lefts. You can start making the crepes right away, no need to let the batter rest.
Make the crepes. Once the pan is hot (check our tips above), pour in a ladle of crepe batter (about 1 cup of batter). Quickly rotate the pan in a circular motion to spread the batter into a really thin crepe. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes until the center looks cooked and the edges start to lift. Flip the crepe and let it cook it for another minute on the other side.
Reduce to medium heat once you made the first crepe or two. Stack them on a plate as you go.
Best vegan crepe fillings
- Cover the crepes with your favorite vegan chocolate spread.
- Drizzle with maple syrup and –if we may suggest– add a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice.
- Spread with jam and/or peanut butter.
- Top with plant-based yogurt, with or without cinnamon.
- Serve it with vegan whipped coconut cream and fresh fruits or berries.
- Add sliced bananas and some melted dark chocolate.
- Great savory fillings are vegan cheese, caramelized bell peppers, sauteed mushrooms and arugula.
Frequently asked questions
You can refrigerate crepes for 2-3 days. Wrap them tightly in plastic film (or a sustainable alternative) to prevent them from drying. You can either eat them cold or reheat them in the microwave for a few seconds.
The easiest way to flip a crepe is to use a thin, flexible spatula. Once the center of the crepe looks cooked and the edges start to lift, run the spatula along the edges. Then, slowly slide the spatula under the crepe. If it lifts easily, you can flip it. If it doesn't lift right away, slide the spatula under the crepe in two more spots before lifting it.
The best way to make crepes without eggs is to replace them with a flax egg or an egg replacer. These will act as binding agents and hold the crepe batter together.
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The recipe
Gluten-free Vegan Almond Milk Crepes
Ingredients
- 1 flax egg 1 tablespoon ground golden flax seeds + 2 tablespoons warm water
- ¾ cup (90 g) gluten-free oat flour
- ¼ cup (30 g) brown rice flour sub white rice flour or more oat flour*
- 2 tablespoons (15 g) arrowroot powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar omit for savory pancakes
- 1 ¼ cup (300 ml) almond milk or other plant-based milk
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter
Instructions
- Prepare the flax egg by mixing the ground flax seeds and the warm water. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the oat flour, rice flour, arrowroot powder and a pinch of salt (see step-by-step pictures in post above).
- Create a "well" in the center of the dry ingredients. Add in the flax egg, coconut sugar and almond milk. Whisk until the crepe batter is lump-free.
- Heat a crepe or non-stick pan with vegan butter over medium-high heat. Once the butter is melted, add it to the crepe batter and give it a good mix.
- Add a drop of batter to the pan. When it sizzles and sets very quickly, the pan is hot enough.
- Pour a ladle of batter into the pan and quickly rotate it to spread it out as thinly as possible. Let it cook for 2 minutes or until the edges start to lift.
- Flip the crepe with a spatula and let it cook for another minute. Transfer the crepe to a plate (see notes).
- Repeat the process until there's no batter left.
Notes
- Use a kitchen scale to weigh your ingredients for best results.
- You can replace the brown rice flour with more gluten-free oat flour. Note that the texture will be slightly gooier.
- Arrowroot powder is a crucial ingredient in vegan and gluten-free crepes as it makes them soft and flexible (and prevents them from breaking). We think that you could substitute arrowroot powder with tapioca starch (often sold as tapioca flour) but have not tried it yet.
- The crepes will soften as you stack them: when you remove the crepes from the pan, they are very crispy on the edges. As you stack them on a plate, they will soften and become very flexible due to the heat and steam.
- You can refrigerate crepes for 2-3 days. Wrap them tightly in plastic film (or a sustainable alternative) to prevent them from drying.
Nutrition
Equipment
- 1 Kitchen scale or measuring cups
- 1 Crepe pan or non-stick pan
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Delicious crepes! Tried them without sugar, with tapioca starch, a gf flour mixture instead of the oat flour and it worked perfectly fine! I will try them again when I have all the ingredients at home to see the difference in texture!
So good to know that the oat flour can be replaced with a gluten-free flour blend. Thank you for sharing! I can't wait to hear your feedback when you try the crepes with oat flour 😊
Loved them very tasty and an easy, fasr recipe. I used corn starch instead of arrowroot powder and had no problem at all.
Thank you so much for sharing! It's really good to know that arrowroot can be substituted with corn starch!