Vegetarian Crepe Recipes

Are crepes vegetarian?

Yes. A classic crepe batter is flour, eggs, milk, butter and a pinch of salt, so plain crepes are vegetarian (lacto-ovo, to be exact). Whether a filled crepe is vegetarian comes down to what goes inside. Sweet crepes nearly always are. Savory crepes are where ham, bacon, chicken and smoked salmon tend to show up, so check the filling before you order or cook.

Buckwheat galettes, the savory crepes from Brittany, are vegetarian too. The batter is buckwheat flour, water and salt, sometimes with an egg. The best-known version, the galette complète, adds ham, but the same galette with egg and cheese, or with mushrooms and spinach, is just as traditional. See Buckwheat Galettes for the batter.

Vegetarian crepes for dinner

A savory crepe makes an easy meat-free main course. A few that work well:

• Spinach and ricotta. Rolled, topped with a little cheese and baked until bubbling, as in Spinach Crepes.
• Ratatouille. Slow-cooked summer vegetables with goat cheese, in Ratatouille Crepes.
• Mushrooms and Gruyère. Browned mushrooms folded into a cheese sauce, such as the Mornay in Crepe Sauces.
• Egg and cheese. Crack an egg onto a galette in the pan, add grated cheese and fold the edges in to make a square.

For dessert, keep a few plain crepes back for Lemon Sugar Crepes. They need nothing but butter, sugar and a lemon.

A note on cheese

Some cheeses, including traditional Parmesan and many Alpine cheeses like Gruyère, are made with animal rennet. If you avoid it, look for cheese labeled vegetarian or made with microbial rennet. Most supermarket mozzarella, ricotta, cream cheese and cheddar are easy to find in vegetarian versions.

Vegan crepes

If you also skip eggs and dairy, crepes still work. Plant milk, a little oil and a spoonful of chickpea flour make a batter that rolls and folds without tearing. Start with Vegan Crepes, then browse all of our vegan crepe recipes. If it’s only eggs you’re avoiding, Crepes Without Eggs is a simpler batter.