In today’s post: Learn how to use a crepe maker for gorgeous, perfectly round crepes in minutes with hardly any work! Plus an easy, delicious crepe recipe.
Crepes are one of my kids’ favorite breakfasts. It’s not hard to guess why: if I let them smother cardboard with berries and nutella that would probably be their favorite breakfast too. But crepes can be a bit of a hassle to make at home. It’s certainly doable (and I’ve been doing it nearly every Sunday morning for years!), just time consuming: lots of swirling batter around a skillet and then hoping your nonstick skillet is still nonstick enough that flipping won’t be problematic. Even if you’re successful at flipping, it can be hard to get perfectly round crepes at home.
UNLESS you break down and order a crepe maker (<–affiliate link), which is what I did a few weeks ago. This thing is absolutely revolutionary and dead easy to use!
This little crepe maker makes crepe making so much easier! It makes gorgeously round, delicately thin crepes in about 90 seconds each, meaning it doesn’t take long to make a big stack.
How to use a crepe maker for perfect crepes
Now this isn’t just a special crepe skillet, which still requires you to pour + spread batter on it. It’s completely different, so I made a quick video to show you how it works – check this out!
Pretty slick, right? You just plug in the base and place the crepe maker on it to heat up. Meanwhile, mix up your crepe batter and pour it into the included dipping pan.
Once the crepe maker is warmed up, the red light will turn on. At this point you lightly grease the crepe maker. The manual suggests brushing it with melted butter, but I find it’s easiest to give it a quick shot of nonstick spray, which I then spread around with a folded napkin.
Next is the fun part! Gently lay the crepe maker across the top of the batter and hold it there while you count to five. (Note: it’s best to touch down one side of the crepe maker and then lay down the rest of it in a rolling motion. Don’t push it down too hard – you don’t want to get batter down the sides of the crepe maker, just on the flat surface on top.)
When you get to five, lift the crepe maker up off the batter and place it back down on the base. It’s going to be covered with a nice thin layer of batter, which will take about 60 seconds to cook.
When the light goes back off about 60 seconds later, the crepe is done. I like to use the included spatula to just loosen the edge a bit, then flip the crepe out onto a plate. If you have greased the maker well enough the crepe will just drop right off of it. If it doesn’t drop off immediately, just grab the edge that you loosened and pull gently and it will peel right off.
How to use a crepe maker: tips + tricks
I’ve included our favorite easy crepe recipe below (only five common ingredients!), but first here are a few more tips for using the crepe maker:
- It’s going to take a couple tries to get the technique right. This isn’t hard, and my older kids can do it easily, but it did take us all a few tries to get the dipping part down. Plan on the first batch being a tester batch (as opposed to a perfect batch). The very first crepe in every batch is usually not quite perfect either.
- You only cook one side of the crepe, which is how it’s traditionally done. However, that does mean the very first crepe you flip off the maker may stick to the plate it lands on. That’s ok because the very first crepe of each batch is usually not quite perfect anyway. Successive crepes can be stacked in a pile and then pulled apart from each other quite easily.
- If you want super thin crepes, only hold the maker in the batter for about 3 seconds. I like mine just a tad thicker, so I hold the maker in the batter for 5 seconds.
- It takes about 90 seconds to make a crepe, which means making a batch of a dozen doesn’t take long at all. However, there are 7 of us and my teenage boys can consume unbelievable amounts of food, so I often triple the batch and watch a show on while I cook them all up. I’m actually considering ordering a second crepe maker so I can have two going at a time!
- Some crepe recipes recommend mixing up the batter and then chilling it for up to 24 hours. I’ve never chilled our recipe and it always turns out great! Just make sure to blend it until it’s completely smooth.
- Find the Cucina Pro Crepe Maker I use right here.
And if you want to make crepes without a crepe maker? Check out this segment from Alton’s Brown’s Good Eats to learn how.
The perfect easy crepe recipe
Perfect Crepes
Ingredients
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 3 tablespoons Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
- 1 and 1/3 cup Milk
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.
- Heat crepe maker on base according to directions.
- Spray with nonstick spray or brush with melted butter.
- Pour batter into dipping pan.
- Invert crepe maker on top of batter and count to 5.
- Place crepe maker back on base and allow crepe to cook for about 60 seconds.
- Use plastic spatula to loosed edge of crepe, and flip off maker onto a plate.
- If not using crepe maker, melt a bit of butter in a wide skillet.
- Pout about 1/4 cup of batter into skillet and swirl to spread batter out.
- Allow to cook until top begins to look dry.
- Use spatula to flip crepe and cook on other side 15 seconds, then flip onto plate.
Want more fun recipes? Try some of these:
Fruit salsa with cinnamon chips
C Van says
Do not add oil nor spray the pan with oil. The hot pan will not “pick up” batter. Instead the pan will cook a top layer of the batter and not lift off the batter . You will have lumpy batter and no crepe on the pan.