These Vegan Chocolate Crepes are absolutely to die for! They are whole grain, made with spelt flour, are oil-free, dairy-free, egg-less, nut-free and just 8 ingredients! Serve them with strawberries, chocolate sauce and dairy-free whipped cream!
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VEGAN CHOCOLATE CREPES
I used to love crepes back in my pre-vegan days and now I can still love them. These are the perfect breakfast and my husband and daughter went absolutely crazy over them! So fancy, delicious and decadent. My husband and I have had authentic crepes in Paris before and we both loved these just as much! I also have some amazing Bed and Breakfast Pumpkin Pie Crepes in my Cookbook!
These have a really rich chocolate taste, thanks to lots of cocoa powder and a higher chocolate to sweetener ratio. Using less sweetener than cocoa powder allows the chocolate flavor to be richer and really stand out. It also allow the sweetness of toppings like strawberries, chocolate sauce, whipped cream or powdered sugar to be perfectly balanced with the strong chocolate-flavored crepes.
HOW DO YOU MAKE CREPES WITHOUT EGGS?
Traditional French crepes are made with a good amount of eggs. Basically, a classic recipe is made with eggs, milk, butter, flour and sugar. But no worries, you can totally make crepes without eggs. For my recipe, I wanted to mimic the most eggy texture for incredibly, authentic tasting crepes. I came up with the perfect egg replacement, cornstarch and tapioca starch with coconut milk. This gives them incredible texture, structure and the perfect crepe shape and eggy texture. They even bubble up while cooking like traditional crepes!
Since traditional crepes rely on butter or oil, I still needed some fat, but I don’t want oil. So, I used canned lite coconut milk because it is so creamy and rich. That combined with the syrup, vanilla, lots of cocoa powder and whole grain spelt flour gave these the most delicious flavor and texture.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN CHOCOLATE CREPES
First, you will need to gather these 8 ingredients (+salt):
- spelt flour
- cornstarch
- tapioca starch
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- baking powder
- canned lite coconut milk
- pure maple syrup
- vanilla extract
To a large bowl, add the spelt flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt and whisk very well.
To the same bowl, add the milk, syrup and vanilla. Whisk well until very smooth. Do not worry about over-mixing. You want the batter very smooth and it should be on the runny side. This is important so that the batter is easy to spread onto the pan into a thin layer and form the classic crepe texture. If your batter is too thick, add a touch more milk.
Let the batter sit for 10 minutes while you heat up a 10 inch NONSTICK pan over medium-low heat. This allows for them also to be oil-free.
Add an overflowing 1/3 cup of batter to the center of the pan and immediately pick up the pan and rotate it around quickly allowing the batter to form a large round thin layer covering the bottom of the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes or when the edges and top are firm and bubbles cover the top and start to have a dry appearance. Use a thin spatula to loosen the edges and flip over quickly. They should flip very easily. Cook another minute on the opposite side. Repeat until the batter is gone. I got 7 large crepes.
Fill with strawberries or any fruit you like. You can either roll them up or fold them over into triangular shapes. Top with the fruit, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and powdered sugar, if desired.
OTHER VEGAN BREAKFAST RECIPES TO TRY:
- Vegan Sweet Potato Pancakes
- Best Vegan Fluffy Pancakes
- Vegan Gluten-free Buttermilk Pancakes
- Gluten-free Corn Flour Pancakes
- Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate Waffles
- Vegan Vanilla Cake Waffles
- Vegan Gluten-free Chai Spiced Waffles
- Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
This post contains affiliate links. See my full disclosure policy here.
Vegan Chocolate Crepes (Oil-free)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (128g) whole grain spelt flour
- 2 tablespoons (16g) cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons (16g) tapioca starch
- 6 tablespoons (36g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 1/2 cups (360g) canned "lite" coconut milk, shaken well first (I use and recommend the Thai Kitchen brand)
- 1/4 cup (80g) pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon (5g) vanilla extract
FOR SERVING (OPTIONAL)
- strawberries or fruit of choice
- dairy-free whipped cream
- easy chocolate sauce (melt 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips with 2 tablespoons milk)
- powdered sugar
NOTE
- This recipe was created to use spelt and starch, so subbing is not recommended. Other flours will yield different results and may not work well, as well as change the batter consistency. As always, I recommend a scale for accuracy, especially with batters where the texture is important. Follow MY weights and zero out in between each ingredient. You do not need cups, just the scale and a bowl.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- To a large bowl, add the spelt flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt and whisk very well. Sift the cocoa powder if it's lumpy, as you do not want a lumpy batter.
- To the same bowl, add the milk, syrup and vanilla. Whisk well until very smooth. Do not worry about over-mixing. You want the batter very smooth and it should be on the runny side. This is important so that the batter is easy to spread onto the pan into a thin layer and form the classic crepe texture. If your batter is too thick, add a touch more milk.
- Let the batter sit for 10 minutes while you heat up a 10 inch NONSTICK pan over medium-low heat. You must use a quality nonstick pan or else your crepes will stick. I did not use any oil and they worked beautifully. DO NOT use stainless steel.
- Add an overflowing 1/3 cup of batter to the center of the pan and immediately pick up the pan and rotate it around quickly allowing the batter to form a large round thin layer covering the bottom of the pan. I literally pickup the pan, rotating it around in the air while pouring the batter into the pan. This method works perfectly. Cook 2-3 minutes or when the edges and top are firm and bubbles cover the top and start to have a dry appearance. (see photo) Use a thin spatula to loosen around the edges and carefully flip over quickly. They should flip very easily (if your batter was the correct consistency) and using a good pan. Cook another minute on the opposite side. If they are not loosening under the edges easily, cook a few more seconds. If they aren't flipping easily, then it may need that your pan needs nonstick spray.
- Repeat until the batter is gone. I got 7 large crepes. Fill with strawberries or any fruit you like. You can either roll them up or fold them over into triangular shapes. Top with the fruit, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and powdered sugar, if desired. The crepes themselves are not overly sweet, as this allows the chocolate flavor to be strong and allow for the sweetness of toppings and/or fillings to be balanced with the crepes in the end product.
Yummmmmmmm! i messed up the 1st one because i didn’t let it cook long enough, but the rest of them were a breeze….melted chocolate and almond butter in the middle (my version of nutella)…very delicious…thank you!
Awesome! Thank you so much for the feedback Elilta…so glad you loved them!! 🙂
These are incredible!!! It’s getting hard to pick a favorite, dear Brandi, because every recipe is SO darn great! The flavor is like rich, chocolate cake, and the texture is so “egg-y” that it’s almost weird. You nailed it! I made mine like chocolate tacos, not rolled up like pictured (I printed the recipe from the link, and had actually forgotten they’re more enchilada style than taco! ha ha!). I put fresh strawberries inside and drizzled melted chocolate on top. Later (you know I made many batches), I sprinkled roasted pecans on top of the chocolate. mmmmm…. then, in an attempt to make a batch to experiment with a non-chocolate version for a friend who doesn’t like chocolate, I managed to make “blonde” crepes– filled with strawberries and doused with your pecan pie sauce. I can’t get over how great these are. You’re incredible! Thank you!
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such wonderful feedback Liz! I loved your gorgeous photo on Instagram and now I can easily always have your feedback to look back on my blog! I love that you created blonde crepes too with success! All sounds so delicious!
I love your blog. I was just thinking how I missed cream cheese and hate the store made stuff. I have fresh basil and home grown tomatoes and love it on a bagel with cream cheese. You are a mind reader and I CANNOT wait to try these recipes. A million thank yous!
So odd, didn’t know she closed her site, sorry about that! I will get the recipe uploaded this weekend!
I love your recipes! I couldn’t find the recipe for the crepes. Thank you for all you do to help us eat healthy!
Hi Donna! So sorry about that. I originally wrote a chocolate crepe recipe here that was for a guest post on another blog. Since then, that blogger deleted her blog, which I sadly discovered! I did not have my recipe anywhere else, haha, so I just rewrote a new recipe and it is now posted above! Probably is best so that it is only here on my blog now anyways.
These look fabulous!
Is there a non chocolate version?
I have made a non chocolate version using almond flour and tapioca flour, eggless too. Interested to hear your thoughts?
Hi Laurie, I have a non-chocolate version coming!
Hi Brandi. These look gorgeous but I’m confused. A reader mentioned they were gluten free but spelt is not GF. Is there a modification to the recipe I’m missing? Many thanks!
Hi Colleen! So sorry about that. I deleted the old comments now to avoid confusion. I originally wrote a chocolate crepe recipe here that was for a guest post on another blog, which the recipe was linked to. However, that blogger deleted her blog, which I sadly discovered! I did not have my recipe anywhere else, so I had to write a new recipe, which is what is posted above. I have not tested these gluten-free, although I plan to soon. I would try subbing the spelt with oat flour, same weight amount. They may be a bit more gooey, not as perfectly cooked of an interior texture, but would probably still work.
Thanks, Brandi! I’ll have to give it a try. They look wonderful!
Do you have any idea how many carbs are in these? I would like to know,
Hi Teri, the nutrition stats have been added above under “Recipe Notes”!
These look so delicious. It has been so long since I’ve been able to eat crepes. I want to try them but don’t care for coconut. Would it work with almond milk?
The lite coconut leaves no coconut taste whatsoever but you can try cashew milk. I’m afraid almond milk is too thin of a milk. It needs to be a cream milk, but you can always try!
Wow! Amazing recipe. These were very easy to make as directed. I topped w fresh organic raspberries and toasted unsweetened coconut flakes and served as a dessert to my non vegan friends. They loved your recipe enough to order your book!
Thank You.
Hi,
I have cornstarch but don’t have tapioca starch. Can I just use cornstarch and just use the same or is that different amount?
Many thanks
Yes, cornstarch would be the best sub. Use the same amount. It has less stretch in it than tapioca so the texture may be slightly different, but should still be good. Let me know after you try them!