Vegan Banoffee Crêpes
These Vegan Banoffee Crêpes are thin pancakes topped with a plant based salted caramel and slices of banana. Get the recipe below.
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Plant Based Pancakes
You might have found yourself Googling ‘how to make English pancakes’, ‘how to make crêpes’ or ‘what’s the difference between crêpes and American pancakes’. With my help you’ll never have to search for the answers to these questions again!
What’s the difference between a crêpe and an American style pancake?
You can tell just by looking at a crêpe that it’s not quite the same as an Amercian pancake. Instead of being light and fluffy it’s thin and delicate. Instead of having an even, golden brown colour they are much paler and flecked with spots.
So why are they so different? American pancakes are made with a leavening or raising agent such as self raising flour or baking powder; this is what makes them so light and fluffy and puffed up. Crêpes on the other hand do not; this is what keeps them nice and thin.
If you’re after a vegan American style pancake then I’ve got you covered. You can find my American plant based pancakes here.
How to make perfect vegan crêpes every time
Crêpes have a bit of a bad reputation and people often think they are tricky to make. But mastering the perfect vegan crêpe doesn’t have to be difficult.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that making crêpes vegan (without any milk or eggs) would be even trickier. The good news is that the method is the same a traditional crêpe recipe. The only differences is that the milk and eggs in a traditional crêpe batter are replaced with a plant milk of your choice.
See, I told you it was easy!
Pro-tips
Use the best pan
For best results you should make your crêpes in a crêpe pan. This is because crêpe pans are non-stick and made of cast iron. They also have really low sides which makes it much easier to flip the pancake.
But not everyone has the money or space which allows them to have a special pan just for making pancakes! For many years I made do with a regular frying pan.
I’ve made crêpes both with and without a crêpe pan so be reassured that if you don’t have one you can still make delicious pancakes. The key thing is to make sure your pan is non-stick. Otherwise you will have a flipping disaster on your hands!
Get a silky smooth batter
The arch nemisis of thin, delicate crêpes is lumps in the batter.
There are two ways you can make sure you don’t get lumps in your batter.
The first is to slowly add you wet ingredients to your dry ingredients. And when I say slowly I means very slowly. The idea is that you essentially make a thick paste that gets thinner and thinner every time you add a little more milk.
The second method is to use a blender to whizz it up! This not only gets it nice and smooth but also aerates the batter which makes for perfect pancakes every time.
Whichever method you use, it is at the perfect consistency when it is smooth and thin with little bubbles.
Let it rest
Not a lot of people know that pancake batter is meant to be rested. Ideally you would let it rest for 30 minutes but if you’re in a rush you can skip this step. It’s more important for buckwheat pancakes but it is important for crêpes too.
If you can resist and leave the batter to rest you will be blessed with even lighter crêpes.
Don’t use too much fat
Most people are scared of their pancakes sticking and so many times I’ve heard people say the first one is always the worst (either because you’ve used too much oil or not enough).
The worst thin you can do is smother you pan in oil or butter. If you have the right pan (see above) you really shouldn’t need any more than a light coating. I do this by using a silicone pastry brush to make sure the surface is just coated with a thin layer of flavourless oil
It’s important to use a flavourless oil that has a high burning point. Butter can add extra flavour to your crêpes but in my opinion it burns too easily and you can end up having the acrid flavour spoil your pancakes.
Get the temperature right
Sometimes crêpes stick because the pan wasn’t hot enough. This means they cook much slower and seem to stick to the pan when in fact they just aren’t cooked through enough yet. They will also end up with a really rubbery, chewy texture.
On the flip side, if you cook your crêpes on too high a heat, the batter will already be cooked before you’ve managed to finish swirling it around the pan. This will lead to average pancakes that aren’t perfect circles. They may also end up a little thicker than you’d intended.
If you can swirl the batter easily you know you’ve got the temperature spot on. They shouldn’t take too long to cook and should easily move around the pan if you give it a little shake. At that point they are ready to flip!
Banoffee, a classic flavour combination
Banoffee pie is an English dessert pie made from bananas, cream and a thick caramel sauce, combined either on a buttery biscuit base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter. It’s now a really popular dessert around the world and I think it makes the perfect flavour combination for crêpes.
Below you’ll find instructions to make both the vegan crêpes but also the salted caramel sauce which when drizzled over the banana completes these Banoffee Pancakes perfectly.
How to make vegan caramel sauce
We’ve talked about how to make the crêpes but let’s quickly talk about how to make the caramel.
The caramel is incredibly easy to make thanks to the invention of vegan condensed milk. There are two varieties you can buy. Coconut condensed milk or traditional condensed milk made vegan by Nestle.
For this particular recipe I prefer to use the Nestle condensed milk as it doesn’t impart a coconut flavour. But, if you prefer to avoid Nestle products both will work.
Once you have your condensed milk of choice, all you need to do is place it in a saucepan along with soft brown sugar and a non-dairy block butter like Flora plant based or Naturli. Be careful not to raise the temperature too high or you will have a set caramel. We want to keep it nice and runny so it drizzles perfectly.
Easy peasy!
Banoffee Crêpe Variations
- Replace the caramel sauce with chocolate sauce
- Add a swirl of vegan whipped cream
- Sprinkle over cacao nibs or chocolate chips
- Sprinkle over some chopped hazelnuts
Add some artistic flair
If you’re feeling extra creative, or making these crepes for a special occasion, why not try to create different shapes and designs using the instructions in my lace heart pancake post.
The recipe
Vegan Banana Crepes
Ingredients
For the caramel sauce
- 370 g vegan condensed milk
- 60 g non-dairy butter
- 50 g soft brown sugar
- 1 pinch salt
For the pancake batter
- 200 g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp caster sugar
- 425 ml almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 15 g non-dairy butter
- Oil for cooking
To garnish
- 1 banana thinly sliced
Instructions
To make the caramel sauce
- Place all of the ingredients into a large non-stick pot and set the heat to low.
- Stir occasionally until the non-dairy butter and sugar have melted and all of the ingredients are combined.
- Do not let it bubble up as this will cause it to set hard.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool before using.
To make the pancakes (while the caramel sauce is cooking)
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and sugar.
- In a separate jug, mix the almond milk, vanilla extract and melted butter.
- Slowly pour these wet ingredients into the flour, first to create a paste and then adding slowly to make a smooth, thin batter.
- Once all of the ingredients are combined mix well to ensure the batter is completely smooth and to create little air bubbles.
- Brush your pan with a little oil and then heat on a medium heat.
- Hold your hand a few centimetres away from the pan to see if it is hot. Once you can feel the heat, pour over some of the batter and swirl it around the pan until you have a thin circle.
- Cook until the underside is golden underneath then flip it to cook it on the other side.
To garnish
- Serve the crepes folded in quarters or rolled up carefully.
- Drizzle with the caramel sauce and top with the thin slices of banana
Nutrition
More plant based pancakes
What’s your favourite pancake topping?