When you speak of pancakes in Sweden you almost always talk of the thin ones that are more like a crepe, rather than the more internationally common thicker pancake. I loved these thin pancakes as a child and could easily eat a whole stack by myself. Traditionally crepes or pancakes contains both egg and milk which makes them a no-go for vegans or people that are on a plant-based diet. So, in order to still the craving I (and many with me) have for vegan crepes (I’m going to refer to the vegan crepes as vegan pancakes or only pancakes from now on), here is my recipe for thin vegan pancakes.
The easiest way to veganize pancakes is simply to switch cow milk for plant milk and just remove the eggs. Done. The eggs do however play an important part not only as a binder but also giving the pancakes those sought-after crispy edges.
I’ve done some experimenting on this and tried everything from corn starch, tapioca starch, more flour, different kinds of plant milk, but nothing has been satisfying enough. Until I tried to add some aquafaba.
Aquafaba is nothing new, and have been used as an egg-replacer (among other things) for a long time now in the plant-based community. I use it when I make vegan brownies. When it comes to pancakes though, it didn’t occur to me that I could use it here as well. It could be that I just didn’t have any aquafaba around when I was trying different recipes.
Earlier in the week, we had some people over and we ate chickpea chilli, which left us with quite an amount of aquafaba, so I thought I would give it a try. And it really worked!
The pancakes got that crispy edge that tastes so good and they held together really well. This will be a staple from now in our house!
How to make vegan crepes (or thin Swedish pancakes)
Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, then add the aquafaba and then add a bit of the soy milk (or plant-based milk of your choice), whisk, add some more soy milk, whisk again until you have added all the soy milk. This will make it easier to remove all the lumps from the flour.
Let the batter rest for about 20-30 minutes in room temperature, this will help the batter settle and gives the pancakes a better texture.
I prefer to use canola oil when I grease up the frying pan but feel free to use whatever fat you like. When the frying pan is hot add a little bit less than 1 deciliter (1/4 cup) to the pan and fry until you can see bubbles and the edges begin to get brown.
Repeat this process until you are out of batter, greasing the pan as you go (maybe every third pancake) to prevent them from sticking.
Stack them up real high on a platter and then devour them with your favourite topping. Use your imagination here, I like everything from bananas, peanut butter, jam, cinnamon, berries, seeds, nuts. The list goes on.
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Take care, and be safe!
Crispy crepes that you can fill with your favourite stuffing or eat as they are with toppings of your choice.
- 5 dl (2 cups) flour
- 1 dl (1/4 cup) aquafaba
- 8 dl (2 3/4 cup) soy milk unsweetened
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp canola oil
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Mix together flour and salt in a bowl.
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Add the aquafaba and around 1/4 of the milk and whisk. Add another 1/4 of the milk and whisk. Repeat this until you have added all milk. The batter should be completely free of lumps.
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Heat up a frying pan over high heat and grease it with some canola oil. When the frying pan is really hot, lower the heat and add around 80-90 ml (a little less than a deciliter, or about 1/4 cup) of batter to the pan and fry until you start to see bubbles and the edges are getting brown). Flip it over and fry for another minute on the other side.
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Repeat this process until you are out of batter. Re-grease the skillet every third pancake or so to prevent them from sticking.
Enjoy!
