Make Crepes Extra Crispy With One Simple Secret Ingredient

Waffles and pancakes are everyday breakfast staples, but when you're feeling a little fancy, crepes are a great alternative — and they're just as easy to prepare. Most crepe recipes require just a few staple ingredients, including flour, eggs, milk, and water. Mix everything together and ladle the batter over a buttered pan, and you've got a soft, chewy, thinner version of a pancake. If you prefer your crepes on the crunchier side but don't want to burn them, try swapping all-purpose flour with rice flour. Not only will this ingredient make your crepes gluten-free, but it will ensure that they get nice and crispy, perfect for a plethora of your favorite toppings.

Rice flour is made of either brown rice or white rice that's been milled into a super fine powder. It's commonly used in Asian cuisine, like in noodles or mochi, but there are tons of other culinary uses for it. Since it doesn't contain gluten, rice flour is also a popular gluten-free flour alternative. The lack of gluten in rice flour is actually what makes it ideal for crispy crepes. Regular, all-purpose flour develops gluten once it's mixed with water, and this is also what creates the chewy texture you'll find in a typical crepe, pancake, or waffle. Rice flour doesn't do this: It's primarily a starch, which means the flour's granules absorb water after the two come in contact. Then, when it's placed on a hot pan, the water evaporates, leading to the crispy, porous texture you're looking for.

Luckily, replacing all-purpose flour with rice flour doesn't require any crazy math: Simply use the same amount of rice flour as you would all-purpose. Our crepe recipe calls for 1 cup of flour, so use 1 cup of rice flour instead. You can play around with the proportions if you'd like, but just remember that crepe batter should not be the same consistency as pancake batter. Rather, it should be very thin. This will ensure that your crepes aren't too thick, and it will help with the crispiness, too. If you notice your batter is a bit too thick, you can add some additional water. Our recipe calls for ¼ cup, but feel free to adjust this as you see fit.

If you're looking for crispy crepes but would rather use another type of flour, there are a few things you can incorporate into your crepe-making routine to ensure that your all-purpose flour crepes have a shot at crisping up. For instance, be sure that your pan is nice and hot and that your butter has begun to melt before adding any batter. Once you add the batter, it should bubble; this will ensure that it will brown and become crispy, especially around the edges. You'll also want to be sure that your batter is spread out evenly in the pan. If it's not, certain parts of the crepe will be thicker than other parts, resulting in a not-so-crispy final product.