We love green pancakes (aka spinach crêpes) in our family and are constantly exploring more ways to incorporate them into various meals.
We have got lots of examples and ideas in our cookbooks but here are three new favorites:
1. Add mustard, lentils, sliced tomato and cheese to you pancakes. Fold them up, bake them quickly until the cheese melts and serve with a fresh lentil and melon salad.
2. Fill them with sweet potato, spinach, feta, yogurt and za’atar. Then roll them up and slice them into picnic rolls.
3. Make a banana split pancake bowl with some whipped cream, yogurt, raspberries, nut butter and chocolate.
We are sharing all of these recipes below. You can either make the pancakes from scratch or use fridge cold leftover pancakes for these recipes. They are not vegan but if you use our vegan chickpea pancakes as base, you can easily modify the fillings to suit a vegan diet. Hummus, pesto, ajvar or coconut yogurt are excellent creamy toppings on vegan pancakes instead of yogurt and cheese.
The recipe for the batter comes from our Green Kitchen at Home cookbook and we have included it in the bottom of this post. They are the most easy flippable gluten free pancakes we know. Pancakes work as a quick dinner in our family as the batter literally takes 30 seconds to mix together so we can have the first pancakes on the table within 5 minutes (admittedly I don’t always let the batter rest even if I recommend it).
Gruyere, Mustard & Lentil Pancake Melt
Serves 4
This is the pancake equivalent to melted cheese sandwiches. It’s a great way to give old pancakes new life. We love it with lots of mustard (obviously use less for kids) and a crunchy salad for balance.
Ingredients
4 green pancakes
8 slices gruyere cheese (or another cheese)
4 large teaspoons mustard
8 cherry tomatoes
200 g / 1 cup cooked lentils (store bought are fine)
1 bag mixed lettuce
1 avocado
1 galia melon (or other melon)
10 cm / 4 inches cucumber
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper
Preparation
Make the batter and fry the pancakes if you haven’t done so already. Place two slices cheese in the middle of each pancake. Spread a layer of mustard on the cheese, slice the tomatoes thinly and lay them on top of the mustard along with a small handful lentils. Fold the pancakes into quarters and place in a baking dish with a drizzle of olive oil on top. Bake at 200°C/400°F for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Meanwhile, chop up lettuce, avocado, melon and cucumber and place in a salad bowl. Add the remaining lentils. Drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and toss. Serve the pancake warm with salad on the side.
Sweet Potato & Za’atar Pancake Picnic Rolls
Makes 20 rolls
You can use almost any veggies in pancake rolls. Just make sure you have something creamy and sticky as base to bind them together. For a vegan version, use hummus instead of yogurt and tofu instead of feta cheese and sprinkle with nutritional yeast.Next time, we’ll add some crushed walnuts for crunch, pomegranate seeds for extra tanginess and maybe a couple of mint leaves for a fresh flavor twist.
Ingredients
4 green pancakes (see recipe below)
1 large sweet potato
cinnamon
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup full-fat Turkish yogurt
200 g feta cheese
2 handfuls spinach, chopped
1 cup cooked chickpeas
2 tbsp za’atar (an awesome spice blend that you can find in Middle Eastern stores)
2 tsp chili flakes (optional)
Preparation
Set the oven at 200°C/400°F. Cut a sweet potato in half lengthwise, brush each cut side with a little oil and cinnamon. Place on a tray and bake for 40 minutes or until the flesh is soft and golden. If you haven’t prepared the batter and fried the pancakes, now is the time to do so. When the sweet potato is ready, use a fork to mash the flesh (you can mash it in its own skin to save some dishes). Squeeze over lemon juice and extra cinnamon while mashing.
Spread out sweet potato mash on one half of each pancake and thick yogurt on the other half. Cut the feta cheese into 1 cm / 1/3 inch thick sticks and place them in the centre of each pancake. Add a small handful chopped spinach, a couple of chickpeas, a generous drizzle za’atar and some chili flakes (if using). Roll up the pancakes as tightly as possible and slice into 2 inch / 5 cm rolls.
Sweet Pancake Banana Split
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 green pancakes (see recipe below)
1 cup whipped cream
1 cup greek yogurt
4 bananas
1 cup raspberries
4 tbsp nut butter
4 tsp honey
30 g / 1 oz dark chocolate
1 handful hemp seeds or slivered almonds
Preparation
Place each pancake in the bottom of a small bowl. Add dollops of whipped cream and yogurt. Cut the bananas into bite-sized pieces and spread out in the bowl. Add raspberries and drizzle with peanut butter and honey. Sprinkle with finely chopped dark chocolate, hemp seeds and top with a few mint leaves.
Spinach Crêpes (in our house they are know as Green Pancakes)
Makes 10-14, depending on the size of your pan and thickness of your pancakes
Ingredients
5 eggs
150 g / 1 cup rice flour (both light or wholegrain works, as does spelt flour)
500 ml / 2 cups oat milk, or milk of choice
a large handful spinach
a small handful herbs (basil, mint or parsley)
sea salt
Preparation
Crack the eggs into a blender or food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend on high speed until smooth. Leave to rest for 20 minutes before starting to fry them (you can fry them right away but they will be a little harder to flip). For frying, add a little butter or coconut oil to a 20 cm / 8 inch non-stick frying pan/skillet on medium heat. Once hot (this is important or else it will stick), whisk the batter then ladle 80 ml / 1/3 cup into the pan. Let fry for 1-2 minutes or until small bubbles form on the surface and the base is golden. Run a spatula around the edges to make sure it has detached from the pan, before carefully flipping it over and frying the other side for another minute. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the rest of the batter (you may need to reduce the heat slightly after the first crêpes).
To store the crêpes, keep them in an air-tight wrap in the fridge and they will be good for 3-4 days.
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