Crepes are so versatile. They can be served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, be filled, topped, or plain, and be savory or sweet. I like mine with powdered sugar and fresh strawberries, but having them stuffed with chicken or sausage is always a nice change. To make a satisfying enough crepe for today's lunch, I'm making savory chicken, mushroom, and spinach crepes with shredded Monterey Jack cheese and a drizzle of pesto. Yum!
Savory Chicken, Mushroom and Spinach crepes
Ingredients
Pesto
- 2 cups fresh basil
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- ⅔ cup olive oil
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
Filling
- 2 cups roasted chicken shredded
- 2 teaspoon canola oil divided
- 8 oz mushrooms sliced
- 4 cups spinach
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Crepes
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup water
- 2 tablespoon melted butter
- ½ teaspoon butter for cooking
Instructions
- Make the pesto by blending together basil - pinenuts. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil and blend until smooth and thickened. Add the grated Parmesan cheese, blending until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Prepare the fillings. Heat oil in saute pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms and saute until browned, about 4-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In the same pan, heat another teaspoon of oil. Add the spinach and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Make the crepe batter by whisking together the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together eggs, milk, water and butter in another bowl. Add the egg mixture to the flour mix and whisk until combined.
- Heat 1 teaspoon butter in a nonstick saute pan over medium heat. Add ¼ cup batter to the pan and swirl the pan to create an even layer. Cook until the crepe becomes lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Flip over and cook on the other side for another minute. Remove from heat and keep warm while cooking the remaining batter.
- Assemble the crepes by filling them with the chicken, mushrooms, spinach and cheese. Drizzle pesto and wrap the crepes. Reheat crepes on a griddle heated to 300 degrees F until cheese melts. Serve.
**Helpful tips and common mistakes
Since the crepes themselves are very quick to make, prepare the pesto and fillings first, especially if they need to be cooked. For our savory crepes today, I chose a combination of chicken, mushrooms, and spinach. You can use store-bought roasted chicken or prepare chicken any way you prefer.
Now when you are ready to make the crepes, make sure to mix the flour and salt separately from the wet ingredients. Doing so will avoid a lumpy batter. Make sure to use a nonstick pan when cooking the crepes. I used a little butter for the first batch but found that the batter has enough butter that you do not need it for the following batches. The first one never comes out perfect but don't worry, that happens to the best of us.
Swirl that pan around to get an even coating of batter.
Bubbles will form on the surface of the crepe indicating when they are ready to be flipped.
Repeat with the remaining batter (There are 10 layers of crepes under that one!)
Since I had to prepare such a large amount, I cooked everything and reheated them together on a griddle. Heat a griddle pan to 300 degrees. Lay down a crepe, top with spinach, chicken, mushrooms, and cheese. Drizzle pesto on top. Wrap like a burrito and heat the fillings. Serve immediately and enjoy these savory chicken, mushroom, and spinach crepes!
If you do not like chicken, you can always substitute the protein for shrimp, sausage, beef, or ham. What you like in your crepe is up to you but the standard recipe above for the crepe batter is a great way to start!
For a sweet crepe check out these yuzu crepes with raspberries!
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