Spinach and Ricotta Rolled Savory Crepes

So you want to take crepes a level up!? Try filling them with spinach and ricotta, then topping it with anything you like. I topped my crepes with pomegranate seeds, parsley and goats cheese. I am also going to show you how to bake these with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. And how to make a wonderful lemon butter sauce that tastes amazing with these crepes!

These kinds of dishes excite me because I wouldn’t cook or serve something like this often. So it’s nice to get experimental and out of my comfort zone.

I love this dish, it looks super modern, chefy and fancy, but it really is super simple. The spinach and ricotta combo goes surprisingly well with the crepes. It makes for the perfect brunch or lunch.

However, let me go through a few important points to make this dish as awesome as possible.

Use a non-stick pan

Crepes are delicate, so if they stick to the pan when trying to cook them, you can easily tear them. So a non-stick pan can obviously help you out a lot. They will make your job stress free when it comes to cooking things like crepes, omelettes, fried eggs etc. And they are easier to clean.

It’s super easy to get a cheap non-stick pan, in fact, you should be able to get one in your local supermarket. I got this one for $10 at target!

Cooking and flipping the pancakes

Unless you have super sexy chef skills and you can just flip crepes by using the momentum of the pan, I recommend that you use a good old spatula. Spatulas are great because they effectively dig underneath the crepe which allows you to flip them without damaging them.

Also, it’s important that the crepe is cooked well on the first side before flipping it. The more cooked through the crepe is, the more solid it is. So give the batter time to cook before flipping. The goal is to flip the crepe once and once only, with each side having a light golden brown colour. Remember, these aren’t pancakes that you can just keep flipping, crepes are a lot more fragile.

So as I flip, I like to shake the pan a bit as I drag my spatula underneath to get a good grip through the middle of the crepe. Then, I flip the crepe confidently.

Though of course, at the end of the day, practice is the key factor. Crepes are just one of those things where the first 1 or 2 you try might be a little dodgy, but then you start to get the hang of it. Make sure you don’t rush this process as well, just take your time and be patient.

The filling

The last thing you want to do is make your crepes soggy, so I got rid of the moisture in the spinach, and the cheese.

I found that heating the ricotta up in a pot or pan, and then adding salt to the mixture worked out quite nicely. The salt draws out the moisture, so I started to notice that the water content was separating from the cheese. From there I just strained the cheese, getting rid of the excess liquid.

2 Other great ways to serve this dish

Now, before we move on to the recipe, you’ll want to read this, because I experimented with a couple of other ways to serve these ricotta filled crepes!

Beleive it or not, there are a lot of recipes for spinach and ricotta filled crepes. And 99% of people prepare the dish by baking the crepes with tomato sauce and cheese. And this is why I decided not to make this method the main recipe because, well so many people have already done it. Although, if you want to make it this way, here is how I did it.

I made a simple tomato sauce by frying some garlic in a bit of olive oil, adding a tin of crushed tomatoes, let that simmer for a minute or 2 before seasoning with salt and pepper. Once the sauce was done I spooned it over the crepes in a baking tray, then topped it all off with plenty of mozzarella cheese. I then baked that off in a 180-degree oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese was melted and slightly gratinated on top.

The other way I served these crepes was by topping it off with a lemon butter sauce, and the process of making this sauce is actually quite similar to making beurre blanc. And I made this sauce because it’s a French-inspired sauce and I wanted to keep rocking the French theme.

All I did was add about 4 tablespoons of lemon juice to a pan with some finely chopped shallots. I simmered the lemon juice and let it reduce by half before adding 4 tablespoons of sour cream (you could also just add regular cream if you want).

As that sauce simmered on low heat, I started adding 100g of COLD cubed unsalted butter bit at a time whisking through on each addition (the butter must be cold before adding it to the sauce so leave it in the fridge until you are ready to use it). I just finished the sauce off by adding some chopped parsley and seasoning it with some salt and pepper before pouring it over my crepes.

Oh, side note, this is a sauce that you can’t really keep in the fridge, so once you’ve poured the sauce over the crepes, serve them straight away.

So I hope this just shows how many different ways there are to go about preparing this recipe. If you think you have a better way, please share it in the comments section below because I would love to know about it.

Thanks so much for checking out this recipe, if you make it, I really hope you enjoy it. If you want to stay updated for more recipes, feel free to subscribe to this blog. And if you’re more of a pancake fan, then perhaps you’d prefer this Maple Bacon Pancake recipe. Other than that have an amazing day!

5 from 4 votes

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Spinach and Ricotta Rolled Savory Crepes

The classic spinach and ricotta mixture rolled up in thin crepes. From there you can add any topping, garnish, sauce etc. you like. 

Course Main Course

Cuisine French Influence

Keyword Crepe Recipe, Savory Crepes, Spinach and Ricotta

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 people

Calories 518 kcal

Author Nicolas

Ingredients

Crepe Batter:

• 1 cup of plain flour
• A pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 300 mls of milk
• 150 mls of water
• 50 g of butter melted
• 4-5 sprigs of chives finely copped
• A light oil such as vegetable oil or grape-seed oil

Filling:

• 750 g of ricotta cheese
• 150 g of spinach
• A generous pinch of salt

Garnish:

• 50 g of goats cheese
• Half a pomegranate seeds removed
• A handful of parsley picked

Instructions

Crepes: (makes 8)

1. Sift the flour in a bowl and then add a pinch of salt.

2. In another bowl, crack in both eggs, add the milk and water, then whisk together until combined.

3. Add half of the egg, milk and water mixture to flour and then whisk through until smooth, then add the other half and whisk through again ensuring that the batter is kept smooth and lump free.

4. Next, add your chives and your melted butter then whisk through one last time.

5. Get a non-stick pan on about medium heat and then add a tiny drizzle of oil. Spoon in 1 ladle of batter, tilt the pan around so the batter covers the surface area of the pan and cook your crepe well on the first side, then shake the pan around a bit as you use a spatula or egg flipper to dig underneath the crepe. Once you feel that you have a good grip on the crepe, flip it confidently and cook the other side. You want your crepes to have a light golden brown colour on both sides (approximately 2 minutes on each side). 

6. Transfer your crepe onto a plate, then cook the rest of the crepes until you you've used up all of your batter. Make sure you control your heat as you cook the crepes as well. 

Filling:

1. Get a pot over medium heat, then add your spinach. Stir the spinach around until all of it has wilted. Transfer the spinach to a bowl, then once it has cooled down, use your hands to pick the spinach up and squeeze out as much of that liquid as you can. 

2. From there, put the wilted spinach, ricotta and a generous pinch of salt in the pot, then turn the stove back on to medium flame and start heating up the ricotta. 

3. You should start to see that the ricotta releasing a lot of water content. After 5 minutes of stirring the mixture around, strain the ricotta filling into a sieve. Use your spoon/spatula to push the filling down to get rid of as much water content as possible. 

4. Set the filling aside until ready to use. 

Assembly:

1. Lay one of your crepes out flat onto a board, then add a line if ricotta and spinach filling through the middle of the crepe (look at the photos in the post if you're confused). Then just roll the crepes up. 

2. To finish the dish, simply just garnish the dish with your parsley, goats cheese and pomegranate seeds. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

• Use a non-stick pan when making the crepes.

• Using a spatula that digs underneath the crepe effectively is helpful.

• Make sure the crepe is cooked well on the first side before flipping it.

Nutrition Facts

Spinach and Ricotta Rolled Savory Crepes

Amount Per Serving

Calories 518 Calories from Fat 261

% Daily Value*

Fat 29g45%

Saturated Fat 16.1g101%

Cholesterol 159mg53%

Sodium 475mg21%

Potassium 524mg15%

Carbohydrates 39.3g13%

Fiber 1.9g8%

Sugar 6.8g8%

Protein 26.1g52%

Calcium 420mg42%

Iron 4mg22%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.