This Caprese Crêpe recipe features crêpes slathered with pesto and topped with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Perfect for lunch or brunch!
When we lived in France, I fell in love with crêpes. Honestly, they are not much harder to make than pancakes, and they are the perfect wrapper for all sorts of ingredients.
The beautiful tomatoes at the market had me thinking of a caprese salad, but I wanted something a little more substantial for lunch. Why not change the fresh basil to pesto, and add a crêpe?
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Why Make This Recipe
- Delicious combination of flavors
- Great use for ripe, in-season tomatoes!
- Super easy to make with pre-made crêpes
🥗 Ingredients
- Tomatoes: Use the best, ripest, in-season tomatoes you can find.
- Mozzarella Cheese: You could also use burrata cheese for this recipe, but you'll have slightly messier (though totally delicious) crêpes on your hands.
- Pesto: Any type of pesto will work, though the classic Simple Lemon Basil Pesto is my favorite. Storebought or homemade is fine!
- Crêpes: Look for pre-made crêpes at well-stocked grocery stores, or make your own. Check out my easy French Crêpes recipe for details.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
Once you have your crêpes, this is a no-cook crêpe recipe that really just involves assembly. So you can make it exactly how you like. Prep your ingredients first: slice tomatoes and a ball of fresh mozzarella.
Then lay out your crêpe on a cutting board and smear it with a thin layer of pesto. Arrange the tomatoes and mozzarella slices one-by-one, overlapping each slightly. You’ll want to put them on one half of the crêpe.
Then fold the empty half of the crêpe over the top.
If you have cherry tomatoes and small mozzarella balls, you can arrange them near one edge of the crêpe and roll up when you are done. Fresh basil makes a lovely garnish.
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Caprese Crêpes
On their own, crêpes are not particularly healthy or unhealthy. They are typically made with eggs, flour, milk, and butter. In fact, the ingredients are almost the same as a traditional pancake, though pancakes use baking powder as a leavener and always include sugar.
In France, savory crêpes are often made with buckwheat flour, which is high in fiber, protein, iron, and zinc, and significantly healthier than all-purpose flour. Sweet crêpes typically use all-purpose flour, and often include sugar in the crêpe batter—of course, if you do that, your crêpes will be higher in calories. If you're looking for a healthier alternative, check out my Gluten-Free Crêpes that feature both buckwheat flour and almond flour instead of all-purpose flour.
Yes! Unfilled crêpes take very nicely to freezing. Just separate them with squares of wax paper or parchment paper and put them in a ziploc freezer bag. I wouldn’t recommend freezing filled crêpes.
Mais, bien sûr! Crêpes originated in the 13th century in Brittany, a region in the northwest of France. They were invented after buckwheat was brought to the region by the Crusades. Today in France, buckwheat flour is commonly used for savory crêpes, also known as galettes, while white flour is used for sweet crêpes. Buckwheat is not a grain, and so crêpes made just from buckwheat flour are gluten-free and can be enjoyed by people with gluten allergy or intolerance.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
Crêpes, especially homemade ones, can be very delicate. Make sure to be gentle when you are folding so as not to rip them.
The combination of pesto with tomatoes and mozzarella is delicious, but keep in mind there are so many delicious savory crêpe fillings for pesto crêpes. After that thin layer of pesto, you can add in sandwich meat or rotisserie chicken, roasted vegetables, feta or goat cheese, and any number of other fillings. Let pesto be your inspiration!
These crêpes are really best eaten soon after you make them. If you let them sit, the juices from the tomato slices will soak into the crêpe and make it soggy.
Other Delicious Crêpe Recipes
Now that you've made these tomato mozzarella crêpes, you probably want to try your hand at other delicious crêpe versions, from Sweet Mango Crêpes to Nutella Crêpes. Here are a few of my favorites, both savory crêpes and sweet crêpes:
For other ways to feature perfectly ripe tomatoes, don't miss my Tomato Salad, Tomatoes Provencal, and Mediterranean Cucumber Tomato Salad recipes. And if you love caprese in all forms, check out my Tortellini Caprese Salad and my Burrata Caprese with Peaches.
If you try this tomato crêpe recipe, I would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to me.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I'd love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
📖 Recipe
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Caprese Crepes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2-3 tomatoes about 1 pound total
- 2 balls of fresh mozzarella bocconcini-size
- 4 large crêpes or 8 small ones
- 4 tablespoons pesto
- basil leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Slice tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.
- If you are starting with refrigerated crêpes, put them on a plate and microwave them on medium-high for about 30 seconds, flipping them over at 15 seconds.
- Lay out a crêpe on a cutting board and smear it with 1 tablespoon of pesto (a thin layer).
- Arrange the tomato and mozzarella slices one-by-one, overlapping each slightly, on one half of the crêpe. Then fold the empty half of the crêpe over the top.
- Repeat for the rest of your crepes and ingredients.
- Add fresh basil on top for a garnish, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this recipe, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I'd love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
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