These apple crepes with cinnamon are simply perfect for the holiday season, but can be enjoyed all year round. The recipe is vegan (dairy-free, egg-free), gluten-free, and easy to make. They taste best with homemade salted caramel sauce.
Flavorful Apple Cinnamon Crepes
The holiday season is close and what I love most about it, is the amazing scent in my kitchen when I bake desserts with apples and cinnamon! Some of my favorite vegan apple desserts include apple cinnamon baked oatmeal, caramel apple cheesecake, apple cinnamon rolls, and apple pie cookies, and of course these apple cinnamon crepes!
I always get into a festive mood when I make these tasty apple crepes! For me, they are seriously a must-have breakfast or dessert for fall and winter. My parents are from the Czech Republic, and we call them “palačinky” (palacinky) but they are also popular in Croatia (palacinke) and many other Slavic countries.
If you are tired of eating PB & Jelly pancakes for breakfast and want to try something new, then give these apple cinnamon crepes a try.
The Ingredients
Not only are these apple crepes vegan, I also made the recipe gluten-free. Here are the ingredients that you will need:
- Gluten-Free Flour: I used a combination of oat flour, rice flour, and cornstarch. However, a gluten-free 1:1 all-purpose flour blend, regular wheat flour, or spelt flour (if you aren’t gluten-free) instead of oat flour and rice flour should be fine too. Buckwheat flour and quinoa flour might work great as well! You can use arrowroot flour instead of cornstarch.
- Sweetener: Use coconut sugar, organic brown sugar, or cane sugar. They all add a lovely caramel flavor.
- Ground flax seeds: It’s fine to use ground chia seeds.
- Plant-based milk: I like using canned lite coconut milk (or regular canned coconut milk thinned with water) as it will make the apple crepes more flavorful. If you use boxed almond milk, oat milk, or any other dairy-free milk that is low-fat, I would suggest adding 3 tbsp oil to the batter, otherwise, the gluten-free crepes might stick to the pan.
- Banana: You can use applesauce instead of banana.
- Lemon juice: Or use lime juice.
- Vanilla extract: Or use vanilla bean paste.
- Apples: You can use your favorite baking/cooking apples. Some examples, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Jonathon, Gala, or Braeburn.
- Baking powder
- Oil for frying
For the full ingredients list, ingredient measurements, and nutritional information, read the recipe card below.
How To Make Apple Crepes
Below, I will show you step-by-step how easy it is to make these apple crepes. You can also watch the video for visual instructions! The printable recipe is below in the recipe card.
Step 1: Add all dry ingredients for the crepes into a bowl and stir with a whisk.
Step 2: Process the wet ingredients (except the oil) in a food processor or blender. If using applesauce, you can mix them in a bowl.
Step 3: Pour the wet into the dry ingredients and stir with a whisk to combine.
Step 4: Let the batter rest for a few minutes. Heat a little oil in a small/medium-sized non-stick pan.
Step 5: Pour 1/4 cup of the batter into the skillet and swirl it around to coat the pan evenly. Cook the crepe for about 2-4 minutes, or until you can easily lift a side of the crepe (please don’t try to flip it too early). After you flipped the crepe, cook for a further 1-2 minutes.
Note: After a while, the batter will thicken, so you might need to add more milk, up to 50 ml. Continue until there is no batter left.
Step 6: To make the apple pie filling, simply add all ingredients to a skillet or saucepan and stir (without heat). Then turn on the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Let it simmer for a few minutes over low/medium heat.
Step 7: Add a few tsp of the filling onto each crepe, roll it up, sprinkle with granulated sugar (of choice), and cinnamon (this step is optional). I like to add a drizzle of caramel sauce. Enjoy!
Apple Crepe Filling
The filling reminds me of an apple pie which is one of my favorite pies! I sometimes also add raisins, rum extract, and vanilla extract. Pumpkin spice or allspice is also a nice addition. You can peel the apples (like I did) or leave the peel on if you prefer.
It’s possible to make the apple crepe filling sugar-free, by using a low-carb (keto) sweetener like Erythritol. But then it won’t have this yummy caramel flavor.
Recipe Notes
- I recommend using a non-stick pan since you will need very little oil to cook the vegan crepes.
- Cook them at medium heat. Low won’t make them brown, and high heat will brown the edges too much but won’t cook the inside properly.
- You can experiment with other flours (as mentioned above), however, please note that the recipe turned out perfectly with the flours that I used.
- Use two pans to speed up the cooking process.
- Stack the cooked crepes and cover them with a kitchen towel to keep them warm and prevent them from drying out.
Storing Instructions
To make in advance: You can make the crepes and the apple filling in advance and store both separately covered in the fridge for up to 2 days.
To reheat the vegan crepes: Reheat each crepe in a pan with a lid over medium heat for 20-30 seconds. They will dry out in the fridge and become a little hard, but reheating with a lid will make them softer again.
Caramel Sauce
I love to eat these apple cinnamon crepes with a drizzle of homemade caramel sauce which literally contains just 3 ingredients! They are coconut sugar (you can use organic cane sugar or brown sugar), water, and nut butter of choice. I actually used sunflower seed butter (Sunbutter) but any nut butter like peanut butter will work. Check the recipe notes to find out how I made it. Alternatively, check out my vegan salted caramel sauce.
More Vegan Apple Recipes
Do you want to try more vegan and gluten-free apple recipes for the holiday season? Check out some of my favorite desserts below:
- Apple Crisp Without Oats
- Apple Pie With Streusel
- Easy Apple Strudel
- Apple Crumble Muffins
- Plum And Apple Crumble
- Blueberry Apple Crumble
- Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
Should you give these tasty apple crepes a try, please leave a comment and rating below, and don’t forget to tag me in your Instagram or Facebook post with @elavegan and #elavegan because I love to see your recreations.

Apple Cinnamon Crepes
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 cup (90 g) oats ground into flour or oat flour (see notes)
- 1/2 cup (80 g) rice flour (see notes)
- 4 tbsp (32 g) cornstarch or arrowroot flour
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1 tbsp flax seeds ground or chia seeds
- 1 tsp baking powder
Wet ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) plant-based milk I used canned lite coconut milk (see notes)
- 1 small (80 g) banana (see notes)
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice or lime juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- oil for frying
Apple Filling
- 3 apples peeled, cored, and chopped
- 3 tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 2 tbsp plant-based milk
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice or lime juice
- 1/2 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- To make the crepes simply put all dry ingredients into a bowl and stir with a whisk.
- Process all wet ingredients (except the oil) in a food processor or blender.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir with a whisk to combine.
- Let the batter rest for a few minutes. Heat a little oil in a small/medium-sized non-stick skillet over medium heat.
- Pour 1/4 cup of the batter into the skillet, and spread it with the back of a ladle. Cook for about 2-4 minutes or until you can easily lift a side of the crepe (don't try to flip the crepe too early). After you flipped the crepe, cook for a further 1-2 minutes.Note: After a while, the batter will get thicker, so you might need to add more milk. I typically add up to 50 ml in addition once the batter thickens. Continue until you have no batter left.
- For the apple filling, simply add all ingredients to a skillet or saucepan and stir (without heat). Then turn on the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Let simmer for a few minutes over low/medium heat.
- Place a few tsp of filling onto each crepe, roll it up and serve with a drizzle of caramel sauce (see recipe below in the notes). Enjoy!
Notes
Video Of The Recipe
- Oats: You can use regular oats or gluten-free oats. To make oat flour, simply process the oats in a blender or in an electric coffee/spice grinder.
- Rice flour: Instead of rice flour, you should be able to use buckwheat flour, quinoa flour, or even all-purpose flour (if not gluten-free). Do not use coconut flour though as it's very absorbent. Almond flour probably won't work either, but I never tried it.
- Cornstarch: Arrowroot flour should be fine too.
- Banana: You can use 80 g of applesauce instead of banana.
- Milk: If you use boxed almond milk, oat milk, or any other dairy-free milk that is low-fat, I would suggest adding 3 tbsp oil to the batter, otherwise, the crepes might stick to the pan.
- Use two pans to speed up the cooking process.
- Stack the cooked crepes and cover them with a kitchen towel to keep them warm and prevent them from drying out.
- Watch the video above for easy visual instructions.
- 3 tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar (30 g)
- 2 tbsp water (20 g)
- 2 tbsp smooth peanut butter or sunflower seed butter (30 g)
- Add peanut butter to a small bowl.
- Heat water and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil.
- Pour the sugar mixture over the nut butter and mix with a whisk
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
Dear Ela, we are so blessed with your creativity and readiness to share with us all the outcome of your efforts! What a beautiful blog, thank you! We loved our today’s dessert!
All the best and sunny greetings from Europe, Portugal!
Hello Julia, I am so glad you like my recipes! Happy to hear the crepes turned out delicious. 🙂
amazing.. my first time trying cinn sugar with crepes and I ♥️’d it. thanks for the great idea!
So glad you loved it, Alena! 🙂
hi i couldn’t make the crepes but i made them into pancakes instead and it still worked.🙂
Made these for a gluten-free friend and they were amazing. To kick it up a level, I added a little sprinkle of cinnamon in the batter.
GREAT RECIPE!!
So happy you liked them, Alfreda. 🙂
Hi Ela !
Would it work with tapioca flour insted of arrow root ? 🙂
Thanks, much love from France
Hi Manon, yes, that should work. 🙂
Can I use maple syrup instead of coconut sugar?
Hi Chen, I think it should work, but I never tried it. 🙂
Thank you Ela 🙂
I have found a little jewel in this recipe. I’m French and believe me it’s hard to beat our gluten ones ! I have added extra almond/coconut milk to have the perfect texture. They are so good !!!! Even my husband has fallen for them. Thank you so much for this recipe.
That’s awesome, Anne-Sophie! I am so glad you love the recipe. Thanks for your kind feedback. 🙂
Wonderful post! Thank you!
This recipe might have worked if it had been much clearer in the instructions. To make proper crepes the batter must be quite liquid and thin but the batter gets very thick very fast like you could mortar a wall with it. I had to add a ton of extra milk.
Mark, the recipe instructions clearly say to add more milk, as the better starts to thicken after a while. It’s definitely not as thick that you could mortar a wall with it…
I have made a few of your recipes lately as i have just started all this gluten, dairy free diet. So far everything I have made so far has been great. Made these this morning and they were fantastic. Eat them for breakfast and lunch!. Thanks for sharing your recipes
That’s awesome, Mike! I am so glad you liked the recipes that you have tried so far. 🙂
We love all your recipes!
This one is a gem ❤️❤️❤️
Kisses from Croatia 🙂
Thank you dear Anita! I am so glad you like my recipes. 🙂
This was a fantastic recipe! I wanted something like cinnamon rolls but j didn’t feel like making dough and i came to the website and found this!
Instead of the rice flour, i used quinoa flour (toasted some in a dry skillet then after cooling down i blended them). I actually put all the dry ingredients in the blender as i also make my own flaxseed meal and oat flour. I also added my own home-made cashew-oat milk and made applesauce to use instead of banana (according to instructions in the notes).
The crepes cooked beautifully i was so so surprised! I got some cripsy edges too. I only added a very small amount of oil for every other crepe and none of them stuck to the pan.
Actually, my batter barely thicken up as others have mentioned. Maybe because i used quinoa flour and maybe because i made half the recipe.
I ended up with 6 beautiful crepes.
I made my own filling using cashew butter, cinnamon sugar, and some leftover apple sauce to get a good consistency.
Thank you so much for the recipe and for your incredibly helpful notes. I always come to your website knowing I’ll find something that will work with me.
Aww, that’s so good to know, Layan! Thanks a lot for your helpful feedback! 🙂
hi Ela,
I thought I had seen a link within your apple crepe recipe notes for an apple butter recipe. I can’t find it anymore. I was hoping to make it as it looked so good and not the dark brown colour of most apple butters. Also, I made your apple crepes and they were delicious.
Hi Tammy, I don’t have an apple butter recipe. This must be a different blogger. 🙂
So happy you loved the crepes. 🙂
Дорогая, Эла! Это потрясающий рецепт! Спасибо большое! Вы Мастер! Я поклонница Ваших рецептов!
Thank you, I am glad you liked the recipe! 🙂