EASY! Japanese Street Crepes (In a Frying Pan)

A perfect on-the-go sweet treat from Japan! Japanese Crepes is a very popular street food in Japan. They are also known as Japanese Street Crepes or Japanese-Style Crepe Cones. This recipe is very simple, quick, and easy to make. You will need a few crepes and some fillings and toppings of your choice.

Japanese Crepes
A perfect on-the-go sweet treat!

Crepes originated in the Brittany region of France and have spread all around the world. French crepes are usually served on a plate folded with fillings and are usually enjoyed in restaurants or at home. Click here for the recipe for Basic French crepes

Here in Japan, crepe is a popular street food. It is most often sold at food stands and eaten on the street as a snack. You can enjoy them while shopping or participating in outdoor events. This makes them different from French-style crepes.

Crepes are served by folding them into a cone shape with a variety of fillings. They are then wrapped in paper in a very inventive way. This unique crepe cone allows customers to eat it on the go like an ice cream cone with less mess. 

You’ll see plenty of people walking around and enjoying Japanese-style crepes. Especially, the young are obsessed with these crepe cones and they gladly wait in long queues just to buy one.

What Makes Japanese Crepes So Special?

Japan changed the flat shape of the French crepe into a cone shape. The design and wide variety of fillings and toppings are what make Japanese-style crepes so different from French-style crepes.

Japanese street crepe is like an ice cream sundae in a crepe cone. A crepe-like large thin pancake is filled with full of tasty ingredients. These include fresh cream, fresh fruits, custard cream, ice cream, chocolate sauce, or fruit syrup. The list goes on and on, so it’s not an easy decision when you want to buy one.

It is then folded into a cone shape and wrapped in paper in a very inventive way.

Sharing my secrets to make
the best ‘Japanese Crepes’!

Japanese Crepes look fantastic. But making them is not necessarily difficult. Impact, they are easy to make. It just needs a little organization. You will need a few crepes and some fillings and toppings of your choice.

Here is an easy-to-follow recipe with step-by-step pictures. It includes helpful info plus tips that will help you make them in an easy way at home. Do try them out and let me know how it went in the comment section below!

I have a passion for crepes and pancake recipes. I have tried a variety of recipes around the world. These include Basic French crepe recipes, Hong Kong Mango Pancakes, Sri Lankan Panipol Pancakes, English Pancakes, and Indonesian Dadar Gulung.

Popular Crepe Combinations

Here are a few of the most popular choices.

Choco Banana Crepes

The most basic chocolate banana crepe includes sliced bananas, chocolate sauce, and fresh whipped cream.

Strawberry Crepes

Strawberries are a very popular fruit in Japan. So, Strawberry Crepes is one of the popular options you’ll find wherever you go in Japan. Sliced strawberries are spread over a bed of fresh whipped cream. They are then drizzled with strawberry syrup to maximize the strawberry flavor. Most menus also include a scoop of ice cream, and sometimes sliced almonds, or sprinkles.

Banana & Strawberry Crepes

If you’re having trouble choosing between a strawberry or a banana crepe, this is the one for you. It contains fresh slices of strawberries and bananas along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

A Bit About the Origin of Japanese Crepes

You might wonder when this modern crepe culture arose in Japan.

It is said that modern Japanese-style crepes or the idea of filling crepes with whipped cream, fruits, syrups, and ice cream and then rolling them into a cone and then all wrapped up in an easy-to-carry paper cone originated in Tokyo’s Harajuku-Shibuya area in the late 1970s. So these street crepes are also often called “Harajuku crepes”.

Japanese Crepes – INGREDIENTS

For Crepes

• All-purpose flour or plain flour
• Eggs – at room temperature
• Milk – full-fat milk for the best result
• Sugar – can adjust to your taste
• Salt – can adjust to your taste
• Melted Butter (or Margarine)

For Filling and Topping

• Fresh Fruits – I used strawberries and bananas, you can also experiment with other fresh fruits.
• Whipped Cream – Whipped cream is often the base. I used store-bought whipped cream, but, you can use different fillings like cream cheese or custard.
• Fruit Sauce – I used blueberry sauce

Japanese Crepes – Steps to make

1. Make the batter
2. Cook the crepes
3. Prepare the fillings and toppings
4. Add the filling and Folding in a cone-shape
5. Finally, wrap it in a piece of paper

1. Making Crepe Batter

Making crepe batter (by hand)

You can make the batter by hand in a bowl with a wire whisk. If you don’t have a wire whisk then try a spoon or fork.

Making Crepe Batter (in blender)

Alternatively, you can make the batter in a blender. The blender works great. It is the easiest way to get nice smooth crepe batter. No hassle, no lump, less time, less clean up.

2. Cooking the Crepes

Japanese-style street crepes are large around 40 cm in diameter and made in grill. You can cook crepes on a pancake griddle, crepe pan, or a regular large non-stick pan. Crepe pans are exclusively made for making crepes. They work fantastically. Still, any good quality nonstick frying pan that is anywhere from 24 cm to 30 cm will be fine.

3. Fillings and Toppings

Fillings and toppings convert regular crepes into a fancy dessert. They also fill in all the empty spaces in your crepe cone. Here are some of the most popular fillings you should try, at least one of these if not a combination. A generous spread of filling adds flavor as well as volume to a Japanese sweet crepe.

Fresh Fruit

Fresh fruits are so common. Bananas and strawberries are considered the go-to fruit for crepes in Japan. However, many other fruit fillings vary by season like mangoes, kiwi, melons, oranges, grapes, apples, and peaches are also available.

Whipped Cream

While you can see different fillings, the whipped cream is often the base. Japan loves fresh whipped cream (nama kurimu) and is often used in Japanese desserts like crepes, parfaits, and pancakes.

Other ideas for filling and toppings

Custard, pudding, cream cheese, and ice cream are also common in one way or another. You can also find fancy treats like cheesecake, chocolate cake, brownies, mochi, Oreos, red bean paste and more. You will find them in pieces. Sometimes you will also find a whole slice of cake inside of your crepe.

Sauces

Sauces are drizzled throughout the crepe’s inner folds and over the top. Strawberry, caramel, and chocolate sauce are popular additions. Kuromitsu syrup (black sugar syrup), fruit jam, and Nutella are also popular sauce options.

4. FOLDING IN A CONE-SHAPE

There are a few different ways to fold the crepe into a cone. See my pictures below (step-by-step recipe) on how to fill and fold Japanese crepes.

5. wrap in a piece of paper

Finally, wrap it in a piece of paper! Roll the bottom of the cones onto parchment paper so it holds well when filled. Hold it in your hand like an ice cream cone, and you will see the layers of crepes opening. Then, fill the crepe cone with more whipped cream, strawberry slices, or as you like.

Useful Tips

• You can also prepare your crepe batter in advance and let it rest in the fridge.
• The larger the crepe the easier it’s to fill and to roll up. Prepare large crepes (24cm to 30cm) to fold them easily.
• Don’t put too many fillings. You will have trouble folding the crepe. It will make the crepe too heavy.
• Wait for the crepe to cool down before putting your fillings, otherwise, the whipped cream will melt quickly.

More Crepes and Thin Pancake Recipes

Japanese Street Crepes
Step-by-Step Recipe

Preparation Time: 15min
Cooking Time: 10min
Servings: 4

Ingredients

For Crepes
125 g all-purpose flour or plain flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs at room temperature
280 ml milk, warm
1 tablespoon butter, melted and slightly cooled

For Filling and topping
Ready-made or homemade whipped cream
Thinly sliced fruits like strawberries, kiwis, bananas
Ice cream, according to your taste (optional)
Sweet sauce, according to your taste (optional)

Instructions

Make the Crepe Batter

Gather the ingredients for making the batter. The batter can be used right away or refrigerated for up to three days for use as needed.

1. In a Bowl with a whisk

In a large bowl, place the flour, sugar, and salt. Using a hand whisk, whisk the mixture to combine. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the eggs and about a quarter of the milk. You can also whisk the eggs lightly in another bowl before adding.

Whisk the eggs with the wire whisk adding the flour surrounding them. First, you need to make a thick paste.

Gradually add the remaining milk while whisking vigorously until you have a smooth lump lump-free batter. If some small lumps form, strain the batter.

Now, add melted butter and whisk until well combined. Rest the batter for about 30 minutes on the counter. If the batter is resting for more than 30 minutes, make sure to store it in the fridge.

2. In a Blender

Place the ingredients in a blender in the order of eggs, sugar, and salt. Then add the flour and milk alternately.

Blend for about 20 seconds until the batter is smooth. Finish the batter adding the butter and then blending for a few seconds.

Rest the batter on the counter for about 30 minutes or refrigerate it for one hour or so if desired.

Cook the Crepes

Preheat a crepe pan or a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Lightly brush the pan with oil. Be sure to wipe off excess oil otherwise the batter will not spread easily. Reduce the heat to medium before starting cooking. Adjust the temperature as needed.

Pour a ladleful of the batter onto the center of the pan. You can also pour the batter into the pan from your blender jar. Then tilt and rotate the pan to spread the batter evenly and thinly on the surface.

Return the pan to heat and cook for about 30 seconds. Continue until the top looks dry. The edges should start to turn brown and crisp. Lift the edges of the crepe using a flat spatula and slide under the crepe gently.

Quickly flip the crepe and cook on the other side for 10 seconds or so.

Remove the crepe from the pan and let it cool down on a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter. To keep them warm, wrap the plate with plastic while you cook the remaining crepes. Crepes can be stacked without sticking if you use melted butter in your batter.

Prepare the fillings and toppings

Gather the ingredients.

Clean, trim, and slice your selected fruit.  Set aside.

Cut some strawberries in half for decorating.

Fill and Fold the Crepes

Place a crepe on the work surface. Imagine each crepe has a large V in the middle; this is where you stack the filling. Start by putting whipped cream in a V shape in the center of the top half of your crepe.

Then, place your cut fruit. I used a few slices of strawberries and bananas.

Then place any other toppings. I used blueberry jam and some whipped cream. You can also use a scoop of ice cream or fillings of your choice.

1-Folding

Fold the crepe in half. The center of the filling should be on the fold line. Then fold the crepe again as shown in the pictures below. They will look like a triangle.

2-Rolling

Fold the crepe in half, with the center of the filling on the fold line. Then, take hold of the filled part. Roll it over the unfilled part of the crepe. Keep it close as you roll and pivot on the center point. Continue until you have created a cone. 

If the fillings try to escape, just pack them back in after the cone is upright. Then, add some extra ice cream and toppings as you like. 

Finally, wrap it in a piece of paper

Roll the crepe cone in a square of parchment paper or food service paper. This will hold it together as shown in the photos below.

Add some extra whipped cream, ice cream, fruits, and toppings as you like. 

THANK YOU FOR STOPPING BY
I love hearing from you so feel free to leave a comment on the post. If you make any of my recipes, I’d love to see pics of your creations #joyofeatingtheworld or @joyofeatingtheworld

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