Sausage Crepes
These Sausage Crepes feature a savory filling with ground sausage, chopped mushrooms and fresh spinach topped with a creamy Gruyere cheese sauce. They’re very easy to make and always a great idea for a light brunch, lunch or dinner!
Serve with a crisp green salad with homemade Buttermilk Dill dressing and you’ve got a beautiful meal!
When most people think of crepes, they think of sweet dessert crepes, however in France, crepes, particularly buckwheat crepes are a standard menu item in just about every French bistro or restaurant. The paper thin crepe is made from a thin batter that only takes a few minutes to cook.
The quick and easy filling pairs deliciously well with the creamy Gruyere cheese sauce. Plus that, you can easily make these in advance!
Here’s what you’ll need
There are three components to this sausage cheese crepe recipe: the filling, the crepe and finally, the sauce.
The filling calls for: ground sausage, fresh spinach, onions and mushrooms.
The thin crepe batter is flour, butter, eggs and milk. And the finishing touch, the savory cheese sauce is simply flour, butter, milk and Gruyere, or Swiss cheese, a little Dijon mustard, salt and ground black pepper (to taste).
Here’s how to make it
I’ve found the best way to prepare this recipe is as follows:
Cook the filling first: saute mushrooms in butter in one pan and, in another pan, cook the sausage and onions; add cooked mushrooms to sausage; add spinach to that mixture and set aside
Next, make the crepes: practice makes perfect, so make a few and don’t worry if they’re not perfect! You’re gonna roll these up anyway!
Make the sauce: melt butter in a small saucepan; whisk in flour until smooth; add Dijon mustard and shredded cheese; salt to taste
Assemble the crepes: place a tablespoon or two of the sausage mushroom crepe filling onto the crepe, and gently roll it up. Top with sauce, cover and bake!
Crepes are the French version of a Mexican burrito–basically cooked dough stuffed with something. They’re relatively easy to make and I recommend using a non-stick skillet for best results.
You’ll want to apply a light coat of spray oil to the pan before cooking each crepe.
The color of the crepe will change as it begins to cook:
Once the batter and filling is done; make the sauce.
Tips for making crepes
If you’ve never made a crepe or French pancake before, don’t be intimidated by the process! It’s actually quite easy once you practice a little.
The secret is to getting the heat on the pan just right and knowing when the crepe batter is done.
- Use a 6 – 8″ non stick skillet
- Spray a light coat of oil on the pan before each crepe
- Heat saucepan to low heat
- Don’t flip the crepe; cook one side only
- Use a spatula or slide crepe out onto wax or parchment paper (I prefer wax paper)
- Don’t worry if the edges are “feathery” or “runny”; this means either your pan was too hot and the batter cooked too quickly or there isn’t enough liquid in your batter.
- If your crepe batter isn’t spreading out in the pan, add a little more milk.
- Practice, practice, practice
Can I make the Gruyere cheese sauce in advance?
Yes. In my experience, the cheese sauce thickens in the fridge and needs to be thinned prior to serving- you might have to add a little water or milk upon reheating. If you want to make the crepe sauce ahead of time, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
When ready to serve, reheat the cheese sauce on the stove – I do not recommend using a microwave to reheat the Gruyere cheese sauce.
Bring heat to medium and whisk out any lumps; add more milk and continue whisking until it reaches the desired consistency.
Substitutions
Feel free to stuff your crepes with whatever filling you like! If you don’t have sausage, use ground beef, turkey or chicken.
As for the cheese, Gruyere is akin to Swiss cheese, so feel free to buy a few blocks of Swiss and grate it either in the food processor or by hand.
(I don’t recommend pre-shredded cheese because it seems to have a coating of some kind on it…personal preference, though.)
Wanna make this in advance?
Make the sausage crepe filling first
If you want to get a leg up on this dish, make the filling in advance. Store in the fridge for up to three days.
When you’re ready to heat the crepes, you can do one of two things: stuff the crepes with cold filling, cover with aluminum foil and bake or, re-heat the filling in a saucepan, assemble crepes, cover then bake. The difference will be the cooking time.
If you bake the crepes with cold filling, increase the baking time to about 30 -40 minutes.
Make the crepes first
After you make the crepes, place a piece of wax paper in between each then place in a zip bag.
Refrigerate up to three days. When ready to serve, allow crepes to come to room temperature
Serve this savory sausage crepe recipe with a Caesar salad, marinated cucumber salad and warm French bread!
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♥ If you make this recipe, please leave a comment and rating. I love to hear from you!
Sausage and Mushroom Crepes with Gruyere Cheese Sauce
Equipment
- Non-stick skillet 6-8"
- Food Processor (optional)
- Wax Paper
Ingredients
Crepe Filling
- 1 lb. sausage
- 2 lbs. mushrooms
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 4 cups fresh spinach
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- ½ tsp. salt season to taste
- ¼ tsp. black pepper season to taste
Crepe Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- spray oil
- 4 whole eggs large
- 1⅓ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- ½ tsp. salt
- 4 oz. Gruyere or Swiss cheese (this amount is included in the Cheese Sauce below)
Cheese Sauce
- 1 stick butter, unsalted
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 2½-3 cups milk
- 12 oz. shredded Gruyere or Swiss cheese for this recipe, you need a total of 12 oz. of cheese: 6 oz. for sauce; 4 oz. for crepe filling; 2 oz. for garnish on top
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Prep
- Clean mushrooms with damp paper towel; remove stems; pulse in food processor to small pieces; set aside
- Chop onions; set aside
- Shred cheese in food processor or by hand; set aside
- Prepare crepe batter; set aside
Cook the Filling
- In one skillet, brown sausage until no pink is visible; add onions and cook 5-7 minutes; drain, return pan to low heat, add ground sage; season with salt and pepper to taste
- In a second skillet, melt butter, add chopped mushrooms and lemon juice; cook 7 minutes until mushrooms are tender
- Add cooked mushrooms to sausage pan
- Add raw spinach to sausage/mushroom mixture (by the handful, one at a time) until all spinach is incorporated into sausage mixture;
Make the Crepes
- Heat non-stick skillet and spray a light coat of oil on the pan; turn heat to medium
- Add ¼ cup of crepe batter; spread batter out in pan by rotating pan over heat
- Cook 1 minute or until the color of the crepe is consistent and opaque throughout
- Place cooked crepe on wax paper
- Repeat process (yes, spray oil in the skillet before you cook each crepe)
Make the Cheese Sauce
- In a large pan, melt butter on medium heat; gradually sprinkle in flour; whisking constantly
- Gradually add two cups of milk, (one cup at a time) whisking constantly until smooth;
- Add 6 oz. of shredded cheese to pan; continue to whisk
- Add another cup of milk and continue to whisk
- At this point, taste, season with salt and pepper and turn heat to low;
- Ladel one cup of sauce in a 9 x 13 baking dish
Assemble the Crepes
- Preheat oven to 350ºF
- Place cooked crepe in one hand and add ¼ cup of the sausage/mushroom/spinach mixture
- Sprinkle a little shredded cheese over the mixture
- Place crepe on flat surface and begin to roll crepe into a tube
- Place the crepe in the baking dish with the seam side down; repeat for all crepes
- Ladel a little bit of sauce over the crepes
- Cover with foil and bake 15 minutes
- When the crepes are almost done, go back to the sauce and bring the heat up to medium high
- At this point, if the sauce is too thick, add the last cup of milk; continue to whisk until smooth
- Remove crepes from oven, plate and drizzle cheese sauce over the crepe
- Garnish with remaining cheese and serve
Notes
- Each crepe takes less than one minute.
- Spray oil in non-stick skillet for each crepe; just a little spray oil, not a lot.
- The color of the crepe changes as it cookes and the bubbles go away (like making pancakes)
- The crepe will easily come out of the skillet when the batter is cooked; use a spatula and if the crepe won't come out in the center, it's because the center isn't done yet. Don't force it--just wait a few seconds then nudge it again with the spatula.
- Place each cooked crepe on wax paper; do not stack the crepes on one another
- The crepes might stick to the wax paper a bit; just gently pull them away; if the edges tear, that's okay because you're going to roll the crepe
