In my kitchen, crepes trump tortillas every time.
They’re easier, faster to make, and… They make the best homemade tortilla chips!
I kid you not. These chips are thin, crispy, slightly salty, and delicious.
Not to mention, with crepes, as long as you’re keeping a sourdough starter going (learn how to start one here!), you don’t even need to plan ahead. Starter = immediate crepes. Of course, it’s helpful to have well-seasoned cast iron, too.
Below, see how to make sourdough crepes, and then learn how to make them into tortilla crepe chips! We love to garnish our favorite blended soup recipes with these chips crumbled over the top.
Erin's Sourdough Crepes
Demonstrated on video in the Sourdough eCourse. Makes about (9) 10-inch crepes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 3 organic or pastured eggs
- 3 tablespoons grass-fed butter melted
- 3 pinches sea salt
- raw whole milk to thin, 1/4 cup, more or less
Instructions
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In a medium-sized bowl, whisk eggs, melted butter, and salt until combined.
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Add sourdough starter.
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Stir well.
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Add milk until you get a thin batter.
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Preheat lightly greased cast iron skillet over medium heat.
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Once preheated, pour 1/4 cup or more of crepe batter into the center of skillet.
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Quickly pick up the skillet and roll the batter outward into a circle shape.
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Put the skillet back on the burner.
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Let cook until crepe edges are a bit dry, and small bubbles dot the surface.
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This may take less than a minute!
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Flip. The second side will take less time to cook than the first.
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Stack finished crepes on a plate until ready to serve.
Recipe Notes
The Tortilla Crepe Chips
Technique demonstrated on video in the Sourdough eCourse.
finished crepes
coconut oil, tallow, or lard*
coarse salt or other toppings (cinnamon and sugar, herbed seasoning salt)
Melt oil over medium heat in a deep skillet until about 1 inch deep.
When you see waves in the oil, you know it's getting hot.
Adjust heat as necessary to keep the oil hot, but not smoking.
Cut crepes into 8 pie-shaped wedges.
Test the hot oil for readiness by dipping a wedge in it to see if it sizzles well.
If the oil doesn’t react much, it isn’t hot enough.
When oil is ready, immerse small batches of wedges in it.
Frying small batches will help the fat retain its heat, ensuring better chips and better efficiency.
Fry until you achieve desired brownness and crispiness.
With thin crepes, the frying goes very quickly!
Using a slotted stainless steel spoon, transfer finished chips to a waiting bowl lined with paper towels.
Sprinkle with salt or other toppings immediately.
The chips continue to cook outside of the skillet, so adjust cooking time if they end up too browned or not browned enough.
Adjust the temperature of the burner as needed to keep the fat hot but not smoking.
Enjoy!
*As long as you don't let coconut oil smoke, and as long as you strain out the solids, the oil can be reused many times over.
Do you make your own tortilla chips? Will you try making them out of sourdough crepes next time?
This post was featured in 12 Yummy Snacks Using Sourdough.
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I can’t wait to make these! They look amazing! It gives me a good excuse to de-rust and season my cast iron skillet (I usually use my griddle).
This looks interesting, I’m wondering if placing them in the oven would be good too.
These look amazing Wardee!! Can’t wait to try them!
This is great! I have using the crepes as tortillas because I have not able to make tortillas and they require a lot more time and they are much softer.
What a wonderful idea! I recently bought some organic expeller-pressed coconut oil that doesn’t have much smell or taste that would be perfect for these chips. (In many foods I like the added coconut flavor, but might prefer the neutral coconut oil for chips.) I don’t know — guess I’ll have to try them both ways!
Ellen — I use the unrefined, and unless I’m immune to coconut flavor, I don’t notice anything coconutty about mine. I would love to hear how your comparison goes!
That’s good to know, Wardee. I will let you know if I notice coconut flavor in mine when I use the unrefined and, if so, whether the expeller-pressed yields a different result.
These look really yummy – and what an interesting idea! Thanks for sharing!
Wow, those look super tasty. I never thought to use crepes as tortillas or tortilla chips. I am a huge mexican fan, so I will have to try this. Thanks for the idea!
By the way, I have been reading your blog for a few months now and I really enjoy it. I have been wanting to sign up for the e-course and hopefully will be able to do that soon. You do a wonderful job!
We are gluten free and I am totally going to try a gf variation of this- I miss homemade flour tortilla chips- especially with cinnamon sugar, so good with ice cream!!
Jen — I totally think a gluten-free crepe recipe would work for this! When we were gluten-free, I would make batter-style corn tortillas all the time. They would be perfect. Enjoy!
I was wondering the same thing since I am gluten free as well but wondering what kind of recipe for gluten free since we don’t have the sourdough?
LOVE your website by the way. 🙂 I’ve been doing kefir for a few years now but have taken a break and need to get my grains back out and work with them again. Thank you for all the sharing you do on here!
I must learn more about making a sourdough starter. There are so many good recipes with sourdough!
-Brenda
Mmmm, so glad to have another recipe to add to my sourdough journey! They look wonderful!
Thanks for another great recipe!! Now that I’m doing sourdough (and loving it!), I’m on the lookout for 2 things: recipes to use my “throwaway” starter, and recipes that don’t require use of a rolling pin ~ SCORE on both accounts! LOL 😀
Seriously, thanks for putting tortilla chips within my reach; I have never even attempted them before, because of the time required. But I regularly do the crepes, and I’ll definitely attempt this! Blessings!
Hi Wardee baby, came over for the twister and found this wonderful recipe! Very cool! You should call them Sourtilla chips. Big hugs! Alex
Alex — Ha! I like that. 🙂
Do you have any idea about how many calories per chip. I’d really appreciate an answer.
Janet Paula Lieber
I know this is an older post but I remembered them and we are trying tomato basil today!
This is an awesome idea!
I had forgotten this, but years ago, I had developed a corn allergy and we found a little Mexican restaurant that would fry flour tortillas as chips for me. Yum!
Wardee, have you ever tried baking them to make them crisp instead of frying? They do look amazing, we LOVE nachos.
Pamela — No, I haven’t. But other eCourse members have. They brush with oil and add seasoning and then bake until crisp. They say they turn out great!
Was just about to try baking them. What temp would you go for??
I would try 375, Dustin. Keep an eye on them and adjust time/temperature as needed.
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
do you think that almond flour crepes would work for frying. I am on Gaps and miss tortilla chips so bad. I have a great almond flour crepe recipe! I would love nachos again!
I am trying a 30 day trial for Plan to Eat. Can I add this recipe to my meal plan on Plan to Eat?
Sure — please include a credit and a link to the original recipe.
Thank you for this recipe! We can’t get tortilla chips where we live and miss them badly. I just made these, they were easy and SO delicious! I used chicken fat which worked great and then tried butter but that didn’t work as well. Thanks again! Love your website!
I have made crepes three times now, and the first was perfect then these last two times my crepes had a lot of holes in them. My starter is really thin, so maybe I shouldn’t add milk? I’m not sure. 🙂
Kendra — Maybe use less fat in the pan. It tends to create holes. Also you could go a little thicker with the starter. Not too thick or the crepes will be thick. I hope this helps. 🙂
I’m making these tonight! Can’t wait to see how they turn out.
This does sound yummy. I was wondering how to make this recipe work for the GAPS diet? My to go on the diet and can’t seem to get enough calories no matter how much she eats.
My daughter (didn’t show up on my post)
Hi, I came across this recipe when I had the idea of trying to make tortillas out of black bean flour. I would like to make them soaked or fermented. Is this possible with black bean flour? Have you made anything with it before? Thanks for you help!
Wardee: Could you post your ‘batter style’ corn tortilla recipe that you mentioned in a reply?
Thanks so much!!
I just did a search on this site: https://traditionalcookingschool.com/2008/01/07/corn-tortillas-gluten-free-batter-style/
This is such a great recipe! We just made it again this morning for breakfast–fast, easy, a great way to use my sourdough starter, and my husband likes them so much that he regularly asks for them. Thank you!
Wonderful, Karen!
We love reading this. 🙂
Merry Christmas!
~ Millie, TCS Customer Success Team
Great recipe! The crepes were great!
Glad you enjoyed these Janie!
~ Vicki, TCS Customer Success Team