The Perfect Cheesy Courgette Pancake

We love to make savoury pancakes as they are super easy to make, capable with versatile ingredients and budget-friendly. This cheesy courgette pancake is one of our favourites.

Throughout the years, we’ve made a lot of different pancakes – with or without eggs, tried different flour, tried different water and flour/starch ratios, and we blogged them all here.

Then I realised, this one, a cheesy courgette pancake, is the one I wanted to make again and again, because it is crispy outside, and with a smoothy melting cheese inside.

Courgette, also called zucchini or baby mallow, is a summer squash, a very versatile ingredient which is suitable for both Western and Asian cooking.

Before we start cooking, there are some points needed to pay attention.

Key Points to Cook Courgette Pancake

1. Thin slices of courgette: I peeled them with a peeler into 1 cm width thin slices. The shapes go pretty well with the melting cheese to achieve a smooth texture.
2. Grated Emmental cheese: This cheese has good melting properties which is popular in grilled sandwiches, gratins or casseroles. I use grated one, so I don’t have to do it myself, and it is easy to melt in a short cooking time. I tried gouda cheese before, but the melting result was not great as Emmental cheese.
3. A pinch of baking powder: The pancake rises a bit when being heated. It helps to achieve a lighter and fluffier texture.
4. The right ratio of water and flour/starch: I used tapioca starch, but you can try other starch, such as cornstarch or potato starch. As different starches have their own properties, you may want to try the best ratio you like. To me, 15 g tapioca starch in 40 g plain flour is perfect. After it got pan-fried, it got the right chewiness but still crispy outside.
5. The right size of a pan: I used a ø24 cm pan, which is a good size to make an 8″ pancake to serve 2-4 people. If the pan is too big, the batter spreads out too much and it’ll become too thin. Vice versa, it’ll become too thick if the pan is too small.

Ingredients

Serves: 2-4

• 1/2 small courgette (100 g)
• 30 g grated Emmental cheese
• 40 g plain flour
• 15 g tapioca starch
• 70 g water
• 1/8 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salted bouillon vegetable powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• a pinch of white pepper

How to Make the Perfect Cheesy Courgette Pancake

1. Peel the courgette into thin slices.
2. Mix courgette with the remaining ingredients in a bowl.
3. Heat some oil in a pan with medium-high heat, pour in the batter and cook until one side is golden. Flip to the other side and cook until it’s done.