Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Blini (Russian Thin Pancakes)
Thin, lacy pancakes swirled paper-thin in the pan and rolled or folded around jam and sour cream, a cornerstone of the Russian table.
Russian · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 25 min
~438 cal · 14g protein · 63g carbs · 14g fat · 2g fiber · 14g sugars · 8g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Blini are the thin, lacy pancakes at the heart of Russian cooking, poured into a hot pan and swirled paper-thin so they cook into supple golden rounds. Made from a simple batter of flour, milk and egg, they are far thinner than an American pancake.
They are eaten across Russia at any time of day and are the centrepiece of Maslenitsa, the pre-Lenten butter week, their round golden shape a nod to the returning sun. Cooks serve them with sour cream and jam or roll them around sweet or savoury fillings.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp sugar
a pinch salt
as needed , for the pan
Instructions
1
Whisk the eggs (or the cornstarch and oat milk mixture), milk, sugar and salt together in a large bowl.
2
Sift in the flour a little at a time, whisking to a smooth thin batter about the consistency of cream, then rest it 15 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the batter thin, close to cream, so the blini spread lacy and delicate rather than thick.
3
Stir in the melted butter, then heat a lightly oiled pan and pour in a small ladle of batter, swirling to coat the base thinly.
4
Cook about 30 seconds a side until golden, then stack and serve with sour cream and jam.
Russian home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Moscow. Borscht is not settled as Russian. The culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking was inscribed by UNESCO in July 2022 on its list of heritage in need of urgent safeguarding, a listing fast-tracked because of the invasion, and Moscow objected to it. UNESCO's own note is that the inscription does not imply exclusivity.
🗺️
Russia. Russian cuisine is built for long winters, beetroot borscht, buckwheat kasha, dumplings (pelmeni), and an array of pickles and cured fish. Rye bread, sour cream, and the tea-and-preserves ritual anchor a vast country's table.
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Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Russia
Beef StroganoffSeared strips of beef and mushrooms in a mustard-spiked sour cream sauce over noodles, 19th-century Moscow at its most elegant.
Grechnevaya KashaToasted buckwheat simmered until fluffy and served with butter, the quintessential Russian porridge.
PelmeniSmall dumplings of thin dough around a juicy meat filling, boiled and served with sour cream, a Russian staple.
Browse all Russia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Whisk.
Storing it: Best fresh and hot. Keep batter covered in the fridge for up to a day, and rewarm cooked ones in a dry pan.
Make it a Russia meal
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Frequently asked questions
What is Blini (Russian Thin Pancakes)?
Thin, lacy pancakes swirled paper-thin in the pan and rolled or folded around jam and sour cream, a cornerstone of the Russian table.
Where does Blini (Russian Thin Pancakes) come from?
Blini (Russian Thin Pancakes) is a Russian dish from Moscow, Russia.
Can Blini (Russian Thin Pancakes) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Blini (Russian Thin Pancakes) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Blini (Russian Thin Pancakes) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Blini (Russian Thin Pancakes) take to make?
About 40 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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