Blini (blinchiki) – classic recipe for Russian thin pancakes

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What would breakfast be without Russian thin pancakes! Whether with sweet or savory dips or spreads – blini taste incredibly delicious and are loved by both children and adults.

Here I show you the classic recipe for Russian thin pancakes without yeast. The blinchiki are easy and quick to prepare from a few common ingredients. You can find the detailed blini recipe with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions here below.

What are blini?

Blini are Russian pancakes that look like thin round patties. Affectionately they are called blinchiki. There are blini recipes with and without yeast.

Blini are eaten rolled up with sour cream, jam or melted butter. In addition, people often prepare blini with different fillings, for example, with tvorog or mushrooms. Especially during the Russian butter week Maslenitsa blinchiki can not be missed.

Blini or blinis?

Even though you very often come across the term “blinis” in various recipes, this designation for Russian pancakes is not correct.

Because the word “blini” is already plural and means several pancakes. A single pancake in Russian is called a blin.

Now you know what blinis, blini and blin mean.

Blini dough

The main ingredients for blini dough are milk, eggs, vegetable oil, flour, and small amounts of sugar and salt. Wheat flour is the best for making Russian thin pancakes. You can also use other types of flour, for example buckwheat flour.

Classic blini are prepared with milk. This is the best way to make Russian thin pancakes. However, you can replace half of milk with the same amount of water or completely milk with water.

The blini dough is liquid. It has the consistency of cream. You should be able to pour it into the pan easily.

To make your blini dough the right consistency, you should add flour in batches to the rest of the ingredients. The amount of flour specified in the recipe may vary, as different types of flour absorb liquid differently.

If your dough is too liquid, add some more flour. If it is too thick, you can add a little more milk.

How to fry blinchiki

If you’ve never made blinchiki before, you may need to practice a bit in the beginning before you can make such thin pancakes. You can therefore use a smaller pan to fry the Russian pancakes the first time. This will allow you to spread the batter thinly over the entire surface of the pan more quickly and also make it easier to flip the blini.

In time, you’ll also figure out exactly how much of the batter to put in the pan to make your blinchiki really thin.

By the way, if you use a pancake pan, you can quickly pour off the excess batter after the batter is evenly distributed on the bottom of the pan.

How to serve Russian thin pancakes

You can serve blini with

• sour cream,
• melted butter,
• sweetened condensed milk,
• jam,
• honey,
• caramel sauce
• or syrup.

In Russia, people love to eat blini with melted butter – and not without reason. Because with it blinchiki taste incredibly delicious. Just try it! Just melt a piece of butter, soak a piece of blini in it and bite it off – tastes heavenly.

Russian thin pancakes are also delicious on their own. They taste best fresh and warm right after frying. However, they are still delicious in the next few days and cold.

Blinchiki are ideal

• for breakfast,
• for dessert,
• as a snack in between.

With savory dips, you can also serve them as an appetizer. In addition, Russian thin pancakes are perfect to take with you on the go.

How to store blini

If you have prepared too many blini, store the leftover ones in an airtight container, such as a lunch box, in the refrigerator. They will keep for about 5 days.

If you want to serve them warm, you can warm them up in a pan with the lid on and a splash of water on low heat.

These blinchiki are

• soft,
• elastic,
• juicy,
• tender,
• incredibly tasty,
• easy and quick to prepare from common ingredients,
• ideal for breakfast, dessert or snack,
• delicious with sweet and savory dips,
• perfect to take away,
• suitable for serving hot and cold.

How to make blini: the recipe

You can find the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions to make these delicious blini yourself below in the box recipe.

For the blini recipe you only need

• milk,
• eggs,
• sugar,
• salt,
• vegetable oil
• and flour.

Milk and eggs should not be cold, but room temperature.

How to prepare blini

1. Mix milk, eggs, sugar and salt.
2. Add flour and stir to form a liquid dough. Let the dough rest for about 20 minutes.
3. Add vegetable oil to the dough and mix.
4. Grease the pan, heat it and fry thin pancakes from the batter in it until golden brown on both sides. Your blinchiki are ready!

Tips and tricks: how to make the best blini

• All ingredients for the dough should be at room temperature. This is the best way for them to combine. So get the milk and eggs out of the fridge ahead of time and let them sit at room temperature for about 1 hour.
• Wheat flour is best for Russian thin pancakes.
• Vegetable oil must not be missing in the dough, otherwise the pancakes will stick to the pan.
• The dough should be liquid and have about the consistency of cream. Add flour gradually as you prepare the dough to achieve the right consistency. The amount of flour specified in the recipe may vary. If your dough is too runny, add more flour. If it has become thick, add some more milk.
• By the way, you can prepare the dough without vegetable oil a day in advance and leave it in the refrigerator until you fry the blinchiki. Add vegetable oil before frying.
• Before frying the blinchiki, the pan must be well heated. Among other things, this ensures that the blini do not stick to the pan.
• It is enough to grease the pan with vegetable oil once before frying.
• After frying, place the finished blini on top of each other on a flat plate. To keep them warm until serving, you can put a lid from a saucepan on top.
• I had used a Ø 20 cm coated pan and got 11 Russian pancakes with it. Depending on how big your pan is, you may end up with more or less Russian thin pancakes.

Different blini variations

There are many different recipe variations for blini. For example, how about the fluffy lace pancakes, aromatic herbed cheese blini, or sweet banana pancakes? Have you tried filled blinchiki, for example the sweet pancakes with tvorog or savory blini with spinach and feta?

Have you made Russian blini using this recipe? I look forward to your star rating and comment on the recipe below, how they turned out and tasted to you.