Description
Fluffy, delicious, and nutritious, these healthy Plant Based Pancakes are an easy breakfast that will please even the pickiest of eaters.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (certified gluten-free if needed)
- 1 cup + 1/2 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk, divided
- 3/4 cup oat flour or ground rolled oats (certified gluten-free if needed) (see note 1)
- 1 mashed banana (or about 1/3 cup) (see note 2)
- 1.5 tbsp any nut or seed butter (see note 3)
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar (or any)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon, optional
- 1/4 tsp salt, optional but highly recommended
Instructions
- Soak your oats: Add 1 cup oats and 1 cup non-dairy milk to a medium bowl and lightly press the oats down so they are covered by the non-dairy milk (they’ll float back to the top but at least they’ll get wet) for 10 minutes while you get together the other ingredients. This makes a big difference in the texture of the oats. I’ve also had oatmeal based pancake batters seize up on me until I started doing it this way.
- If making your own oat flour: Using a decent quality blender or food processor, grind up old fashioned rolled oats into a mostly fine flour. You may need to stop and shake the container or scrape it down with a spatula. If it’s not completely smooth that’s OK for this recipe. I tested it with a more coarsely ground oat flour first to see if it would work and it was fine! You can make it and leave it in the blender or food processor and add the rest of your ingredients in that way. Not-so-great blenders might do better if you remove the oat flour and put in the extra non-dairy milk first, though.
- Blend: Add the rest of the ingredients and put in the soaked oats--no need to drain them if they haven’t soaked up all the liquid yet. Blend until smooth.
- Heat skillet or griddle: Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
- I like to use a cookie scoop to add my batter to the pan. Less messy since I’m not so graceful at pouring from a blender. It’s also helpful in keeping your pancakes all roughly the same size. For me each pancake ended up being about 3 ½ tablespoons of batter.
- Cook: Cook 3 pancakes at a time--allow them to spread a little. When you initially add the batter to the pan, you can use the back of the scoop to adjust the shape of the pancake to make it more circular if you wish. Cook each side of the pancake for about 2 minutes. This will differ depending on your pan and stove, but you can tell it's ready to flip when the edges have started to lightly brown. I’ve found that after the first round of pancakes, you can actually smell when they’re ready to flip. It smells a little like a freshly baked cookie - yum!
- Tips on flipping: Use a good nonstick THIN spatula and the real trick is speed. Go fast to minimize any stickage during your flip. Steady the pan with one hand, and in a quick motion, slide the spatula under the pancake, focusing on making the bottom of the spatula one with the floor of your pan. Hug the pan, man. Sorry, I’m a dork. Anyway, once you’ve got the pancake on your spatula, quickly flip it over and try to place it right back where it was. DON’T attempt to move it. If you don’t have room for your last pancake because you put the other ones in a weird place, transfer it to a plate for a couple minutes until the others are done. If you attempt to move a freshly flipped pancake it will stick and create a mess… ask me how I know.
- Pan getting too hot? If you find your pan is getting too hot or your pancakes are starting to look browner, turn down the heat a bit and give your pancakes a little less time, say a minute and a half each side.
- Transfer each cooked pancake to a plate wrapped in a kitchen towel to keep warm, or you can place them in a warm oven.
- Serve: Serve with fruit, maple syrup or date syrup, or even a little vegan whipped cream if you’d like. Enjoy!
- Store: Refrigerate leftover pancakes in an airtight container for up to 5 days. You can reheat them in a toaster or toaster oven if you’d like!
Notes
- Note 1: You can use homemade or store bought oat flour. See the instructions for how to make your own. You’ll need old fashioned rolled oats to soak and then blend. This seems odd but the combination of the soaked oats and oat flour makes the fluffiest oatmeal pancakes. If you have Celiac disease or a severe gluten intolerance, ensure you’re buying certified gluten-free old fashioned or rolled oats. I have not tested this recipe with any other flour except all purpose which it worked fine with. I think it would work fine with a whole wheat flour (be prepared to add a bit more non-dairy milk) or 1:1 gluten-free flour blend. I encourage you to experiment with other flours if you’d like. My only guess is that coconut or almond flour might need some modifications as they tend to be more dense than fluffy.
- Note 2: The bananas do not have a strong flavor in this recipe, but if you have a banana allergy or you just don’t have any, you could use applesauce, pumpkin or sweet potato puree or even solid coconut cream.
- Note 3: I used a small amount (a little over a tablespoon for the whole batter) of peanut butter to help make these pancakes luscious and fluffy. It’s not ABSOLUTELY necessary, but I try to write my recipes so that they are truly delicious and delightful (sounds tacky but come on, I want you to like them!) so I hope you’ll try it. If you cannot have peanuts, try another nut butter like almond butter or cashew butter -- or even try seed butter like tahini or sunflower seed butter. Or, you could substitute with a bit of solid coconut cream (the chunky bit in a can of coconut milk or canned coconut cream) or even vegan butter.
- Note 4: If you are completely against eating added sugar, you don’t need the tablespoon listed in the recipe. The pancakes should still work.
- Prep Time: 12 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stove top
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Vegan, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Refined Sugar-Free, Can Be Nut-Free, Plant Based Pancakes, Vegan Pancakes