Healthy pancakes may sound oxymoronic, but actually they are very possible.
Pancakes are a favorite breakfast food for many of us, and if they can be made healthy, while retaining all of the fluffy, yummy goodness that we love, then why not?
My first step to making pancakes healthier while adding to the taste factor starts with substituting the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour. The improvement in taste is remarkable because the whole grain adds a rich nuttiness. Whole wheat pastry flour, which is made from a light whole grain, is low in gluten and a perfect substitute for all-purpose flour in most baked goods, other than delicate cakes and breads. At the same time it also adds to the nutritive value of any food it goes in because it contains large amounts of fiber and protein.
Flax seed powder mixed with water substitutes for eggs here, and I use soy milk instead of dairy - all healthier options than the ingredients one would normally use while making pancakes. I also use canola oil instead of butter, and the difference is...well, there is none.
My Whole Wheat Pancakes are decadence for breakfast- and they prove that delicious food can be good for you, and vice versa.
Whole Wheat Vegan Pancakes
Ingredients:
Dry:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Mix the dry ingredients well and set aside.
Wet:
1 1/2 cups soy milk
2 tbsp flaxseed meal
mixed with 6 tbsp water3 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
(optional)Mix together the wet ingredients and add to the dry. Mix gently until the dry ingredients are just moistened. There should be some lumps remaining in the batter.
Heat a nonstick or cast-iron griddle
. Smear lightly with a few drops of canola oil. Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter on the griddle and let it cook until bubbles appear at the top of the pancake and the underside is golden-brown. Flip over with a spatula and cook the other side until it is lightly browned.Serve hot with a pat of vegan spread and maple syrup
.
Hi Vaishali,
ReplyDeleteI have a doubt again:) I don't seem to find flax seed powder where we live. Is there any other substitute (other than bananas)?
All you need is to buy whole flax seeds and grind them. You can accomplish this pretty easily with a Vita-Mix if you have a dry hopper (don't use the wet one). Alternatively, you can run flax seeds through just about any peppermill and get ground up flax seeds. That's all "flax seed meal" is. And it works *better* than eggs as a binding/caking agent. Huzzah!
DeleteHi Latha, Tofu makes a decent egg substitute, although I'll confess I've never used it in pancakes. You could use 1/4 cup of silken tofu in place of 1 egg. In this recipe, that would equal about 1/2 cup of tofu, first blended smooth, then added to the ingredients. If you decide to try it, I'd love to hear how it worked out!
ReplyDeleteWell, I know it is quite past the date this recipe was posted but I have been trying my hand at several vegan pancake recipes since I turned vegan a year ago and can I just say...WOW!!! Thank you for a fabulous and tasty recipe and my only complaint is that I will eat far too many pancakes now. :) I substituted unsweetened almond milk for soy and olive oil for canola and they came out absolutely delicious! Thanks again!!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I am so happy you liked the pancakes. And if you do eat too many, don't worry because you can always tell yourself they are good for you :) Thanks for the feedback- I always appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI just made these for Father's Day breakfast as I wanted something delicious but healthy. I topped them with fresh strawberries and bananas and a teensy bit of maple syrup. Delicious!
ReplyDeleteHeather, A topping of strawberries and bananas sounds delicious. I am so glad you enjoyed the pancakes.
ReplyDeleteSome vegan pancakes are gummy and chewy, but these are light and fluffy and wonderful. This has become my go-to Saturday morning breakfast, and I just wanted to thank you for posting it. :)
ReplyDeleteWe had these pancakes yesterday. They were wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipe.
The pastry flour does make a huge difference.
I love these! Absolutely the best vegan pancakes I've ever had. Thank you so much! :) I've made it the recipe-of-the-week on my blog: http://jeccabellezza.blogspot.com/2009/06/recipe-of-week-healthy-pancakes.html
ReplyDeleteHi Vaishali,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to have found your blog. My toddler is allergic to dairy and eggs and I've struggled to find recipes that win his approval. But for a while now your blog has become my go-to source for all new recipes. I tried your whole wheat pancake recipe this morning and he ate two full pancakes!! You have one very grateful mother as your fan.
TheCooker, Jecca, Thanks for the feeddback and so glad you liked them.
ReplyDeletePooja, so thrilled to read your son love them-- passing the kid test is never easy, and I'm honored :) Thanks for letting me know!
Hi Vaishali, Thanks for all your wonderful recipes. I just made these pancakes and they tasted great, but did not come out as fluffy as other commenters' did. I'm wondering if it's because I used flax meal - is this not the same as flax powder? I'm thinking maybe I could use my coffee grinder to grind it to a finer consistency. Thanks for you help :)
ReplyDeleteHi Andrea, Here are a couple of possibilities: it is likely that the leavening agent you used--the baking powder-- might not have been fresh. The other possibility is that you might have overmixed the batter, which would have activated the gluten in the flour. I doubt that the flax had anything to do with it. In fact, flax meal and flax powder are one and the same-- I use the words interchangeably. It doesn't need to be too fine. I usually grind mine in a coffee grinder to a coarse consistency.
ReplyDeleteHi Vaishali! I just made pancakes using your recipe and they were delicious! Unfortunately, I didn't have vanilla, but I did have a banana and so I mashed 1/2 and added it to the recipe. I liked the final result, the banana flavor was mild and not overpowering. Thanks for providing the recipe for my first vegan pancakes!
ReplyDeleteI made these as is and I'm still thinking I did something wrong. I didn't over mix and my powder is good. They did rise but fell flat. Maybe the ratio of powder to flour is off. So basically, I wound up with flat pancakes. I did realize how good they would be as a crepe though. Did you spoon/sift your flour into the measuring cup or just dump your cup into the flour and level off?
ReplyDeleteJohnnie, These pancakes have always worked for me and for others who have tried them. I am not sure what went wrong-- did you use whole-wheat pastry flour? I don't sift the flour for pancakes, and I didn't in this case. Maybe you took them off the heat too early?
ReplyDeleteToday is National Pancake Day! I want to try this recipe, but I don't feel like going to the store. I have all the ingredients except the flax powder. However, I do have bananas. Are bananas a good substitute for eggs?
ReplyDeleteGel, Happy Pancake Day! I have not tried these with banana, but bananas do make a good egg substitute. I would advise mashing up one medium banana in place of the flax seed and water mixture.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the prompt response. I'll probably have to go to the store anyway, so I'll just buy the flax seed powder. Can you tell me if flax seed meal and flax seed powder the same. I searched for it online and there is a big difference in price. Flax seed powder is much more expensive.
ReplyDeleteI would think they're the same-- I usually just buy the whole flax seeds and grind them up to a fairly fine powder in my spice grinder. The meal should definitely work-- go with that.
ReplyDeletehey vaishali,
ReplyDeletem new to cooking. Wanted to find out if i cud use the atta (as we call in india) to make pancakes. Is the atta and the whole wheat pastry flour dat u use are the same
Hi Anonymous, the Indian whole-wheat atta is different from whole-wheat pastry flour because it is more gluten-rich and would create a more dense pancake. Do you get durum wheat flour there? It makes a decent substitute for whole-wheat pastry flour.
ReplyDeleteIf not, I'd advise using a 50-50 mix of the whole-wheat chapati flour and all-purpose flour. That would definitely work.
Thanks for such a wonderful recipe. Vegan for almost 9 months now, and this is one great recipe. And its so nice to see whole wheat pastry flour in many of your recipes. I rarely use all-purpose these days....only for cupcakes and cakes, I think. Thanks and keep up the good work, Vaishali!
ReplyDeleteThese, like all of your recipes, are fantastic! Thank you for another home run!!
ReplyDeleteSrividya, Icchic, Thanks, and glad they turned out well for you! Happy holidays :)
ReplyDeleteThese pancakes are delicious! I have been vegetarian for quite a while and just recently decided to try out the vegan world and so far I love it! I am still trying to find my faves for main dishes (like pancakes!). I originally didn't have pastry flour so I mixed half and half white and wheat flour. They turned out ok but a little dense. I went and bought the pastry flour and it made a big difference! These are my new fave. Thank you : )
ReplyDeleteI must try out your pancake recipe tomorrow for the kids, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI just found your post today when I searched for "vegan whole wheat pancakes" and I'm so glad I did. I substituted the following, but it they still turned out great:
ReplyDelete-used corn oil instead of canola
-whole wheat flour instead of pastry flour
-no vanilla
- almond milk instead of soymilk
They were a bit dense, but my hubby loved them! I might try pastry flour next time, or double-sifting the whole-wheat flour that I have. Thanks for the post!
- savvy brown
http://savvybrown.com
I'm a very recent Vegan. Only 3 weeks ago did I go vegan cold turkey from being a carnivore.
ReplyDeleteI had a real hankering for pancakes, which I haven't really made in years... anyway I tried this recipe, not really expecting much. I mean it's flax and whole wheat after all.
I followed the recipe except for 2 things. I had no vanilla, so I omitted it, and I had no canola oil, so I used melted vegan margarine.
This is seriously SO good that my husband and I almost scarfed down the whole batch. Even if I weren't vegan, I would still use this recipe.
Hey Vaishali,
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to let you know I made these again today for my in-laws and they were such a hit, I featured you on my blog.
http://crashtestvegetarian.com/?p=1648
Love this recipe! It's healthy and it tastes good! It was really fast to make for my kids this morning before school. And my kids loved it! Healthy is nothing, if my kids refuse to eat it. So your pancakes were a smashing success! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I'll definitely be making it again!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, these pancakes were amazing! I didn't have flax meal so I ground up some flax seeds with the water called for in my mini food processor and it was just fine. What a yummy, healthy, recipe, looking forward to trying more now that I found your site!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this recipe and many others! You've inspired me to cook and blog more about amazing foods that happen to be vegan. Keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteI woke up craving pancakes (the last one I had was like 4 months ago) and found your awesome recipe. They're really less carbageddon than classic one but without sacrificing the taste!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this!
Peace
Mike
Awesome recipe. I added a couple tablespoons of finely chopped pecans and a Cup of fresh blueberries. I also only had vanilla soy milk so I used that. They were fantastic. Even my husband liked them and he is very much NOT a vegan. He topped his with butter and apricot syrup. I used a scant amount of agave suryp and like I said, they were awesome, thanks!
ReplyDeleteCan I use maple syrup instead of sugar? If so, how much? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYes, substitute the same amount. You can also leave out the sugar altogether.
DeleteCan you add hemp protein powder to these, if so, how do you incorporate it in recipe?
ReplyDeleteAmazing tasty and delicious pancakes.Great with vanilla . This was the first time I used vanilla and I was glad I did. For a few of my pancaked I added grated apple. There is nothing I would add or take away! Best of all the edges were crispy and brown ..yummy
ReplyDeleteVery tasty! I'm new to the vegan lifestyle and am always on the lookout for familiar recipes for an easier transition. This definitely fits with my taste buds! I didn't have whole wheat pastry flour so I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour with 1/2 cup of cake flour (kept the texture fluffy and tender). Even added a pinch of cinnamon and ginger just to make it a little fancier! Thanks for the recipe!
ReplyDelete