Gluten-free pancake recipes are everywhere these days. Grain-free pancakes, on the other hand, are fairly hard to come by. I know. Why? Because I’m lazy. Too lazy to even do my super-easy blender pancakes with a gluten-free grain like oats.
I need to confess something to you guys: grains are just too much work for me. I’ve pretty much given up on them. Sure I buy the occasional loaf of sprouted grain bread. And we eat rice about once a week. But other than that, I can’t stand all the soaking and sprouting, grinding and kneading. I’m too lazy. My life is too busy. Even though I know it only takes a few extra minutes and some up-front planning, I’m just not that together with my menus these days. Planning? What’s that?
So, I’m pretty much a primal eater when I cook for myself. And that’s why I’ve been looking for grain-free pancake recipes. After all, giving up grains shouldn’t mean giving up pancakes!
I think you’ll like each of the recipes below. Each one is unique and Food Renegade approved, meaning I’ve actually tested them and enjoyed them.
Coconut Flour Pancakes
Absolutely the best grain-free pancakes I’ve ever tasted. And they’re super nutrient-dense thanks to all the eggs that go into them. I add a splash of vanilla and cinnamon to the batter and serve them slathered in butter from grass-fed cows, freshly ground almond butter, & a smidgen of maple syrup.
Almond Banana Pancakes
These are your standard banana pancakes (basically bananas & eggs), but with an almond-y twist. Mark adds almond butter to the batter. All I have to say is WOW. It’s an interesting texture, a great, nutty flavor, and another nutrient-dense way to do grain-free pancakes!
Almond Flour Pancakes
These are tasty, but very dense. I like only having to eat one or two of these grain-free pancakes to get full!
Garbanzo Bean & Rice Pancakes
Okay, okay. So these have rice flour in them and aren’t technically grain-free pancakes. But they’re gluten-free. And rice is really the most harmless of all the grains. I buy this mix from Bob’s Red Mill when I’m in a pinch. I DO NOT recommend the Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake mix as that has way too many pure starches added to it to try to mimic that fluffy, white-flour consistency that people love. I don’t love it. And I do love the taste of garbanzo bean flour. As far as I can tell, this Wheat-Free Biscuit & Baking Mix is now called “Gluten-Free Biscuit & Baking Mix.” Perhaps they realized that a “gluten-free” label would sell more than a “wheat-free” label.
In case you’re wondering why it’s okay to have almond flour pancakes without soaking the nuts: I’ve read (and believe) that roasting/cooking nuts ALSO reduces the anti-nutrients present. So there you have it. I soak my nuts if I’m going to eat them raw or dehydrated as a snack (or in nut butter), but I don’t hesitate to just cook them and eat them (as in the almond flour pancakes).
So, I hope this collection of grain-free pancake recipes helps out those of you who (like me) are too lazy to prepare your grains properly as well as those of you who are going grain-free for health & wellness reasons.
(photo by elanaspantry)
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We do the banana, almond butter, and egg pancakes all the time, esp if the bananas are “too ripe”, i.e., have a couple freckles, for my green-banana loving 6th grader. It’s an extremely fast and easy breakfast on a school morning (and can even be eaten in the car if necessary). I like how easy it is to make 2 or 4 pancakes with a half or whole banana, and the mixing mess is minimal (cereal bowl and a fork).
I also add a heaping tablespoon of Dutched cocoa to make a rich chocolate flavor (no added sweetener needed; the banana is sweet enough). Cinnamon or freshlyy grated nutmeg are other great flavorings.
This summer my 15 yo niece was visiting or 3 weeks and I taught her how to make these, too. After that, she pretty much took care of her own breakfast cooking. If there are any pancakes leftover, I put them in the fridge to use later as a bread substitute.
For sleepovers and other times when the chorus sings for pancakes, I make the coconut flour pancakes, which are the ones I can eat, too. I am borderline diabetic and have to strictly watch the starch and sugar, even with GF grains. So I pretty much eat Primal nearly all the time (it’s a great strategy to maintain normal BG and avoid taking diabetes meds). I also put cocoa powder in the coconut pancakes sometimes. I even used some of these to create a faux-trifle dessert once instead of using lady fingers or pound cake. It was pretty good for a casual dessert and probably could also sub into a faux-tiramisu.
More reasons to keep eggs around all the time…I panic when my supply goes under 2 dozen.
Anna — I took your advice and added cocoa to the banana pancakes. My kids were in heaven! They thought they were getting the most special breakfast ever. 🙂 Thanks for the tip.
Grain-Free Pancakes | Food Renegade http://bit.ly/chT66R
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I would really like to figure out, why almonds and almond meal are considered such a great paleo alternative to grains when they appear to contain more phytic acid than wheat?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytic_acid#Food_science
http://huntgatherlove.com/content/phytic-acid-taking-paleo-blinders
Oops! Just noticed I must have missed your comment on not soaking… Would you mind sharing the sources on “I’ve read (and believe) that roasting/cooking nuts ALSO reduces the anti-nutrients present.”?
I just feel really confused on the matter… I came across this website that says cooking does not reduce phytates significantly citing a 1980 study of phytate levels in three cooked beans:
http://rebuild-from-depression.com/articles/soaking-beans.html
My biggest influence were books. Check out How We Heal and The Garden of Eating. Both of them claim that roasting reduces the enzyme-inhibitors in nuts and cite studies to back this up.
And, Ramiel Nagel himself, in the Summer 2010 edition of the Wise Traditions journal said, “Roasting probably removes a significant portion of phytic acid. Roasting removes 32-68 percent of phytic acid in chick peas, and roasting grains removes about 40 percent of phytic acid.”
IngaG,
Phytic acid isn’t wheat’s biggest problem: the lectin called gluten is. Lectins don’t break down easily and are resistant to stomach acid and digestive enzymes. They travel through your digestive system largely intact and disrupt the intestinal membrane, damaging cells, etc. Over time, these undigested particles get stuck in the microvilli of our intestinal walls, ultimately undermining our ability to properly digest other foods. If the interference becomes extreme, a host of intestinal and auto-immune disorders can result (like leaky gut syndrome, gluten intolerance, celiac disease, and IBS).
Pre-digesting the grain through soaking, sprouting, and fermenting all help weaken the gluten molecule, breaking it down just enough that makes it far more likely for our own guts to finish the job well.
Thank you for clarifying.
I entirely and wholeheartedly agree that grains are just too much trouble to make edible. Especially for such marginal nutritional benefit.
I don’t keep any grains in the house. Except rice, because husband claims he can’t do without it and is generally more with the rest of the program if I feed him rice once in a while.
Thanks for the great recipes. Since I’ve cleaned up my family’s diets we haven’t had pancakes. Just yesterday my husband pointed that out and said he missed them. These recipes came right on time for us. I’ll have to try them out.
.-= Lovelyn´s last blog post …The Worrier =-.
Well let me know what you think! Coconut & almond flours are expensive, but at least with coconut flour you use A LOT less of it (and more eggs). The banana pancakes are by far the most economical of the bunch, and they’re very easy to mix up/cook.
Thanks for sharing all of these recipes. I’m making the transition to gluten free, and it seems like a lot of the recipes include a lot of fakey ingredients. I’m happy to see grain free pancakes that are full of real food. Thanks.
.-= City Share´s last blog post …Brisket with Vegetables- Mashed Potatoes and Gravy =-.
It’s sad that in their effort to go gluten-free, many people resort to non whole foods and even some genuinely fake foods.
You are right on! The worst of all of this is almond milk and almond flour made from the leftover almond soaking and straining. The almonds are pollinated by CAFO honeybees that are wintered in the east. To keep them alive they are fed HFCS laced with antibiotics. After they are trucked to forced to work in California on Feb 1 for the almond blossoms, they must stop in Georgia to pollinate other crops and recover from the excess “Input” (farmer talk for chemicals added to keep sick crops alive) on the way back to their home bases. See the movie Queen of the Sun.
Thanks for sharing the recipes. I just came along this site and I already love it. Since I am all about eating right, this site is great.
What to Eat While Pregnant
Coconut flour pancakes= YUM! RT @FoodRenegade: 4 Grain-free pancakes guaranteed to please a crowd! http://bit.ly/9q1xns
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VERY excited to try the banana/almond pancakes!! Looks good, nourishing, and affordable — can’t beat that. 🙂 Thanks for the recipes on your site. I’ve got my first batch of your kombucha in the fridge at the moment. 😀 Hoping to try the pancakes this weekend….
When you try the banana pancakes, take Anna’s advice from above and add a spoonful of cocoa to them. My kids LOVED it!
Yum! Thanks, Kristen! I can’t wait to try the banana/almond pancakes on my kids when my bananas ripen. They will love them! What a great idea!
I feel exactly the same way about grains! Its so much work! Thanks for being honest.
We often have the banana/nut paste/ eggs pancakes… so easy and tasty.
Yes I agree with the whole grains thing being time consuming. I am really getting into the Primal way of eating and finding it much better energy wise.
I would really appreciate if you could, in your postings, include any Primal recipes and ways of cooking. I am not a natural “cook” and really need help in converting recipes to primal.
@decemberdance https://www.foodrenegade.com/grain-free-pancakes/
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I have been moving my family slowly towards grain free for most meals. Weekends and holiday meals are the exception. We all do better on it and the kids end up eating more of the nutritious fats and proteins then filling up on grains.
I mostly make almond flour pancakes.You should try another recipe, I don’t find them dense at all. I put plenty of eggs and cream to it and no one has ever complained they missed the “junk food” (white flour) pancakes. I make waffles with the almond flour as well, it’s easier on a busy morning to make waffles instead of the pancakes.
.-= Lisa @ Real Food Digest´s last blog post …How to Make Gravlax =-.
Well, dense is a relative term. I like them! I just want people to know they’re more like whole grain pancakes and less like white-flour pancakes.
Great recommendations. I’m going to have to try that garbanzo bean and rice pancake mix, though I’d rather make it on my own. Do you have any suggestions, i.e. on the relative proportion of ingredients?
Garbanzo beans are one of my fav ingredients, but I’m thinking they might get a bit clumpy if I put in too many, especially with the rice, and I don’t want to turn the whole thing into a mess.
.-= Edmund Mokhtarian´s last blog post …Ray’s Hell Burger =-.
Never heard of using bananas to make pancakes before. That sounds like a great idea. It’s a lot like what I do with leftover sweet and white potatoes.
Thank you so much for the recipes! I don’t have time either, so this is a lifesaver for my kiddos.
So is it OK to eat roasted nuts that you can buy at the store without soaking them first. My husband loves the cashews you can get at Costco. They certainly aren’t raw, just roasted.
I would say that it’s okay to eat roasted nuts, although I’d be picky about the source (what with salmonella outbreaks in peanuts, etc.). That said, I still think it’s still better to soak & dehydrate them if you’re wanting to eat them as a snack. That way you keep all the enzymes in tact.
Grain-Free Pancakes http://tinyurl.com/2usr3f5
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Thank you for this!! I have Celiac Disease and so have to live gluten free. I also am transitioning to a grain free existence which is hard for me but I know will be beneficial in the end. My question is this. Is dessert allowed in a Primal lifestyle my birthday is coming up in August I will be the big 30 and I would like to make myself something special. Thank you so much!
What a fabulous post! I love it! I am gluten-intolerant and cannot eat grains therefore I love this post and I am thrilled to see all of these great options, which sound delish.
Thank you, again; enjoy your weekend!
these look delicious! i am wondering if you have any other suggestions on where to buy coconut (and almond) flour. i was recently reading this article on phytic acid: http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic-acid which suggests that unless coconut and almonds have been soaked before grinding them into flour, the phytic acid content will be very high… but i can’t seem to find either flour that has been prepared this way. any thoughts? thanks!!!
Those pancakes look really yummy! And I really like the toppings you put. Thanks fro sharing this. I will try it out. My 5 boys will love this!
How do I get recipes/I AM READING about them here but no recipe ie grain pancakes. Thank you
Click on the links. They’ll take you to the recipes.
Love your site!! and your recipes 🙂 The one thing I disagree with is that “rice is really the most harmless of all the grains.” http://www.rodale.com/research-feed/arsenic-in-food
I’d say quinoa and sorghum and many others are safer.
But anyway, great post, good info!
Oh wow. I just learned about wheat aging the body quicker and I just bought organic wheat thinking it was better for me, but… So I went on a search for wheat free pancakes and found your site. Thank you for your contribution to my health.
My wife really loves peanut butter and banana pancakes.
1 banana
1 egg
1/4 cup peanut butter
Splash of water or milk for ease of pouring
Delicious!
I use apple butter
I like using Teff flour, add some coconut oil, cinnamon, and vanilla extract!
Mark and I made the almond flour pancakes with Blueberries-Wow!
We love coconut flour pancakes. I like to cook them on a cast iron griddle with a thin coat of butter. Thanks for sharing the other three recipe ideas. I might have to try the almond flour one. I just got a bag from Now Living Foods.
great website and well written, i am going to make those pancakes with no grains but with eggs, very nutritious,
Deirdre, Monsktown, Dublin, Ireland