Fluffy, light vegan pancakes that are delicious and actually good for you because they’re made with whole wheat and flaxmeal. This is the breakfast you’ll look forward to waking up to every weekend morning, and it takes under 30 minutes to make.
Healthy pancakes may sound like an oxymoron, but they are very possible. Something I proved to you 12 years ago with these quite perfect Vegan Pancakes that just happen to be whole wheat.
Over the years, many of you have made these and some of you have returned to tell me how much you love them. I can’t agree more. This is probably the breakfast I make most often in my kitchen, and it really is a foolproof recipe, and one I’ve hardly changed over the dozens of times I’ve made these pancakes for family and friends.
I will admit that I have one pancake recipe that tops this one healthwise– my Blueberry Sourdough Pancakes. I do love those pancakes with a passion for that reason, but there’s one problem with anything sourdough: time. With sourdough pancakes, as with sourdough waffles, you need to remember to start your batter the night before. If you don’t, there are no shortcuts.
These vegan pancakes taste just as good though. And they are even easier to make. You can put the batter together in under 10 minutes, and after that making them is a breeze.
Tips for making the best and fluffiest vegan pancakes:
- To make these pancakes, I use whole wheat pastry flour. 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.
- I have had readers tell me that they used regular whole wheat flour in this recipe with great results. You can try that, of course, but my advise, if you are using regular whole wheat flour, would be to mix it half-and-half with unbleached all purpose. That way your pancakes will be soft and tender and fluffy, while still being healthy.
- These pancakes are so tender and fluffy because they are “buttermilk” pancakes — vegan “buttermilk,” that is. And I make that by adding a couple of teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in the nondairy milk and letting it stand for a minute or two before adding it to the other ingredients.
- The “eggs” here are flax eggs, of course, made by adding two tablespoons of flaxmeal to six tablespoons of water. For this recipe you don’t have to use separate containers to make the vegan “buttermilk” and the flax eggs. You can throw in the milk and apple cider first, add in the flaxmeal and measure out the water into the same bowl, and continue adding the other wet ingredients.
- When you mix a pancake batter, always mix until the wet and dry ingredients are just mixed together. The batter can be lumpy, that’s fine. Don’t take a whisk and try to beat everything to smoothness, because that will just beat air into your batter and strengthen the gluten in the wheat, leaving you with dense pancakes. Not good.
- Finally, this is a basic pancake recipe. You can make this as is and serve it with maple syrup and some fruit and everyone will thank you for a fabulous breakfast. But you can also tailor this recipe to your liking:
- Stir in fruit like blueberries or strawberries (leave the blueberries whole and chop the strawberries before adding them to the batter).
- You can also add lemon juice and zest to the batter to make lemony pancakes
- Add cinnamon for a holiday flavor that goes perfectly with cold weather and hot coffee.
- Or add dry ginger for gingerbread pancakes.
What do I serve the pancakes with?
All you need is maple syrup and perhaps some fruit on the side for a perfect breakfast.
Ingredients you will need:
- Whole wheat pastry flour (or a mix of regular whole wheat flour and all purpose flour.
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Nondairy milk (I used almond)
- Apple cider vinegar
- Flaxmeal
- Maple syrup
- Pure vanilla extract
Looking for more vegan pancake recipes?
- Vegan Sourdough Blueberry Pancakes
- Vegan Potato Sauerkraut Pancakes
- Savory Black Eyed Peas Sweet Potato Pancakes
- Vegan Double Chocolate Pancakes
- Savory Apple Potato Pancakes with Thyme
Vegan Pancakes Recipe
Soy-free | Nut-free | Wholegrain
The Best Vegan Pancakes, whole wheat
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups almond milk (or another nondairy milk)
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp flaxmeal
- 6 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp maple syrup (optional)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In another bowl, add the nondairy milk and apple cider vinegar. Let it stand for a couple of minutes, then add the flaxmeal and water and whisk well. Add the maple syrup and vanilla extract and mix.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a spatula or the whisk until everything just comes together. The batter should still be lumpy but you shouldn't have any obvious patches of dry flour.
- Heat a nonstick or cast-iron griddle. Spray with cooking spray or coat lightly with oil. Using a 1/3rd cup measure, scoop up the batter and pour on the hot griddle. Cook until bubbles appear at the top of the pancake and the underside is golden-brown. Flip over and cook the other side until it is lightly browned as well.
- Serve hot with fruit and maple syrup.
Nutrition
Hi Vaishali,
I 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!
A coffee grinder works well and is much cheaper too.
Hi 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!
Well, 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!!
Anonymous, 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.
I 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!
Heather, A topping of strawberries and bananas sounds delicious. I am so glad you enjoyed the pancakes.
Some 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. 🙂
We had these pancakes yesterday. They were wonderful!
Thanks 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
Hi Vaishali,
I’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.
Pooja, 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! 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!
Today 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?
Gel, 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.
Thanks 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.
I 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.
hey vaishali,
m 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.
If 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!
Srividya, Icchic, Thanks, and glad they turned out well for you! Happy holidays 🙂
These, like all of your recipes, are fantastic! Thank you for another home run!!
These 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 : )
I must try out your pancake recipe tomorrow for the kids, thanks!
I’m a very recent Vegan. Only 3 weeks ago did I go vegan cold turkey from being a carnivore.
I 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,
Just 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!
Thank 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!
Thank 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.
I 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!
Thanks 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!
Can I use maple syrup instead of sugar? If so, how much? Thanks!
Yes, substitute the same amount. You can also leave out the sugar altogether.
Can you add hemp protein powder to these, if so, how do you incorporate it in recipe?
Amazing 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
Very 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!
Thanks for the recipe. I used energy egg replaced instead of flaxmeal and it worked great.
Hi, just made these but there was a bit of bitter after taste. I used whole wheat flour instead of pastry flour and almond milk instead of soy. What could be causing that bitter after taste?
Whole wheat flour is far more strong tasting than the pastry flour, so that would be it. If you don’t want to use pastry flour it’s best to go with half whole wheat and half all purpose.
Hi Vaishali! Thanks so much for this recipe. It is by far the best pancake recipe I’ve made. The pancakes are so fluffy and flavourful.
I do use 100% organic whole wheat flour, rather than pastry flour, instead of canola oil (which is unhealthy), I use extra virgin olive oil and you can’t taste it once cooked. I also use sweetened almond milk instead of soy and instead of making the flax eggs I just add ground up flax seeds to the liquid and follow the rest of the recipe from there. Oh, and I cook them in coconut oil.
Thanks so much! This recipe rocks!
I am hitting myself on the head for not having tried these before. They rock! I cannot wait to try other substitutions with this.
For non vegans, can we substitute the almond milk with fresh cow’s milk for this recipe? In this case is the apple cider vinegar still required?
You can use any milk in this recipe, but plant milk works best.
What are your thoughts on adding a touch of cocoa powder to this?
Yes!!
These are on the griddle right now. I followed the recipe exactly, but the batter is watery. Any idea what I did wrong? Can I possibly salvage the batter that I haven’t cooked yet? Thanks.
Add a bit more flour if the batter is too thin. But don’t make it too thick– a slightly thin batter will help make fluffier pancakes that are not too doughy.
Thanks. As thin as they were, they were delicious.