Easy, Fluffy, Banana Pancakes

If you're a pancake lover, like me, then our sugar free pancakes are going to be your new best friends. They are incredibly fluffy, naturally sweet and VERY easy to make. This one-bowl recipe is sugar free, egg free, oil free and gluten-free.

Jump to:

• Are sugar free pancakes healthy?
• Making lunchbox friendly pancakes
• How do you make pancakes with no sugar?
• Pancake Ingredients
• Pancake Toppings
• Cashew Cream Ingredients
• Equipment
• How to make the pancakes
• Serving Suggestions and Variations
• Storage
• Recipe Tips
• FAQ's
• Other Breakfast Ideas
• Recipe
• Comments

Are sugar free pancakes healthy?

Our healthy pancakes are made with simple, wholesome ingredients. They're high in protein & fiber, and naturally sweetened with banana (aka no added sugar). Making them a great family friendly meal, especially for babies and toddlers.

We serve these to both our Children, and have done so since weaning age. They usually have the pancakes for breakfast with a variety of toppings.

We recommend trying pancakes with cashew cream and fresh fruit. Using cashew cream has been a game changer for us and we rarely have pancakes without it. Alternatively you can use yoghurt and fresh fruit as a topping.
Once they get a little older, we then start adding things like chopped nuts and seeds too. And us grown-ups top them with a drizzle of maple syrup as well (as pictured above).

Making lunchbox friendly pancakes

If you use a nut free milk, these are lunchbox friendly. Making them great for school age kids as well. Simply sandwich two pancakes together, filled with delicious blueberry chia jam, and cut up like you would a pizza. My son loves it when I give these to him in his lunchbox for nursery.

How do you make pancakes with no sugar?

By using bananas!

The riper the bananas are, the sweeter the pancakes will be. Brown spots on the bananas show how much starch has been converted to sugar. So the more brown spots there are - the sweeter the banana, and the sweeter your pancakes will be.

Pancake Ingredients

• Bananas - You'll need ripe bananas for this recipe. Ideally that sweet spot where they've got a few brown spots but haven't started to turn completely brown yet. (See ingredients photo above for reference).
• Baking Soda - This makes your pancakes light and fluffy by producing air bubbles when combined with the plant milk and flour. When you mix the batter together you'll start to see bubbles popping up at the surface.
• Gluten Free Self-Raising Flour - If not oping for gluten-free flours, you can use white whole wheat flour, or spelt flour instead, which will still make the recipe healthier than using an all purpose flour.
• Ground Flaxseed (optional) - It's important here to use ground flaxseed and not whole. This is due to the fact they are more nutritionally bio-available once ground. Our bodies can't break down the outer casing easily. Ground flax is usually another easily accessible product from wholefood or health stores. You can purchase this from multiple places online by simply searching in Google. The flaxseed isn't essential to the pancakes turning out well, we simply add it in to boost the nutritional profile.
• Plant Milk - You can use any plant milk, we choose to use soy in this recipe but we often just use whatever we have in the fridge - Almond, cashew or coconut have all been used and worked the same. Alternatively, we have a cashew milk recipe if you'd rather make your own.

Pancake Toppings

• Fresh Blueberries - Blueberries contain some of the most powerful antioxidants around. They're also incredibly delicious. Just be sure to cut them up for infants before serving.
• Nectarines - To choose a ripe, juicy nectarine, look for fruit that gives slightly to the touch. The tastiest nectarines have “sugar spots”, tiny pale speckles that indicate a delicious sweetness.
• Maple Syrup - As syrups go, this is the most nutritionally dense, with a relatively low GI score.
• Walnuts - Walnuts are an excellent source of antioxidants that can help fight oxidative damage in your body. They are also one of the highest sources of Omega 3 fatty acids, which are essential for optimal brain health, especially in infants, children and pregnant women.

Cashew Cream Ingredients

• Cashews - Cashews are are abundant with monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are associated with reduced cardiovascular disease risk aka they're full of healthy fats. They are also a source of numerous other essential vitamins and minerals.
• Dates - aka 'natures candy'. Soft dates work best, because they'll blend better than dried dates. I recommend using Medjool dates if you can get them.

Equipment

• Fork
• Frying Pan or Large Skillet
• High Speed Blender* (Vitamix, Ninja, Magimix, or similar)
• Ladle or similar for pouring pancake batter in to the pan
• Mixing Bowl glass, plastic, ceramic
• Rubber Spatula
• Wooden Spoon

*If making Cashew Cream

How to make the pancakes

Steps 1 & 2 - Break the bananas in to smaller chunks, then mash well with the back of a fork.

Steps 3 & 4 - Add the ground flaxseed, baking soda, flour and the plant milk to the bowl, and stir well until you have a semi-thick pancake batter. Thick enough that it will hold it's shape well when added to the frying pan, but not so thick that it won't spread a little when added to the pan.
If you feel that the pancake batter is too thin, add another couple of tablespoons of flour and mix well to combine. And if you feel that it's too thick, add a couple of tablespoons of plant milk, and again stir well. 

Steps 5 & 6 - Turn your hob on to a medium-low heat. Spoon out about ½ cup of batter in to the frying pan - we find a ladle is handy to do this with.
Allow to cook for approximately 2 minutes, until you see bubbles forming throughout the pancake, and the edges begin to firm. Using a rubber spatula, gently ease the pancake from the bottom of the pan, and flip over quickly. Cook for a further 1 minute until the pancake begins to puff up and both sides are golden brown. 

Serving Suggestions and Variations

Serve your sugar free pancakes with your favorite toppings.

Our suggestion for this recipe is to use the date-sweetened cashew cream. To make this, you simply add all ingredients for the cashew cream in to a high speed blender for 1 minute. Drizzle a little (or a lot) over your pancakes. Then top with slices of fresh nectarine, blueberries, maple syrup and chopped walnuts.

For babies and infants, we suggest topping the pancakes with a little cashew cream, some diced fresh fruit, and sprinkling over some hemp seeds. 

• Favorite fruits - Grilled peach slices, fresh blackcurrants or sliced banana all make great pancake toppings.
• Nut Free - You could add seeds in place of the nuts, such as pumpkin, sunflower or hemp seeds. You will also need to choose a nut-free plant milk to add to your pancake batter.

See our Vegan Banana Pancakes with Cashew Cream recipe for more ideas on different toppings for your fluffy pancakes.

Storage

You can store any uneaten cooked pancakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days. When re-heating the pancakes, place a frying pan on a low heat and warm through on each side. When re-heating these the pancakes will end up with a very slight crisp to them which is rather nice.

Recipe Tips

For babies and toddlers: You can also use breastmilk instead of plant milk.

For the pancake batter: If you feel that the pancake batter is too thin, add another couple of tablespoons of flour and mix well to combine. And if you feel that it's too thick, add a couple of tablespoons of plant milk, stirring well. 

For the cashew cream: If your cream is too thick; start with adding 2 tablespoons of water to the blender to thin it out a little, until you reach your desired consistency. If your cream is too thin then Add 5-10 more raw cashews to the mixture and blend for another 30 seconds.

FAQ's

Other Breakfast Ideas

Here are a few of our other delicious breakfast recipes that you might like to try.

Recipe