It’s a dreary, rainy Thursday morning, so I can safely assume that you’re probably thinking about the weekend, including the food you want to make.
Am I right or am I right?
Enter pancakes.
Pancakes are quite possibly one of the easiest things to prepare on a weekend. Any food that can be prepared successfully while half asleep is a winner in my books. I made these a couple weekends ago when I was feeling bored of my usual pancakes and I’ve since made 4 batches. They are not only gluten-free and vegan, but they hold together perfectly and taste incredible, even plain.
I recommend making a double batch and wrapping up the leftovers for snacks. Have you ever had a pancake burrito? Just spread a bit of jam and nut butter onto the pancake and roll it up. Instant pancake burrito on the go! Or you can sandwich two together and make a pancake sandwich.
Pancakes are much easier than spilling a bag of espresso beans while making Homemade Bailey’s. The worst part of it was I hadn’t even opened the Jameson yet, so I have no excuse.
Thankfully, Sketchie managed to knock about 476 beans under the fridge, saving me a lot of clean up time.
He’s great like that.
Vegan and Gluten-Free Vanilla Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes
Yield
Six 4 inch pancakes
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Light, fluffy, with chunks of banana and juicy blueberries, these pancakes taste so good they can be enjoyed plain. Be sure to use raw buckwheat groats (and not toasted buckwheat/Kasha) as the raw buckwheat has a much more mild and pleasant flavour. I buy my buckwheat groats from Upaya Naturals. I tried subbing the rice flour for oat flour and the pancakes completely stuck to the pan, so I would advise against that substitution. As always, if you’d like the pancakes strictly gluten-free, be sure to check all labels before using.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raw buckwheat groats (not kasha), ground into a flour
- 1/4 cup brown rice flour
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp almond milk
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 medium ripe banana, diced
- 1 vanilla bean, scraped (optional)
- 1/2 cup blueberries (optional)
Directions
- Preheat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.
- In a blender, blend the buckwheat groats on high speed until a fine flour forms. Place into a large bowl. Now whisk in the rest of the dry ingredients (rice flour, cornstarch, baking powder).
- Pour in the almond milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Whisk the batter until no clumps remain.
- Fold in the diced banana and scraped vanilla bean. If using fresh blueberries, mix them in now.
- Lightly grease skillet. Scoop 1/4 cup of batter onto the preheated skillet. If using frozen blueberries, sprinkle on a heaping tablespoon of blueberries. Cook until many bubbles appear and then flip and cook for another couple minutes. Repeat for the other pancakes.
Tip:
Note: If using frozen blueberries, pour batter onto skillet first and then top with blueberries to prevent bleeding. I also tried subbing the rice flour for oat flour and the pancakes completely stuck to the pan, so I would advise against that substitution.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
As I mentioned these hold together very well, especially considering they are vegan and gluten-free. You know they are ready to flip, when a lot of bubbles start appearing.
A couple pancake tricks:
1) If you are using frozen blueberries like I was, sprinkle the blueberries directly onto the pancakes (like above) rather than mixing into the batter. This will prevent bleeding.
2) The best pancake tip I ever learned is to preheat the skillet completely before adding on the pancake batter. You know how people say the first pancake never turns out? Well, this is usually because it’s not preheated enough. The first thing I do is turn on the burner to medium heat and preheat my skillet, before I even start prepping the ingredients. Not sure it’s ready? Drop a tiny bit of water on it. When it sizzles, it’s ready.
Before you know it, you’ll have incredibly wholesome pancakes you can feel good about eating. Just be sure to make leftovers so you can whip up those pancake burritos for a yummy snack.
Set your clock forward on Saturday night.
Sleep late.
Make these pancakes.
Enjoy!
These look delicious! I love fluffy pancakes <3 Do you think I could use oat flour in place of the brown rice flour? I'd rather not have the extra carbs, but I'm nervous the pancakes won't be as fluffy!
Hi Bronte, I don’t recommend using oat flour, since I had a LOT of trouble with the pancakes sticking to the pan when I tried it. If you’d rather not use brown rice flour, you could definitely experiment with swapping it out for an all-purpose flour (or all-purpose gluten-free flour, if needed), but I think the results would still vary for sure. Good luck if you give it a try – please let me know how it goes! :)
These are by far the most incredible (not just gluten free) pancakes I’ve ever had! I’ve been in desperate search of a gold nugget like this one and by Jove, I’ve found it. Thanks so much Angela! Absolutely stupendous job — can’t wait to get my hands on your next book! Xxxx you’re a wiz!
Hi Emily, happy to hear you like the pancakes! I hope you enjoy the next book when it finally arrives – I can’t wait to share it with everyone! :)
Hi Angela,
Just discovered your website that I absolutely love! Want to try this recipe;) just one question could I use already grounded buckwheat flour? Thanks
Hi Sophie, yes, you can definitely use pre-ground buckwheat flour ( just make sure it`s not toasted kasha flour) – I would try half a cup plus 1 tablespoon or so of flour. Hope this helps!
Thanks for the info Angela! Can’t wait to try this recipe:)
I haven’t had pancakes in years and wanted to try something different, these were so delicious and hearty! I didn’t have blueberries, but spread a little peanut butter on them = next level. Thanks for your amazing recipes!
Hello,
Can’t wait to try these! One question- can I just buy buckwheat flour instead of grinding groats? How much flour would that amount to per batch?
Thanks!
Hi Ryan, absolutely, just make sure it`s not toasted kasha flour. I would try half a cup plus 1 tablespoon or so of flour. Hope this helps!
Can i substitute sorghum flour for buckwheat flour?
Hey Jen, I’m sorry, I’m not sure! I have only tried the recipe as written. Please let us know if you try anything out though!
These are really delicious. It’s now my preferred pancake recipe, though I’ve changed it up a bit. I substitute chickpea flour for the brown rice flour, which I almost never have on hand. I omitted the fruit and vanilla bean to make it a plain base for my own toppings. My favorite toppings for this are almond butter with chocolate chips.
Yum, almond butter and chocolate chips — such a great combo! I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying the recipe, Sherri, and thanks so much for sharing that flour swap; it’s great to know you’ve found it successful. :)
My good friend recommended this recipe to me. It looks so good! I will be saving it and trying it soon!
These were very yummy! I subbed white flour since i didnt have rice and added powdered ashwaganda, cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Thanks so much! I’m a big fan of your stuff :0)
I really wanted to try this recipe but I did not have all the ingredients on hand. Since I am the “Queen of Substitutions” I made the following changes with what I did have on hand and it turned out great!!
– Dark Buckwheat Flour instead of the groats (1/2 cup plus 1 TBSP as you mentioned above)
– White Rice flour instead of Brown Rice Flour (1/4 cup plus 1/8 cup)
– Tapioca starch instead of Cornstarch (same amount)
Not sure what the original recipe is supposed to taste like, but this one was fantastic!
Thank you!
Thanks so much for sharing, Rebecca! It’s great to know these subs worked out well for you.
SO GOOD. Just made them after craving gf pancakes. Was not disappointed! I initially was worried about the taste of buckwheat but I loved it. Texture of the batter was amazing and tasted great too. Highly recommend this recipe. Oh and I used a gf flour blend I already had and it worked fine.
Hey Francesca, Oh so glad you tried these out! I too love the raw buckwheat flavour. Happy New Year!
Been making these for years. I made these recently and used teff flour instead. Had to increase teff flour to about 3/4 cup.
I’m a little late in the game but I don’t think it’s ever too late for pancakes. Love these and I love that they freeze well. I’m into a buckwheat kick lately. You don’t happen to have any other recipes that have buckwheat groats/flour (that isn’t porridge) in it do you? Like maybe muffins? I love your flourless mini breakfast muffins too. I can’t stop eating them. Thank you for all the recipes!
Thank you so much Mich! :) To find my buckwheat recipes, you can search “buckwheat” in the search bar and some should come up. There is a great overnight buckwheat porridge I love.
I have a food sensitivity to bananas. Do you think i could replace the banana in the recipe with maybe 1/2 cup of applesauce??
Hi Carla, Hmm good question! I haven’t tried it before so I’m not sure. If you try anything would you be able to let me know how it goes? It’s important to use a non stick pan with this recipe too.
These turned out to be easy and delicious! I did make a few substitutions: white rice flour instead of brown rice flour (since that’s what I had on hand), 3/4 c. organic buckwheat flour in place grinding the 1/2 c. of groats, potato starch in place of corn starch, and my homemade cashew milk instead of almond milk (since that’s what I had on hand). I also added a pinch of salt. No problems with sticking! My husband and I devoured all of the pancakes so next time I will have to double the recipe if I want to freeze some!!
Thanks for sharing Collette! :)
Thank you for yet ANOTHER great recipe! We tried a few grain-free subs:
Cassava for rice flour
ground flax for cornstarch
1/4t baking soda+lemon juice
Next batch will omit flax (cassava is so stretchy) and make more (1-1/3 buckwheat groat flour | 1/2c cassava | 1/2t soda and 2T+ lemon). Thank you for your wonderful work Angela!!! :)