*waves hello*
Miracles do happen…I’m posting on a weekend. It takes a lot of motivation for me to post on a Sunday morning, but I simply couldn’t wait another day to share this recipe with you! It’s that good.
Today’s recipe features chickpea flour, an ingredient you haven’t seen much on this blog. Chickpea flour is high in protein (7 grams per 1/4 cup according to Cuisine Soleil) and it’s naturally gluten-free making it friendly to our gluten sensitive friends. It also boasts 3 grams of fibre per 1/4 cup. I soon found out what a filling breakfast it makes!
After having a few bad experiences with chickpea flour recipes in the past, I almost crossed it off my list forever. I find the earthy, beany flavour of chickpea flour can be overwhelming if not balanced by other ingredients and it can take some getting used to, at least it did for me. This weekend, I decided to take another crack at it and I’m so glad I did.
Meet my newest breakfast love…she’s a beaut.
In case you can’t tell by the photo, this is a huge pancake about the size of a 10-inch skillet! I had to plate it on my extra-large round plate because it wouldn’t fit on my regular round plates. Who doesn’t want to eat a pancake bigger than their head? Noooooobody! After a few trials of this pancake, I finally nailed the consistency of the batter and flavour I was going for.
Best of all, it takes only 10 minutes to whisk together the ingredients and then another 10 minutes or so to cook. I also expect it’s quite versatile so feel free to change up the mix-ins and toppings. I think a sautéed mushroom, onion, and chive topping would be especially nice, especially with some cashew cream! One large pancake has around 14-15 grams of protein; add some toppings and you can easily hit 20 grams of protein without much effort.
I topped it with avocado, hummus, salsa, red pepper flakes, and a spicy cashew cream – a tasty change up from my normal breakfasts of smoothies and vegan overnight oats. This would also make a fun lunch or dinner too!
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Jumbo Chickpea Pancake
Yield
1 large or 2 smaller
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This dense and filling savoury chickpea pancake is packed with protein and fibre. Feel free to change up the mix-ins and toppings based on what you have in your fridge. To prevent it from sticking to the skillet, be sure to spray the skillet liberally with olive oil before pouring on the batter. Also, I suggest chopping the veggies finely so they cook faster.
Ingredients
- 1 green onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped red pepper
- 1/2 cup chickpea flour (also known as garbanzo flour or besan)
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons water
- For serving: salsa, avocado, hummus, cashew cream (optional)
Directions
- Prepare the vegetables and set aside. Preheat a 10-inch skillet over medium heat.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the chickpea flour, garlic powder, salt, pepper, baking powder, and optional red pepper flakes.
- Add the water and whisk well until no clumps remain. I like to whisk it for a good 15 seconds to create lots of air bubbles in the batter.
- Stir in the chopped vegetables.
- When the skillet is pre-heated (a drop of water should sizzle on the pan), spray it liberally with olive oil or other non stick cooking spray.
- Pour on all of the batter (if making 1 large pancake) and quickly spread it out all over the pan. Cook for about 5-6 minutes on one side (timing will depend on how hot your pan is), until you can easily slide a pancake flipper/spatula under the pancake and it's firm enough not to break when flipping. Flip pancake carefully and cook for another 5 minutes, until lightly golden. Be sure to cook for enough time as this pancake takes much longer to cook compared to regular pancakes.
- Serve on a large plate and top with your desired toppings. Leftovers can be wrapped up and placed in the fridge. Reheat on a skillet until warmed throughout.
Tip:
- For the cashew cream, see this recipe. I added red pepper flakes into the blender to make it spicy.
- You can make this recipe into 2 smaller pancakes if desired.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
As you can see from the photo, this isn’t your regular fluffy pancake. Chickpea flour makes this pancake very dense and filling. I find the flavour can take some getting used to, but I really enjoy it prepared this way. On that note, I’m off to make another one! I’d love your feedback on this recipe if you make it.
On another note, Eric thinks he fixed the printing issue that a few of you were having with the new recipe display. It appears that those of you using Internet Explorer 8 web browser were having issues with printing, but it should be fixed now. If anyone has any further issues, please let us know! Everything looks good on our end.
Hi Angela,
I regularly make socca and put a batch together. Same old recipe but this time the batter turned weird- it separated and became very elastic with watery liquid at the bottom of the bowl. This is all new for me. Any ideas as to why? Was the flour rancid? I’m going to try to cook a bit for a taste but will probably scrap this batter. Weird. Thanks for any help.
Hey Eve, Oh that’s strange for sure! I’m not sure but yes maybe the flour could’ve been bad? If you try it again I’d love to hear how it goes :)
This recipe is RIDICULOUS. It has been my daily lunch since the first day I made it. Topped with mashed avocado and hummus, it is out of this world! One thing I love about Angela’s recipes is that it it the only blog where I never have to make tweaks to recipes. Usually blog or book recipes are too dry, to soggy, not enough spice etc. Never change a thing with her recipes, they will turn out perfect every time.
Aww thank you Jules! Your comment totally made my day. :)
How would I keep it somewhat crispy if I packed it for lunch?? I’ve made it before and Loved it fresh, but when I packed it for lunch it got soggy :(
Hey Kelsey, Oh that’s a tough one! I’ve found that they are best fresh too. My only thought is that if you have a toaster oven accessible at work or school that could do the trick.
Thank you, Angela! This recipe is like having instant crepe mix, quicker to make than true socca. I often crave something quick and savoury, and this hits the spot without any wheat flour. The pancakes taste a bit like they’re filled with potato, (a food I love but can’t eat), depending on how thick I make them. For camping, I mixed up a quadruple batch of the dry ingredients in advance, and just added water. I tweaked the spices a bit to make up for not having the fresh ingredients. I kept the garlic powder and chile flakes, and added onion powder, turmeric and nigella seeds. It would be great with curries, I think. I’m going to keep a large amount of the dry mix already made up for quick meals!
Hey Suhashini, wow, I love your idea of prepping the mix in advance for camping! Your tweaks to the spices sound awesome too. Thank you!
I love this recipe but I make them in my belgian waffle maker and top it with a pesto sauce and kale chips!
Hey Lindsay, oh I love your idea of trying the chickpea pancake in a waffle maker! So glad you enjoy the recipe.
I have made this recipe three times and it always gets rave reviews! My favorite take was the most recent making when I added a Tablespoon of toasted sesame seed oil and a half teaspoon of curry spice to the mix. It was delish. I do want to warn that if you don’t keep them on the heat long enough, it will taste a little floury, but it isn’t too bad. I have used all kinds of veggies that were in the fridge and it seems any really work well.
I can think of lots of ways to present this type of pancake…if you want meat in it, it seems you could add some chicken or whatever on top of the raw batter when you put it in the pan. It would be a delish filling, inexpensive lunch.
Do you think these could be prepared in bulk in advance and heated up daily for a quick on the go breakfast?
Hey Carmen, Oh interesting idea! I haven’t tried making these in bulk before so I’m not exactly sure, but if you try anything please let us know how it goes. :) I would imagine they freeze okay so you might be able to stock some in the freezer and thaw overnight in the fridge as needed…then reheat in a skillet?
Do you have the nutritional information for this? It looks amazing!
Hey Deborah, thank you! The nutritional info for this recipe is as follows:
Serving Size 1 of 2 servings (approx. 1 small pancake) | Calories 100 calories | Total Fat 1.5 grams | Saturated Fat 0 grams | Sodium 270 milligrams | Total Carbohydrates 15 grams | Fiber 3 grams | Sugar 4 grams | Protein 5 grams | (Recipe makes 1 large or 2 small pancakes)
Hope that helps! I’d love to hear what you think if you try the pancake :)
absolutely delicious ??
I wish mine looked that “neat” – LOL. I made this recipe x4 since I wanted leftovers for some breakfasts during the week. Very simple to make, easy instructions.
None of my pancakes came out the same or looked the same (that’s user error though). They weren’t easy to flip, but again – maybe that was just me? I tried several different times based on how the top looked (similar to how a normal pancake cooks).
Aside from that, it’s a tasty and filling breakfast option!
haha many of mine don’t come out looking that picture perfect too…when I know I’m photographing something, I try to take extra time to make them look nice ;)
I’m late to the chickpea pancake party, I know, but I’m making up for lost time…. I’ve made this twice in three days: the first time, according to the recipe save for the use of a crushed garlic clove rather than powderaddition of coriander leaf; and the second, with the addition of a handful of finely chopped baby spinach. Today’s was eaten with a butternut hummus and salad/salsa thing of grilled eggplant, courgette and tomatoes.
I’m now imagining a leek and spinach version. Perhaps that will be dinner…
Hi,
I’ve made this loads of times and it’s delicious but mine never looks like yours in the photos. mine just turns out completely smooth, crusty, and with no air bubbles or fluffiness at all. I whisk it like mad until there’s loads of air bubbles so I don’t know what’s going wrong. It also comes out really thin and fragile and I even use a smaller pan than you! Have you got any suggestions?
Thanks
When I was macrobiotic and (still) lived in Brazil, I frequently ate at the restaurant of the Macrobiotic Society. They used to make this kind of “pudding” with chickpea flour. I loved it so much I figured out how to make it. I only recall that I cooked chickpea flour in water, the way you do polenta. Then added salt and chopped scallions. I’d pour it into a long pan and once cooled, I’d cut it into cubes. It was divine.
Fantastic recipe! Thank you!
Hi,
I’ve been making chickpea pancakes for a few years now, similar to your recipe. Savoury or sweet. One favourite is chop a banana in the batter of chickpea flour, water, baking soda, then top with fruits and soy yoghurt. Makes a filling breakfast :)
I luuuuurve a chickpea pancake. If you want to have it slightly less grainy, leave your batter to rest for at least 10 minutes. It can stand for hours and only improves with the standing. Right, that’s my dinner for tonight!
I love this recipe! Have made it many times before but this morning decided to change it up because I didn’t have bell peppers so instead I added very finely chopped kale along with the scallions, as well as home veggie tofu cream cheese and more chopped kale on top! It was a delight! Thanks so much for this recipe, the only savory chickpea pancake I’ll make after many failed attempts with other recipes that came to have very offputting flavors.
This turned out great, and even my picky eater had a few bites. I would consider calling it hushpuppies instead of pancakes. Hush puppies are a fried onion and flour mix, which I had to give up to live healthier. I love finding this alternative! Thank you for a flexible and delicious recipe.
In your preamble u say 1 large pancake has at least 14 g protein. The nutritional info says 5g each for 2 pancakes. Where has the other 4-5 g gone?
Hi there, I’m sorry for the delay in getting back to you! Thank you so much for pointing this out…I’m going to look into it. What likely happened is that the nutritional software I used didn’t have the same amount of protein in the flour as the brand I use at home. Will check :) I hope you enjoy the pancakes if you try them!
We tried this recipe last night with Mexican toppings- beans, tomatoes, salsa, avocado, and cashew creme. It was delicious, and I even had it for lunch again today, and the pancake wasn’t soggy. We’ll be making this again!