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.
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!
Angela, these look absolutely amazing!! I had bought some buckwheat groats from Whole Foods that I haven’t touched because I was scared of them and didn’t know what to do with them. Thanks again for another. wonderful recipe!
And please tell Sketchie that I think he has beautiful eyes! :-)
I have a 16 miler coming up Saturday, and I can’t WAIT to make these afterwards!
Will do :)
Goodluck with your run!
It’s my husband’s birthday tomorrow and we are on a cleanse right now. He really wanted pancakes and I am so glad I found your recipe! Thank you for sharing!
What a wonderful housekeeper Sketchie is! Sounds like we subscribe to the same cleaning theories ;)
lol…I know right?
Oh man, he probably saw those beans fall and though it was his birthday and christmas all at once!
Yum, those look so comforting and delicious. I can imagine eating those on a lazy Saturday morning followed by reading and turning over in bed for a few more hrs of sweet shut eye.
The preheating thing is key! I did that this morning before making pancakes, had let it preheat for at least 5 minutes and then I pour the batter on and I’m kind wondering why it doesn’t really seem hot? nothing is sizzling, the pancakes are taking forever to bubble up….and then I realized I flipped the switch to the small burner option (it’s the one with the small ring inside of the big ring on my flat top stove) yesterday and never switched it back. Duh.
These are beautiful — bananas and blueberries are my favorite pancake additions. Can’t wait to make these!
these look so good!
Haha, I ALWAYS make extra batches of pancakes so I can eat ’em throughout the day. They are so convenient as a snack.
Do you think I can sub the brown rice flour for oat flour?
I tried a version with oat flour subbing for the rice flour and they completely stuck to the pan! :( Not sure why. I will add that into the recipe, but thanks for reminding me.
That really is strange because I’ve already had great success using oat flour in pancakes….
I’ll have to try it again sometime, who knows maybe it was a fluke!
My stomach is growling just reading this post. I’ve been craving blueberries recently and can’t wait to give your recipe a try this weekend!
Great pictures! I love the slice out of the perfectly stacked pancakes – that takes talent; there’s no way I would be able to get such a clean, even cut. A pancake burrito sounds so fun!
These babies will be on my plates come the weekend…after I send the Mr to the grocery store tonight to get blueberries! :-)
These look delicious! I’m so excited for berry season.
Do you feed Sketchie a vegan diet? I’ve read different things on the internet…some vegans do it…others say it’s really not good for the cat. Your experience?
Nope, we don’t feed Sketchie a vegan diet.
blueberry pancakes are by far the best kind in the world!
Yum–these look delicious! Love that they’re GF too!
Oh my goodness. I’m very much having a ‘spill the espresso beans all over the floor” (in a metaphorical sense) kind of day and these would be ideal right now!
these look fantastic! :)
How about lunch? I think I am going to enjoy these today and add some toasted pecan maple syrup to the top! I was looking for inspiration in my google reader this morning for breakfast, but nothing was posted yet. :/ Instead I had a green monster. Delicious anyway!
I love you keeping it real with the espresso beans and all!
You assume I’d have leftover for a snack. That’s funny. ;)
Can’t wait to have these Sunday morning! Great tip about heating the pan first – I learned that lesson the hard way after ruining batch after batch (impatience is NOT a virtue).
I know I used to do that allll the time :)
Those look fantastic! And you’re lucky Sketchie is such a good helper. What would you do without him?
Yum, a pancake burrito?? Two of my fave things. Can’t wait to try that!
Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson plays in my head when I read this post. :) Yummy!
love that song :)