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!
I’ve been waiting for this recipe, these look so yummy. Can I find brown rice flour and raw buckwheat groats at the Bulk Barn?
Good question! I don’t think BB carries raw buckwheat groats …at least I haven’t seen them before, but maybe they do. I think Whole Foods carries them and some natural food stores. They are a bit hard to find which is why I just buy a big bag online.
Nice looking pancakes but I may be more excited for this homemade bailey’s…. whattt?!
Hahahaha I love the Sketchie part!!!!!
Thank you, THANK YOU for this recipe. I’m on spring break away from home right now but when I get back I’m doing a trial period of going gluten free to see if that helps my tummy issues. I’m already vegan so this recipe will be a delight! By the way I plan on gifting your cookbook when it comes out to hopefully get my friends and family to enjoy more vegan foods! I think you have done a great job of showing people that vegan doesn’t mean disgusting :)
Aw, thank you Alex, you just made my day! I hope you enjoy the pancakes.
Alex–
Make sure that the vanilla extract you use is gluten-free. Since it contains alcohol, vanilla (and other flavored) extracts may contain small amount of gluten depending on what type of alcohol was used.
Depending on how sensitive you may or may not be to gluten, minute amounts–like that found in flavored extracts–may not be a problem for you. But if you are going strictly gluten-free, it’s something to watch out for. I’d suggest ‘reading around the subject’ to get a good handle on the unexpected places you might encounter gluten (even the glue on licking envelopes is wheat-based!).
I’ve recently gone (pretty strictly) gluten-free for tummy issues myself, and have never felt better. I hope you discover the same! :)
Yum! These look fantastic!
I’m curious..how many do you eat :P Or should I say..can you eat…
a challenge? lol
easily the entire batch, if not more. :) I’m ruthless when it comes to pancakes.
Those look amazing! I’ve been whipping up plain pancake batter on Friday nights and putting it in the fridge so it’s ready after my run on Saturday mornings. All I have to do is chop up or add the fruit and I’m good to go! I will try these this weekend if I can find buckwheat groats. :)
P.S. I <3 Sketchie.
that’s a great idea…I hadn’t thought of prepping it the night before.
That cat picture is adorable! And these look delicious!! Pancakes are something that I rarely make. I think that needs to change :D
I LOVE the pancake burrito idea! Too bad there will probably be no leftovers of this recipe…
Hi Angel! You say to get 1/2 cup of buckwheat groats to ground up…If I already have buckwheat flour, how much should I use? Just a little confused!
Hi Angela! Recipe looks amazing!!! You say to get 1/2 cup of buckwheat groats to ground up…If I already have buckwheat flour, how much should I use? Just a little confused!
I didn’t measure after grinding, but I would guess it would be a heaping 1/2 cup of flour.
I was wondering the same. In my experience, you can get as high as 50% increase in the amount of flour you get from the same whole grain. I’m going to try it with 3/4 C Buckwheat Flour to start.
These look wonderful! And you’re SO right – the first thing I thought about this morning was how close Saturday is (thank goodness!) … and what kind of breakfast I will make once I complete my leisurely sleep in :)
These look great! I think I want to add a little orange zest in the batter though… 2 of my favorite flavors in one pancake!
I make whole batches of pancakes and freeze them! Then all I have to do in the morning is microwave them. Blackberries and raspberries are great to add, as are chia seeds! I can’t wait to try your recipe!
More importantly, homemade Bailey’s??? Recipe for that, please!
freezing pancakes is genius!!!! Ive heard of this but never tried it…will do this asap! Thanks for the great idea.
I always freeze my leftover pancakes (and waffles)! And then put them in the toaster in the mornings! Toasted pancakes really are good :)
Oh mannnn these pancakes look AMAZING! I don’t think I’ll be able to stop thinking about them until I make them.
Angela these are incredible looking! Pancakes can be an art on their own; to get that perfect pancake down pat isn’t always easy…and to do it both vegan AND gf…well, you succeeded in making me want to make pancakes like right NOW! :)
Always looking for a good GF pancake! I don’t have a grinding blade for my Vitamix… do you think it will it work with the regular blade? Or could I just use 1/2 cup buckwheat flour? Thanks… love your blog!
I just use my regular blade for everything…. :)
these look so fluffy and light, just the way I make mine. I love pancakes and have a ton of recipes I use and go back and forth from. I hope to try these too.
sketchie….soooo cute! ;)
Ahahahahahahahahaha Angela I LOVE your sketchie pics! Esp with the thought bubbles, they are hilarious! Sketchie is so beautiful!
It’s a sign! I was planning on pancakes this weekend and I already have every single ingredient. Now I can’t wait for Saturday…warm and fluffy pancakes are my favorite post long run breakfast.
These looks amazing! Buckwheat it one of my favorite flours! It has such a distinct flavor and it adds alot of depth to recipes!! ANd you can’t go wrong with blueberries in pancakes!!