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!
Can I add cononut flour instead of brown rice flour?
I havent had good results when using coconut flour, so Im not sure. I think the BRF does a great job at binding everything.
Thank you for your answer! I know that coconut flour is definitely tricky, maybe I’ll experiment a little :)
Hey, I just wanted to post an update – I used coconut instead of brown rice flour and apple sauce instead of banana. No problems! Oh and I added a few tsp. of coconut flakes. When I tasted the batter I was a bit disappointed because in general I LOVE the cookie/pancake batter even more than the actual baked result, but the buckwheat flour was kinda overpowering for me. HOWEVER, when I added the blueberries it was all forgotten and the pancakes were absolutely delicious!
ooo, how i love cooking with buckwheat flour. gf and delicious. i can’t wait to make these…is it saturday morning yet?
these pancakes look SOOO DELICIOUS!!! :D
I made these this morning using GF buckwheat flour only. I can’t tolerate rice flour. I also added a touch of Xantham gum. I used agave syrup for the sweetener. My 22mos son scarfed a whole pancake to himself! I had a bite and was pleasantly surprised at how good they were. I am definitely bookmarking this for future use. Very yummy recipe and quick to put together unlike a lot of GF recipes!
Glad to hear that Jackie!
I just made this recipe and I love it! Buckwheat definitely has a different flavor, but I love how the bananas, vanilla, and blueberries complement it. I’m eating about 95% vegetarian and I’m 100% gluten and dairy free. I couldn’t have done it without your recipes (thanks for still posting GF!). I’ve tried other sites, but they don’t compare to Oh She Glows. I know your recipes will always taste fantastic. Thank you for changing my life (and for helping me lose 15 pounds!).
I don’t usually comment on posts, but I had to for this one.
I have been struggling to find a fantastic vegan (not even gluten-free, just *vegan*) pancake recipe for ages. All the ones I’ve tried seem to end up mushy or gummy inside – yuck! This is the first egg-free pancake recipe that I’ve truly loved. And I mean LOVED. :-) Even my teenage kid likes ’em! I’ve passed it along to some gluten-free and dairy-free colleagues as well as my brother-in-law, who went vegan to fight a cancer diagnosis.
So thank you, thank you, thank you! I adore this recipe and just had to express a bit of appreciation. :-)
I made these pancakes this morning and WOW were they quick, easy and delicious!! So glad I doubled the recipe so we’ll have a few leftovers to snack on. Ground the buckwheat groats and brown rice in my Vitamix- and the flour came out silky smooth. We used rasberries instead of blueberries and I subbed out 1/2 the cornstarch for chia seeds and then added raw walnuts to the batter to up the omega count- yummmmmmm. Thanks for sharing this recipe, Angela!! Love your site!!!
Made these tis morning for our sat morning pancake breakfast and everyone loved them including the kids. I used gooseberries I had in the fridge that needed to be eaten instead of the blueberries and it came out really good.
I am on a roll with your recipes, this week I have made VOO for breakfast everyday (except today), pumpkin pie with the gluten free crust, your almond thumbprint cookies, and raw taco salad. All delicious.
you are an amazing cook!
I used honey instead of maple syrup and they were not as flippable,kinda messy. So next time I will do it with the maple syrup:) They were very flavorful though!
These look super yummy…but do u think it will work if I sub the brown rice flour with almond flour?
I made this yesterday. I did not follow directions fully… I used buckwheat flour (already ground – not groats), whole wheat flour (instead of brown rice flour), and vanilla soy milk (instead of almond milk). I added the blueberries and left out the scraped vanilla bean.
I used olive oil to coat the pan and scooped a tablespoon full of batter on the skillet. That first batch totally stuck to the pan (I think you mentioned this as a side effect to not following your directions…) My second batch I switched to vegan butter and made my pancakes about 1/4 of a cup in size – this time I had no issues.
The pancakes were very yummy however they were very heavy (probably because of my flour choice) and I feel they needed a bit more sweetness. I plan to make these again using the flour as you called for to see the difference. I also think I will add bit of brown sugar to the mixture as well.
I will probably try these as banana chocolate chip pancakes soon. That sounds very yumy.
Thanks for the recipe. I am very much enjoying your site.
-Charity
Where do you buy vanilla beans???
Hi Sarah, you can find them in some grocery stores, Costco, or baking stores. Of course you can always leave them out of a recipe too and just use a bit of vanilla extract. enjoy
I just made these…and they are AMAZING. One fateful
Mistake, only made a single batch. However I did make cacao, coconut oil chocolate sauce to go ontop. Making again for sunday breakfast. Thank you for your fail proof delicious recipes as always.
Hi! I just tried to make these (my second attempt at vgf pancakes in 2 weeks) and failed miserably! It takes some time to have the outsides cook which I was expecting. However, the real bummer is the weird, gummy/gushy middle. This was the same experience I had the last time I tried a vgf pancake recipe. Have you ever encountered this? Any thoughts? Help! Thank you so much!
He Kelly, Im sorry to hear that! I had a problem with it sticking to the pan when using an old pan but I don’t think I had problems in the middle with it being gum-y. I’m not sure why that happened to you. Did you make any changes to the recipe at all?
I so appreciate your comment back to me! I used a cast iron frying pan, which has been wonderful with pancakes in the past. Regarding the recipe, I subbed out applesauce for the bananas since I’m really not a banana person. I figured it would be a little more moist so I only used two tablespoons. We thought perhaps that was the culprit? The last batch I tried (not your recipe!) also had applesauce but was much worse. After working with yours, we made the batter a lot thicker and they cooked a bit better but not quite cooked properly in the center.
I don’t know if you’ll catch this comment, Kelly, but I made these pancakes last weekend. The day before I tried another pancake recipe and it turned out just as you described, it wasn’t cooking properly at all. When I made these pancakes I upped the heat and they turned out perfectly. I followed the recipe in regards to the banana, so I’m not sure how much of a difference that made, but I had my burner on 5-6/8 and used a ceramic pan without any oil on it. It sounds like you have much more pancake experience than I do, so I’m not sure if you would’ve had the heat too low, but it worked out for me.
Thanks so much for this recipe! it was exactly what i was looking for. I will add this though – i’m not much of a salt person, and i found that these were much better with a touch of sea salt. Also, the last ones tasted much better than the first ones – not only because i added salt, but i think the buckwheat needs a bit more time to absorb the almond milk. Next time, i’ll give it some rest time before cooking.
Thanks for your tips! Ive tried a batch with a bit of salt and I agree it was better. I should add that in. Also thanks for the tip about letting the batter sit, I will have to try that next time!
Just made these for Shrove Tuesday breakfast, and they were perfect!! I didn’t have buckwheat groats but did have buckwheat flour, so I just substituted 1:1 and they turned out beautifully.
These were perfect! They are the first pancakes that worked, since going vegan. Today is my personal pancake day :)
If I don’t have the buckwheat groats can I still make these?
Thanks!
This looks so great! But I don’t have buckwheat flour and have no idea where to find it! Is it possible to make without the buckwheat?
You could certainly try subbing it with another flour. Goodluck & let me know how it goes :)
Can you make these into waffles?
Im not sure Kim, I haven’t tried it. My feeling is that they could stick, but it would depend on the waffle maker. Let me know if you try it out!