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.
Featuring all new, protein-packed salads, hearty toppers, flavour boosters, and dressings you'll want to drink, my new cookbook will transform the way you think about salads. Oh, and be sure to flip to the back for a surprise dessert chapter!
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 know I am a year late, but I made these this morning and they are the best pancakes I have ever eaten! The texture is so perfect and soft – they are just beautiful. The blueberries and bananas make them burst with sweet deliciousness. I had made almond milk already this morning and this was a lovely use for some of it. These will become a regular. Buckwheat is so nutrient rich – it makes me feel less guilty eating these (and feeding them to my 9 month old). Thank you so much Angela – I love every recipe of yours I have tried – I have been making and eating something from your page almost every day for the past couple of weeks since discovering your wonderful site! It is difficult to find healthy vegan meals which use unprocessed/wholefoods, are low in gluten and sugar and don’t use too many crazy and expensive ingredients. You tick all those boxes, so I am in such appreciation of your amazing creations. Thanks!
Hi Jules, So happy you enjoyed them! Thanks for letting me know :)
Angela, could you help me out here? I need to have these pancakes and tried to make them twice. They are thick and dense. I followed the directions exactly – raw buckwheat groats from WF, Arrowhead brown rice flour….. Any ideas?? Thanks, Nancy
Hey Nancy, Hmm I’m not sure…did you make any changes at all? Even leaving out the maple syrup and banana could change the outcome (or using too much banana?). I’m wondering if your buckwheat flour is getting blended super fine? if it’s chunky at all it will probably be dense. Other than that, I’m really not sure! By dense do you mean they aren’t cooked well enough in the middle?
Thank you! Thank you! That’s the problem exactly. I’m new to all this fresh cooking and didn’t realize it. I ground them better today and they were 50% improved. Next I’ll try my new Nutri Bullet and see if that does better.
Hi Angela!
I love your photography of these pancakes. I work at The Physicians Committee for Responsible medicine and we are featuring a Blueberry Buckwheat Pancake recipe for our weekly Recipe of the Week next week. Unfortunately, we do not have any good pictures of blueberry buckwheat pancakes, would we be able to use yours?
Let me know, thank you!
Fabulous! So happy to find these since I gave up wheat. I added a tsp of cider vinegar as I always do to recipes with baking powder. It replaces the lactic acid in milk in vegan recipes.
Thanks! Not the first recipe I’ve used successfully from your site.
Recipe looks amazing. How long do you think the batter will keep in the fridge? Have 3 kids and would love to wake up and make them these pancakes before school. It would make it so easy if I can have the batter already to go in the am. Btw thanks for a wonderful website
Hi Camille, I haven’t tested leaving the batter in the fridge for any period of time. If I did try it, I would probably wait to stir in the baking powder just before use.
Hello!
I have all the ingredients to make these pancakes except the cornstarch. Is there any substitute for the cornstarch or will it be a huge deal if I leave the cornstarch out? (Having one of those lazy Sunday mornings where I don’t want to go to the store)
Thanks!
You can use arrowroot powder as a sub or probably even potato starch. The starches help hold it together.
Is there something I can use instead of the buckwheat? I’m just having a little bit of a difficult time finding it.
WOW, these are seriously good! Thank you so much for the recipe. I will definitely be making these again. Thanks again! Aneleise x
Hi! Wondering if the corn starch is absolutely necessary in this recipe, or any subs? Can’t wait to try these. They look amaaazzzinggg!
Hi Angela–
Just thought you should know these have become the “staple” pancake recipe in our house. I ran out of maple syrup and vanilla extract, and we were snowed in. I added molasses and almond extract instead, then added a little shredded coconut (just because I had it!) and they turned our great. I might make them again today!!
Buckwheat makes awesome pancakes!
WHOO we’ve been looking for pancakes with a good consistency for FOREVER and love these!! Thank you Angela!!
thank you, they were just absolutely amazing. i loved the taste of the banana and they were so easy to make. just added a new meal in my faves list :)
I have raw buckwheat flour that I purchased- could I use that (and just skip the whole grinding step from the groats)? If so, how much flour do you think I should use- how much flour does a 1/2 cup yield?
Yes you can use pre-ground raw 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 so much Angela! I’m making these for my birthday on Tuesday :) I’ll let you know how they turn out!
Hi Angela!
I also have buckwheat flour so I’m excited to try this recipe! I just recently started cooking with buckwheat flour and it’s an amazing gluten-free ingredient. This recipe will be perfect for my allergy-free clients so I’ll definitely be sharing it with them. Thank you soooo much! Kim
Amazing. I have been getting sick when eggs are an ingredient so I tried these and they are the best pancakes I have ever eaten period.
I just made these for dinner and they were awesome! I love the texture and the fresh chunks of banana. I made them for dinner tonight and they were perfect because they aren’t sweet, I’m not real keen on sweet foods. Fruits are my sweets ;). I’ll make these agian for sure, thank you!
Just made these with apples instead of blueberries and all buckwheat flour instead of the rice flour. They turned out very delicious! The first time I´ve made these, it was for a friend who has trouble with going gluten-free. She didn´t think she could eat pancakes anymore and was delighted!! Back then we topped them with melted dark chocolate … amazing! (But only make as much as you want to eat because will eat them all)