Vegan & Gluten-Free Vanilla Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes

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

Vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, oil-free, soy-free

★★★★★
4.9 from 11 reviews

Yield
Six 4 inch pancakes

Prep time
10 minutes

Cook time
10 minutes

Total time
20 minutes

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

1. Preheat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.
2. 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).
3. Pour in the almond milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Whisk the batter until no clumps remain.
4. Fold in the diced banana and scraped vanilla bean. If using fresh blueberries, mix them in now.
5. 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!