Banana Pancakes (options for gluten-free/vegan)
These banana pancakes have a great texture and are totally banana-sweetened. They’re 100% whole grain and naturally gluten-free and dairy-free, with a vegan option. Check out the rave reviews below!
I’m pretty picky with my pancakes. I don’t like bready ones. Especially whole grain bready ones.
So don’t worry – these aren’t your usual cardboardy whole grain pancakes! They’re soft and slightly moist.
I often make my Swedish pancakes or paleo buttermilk pancakes when I have some berries I want to use, but these banana oatmeal pancakes are my all-time favorite.
If you’ve got some bananas that are about to go bad, this is what you want to do with them (though these paleo chocolate banana muffins would also be a great choice!).
The bananas don’t need to be banana bread ripe, though. It’s fine as long as the peel has some black spots on it.
Even with just bananas and no added sugar, these gluten-free banana pancakes are nice and sweet and maple syrup is totally unnecessary (but it’s always nice, isn’t it? ;)) Same goes with chocolate chips!
If you need to make some gluten-free pancakes but don’t want to buy any specialty flours, these are a great choice. They just use oat flour, which is nothing but ground-up oats.
If you don’t have oat flour on hand, you can whirl some quick or rolled oats in a food processor, high-powered blender (like a Blendtec or Vitamix), or an electric coffee grinder until they’re very fine and powdery. It works just as well as store-bought oat flour.
My favorite way for small amounts is the coffee grinder, and if I need more, a high-powered blender. Both get the oat flour really fine.
And if you’d like to use a blender to make pancakes, try these banana Blender Pancakes!
If you have a large food processor, you’ll probably need to grind more oats than you need for this recipe to get the food processor to grind the oats finely enough. I have a large food processor and need at least a cup or two of oats for them to reach the blade.
Just make sure to use gluten-free oats / oat flour if you need these pancakes to be gluten-free! (read here: are oats gluten-free? if you’re new to gluten-free and unsure about oats!)
Overall, these gluten-free banana pancakes are easy to make, but one thing that I’ve noticed is that they’re pretty difficult to flip in a cast-iron skillet. You can definitely do it, but I needed a lot of coconut oil.
My pan isn’t very well seasoned, but still… I thought I should warn you. As soon as I switched to a regular non-stick pan, this wasn’t an issue.
School isn’t even out yet here in Bavaria for another two weeks, but I know school is starting up soon in some parts of the US. These banana oatmeal pancakes are great to make ahead for busy mornings, as they reheat well, and they’re also delicious when cold, so they’d be a super dessert for the lunchbox.
These banana breakfast bars from Crazy for Crust also look like a tasty option! And for something without banana, try these protein pancakes, which can be made with whole wheat or gluten-free flour.
Questions about these gluten-free banana pancakes?
How can I make these grain-free? I’ve been working on a grain-free version. I’ll post it once it’s as tasty as the oat flour version!
Can I use something other than flour? Oat flour absorbs liquids differently than other flours, so I can’t really suggest anything. If you decide to experiment, let us know how it goes!
Can I use something in place of the bananas? I wouldn’t really recommend trying something else like pumpkin, as nothing else is as sticky and as sweet as bananas.
Since it’s the base of the recipe, I think a different recipe would be better if you don’t want to use bananas.
Banana Pancakes (options for gluten-free/vegan)
Ingredients
- 3 small or 2 medium overly ripe bananas mashed (270 grams without the peel)
- 2 tablespoons (28 grams) coconut oil melted; or unsalted butter for a dairy-containing version
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar – I've tried both white and apple cider
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs 50 grams each out of shell; or 2 chia eggs for vegan, see notes
- 1 cup (95 grams) oat flour make sure to use GF oat flour if needed, see notes
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the wet ingredients (bananas through eggs) and stir until well combined.3 small or 2 medium overly ripe bananas, 2 tablespoons (28 grams) coconut oil, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 2 large eggs
- In a medium bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients.1 cup (95 grams) oat flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Pour the dry ingredients over the wet and stir just until combined. There might still be some lumps.
- Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat a non-stick pan over medium-low heat. Spray it lightly with cooking spray or lightly butter it.
- Pour 1/4 cups of batter onto the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes until bubbles start to form around the edges of the pancake.
- Flip it and cook for another 90 seconds or until golden brown on the bottom.
- Continue with the remaining batter and serve the pancakes immediately.
- Cover and refrigerate any leftovers for up to 4 days. They’re great reheated and cold.
Notes
- To make 2 chia eggs, mix 2 tablespoons ground chia with 5 tablespoons water and let sit for 5 minutes.
- To make your own oat flour, grind quick or rolled oats in a coffee grinder or food processor until it resembles flour.
- Adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking.
- The nutrition information provided is calculated as a courtesy and is only an estimate. I am not a licensed nutritionist or dietitian. For the most accurate nutritional data, consult a professional or use your preferred calculator.
It’s official – I’m coming over for breakfast!
Oh heck yes – these pancakes look awesome, Erin! I love that they’re healthy but the texture looks perfect. And I would definitely copy you and top mine with pb and chocolate chips too – is there any other way? :)
OMG OMG OMG say what, the photos are amazing, these pancakes look so intoxicatingly fluffy and delicious, I can barely take it! xo
Yum! These look wonderful! Especially that first picture :) I think my kids would love me for these, haha.
I think I just found my weekend breakfast! These look so fluffy and soft, and that topping of PB + choc chips is a must! :)
Everything about these makes me happy. Definitely making myself a stack of these soon. Pinned!
Saturday mornings are “Pancake breakfast” can’t wait to fix’em and eat’em! And once again, GF much appreciated!
It’s my pleasure to post GF goodies (half the time, anyway :)) Come back and let me know how you like them! I’m guessing the 1 out of 5 stars was a mistake? ;) And to answer your banana question – yes, peel them!
These banana pancakes look delicious! I love how much healthier it is compared to other pancakes. Bookmarking this–thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Ada! I hope you’ll enjoy the pancakes. :)
I loved using the ground up oats in my donuts last week, so I know that these pancakes taste awesome. I just wish I had a big plate of them in front of me right now. Why dont you live closer to me again?? ;)
Because of Mr. T!!! Let’s blame him.
Any experience using brown rice flour instead of the oat flour? I can’t have the oats.
Will be making these tonight with the rice flour sub for dinner with homemade Nutella and applewood bacon. I’ll let you know how it comes out.
I hope it’ll work out for you! I’m afraid that I don’t really have experience with brown rice flour. And I want to have dinner with you tonight! Pancakes, Nutella and bacon. That sounds like the most amazing dinner ever. Enjoy! :)
This is my kind of breakfast!
Same here! And lunch and dinner. ;)
These sound incredible!!!! Love using bananas to naturally sweeten!! I also love the peanut butter and chocolate chips on top!!
Yes, you know about my peanut butter addiction. It’s awful. ;)
Erin, no joke – I just made banana pancakes yesterday!! I love that you topped yours with chocolate chips (and peanut butter, too!). With bananas, you really don’t need much added sugar! I love banana pancakes so much. I hadn’t made them in so long!
It was my first time making banana pancakes! They were SO good. I really can’t wait to have them again. Plain pancakes are kind of boring now!
I was just thinking I need to make a batch of mini pancakes to have in the freezer for my little guy. I think I found my recipe!
I hope you’ll both enjoy them! :)
Yum these pancakes look heavenly. Pancakes are my first love since I’m a huge breakfast eater and pancakes were one of the first things I ever made. I know these have got to be great since bananas and chocolate with oats are perfect!
Your first love? Haha. Aww! That’s so sweet. :)
These look positively amazing! like seriously I would eat them, except for the banana fact. I can detect bananas in anything and they are my number one fruity enemy.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up for you back to school theme. I may need some inspiration since I’ll be in school most of the day (yay afternoon classes – not!). I’ll probably be packing my lunch most days for this semester.
Hahaha. You leave the best comments! “I would totally eat these – if it weren’t for the main ingredient!” And number one fruit enemy? Bananas were mine, too. I somehow seem to have gotten over my banana allergy. It’s bizarre.
Banana bread in pancake form? sold :)
Exactly how I feel! It’s like banana bread in super quick form.
Forget where I first heard about it, but the best “save” for overripe bananas is to slice them and freeze them. I then use them in smoothies and what ever else I can think of. I found bananas for $.15 a pound one day, so bought 30 pounds, just so I could freeze them.
That is too funny, Cindy! I do stuff like that all the time. “Oh, berries are 50% off? I must buy them ALL!” Then I have 15 pounds of berries and nowhere to put them. :) Thanks for the tip! I also freeze my bananas for smoothies and “ice cream.” So yummy!
I do that with ALL my overripe bananas! There is a constant supply of frozen bananas in our freezer. Love it for smoothies and, most of all, banana soft serve!
This is probably a goofy question, but do you peel the bananas before you freeze them?
It’s not goofy at all! Definitely peel them. Once they’re frozen, you can’t really peel them. So do it before! :)
I’ll just use a different pan and I have a very good big spatula, so it will work well :D
What do you mean a different pan? :)
These are so fabulous!! LOVE this pancake recipe!
Thanks, Katrina! :)