These gluten-free banana pancakes are adapted from a recipe I discovered online a couple of years ago. Since then, I’ve seen it pop up all over the place, and I know why. These simple pancakes are so delicious and since there’s no added sugar in the recipe, they’re pretty much guilt-free too. I’ve updated it endlessly for my daughter and found that really, any pureed fruit will do in place of the banana (although she is very partial to her beloved banana flavor!) You will want the fruit to be very ripe because there is no sugar in this recipe—the sweetness of the fruit is the sole contributor to the sweet taste in these pancakes.
By the way, though these are a great snack for your kiddo, I think they’re also a great snack for a morning retreat. You’ll also find that as you get used to this recipe, you can just sprinkle in the flour to your liking rather than measure it.
Gluten-free Banana Pancakes
Originally adapted from the Oh Joy! blog
You will need:
One very ripe banana
One egg
3 TBS buckwheat flour (see notes)
Sprinkle of cinnamon (optional)
Preheat your non-stick pan on the stove to medium.
Mash the banana in a small bowl or glass measuring cup. (I use a two-cup Pyrex to make the whole recipe.) Add egg and mix well. Add the flour and cinnamon and mix.
Alternately, add the entire mixture to a small food processor and blend!
Pour 2-inch circles onto to the pan. Cook until edges are set, then flip. I recommend using a metal spatula as these are soft pancakes.
Additional Tips:
- The key to these gluten-free banana pancakes is making them small as they are difficult to cook when you make them larger. This is fine with me because they make a great portable snack! I have found that by adding an additional egg and a bit more flour, the pancakes can be made a bit larger.
- This recipe is very intuitive—you can make the batter thicker by adding more flour or eliminate the flour altogether for a gluten-free version. A note here: if you do not add flour, you will want to cook the pancake on low heat as it takes a while for the banana and egg to set and you don’t want the outside to burn before the inside is cooked. The pancakes will be very moist as well.
- Use 1 TBS buckwheat flour and 3 TBS almond flour for a delicious and more hearty pancake.
- The size of banana (or amount of puree) you use will affect the batter. For larger bananas, I use more flour to keep the consistency less runny.
- The original recipe called for 1 TBS of almond butter for added protein. You can certainly add any nut butter to these pancakes; just make sure to mix well.
- I’ve also experimented with substituting Trader Joe’s toasted coconut pancake mix instead of the flour for a tropical pancake twist. These are so good I always have to sneak one for myself. (Unfortunately since the coconut pancake mix is not gluten-free, we don’t do this anymore, but maybe you can! :))
- You can grind oatmeal in a cleaned-out coffee grinder to make your own oat flour. (We have a grinder
that we use exclusively to grind flours, etc.)
This is one of those snacks that you can endlessly adapt to the preferences of your toddler which makes me one happy mommy.
Enjoy!
