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These healthy pumpkin pancakes are extra thick, fluffy, and made in just one bowl! No eggs, no dairy, and no flour needed, they make a fabulous breakfast!
Pumpkin season is in full swing and I’m just a little excited.
To some, we reserve pumpkin for healthy desserts, like pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, or pumpkin muffins, but for me, I love to have some first thing in the morning, as healthy pumpkin pancakes!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- All made in the blender. Seriously, you don’t even need a mixing bowl to prep everything!
- No eggs or dairy. With none of these ingredients needed, these pancakes are perfect if you follow a vegan and/or gluten free diet.
- Accidentally flourless. By using rolled oats as the base, this recipe skips the need for any white flour, adding extra fiber and protein.
Now, just because these pancakes are healthy does not mean they compromise on taste. Like almond flour pancakes, the texture is extra thick, fluffy, and soft in the middle. They are pleasantly sweet and full of pumpkin flavor, and perfect with some maple syrup and other toppings!
Ingredients needed
This recipe uses pantry staple and affordable ingredients. There are no egg substitutes or alternatives needed either. Here is what you’ll need:
- Rolled oats. Blended rolled oats yield oat flour, which replaces the need for any flour. You can also use quick-cooking oats. As I wanted to keep this recipe gluten-free, I used certified gluten-free rolled oats.
- Pumpkin pie spice. A must for any pumpkin recipe! If you can’t find pumpkin pie spice, you can use a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.
- Baking powder. Gives the pancakes extra fluffiness, especially when combined with vinegar.
- Apple cider vinegar. When mixed with the baking powder, achieves a texture that replicates eggs. You can also use white vinegar.
- Pumpkin puree. Unsweetened pumpkin puree. You can also use the canned variety. Just be sure it is not pumpkin pie filling.
- Maple syrup. Adds a little natural sweetness to the pancakes. You can also use agave nectar or coconut syrup.
- Milk of choice. Any plant based milk works, like almond milk or oat milk. You may need more than the recommended amount.
How to make healthy pumpkin pancakes
The beauty of this recipe is how hands off it is. All you do is add everything into a blender and your batter is ready to be turned into pancakes!
Step 1- Make the pancake batter
In a high-speed blender or food processor, add all your ingredients and pulse until a thick batter remains. If your batter is a little too thick, add some extra milk. Let your batter sit for 5 minutes, to thicken.
Step 2- Cook the pancakes
Heat a non-stick pan on medium heat, and once hot, pour 1/4 cup portions of the batter onto it. Cook the pancakes for 2-3 minutes, before flipping and cooking for a further 3 minutes. Repeat the process until all the pancake batter is used up.
Tips to make the best recipe
- The pancake batter will be thick and smooth, but it wouldn’t be overly pourable. We expect this and if you want thinner pancakes, you can add more milk.
- You’ll notice that this recipe includes a full tablespoon of baking powder. This isn’t a mistake, as it helps the pancakes become super fluffy. Be sure to use a good quality baking powder, as some leave a metallic aftertaste.
- If you don’t have vinegar, you can also use lemon juice or orange juice.
- Fold through some chocolate chips or even nuts or seeds, to give it some added texture and flavor!
Storage instructions
- To store: This recipe makes 3-4 servings. Place leftovers in a ziplock bag or sealable container and store them in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
- To freeze: Leftover pancakes can be placed in a ziplock bag and stored in the freezer for up to 6 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- To reheat: Either reheat pancakes in the microwave (30-40 seconds) or in a frying pan.
More pancake recipes to try
- Applesauce pancakes
- Sweet potato pancakes
- Cinnamon roll pancakes
- Protein pancakes
- Banana protein pancakes
Frequently Asked Questions
If you can’t tolerate oats, quinoa flakes or standard all purpose flour can be used.
Yes, use this exact batter to make healthy pumpkin waffles.
Either make almond flour pancakes (and add pumpkin puree) or turn them into muffins.
Healthy Pumpkin Pancakes (Flourless)
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats gluten free, if needed
- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice can sub for a mix of cinnamon, ginger and cloves
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup milk of choice * See notes
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips Optional
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and combined. If the batter is too thick, add extra milk.
- Let the batter sit for at least 5 minutes, for the mixture to thicken.
- Preheat a nonstick pan over medium heat. Once hot, use a 1/4 cup and pour pancake batter on the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until you can easily slide a spatula underneath. Flip. Cook for another 2-3 minutes on the second side. Repeat until all the batter is used up.
Unbelievably delicious 😋
Made these today, doubling everything and the flavor was very good but the batter was so thick I could barely get it off the spoon. After the first batch I added a little more almond milk to thin it some but they were still very thick. More like pumpkin cookies than pancakes but they were a hit with my 4 year old and 18 month old grandsons. Thanks!
Hmmm did you try blending the oats to a fine powder? Definitely add more milk next time 🙂
Came out sooper
Thx dani
These are wonderful. Fluffy too.
1 tablespoon baking powder
Seems like much, is this a type-o ?
Not a typo 🙂
My family of six loves these pancakes! Made as written, tripled the servings, and with chocolate chips in half of them. There were only about four pancakes left to freeze. (Mom sure appreciates the ease of throwing everything into the blender!) Thank you!
Easy, fast, yumtastic. Thank you for gifting this recipe to the internet.
Really good with whole milk vanilla Greek yogurt topping. Idk what kind of blender you all are using but I had to double the milk in order for my Vitamix to make anything even close to resembling a batter… It had to chew on it for a while. I think these need some kind of oil or even applesauce, and maybe a touch of vanilla. They got eaten by my picky 18 month old, which is a huuuuuuge compliment!! I cooked them as sheet pan pancakes (400 degree oven for about 10 minutes). Really easy and effortless!! Next time I will try to sub yogurt for milk, or soak the oats first, and add some applesauce.
Can you use maple flavoring and a non-caloric sweetener like monk’s fruit?
You can use my keto maple syrup recipe.
I just made these for breakfast this morning! I absolutely love pumpkin pancakes. I grounded up steel cut oats into oat flour since those were the only oats I had on hand today.
These pancakes tasted delicious, healthy and not super or overly filling!
A perfect Sunday treat 🙂
Thank you!
So GOOD! I think next time I will blend the oats and then mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. I felt that I lost a lot of my mixture to the blender even after adding some more almond milk. Really delicious though thank you.
Thank you!
These were so delicious! I did have to double the milk to make them pourable. Thanks!
I make these all the time! They’re my go to weekend pancakes 🙂
I’m giving this recipe a five star rating because it’s a very healthy alternative to other type of pancakes. A few things I did that were different from the recipe/directions: I first put the oats in my food processor to grind them to as much of a flour consistency as I could get. I then mixed all of the ingredients in a bowl (I’ve had issues getting batter out of my Vitamix, leaving a lot of waste). I added a splash of vanilla, had to add a lot more milk, and could have added more, and wanted to use up fresh cranberries still leftover from Thanksgiving – I added 1/4 cup and cut them in 1/2. These were delicious, and a pancake we could feel good about ingesting. Thanks for the recipe.
hi, Big thank you for this amazing recipe. I just wanted to say that 5 minutes is never enough unless you are making 1-2 servings. i just made a double for my 4 girls and me it took 15-20 minutes to cook. best wishes!
Can I use gluten free flour instead of oats? Thank you!
I haven’t tried 🙂
These are really good, but maybe cut down the baking powder to 1 or 1/2 tsp. A tbsp is a lot and you can taste it. Its a saltiness that numbs your tounge.
Do you try your recipes without any sweetener?Curious which types of combos would work well without it. Your website/recipes are super helpful for me, but sweeteners are probably my biggest issue with finding recipes. My medical diet leaves me with no coconut sugar, maple sugar, agave, honey, cane sugar, dextrose, monkfruit..pretty much no glucose or fructose. I can have stevia and/or Apple on a four day rotation.
I haven’t so you’d be best to experiment and see!
These are perrrffeection!!!!!! Changes I made: Added more cinnamon, because why not, added one scoop of vanilla protein powder (an excuse to eat more), increased the milk to 1/2 cup, subbed honey instead of maple syrup (I’m a 99.9% vegan okay). I will make these over and over and over again. Thank you for sharing these!!!
Hhaha 99.99% is great! 🙂 You are welcome, Michelle!
I made this recipe this morning. I was skeptical because the batter was extremely thick, but the pancakes turned out great! In your post, you mentioned blending all of the ingredients together, but I suspect that you didn’t mean the chocolate chips. I only had regular-size (not mini) chocolate chips, so I added them to the pancakes once they were in the pan. Cooking the pancakes low and slow was the key to getting them to cook thoroughly. The pancakes tasted delicious; pumpkin spice and chocolate is a winning combination. Thank you for the great recipe!
Cheers, Christina- Yes that is my error, thanks for doing it that way- I hope you enjoyed them 🙂
Wow!!! This is my new favorite recipe!! I wish I found this years ago!!! Thank you so much!💕
😀 That means so much! 🙂
The rolled oats are used as is, or processed into oat flour first?
If used as is, do they make the pancakes lumpy?
Thanks.
Hi! You need to blend them up with the batter 🙂
I will be making these tomorrow for my client. I am glad I found this site from Delicious & Clean site. 🙂
🙂 So welcome!
Made these for breakfast this morning for myself & ate a few and am freezing the rest! my family isn’t a fan of anything vegan or healthy like I am so I have them all to myself but i’m not complaining haha! 😋 They are absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
These are AMAZING!!! I will definitely be making them again!! Thanks for this recipe!
You are so welcome! 🙂
Favorite pancakes I have ever made!
Thanks so much for the recipe!!
LOVE IT! xx
First time visitor to your site, but wanted to share my experience for other commenters—aside from having good quality baking powder, it’s always important to have fresh baking powder too. I made them yesterday and forgot to check my baking powder. It was old. So obviously did not achieve fluffy goodness! Today, with new powder, I did! I still had to thin out the batter a bit with more milk and it made 4 average sized pancakes for me.
Thanks so much for the feedback!
Batter was very thick. Would you use more puree or Almond Milk to thin?
I’d use more milk 🙂
Is it possible to substitute almond or coconut flour in these?
Haven’t tried
Do you by chance know the Macro Breakdown for these?
Thanks!
Feel free to calculate it using myfitnesspal or similar! 🙂
Any suggestions on how much steelcut oats to use in place of rolled oats? Kristy
Don’t use steel cut oats 🙂
I was skeptical making these as a last minute breakfast for my visiting friends. Everything in the meal began with a “p”…pumpkin pancakes, a fruit plate of pomegranates, fresh pineapple, pear slices, persimmons, peaches, pecans, prunes, garnished with parsley sprigs! The pancakes were a hit! For dessert I made peanut butter protein chocolate bars! A total plant based meal. Delicious! Will make the pancakes again. I might make then in an Ebelskiver pan next time, just to try it! Thanks for the recipe!!
I forgot to say PERFECT!!
🙂 cheers!!!
I have made these pancakes twice and each time they have had a bitter taste. I have made sure that I have followed the recipe correctly. Has anyone else had this problem? I was wondering if the bitter taste is from the baking powder. Any suggestions would be very helpful.
Hi Kristin- I definitely reckon it’s the brand, some baking powders are extremely acidic and bitter 🙂
When doubling the recipe, do you double everything including the baking powder? My batter was quite thick so it didn’t get fluffy when cooked
Hi Kelly! For this, I’d keep the baking powder the same 🙂
How much baking powder would I use if I only needed to make one serving?
I’ve only made it as is.
I adore the texture of these! The batch I made today (using rolled oats, maple syrup as the sweetener) had a hint of bitterness–any ideas how to cut that down? Otherwise a fantastic breakfast option.
Hi Edes! Double check the baking powder you use, some of the cheaper brands tend to be overly bitter 🙂
Arman, I have loved your recipes over the years but this one was an epic fail for me. They didn’t ever cook (batter in the middle). The only variable when I made them was adding a half scoop of vanilla protein powder.
Hi Beth- This recipe won’t work with added protein powder 🙂
I actually added 1/4 cup protein powder and took away 1/4 of the oats. They turned out really good, and we’re super fluffy. So adding protein powder does work. Maybe it depends on the protein powder used?
Do we use cooked quinoa for the quinoa option? Silly question..
Hi Alexandra! It is quinoa flakes, so the cereal style 🙂
Very good taste. I needed to double the milk to achieve a batter.
🙂 Cheers, Colleen!
what if I don’t have a nonstick pan?
Grease a normal pan 🙂
Is the calorie count for the whole recipie or one pancake?
as the recipe is written, how many pancakes does it make?
Depends on how big or small you make them- I can get 5 huge ones or 9-10 small ones.
Could I blend the ingredients and make the batter the night before to have the batter ready to cook in the morning?
Hi, I’m not a huge fan as I found it lost the fluffiness! Its’ better to pre-cook and freeze leftover portions 🙂
Thank you these were simple to make and tasted Great.
‘AMAZING pancakes!’..from 19 yr old son
🙂 Thanks so much for the positive feedback, Sarah! 🙂
I loved the consistency (I used the rolled oats), very tasty! One of the better vegan pancakes recipes I’ve found!!:)
🙂 Cheers, Sydney!
Can I use buckwheat flour? Instead of flakes? And if I’m not mistaken, the 1/2 cup pumpkin purée would be interchangeable for 1/2 cup applesauce or a ripe banana? Thank you and I can’t wait to try these!
You can use the flakes ground up 🙂 Sure thing!
Amazing!!!
If I already have oat flour, is it still a cup? Sorry if that is a silly question. ^_^
Not silly at all- Start with a full cup then slowly add a tablespoon or two if too thin 🙂
These look delicious! I just might eat the whole stack of pancakes (aka all three servings) 😀
Hi! Did you let the batter sit and blend it well? It should be thick, but pourable 🙂