Start your day right with these healthy pancakes made 3 delicious ways-plain, chocolate, and coconut. All three versions are light, fluffy, and naturally sweetened, making them perfect for a wholesome breakfast or even a guilt-free treat any time of day.
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These healthy pancakes are not only easy to make but also packed with nourishing ingredients. They're naturally sweetened, high in protein, and can be made dairy-free or gluten-free depending on your needs. Whether you're fueling up for a busy morning or treating yourself to a cozy weekend brunch, these pancakes are a satisfying and wholesome choice.
Pancakes In Our Family
I didn't grow up eating pancakes (I'm an Asian who came from Asia. Haha!). I grew up having noodle soups, rice porridge, stir fry noodles, nasi lemak, curry puff for breakfast. Pancakes were just something that I watch on tv where westerners enjoyed having for breakfast.
I got more familiar in a personal level with pancakes since I met Marco and as I grew older. Pancakes are nothing new to him, of course. His favourite is blueberry pancakes.
Oh we looooove having pancakes in the weekend. Late, in bed while watching Property Brothers (do you watch them too?) for several hours until it was time for lunch . It's like a special lazy breakfast for us.
A few years ago, Marco bought a Kodiak pancake mix box online and after looking through the ingredients we realised that pancakes can be delicious and healthy at the same time! I mean, fast forward a few years (err.. I mean now), of course anything (almost) can be healthified. And that's just amazing!
I've been playing around and healthifying the ingredients every time I make pancakes for us. The truth is, we were thinking, why we didn't do this earlier? Seriously there's no difference at all (for us, at least) in taste, texture wise, from a typical pancake and a healthified pancake. And yes, healthy pancakes for the win!
Plain Pancakes
So this is the base recipe for the other 2 recipes that follow, which are chocolate and coconut pancakes.
I like to use spelt flour in my pancakes because it makes them fluffier. I've used oats flour before and yeah, it was fine but it made the pancakes a tad dense. If you wonder what the heck is spelt flour, well then wonder no more. I wrote a post about spelt flour, do check it out.
Pimp up your pancakes! Throw in some blueberry in the batter and you'd get blueberry pancakes. Throw in some pecans, walnuts for texture. Add coconut sugar if you like your pancake sweeter.
My point is you can use this as a guide to make your own pancakes.
Chocolate Pancakes
Ohhhh who doesn't love some chocolaty pancakes, right?
Just by adding some chocolate powder to the plain pancake recipe, you will get these beautiful chocolate pancakes! And yes, play around with it also. Want more chocolate? Double the amount. Add a splash of milk if the batter is too thick.
And hey, perhaps throw in some chocolate chips also. Why not? Experiment to your liking. Pancake batter is quite forgiving.
Coconut Pancakes
In Summary
These healthy pancakes 3 ways are:
- using healthier ingredients
- as delicious as the typical pancakes but with health benefits to us
- fluffy!!
- just super easy to prepare
- AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS!
Video
📖 Recipe
Healthy Pancakes 3 Ways
Video
Ingredients
PLAIN / BASE PANCAKE
Dry Ingredients
- ½ cup spelt flour (65 g)
- ¼ cup vanilla protein powder (23 g)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup milk (125 ml), room temperature
- ½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 banana , mashed
- 1 large egg , room temperature
- 2 tablespoon olive oil , or any oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
CHOCOLATE PANCAKE
- Use Plain / The Base Pancake recipe
- ADD this to Dry Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (5 g)
COCONUT PANCAKE
- Use Plain / The Base Pancake Recipe
- ADD this to Dry Ingredients
- ¼ cup desiccated coconut (20 g)
- SWAP milk in Wet Ingredients with
- ½ cup coconut milk (125 ml)
Instructions
PLAIN / BASE PANCAKE
Dry Ingredients
- Add all ingredients into a bowl, mix well and set aside.
Wet Ingredients
- Pour milk into another bowl together with apple cider vinegar and leave for 10 minutes to make buttermilk.
- Now add in the rest of the ingredients and whisk well. Finally add in the dry ingredients and mix well, just don't over do it.
Cooking
- Heat a pan with some oil on a medium low heat. Using a 3 tablespoon ice cream scoop, pour the batter onto the pan. Cook until you see bubbles start bursting on the pancake, the surrounding look matte and the bottom edges look brown. Flip the pancake using a thin spatula.
- Leave until it's cooked through, place into a plate and continue with the rest of the batter.
CHOCOLATE PANCAKE
- Follow the same steps in making and cooking the plain / the base pancake recipe.
- The only difference is, you add in cocoa powder together with the rest of your dry ingredients.
COCONUT PANCAKE
- Follow the same steps in making and cooking the plain / the base pancake recipe.
- 2 different things are:
- Add in desiccated coconut with the rest of your dry ingredients.
- Use coconut milk instead of milk.
- Note: Each pancake recipe yields 10 pancakes.
What If I Don't Have Protein Powder?
- No problem! Use 1 cup spelt flour (130 g) and ⅓ cup milk (80 ml), instead.
Nutrition Facts
The nutrition facts provided are an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ana Palafox says
I loved plain pancakes that I made 😍🥞. Thank you for your exquisite and healthy recipe 😀. You're a divine and sensational chef 😊.
Bea says
Happy to see you here, Ana! The plain pancake is my go-to recipe whenever we feel like having some. Thanks for your kind words and leaving your feedback 😍!
Rahima says
Hi i tried your chocolate pancakes & it turned out beyond my expectations really delish :') ^_^
Btw whats the name of background music u used in your video?
Bea says
Thanks Rahima!
Zion C Harrell says
Hello I Just Tried These and I absolutely love them. I am a fifteen-year old student athlete who wants to keep up my fitness and nutrition while in quarantine, I want to know the calorie count for these if possible so I can integrate them into my daily meal plan!
Beth says
Thank you. I’ve been making spelt pancakes but never thought to add chocolate to the mix. I use cultured buttermilk, which I’m guessing has the same effect as milk& vinegar?
Your youtube demonstration shows you adding vanilla protein powder, but that’s not in your recipe above. I’d rather not use it. Will the recipe still work without it, or should the quantity of spelt be increased to keep the balance of dry ingredients?
Bea says
Hi Beth! Thank you for pointing out about the protein powder, I've already updated the recipe 😀 . When I don't use protein powder, I use 1 cup spelt flour and 1/3 cup buttermilk (will also add this info in the recipe card). And yes, you're right. Milk + vinegar = buttermilk. Hope it helps. And we also love spelt pancakes, these are our go to pancakes!
Beth says
Thank you 😊