Pancakes are a favourite and nostalgic breakfast for many a fluffy warm delight topped in a sweet layer of syrup.
We see why “cake” is in the name! And look – we aren’t knocking the classic pancake recipe, because ya, it’s DELICIOUS! But, the flour, sugar, milk and egg are common allergens that have a ton of great substitutes.
One of our favorite substitutes is peanut butter – and while it may be an allergen for some, it has many health benefits that milk and eggs don’t! So whether you are eliminating a specific food from your diet, or trying to be health conscious, these banana pancake recipes have no flour (well, gluten flour that is), no added sugar, no eggs, no milk, and have a ton of fruit and protein!
Why Protein Packed Breakfast?
We didn’t add protein in the name of this recipe for nothing. If you ate ⅓ of the pancakes this recipe makes (about 3 pancakes if you made a batch of 9), you will get nearly 19 grams of protein! Having a protein-dense breakfast has been shown to increase muscle mass and decrease the desire to snack at night. It is also beneficial to spread out your protein consumption throughout all meals of the day, rather than stuffing it in one meal (like dinner).
Spreading out your protein-dense foods into all your meals throughout the day also makes it easier for your body to process, and is more gentle on stomachs to digest!
The pairing of oats and peanut butter is what makes this sugar free pancake recipe soooo protein packed. The amount of oat flour in this recipe adds approximately 10 grams of protein to the batter! We also used oat milk, which has 3g per cup (but try pea milk if you want more than this – it has around 4-8 grams per cup depending on the brand!)
Peanut butter is notorious for being a protein-dense nut as well, and ⅓ cup natural peanut butter brings around 20g of protein to the batter. Balanced with some natural sugar and fibre from the bananas, you can feel good about making this quick pancake recipe.
The Recipe – Protein Banana Oat Pancakes with Peanut Butter Syrup
Prep time: 10 min, Cook Time: 5 min, Total Time: 15 min
Makes: 6 large, or 10 small pancakes
Ingredients
Pancakes
- 2 cups rolled oats, blended into flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅓ cup natural peanut butter
- 3 bananas
- 1 cup almond, oat, soy or any milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Caramel Syrup
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- pinch of salt
Directions
- Pour 2 cups of rolled oats into your favourite blender or food processor, and blend for about 40-60 seconds
- Put your oat flour in a large mixing bowl, and add baking powder and cinnamon along with it. Give it a good whisk or mix.
- Combine bananas, milk, peanut butter and vanilla in your blender. Blend for about 30 seconds, until fully smooth.
- Pour the liquid mixture from your blender into the large mixing bowl with your dry ingredients. Mix it well until there are no lumps, and a thick batter is created.
- Heat a pan or griddle on medium heat, and scoop out your desired amount of batter. We made fairly large and thick pancakes, but you can make smaller cakes as well!
- Cook depending on your preference – but ideally around 1-2 minutes on each side.
- While your pancakes are cooking, serve with your favourite syrup, or our super-easy caramel sauce recipe. To make, combine peanut butter, maple syrup or agave, coconut oil, vanilla and salt. Heat in microwave for 30 seconds, stir until smooth, and pour over pancakes!
FAQ’s
Do you have to use natural peanut butter for this recipe?
Although we haven’t tried it, so we can’t say if it will alter the taste or texture, there are some reasons we specified natural. We wanted to make these sugar free without the peanut caramel syrup added, and a lot of the conventional peanut butters have added sugars. Also, we wanted to be mindful about added oils, since peanuts have a lot of natural fats, we don’t need more to dilute our peanut butter! For preservation, some peanut butters have these added oils (like palm oil), which this recipe is definitely healthier without.
Plus, now is the time to support smaller businesses! If you want to check out our line of natural peanut butters, you can get them online, or in stores. Every flavour we sell would be delicious in these pancakes.
What are some other topping ideas?
We sprinkled our pancake stack with our caramel syrup, chopped pecans, and sliced banana, but other ideas that work well are:
• Chocolate chips and butter
• Cocoa powder and hemp hearts
• Berries and whipped cream
• Smooth peanut butter and jam
Can you substitute another flour for the oat flour?
Oat flour is significantly lighter than all-purpose or whole wheat flour, so a 1-1 substitution will not make your pancakes rise as they should. Barley flour and almond flour can also be alternatives if you are in a pinch, oats are definitely recommended for this recipe!
No egg or egg substitute in this recipe… how does that work?
You read that right! There is no egg, or even flax egg, which tends to be a common egg substitute. Peanut butter is a great cholesterol-free way to hold together your pancake, so no egg needed. Using peanut butter instead of eggs is one of our favourite baking hacks that can be used in waffles, cake, muffins and, well yes, pancaked! Usually, you want to substitute 1 egg for 3 tbsp of peanut butter, but it definitely depends on the recipe.
