Oh hi! I have to confess that my usual breakfasts don’t consist of pancakes or anything quite special. Typically I’ll fry an egg or two, or enjoy an on the go protein shake.
FLASHBACK to my glittery college years: I remember sitting down with a bowl of oatmeal or a peanut butter and strawberry jelly toasted English muffin and enjoying breakfast while reading in our college breakfast nook. I’d soak in the flavors for a good 30 minutes because at that point in my life, breakfast was a time I cherished.
For some reason I’ve been craving those incredibly long breakfast mornings again; mostly I want to recommit to making enjoyable, nutritious and creative morning meals – even if I’m the only one eating it. I find that when I take the time to prepare something, it somehow feels more satisfying and filling.
I wanted to start with pancakes (of course). Whipping up a batter of fluffy, flavorful banana pancakes is something I’ve loved to do on the weekends. My go to pancake recipes are usually these banana cottage cheese protein pancakes or greek yogurt pancakes because they provide great nutrition and protein without weighing you down like a brick.
This time I decided to switch up my pancake game with new flour I adore: Quinoa Flour! Quinoa flour is gluten free and pretty amazing to work with in recipes. If you haven’t yet tried it, give it a go! It’s a little on the spendy side when it comes to gluten free flours, but I find that it’s worth the money. Also, then you can make my best gluten free chocolate chip cookies – they’ve been a reader favorite because of their chewy and soft texture. No seriously, I’m talking MELT IN YOUR MOUTH GOODNESS folks.
But today we’re talking about pancakes, so let’s get to it…
I created these based off of my greek yogurt pancake recipe. The quinoa flour is incredibly fluffy and adds such a nice texture to the final pancakes. They’re naturally sweetened with banana and a touch of honey, which the batter needs since sometimes quinoa flour can be on the bitter side if used alone. The recipe also uses greek yogurt and an egg for a nice protein boost of 10g per serving!
Unfortunately I didn’t have chocolate chips or blueberries in the house to add to these pancakes, but I do recommend giving those a try for a little extra flavor. You can also use vanilla greek yogurt instead of plain and skip the honey since the vanilla yogurt will most likely have added sugar. Another great way to top them is with a little peanut butter. Up to you!
P.S. I should also quickly mention that freezing these pancakes works well. You can freeze or refrigerate and reheat them later; I usually portion mine properly then divide into plastic baggies and freeze. Sometimes they just make for an easy weeknight dinner too. No judgments here. I recommend serving these almond or peanut butter on top and a fried egg on the side for a well-rounded breakfast of over 15 grams of protein!
What’s your go-to breakfast? Leave a comment!
If you make this or anything else from Ambitious Kitchen be sure to tag #ambitiouskitchen on Instagram so I can see your delicious creations!
More healthy breakfast recipes to try:
Fluffy Coconut Flour pancakes with Wild Blueberry Maple Syrup
Lemon Blueberry Quinoa Pancakes
Strawberry Banana Oatmeal Greek Yogurt Waffles (gluten free!)
Cottage Cheese Banana Oatmeal Protein Pancakes + video
Banana Chocolate Chip Quinoa Flour Waffles
Gluten Free, Protein-Packed Quinoa Flour Banana Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup nonfat plain greek yogurt (vanilla is fine)
- 1 large ripe banana, mashed
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk, plus more if necessary
- Optional: blueberries or chocolate chips
Instructions
- In large bowl whisk together quinoa flour, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.
- In a separate medium bowl beat banana, greek yogurt, eggs, honey, vanilla and almond extract and almond milk until smooth and well combined.
- Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and mix together. The batter will be very thick; consistency will vary based on which yogurt you used. Note: If you find that it is WAY too thick (almost paste like), you can add in a tablespoon or two more milk until it is smooth, but still thick.
- Lightly coat a large nonstick skillet or griddle with butter or cooking spray and place over medium heat. Drop batter by 1/4 cup onto skillet. Add toppings of choice. You may need to use a spoon to spread out the batter just a tiny bit, as pancake batter will be thick and you'll want them to cook thoroughly. It's very important to cook until bubbles appear on top and the edges are well cooked; this is thick batter so you want to ensure even cooking.
- Flip cakes and cook until golden brown on underside, 2 minutes. Wipe skillet clean and repeat with more melted butter or cooking spray and remaining batter. You may need to reduce heat to medium low. Makes 8 pancakes total. Serves: 4 people, 2 pancakes each.
35 comments
I’m thinking we’re doing breakfast for dinner tonight 🙂 This sounds too good to pass up!
YUM! Love this recipe. My “go-to” breakfast is usually granola or a smoothie, but I love making pancakes on the weekend topped with fresh fruit (and sometimes with chocolate chips). It’s so great to be able to freeze these so that when I make a big batch over the weekend, I can reheat them during the busy work week. Great recipe!
Thanks, Heather!
GF, sweetened with honey, and packed with protein? A huge stack for me, please! XO
I am absolutely trying these on the weekend. Love!!
Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious! I lurve quinoa!
Made these and topped with a toasted coconut and pecan sugar free granola and a smidge of maple syrup. So good! I added almond milk til the consistency was close to what I normally do for wheat pancakes and they still got nice and fluffy.
These look AMAZING but I’m a little hesitant to try them. I find my quinoa flour has a bitter taste which I’m not the biggest fan of. Do you find that these pancakes don’t seem to have that?
They’re sweetened nicely and if you add in blueberries or chocolate chips, it gets rid of any bitterness.
Great flavor! And texture! Did not taste the quinoa at all
I’m dairy free & can’t tolerate Greek yogurt. Do you think homemade coconut milk yogurt that has been thickened with gelatin would work as well?
This sounds really good! Sadly I cannot tolerate Greek yogurt. Do you think this would work with homemade coconut milk yogurt that has been thickened with gelatin?
Yes I think so!
I made mine with homemade soy yogurt and a flax seed egg and they were delicious. texture was similar to cornmeal pancakes. I topped with banana and GF dairy free Nutella
Perfect! I’m glad those swaps worked out for you!
I read on another site that if you toast your quinoa flour (220 degrees for 3 hours) first it takes away the bitter flavor. I did that and the pancakes were great even though I left out the honey and used plain greek yogurt. I used full fat yogurt and whole milk since I made them for my sons ( 1&4 yrs old). Thanks! I like giving them healthy things that seem like “treats”!
Loved them!! Wish my kiddos would have eaten them though. Now I am going to eat he whole batch myself! Yum. 😉
This sounds like an awesome recipe. I’m dying to try it! But I’m allergic to dairy and don’t keep coconut yoghurt in the house. I went out especially and bought coconut & rice milk to make this recipe, as I generally just do without dairy-like products too, and then I re-read it, noticing the inclusion of a common allergy food amongst all these nice low-allergy foods. What can I use instead of the yoghurt? Have xantham gum and gelatin in my pantry, but no dairy or dairy-like foods except for the specially-purchased milk substitute.
I think coconut milk would work, but you’ll have to play with the amount. I would suggest 1/2 to start with.
my boyfriend is allergic to bananas… would there be anything else I could substitute in here for that, like maybe applesauce? I made the original recipe for myself and they are amazing!!!
I didn’t have any quinoa flour; however, i had Trader Joes white quinoa. I blended it in my ninja fit blender until it was fine. I followed the instructions to almost to a T except I didn’t have any milk–I added more water. I also added TJs hemp seeds. I blended the liquid ingredients for a smooth taste (my 12 year old son does not like lumpy ingredients in foods) except I whisk the egg separately and added it last to the wet ingredients then add to dry ingredients. It was a little thick so I added more water to change to a lighter consistency. Next time I make these I’m going try with rice milk or coconut oil to add a little more moisture. I love this recipe
Theses were delicious with fresh strawberries on top!
Yum!!
Please tell me if the yoghurt is essential….I forgot to purchase it! I’ve used this recipe before, adding chocolate chips and was delicious as a dessert with fruit and cream. Want to try it again today adding peanut butter. 😋
You can try using milk instead! These would be amazing with peanut butter 🙂
These taste so yummy!
How long will the mixture keep so I can make another batch without having to make a fresh mix every day?
Glad you like them! I would make the pancakes right away and freeze then reheat. That’s usually the beat option for saving time!
quinoa flour is amazing in pancakes!!!
I’M ON CHEMO AND NEED TO HAVE A VERY HIGH PROTEIN DIET. THESE WERE GREAT! AND MY FAMILY ENJOYED THE VERY BANANA’Y FLAVORS! THANKS FOR THE RECIPE. WE WILL BE EATING THESE ALOT!
SOOOOO good. I did need almost 3/4 cup of eden soy unsweetened milk but I used a flax egg instead so maybe that’s why. Also cooked on medium low or else they burn before ready to flip. I topped with frozen blueberries I heat up for a more liquid topping. I used lactose free yogurt as well.
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!
I have a banana allergy. Can I substitute with something else?
Hello! I’d recommend this Lemon Blueberry Quinoa Pancake recipe, which doesn’t have banana. Totally fine to leave the blueberries out!
I’ve made this recipe several times. I usually use vanilla Greek yogurt but didn’t have any this weekend so I used regular yogurt. They weren’t quite as fluffy as with the Greek yogurt but still very good. I’ve served them with blueberry compote but my favorite is adding 3/4c chopped pecans to the batter. Yum!
SO delicious! Glad you loved this recipe and it turned out amazing for you 🙂