In the UK, pancakes are typically thin like crepes and served with fillings. However, these vegan, American-style fluffy pancakes are a different ballgame! With mashed banana folded into the batter for a sweet, comforting flavour they’re sure to be a hit for your weekend breakfasts.
Check out the webstory for these pancakes here to see a step-by-step slideshow showing you how to make them!
Vegan Pancakes with Banana
Ingredients
- 2 overripe bananas
- 150-250 ml non-dairy milk we like soy milk or oat milk
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil or sunflower oil plus more for frying
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 150 g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp fine table salt
Instructions
- Peel the bananas and place onto a plate. Use the back of a fork to mash the bananas into a smooth paste. Scrape the mashed banana into a measuring jug and top up with non-dairy milk until the level reaches 300ml.2 overripe bananas, 150-250 ml non-dairy milk
- Add the oil and vanilla to the jug and stir together.2 tbsp vegetable oil or sunflower oil, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Pour in the banana mixture and fold together to get a thick batter.150 g self-raising flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp fine table salt
- Heat a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium-low heat and add a bit of oil to the pan, just enough to thinly coat the pan. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of batter into the pan for each pancake.
- Cook until golden underneath and flip then let cook until the other side is golden. Remove to a plate (keep warm in the oven as you cook the others).
- Serve the pancakes warm with vegan butter and maple syrup.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
What are vegan pancakes made of?
- Self-raising flour – this helps give the best rise to your pancakes, making them super fluffy. Plain flour can be used in a pinch! (see below).
- Baking powder – this gives an extra boost to the rise which helps these eggless pancakes puff up properly
- Non-dairy milk (e.g. soy milk) – a higher protein milk is better here as it encourages browning
- Vegetable oil – to keep the pancakes tender and fluffy
- Sugar (or mashed banana/applesauce) – for encouraging caramelisation on the outside of the pancake, giving them a lovely golden appearance
Typically, vegan pancakes will be made from a base of plain or self-raising flour (depending on whether you’re making American-style pancakes or crepes), with non-dairy milk such as soy milk to loosen. If you’re making fluffy pancakes, they may also include some baking powder or bicarbonate of soda for lift and browning. Instead of eggs the recipe may include ground flaxseed, whipped aquafaba or a fruit puree such as mashed banana/applesauce. We like to include some oil in vegan pancake batter as this helps to keep them tender and replaces the fat you’d find in an egg yolk.
As there are no eggs in vegan pancake batter, they can be resistant to turn golden so we find it’s usually helpful to include some sugar (or, in this case, mashed banana) which helps the batter caramelise when cooked.
How to make vegan pancakes with bananas
- Mash the bananas with the back of a fork until you get a smooth puree.
- Mix the mashed banana with non-dairy milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract.
- Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
- Fold banana mixture into flour mixture to get a thick batter.
- Fry circles of batter in an oiled frying pan until golden on both sides.
- Serve warm with vegan butter and maple syrup.
What can I use instead of eggs in vegan pancakes?
This pancake recipe is specifically developed to not need eggs. We’ve replaced the eggs you’d usually find in pancake batter with mashed banana (which helps with binding and moisture) as well as baking powder (for extra lift).
Why are my vegan pancakes gummy?
This will be due to overmixing the batter. Usually fat in batters helps to prevent the formation of a gluten network (which helps hold the pancake batter together but can make it tough). As pancake batter contains relatively little fat in it, you must be careful when folding the wet ingredients into the dry that you don’t overmix, otherwise you’ll overdevelop the gluten network and end up with gummy pancakes.
If you’re consistently getting tough pancakes, one thing you can try is replacing around 30g (3 tbsp) of the flour with an equal weight of cornflour. Cornflour is gluten-free so will help make your pancakes extra soft.
Vegan pancakes with plain flour
This recipe uses self-raising flour as it does help to produce extra fluffy pancakes. However, if you only have plain flour to hand you can make a DIY self-raising flour! You just need to increase the baking powder from 1 tsp to 2 3/4 tsp .
Vegan banana-oat pancakes
Replace 50g self-raising flour with 60g porridge oats and increase baking powder to 1 1/2 tsp.
