One Bowl Vegan Buttermilk Pancakes

One bowl vegan buttermilk pancakes that are so easy and melt in your mouth fluffy! Completely gluten free, these healthy vegan pancakes taste like the real deal!

I’m a big pancake person. Like, I’m talking tall stack, not short stack kinda pancake person. Go big or go home.

And my Sunday morning routine has been filled with pancakes ever since the summer of 2019, when I created this recipe.

I like to make myself a stack whilst enjoying a big cup of coffee and a good book 🙂 You can never go wrong with a little Harry Potter, right?

SO I’ve decided it’s my mission to demystify how to make pancakes from scratch…but not just any pancakes…

We’re talking gluten free vegan buttermilk pancakes.

Trust me when I say this is the only vegan pancakes recipe that you’ll need. Just ask my crew on Instagram 🙂 I swear, it’s usually the first recipe of mine people make before expanding onwards to all the recipes!

Why? Probably because this vegan pancakes recipe is extraordinarily kid-friendly (in fact, people write in saying that their kids loved it as much as they did!), plus it’s made with only a handful of ingredients that are far from weird or uncommon.

But how can you get vegan pancakes to be like regular pancakes without eggs…or buttermilk…or butter?! Let’s find out! (*inserts meme of owl licking a tootsy roll pop here*)

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Ingredients for healthy vegan pancakes:

For these vegan gluten free pancakes, you’ll need only a few simply ingredients:

• Gluten free flour: the gluten free flour that I used in this recipe is by Bob’s Red Mill– I have found that for a general gluten free flour, this is the best one! However, a mix of homemade oat flour with cassava flour works great as a substitute. I suggest using 2 cups oats ground into flour with 1/2 cup cassava flour. You can also use regular flour here at the same ratio and the pancakes turn out amazing!
• Coconut Sugar: to keep these healthy buttermilk pancakes refined sugar free, I used coconut sugar! You can find an amazing and organic coconut sugar at Trader Joe’s or do a little shopping online.
• Vegan “Buttermilk:” one of my favorite baking tricks is to combine a dairy free milk, like coconut milk for instance, with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to create a vegan “buttermilk!” You can use any dairy free milk here, and even use white vinegar as well- it’s just so easy! Just mix the two together, let it sit, and there you go- a homemade vegan “buttermilk!”
• Applesauce: this is key for the fluffiness- I swear, whenever I combine applesauce and my homemade vegan “buttermilk,” I get the fluffiest texture, no matter if it’s gluten free, Paleo, or just regular ol’ flour. There are actually so many inquiries as to how to make pancakes without eggs, and this is your simple fix. However, I also have another trick, which I’ll explain in a second 🙂
• Vanilla: most buttermilk pancake recipes don’t call for it, but I think vanilla adds a really nice sweetness to pancakes! Omit it if you like, but I will always be keeping vanilla in my pancake batter!

How to make vegan buttermilk pancakes from scratch:

I know that making gluten free vegan pancakes may sound intimidating, but it’s actually far from it!

Really, anyone can do this, even kids (with adult supervision ha!)! The part is, whether you’re using gluten free flour or regular flour, the process and ratios are entirely the same. I know, these healthy vegan buttermilk pancakes are that good!

What is a vegan substitute for buttermilk?

The first step in all of this is to make sure that your vegan “buttermilk” is prepared.

To do this, simply mix together the coconut (or any dairy free) milk together with apple cider vinegar, then set it aside while you get the dry ingredients going.

Making healthier pancakes:

Now that we have the vegan buttermilk created, you’ll need to actually make the pancakes! Almost forgot, didn’t you?! Getting all excited over vegan buttermilk ha!

To make the batter:

1. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and coconut sugar.
2. Add in the vegan “buttermilk,” unsweetened applesauce (or flaxseed egg…we’ll get to that in a minute), and vanilla extract in no particular order, and mix it together really well with a spoon. You want to make sure that all clumps of flour are removed!

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Then we prepare to cook the pancakes! For this part, I highly recommend getting a pancake griddle. They are the easiest of kitchen tools to use, and honestly, if you’re a pancake lover like I am, it’s a worthy investment (usually between $30-$40!).

That way, you can cook 12 pancakes on a pan, and really crank these flapjacks out.

OR you can use a regular pan, which is also easy, just won’t fit as many pancakes on there. Either way, heat your preferred tool up and melt a little cooking oil (I like avocado oil or coconut oil here) and pour about a scant 1/3 cup of batter onto the pan.

Cook for 2-3 minutes depending on how hot your surface is, then flip to cook for another 20-30 seconds.

Repeat until you have no more batter left and then serve!

How to make a vegan flax egg:

If you don’t have applesauce or want to keep the sugar count down (unsweetened applesauce doesn’t add that much to begin with though!), you can absolutely swap in a vegan flax egg.

What’s a vegan flax egg? It’s a mixture of water and ground flax that basically forms the texture and consistency of an egg. It actually works wonderfully in vegan baking and is pretty 1:1!

All you’ll need to do to swap in 1 flax egg for 1 egg is:

1. Combine 1 tbsp of ground flax with 1.5 tbsp of water.
2. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes.
3. Add more tbsp of flax for more eggs!

What to top vegan pancakes with:

My favorite part of the process is obviously the toppings! A stack of flapjacks, short or tall, basically becomes your canvas for any flavor combination.

You could go simple, like with a pat of vegan butter and a drizzle of real maple syrup…or even add chocolate chips to that combo!

Or you could go even more classic, with coconut whipped cream and blueberries 🙂

You could also go for a PB & J combo, using fresh jam and a drizzle of peanut butter 😉 The toppings are endless!

What are some of your favorites? 😉

I hope you love these easy one bowl healthy vegan pancakes as much as I do! The taste just comes out insane every time.

If you give them a go, let me know in the comments section below. As always, I love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!

Happy flipping 😉

If you liked this recipe, check out these healthy breakfast recipes!

Gluten Free Vegan Oatmeal Pancakes

Whole30 Vegan Stuffed Sweet potatoes

Gluten Free Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Paleo Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Whole30 Sweet Potato Bowl

Paleo Vegan Sweet Potato Pancakes

Whole30 Grain Free Oatmeal

Paleo Sweet Potato Waffle

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