Description
These healthy pumpkin pancakes are the best sweet breakfast to make during the fall. They’re made with 100% whole wheat flour, pumpkin puree, milk, eggs, and the perfect blend of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg spice.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 cup milk (Note 1)
- 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar (or lemon juice)
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled (or vegetable oil)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole wheat flour (Note 2)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (or maple syrup)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Make the homemade buttermilk. In a large mixing bowl, add the milk and vinegar (or lemon juice if using). Stir together with a fork and let rest for 5 minutes. The milk will curdle slightly.
- Mix the wet ingredients. Add the pumpkin puree, egg, vanilla extract, and melted butter to the homemade buttermilk mixture. Whisk to combine.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Use a whisk or fork to mix together until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add the dry ingredients on top of the wet ingredients and gently whisk to combine. You want to make sure there are no dry clumps of flour stuck to the bottom of the bowl. It’s normal for the pancake batter to be slightly lumpy. AVOID OVERMIXING THE BATTER.
- Let the batter rest for 10-15 minutes. This allows the flour to fully hydrate and the batter to thicken, which will give you fluffier pancakes. During this time, you can preheat the skillet or griddle and get your pancake toppings ready.
- Cook the pancakes. While the pancake batter is resting, heat a griddle or large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Once hot, brush the skillet with melted butter, ghee or cooking spray.
- Scoop ¼ cup of the batter onto the griddle to form a pancake. Depending on the size of your skillet or griddle, you may be able to fit 2 to 3 pancakes. Cook until the edges of the pancake look set and you notice bubbles start to appear on the top, about 2-3 minutes. Confidently flip the pancake and let the other side cook for another 1-2 minutes, or until the pancake is cooked through.
- Serve and enjoy! Serve warm with your favorite toppings.
Notes
- Milk: I use whole milk for this recipe, but I’ve also had success with 2% milk or oat milk as a dairy-free option.
- Can you use buttermilk? You can replace the milk with 1 cup of buttermilk if desired. If you use buttermilk, omit the vineagar or lemon juice.
- Flour: I use 100% whole wheat flour for this recipe. You can substitute with 1 cup of all-purpose flour if desired. If you use all-purpose flour, start with 3/4 cup milk (you can add more milk to thin the pancake batter later if needed). This is because whole wheat flour absorbs more liquid than all-purpose flour.
- Butter: I use unsalted butter to limit the amount of salt in this recipe. You can use salted butter if desired, just make sure to not add salt to the dry ingredients.
- Can you use pumpkin spice? If you don’t have the individual spices, you can substitute with 1.5 teaspoons of pumpkin spice.
- Leftovers? Let the pancakes cool before storing them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Or you can freeze them for up to 3 months.
- Nutrition information is a rough estimate based on 1 pancake with no toppings.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 pancake
- Calories: 168
- Sugar: 5.5g
- Sodium: 213mg
- Fat: 8.2g
- Saturated Fat: 3.4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.2g
- Trans Fat: 0.1g
- Carbohydrates: 19.6g
- Fiber: 2.5g
- Protein: 5.8g
- Cholesterol: 36mg