I never believed bloggers who claimed to bake with vegan ingredients just because they ran out of butter and eggs. Pshhh. You just know people want to see vegan recipes!
But, ahem, now I believe it, because I fully intended for these pancakes to have eggs. Then I got home from the grocery store and realized I had no eggs. Welp. Vegan pancake time.
Aaaand that’s when this recipe from Minimalist Baker came to my rescue! I feel like other bloggers’ recipes are such a godsend when I’m in a pinch like that. I especially liked this recipe because Dana mentioned that she’d tested it 8 times to get the consistency just right. Eight! That is exactly what I wanted to hear. You see, Nate’s sister was staying with us and I wanted to be a good hostess, not make everyone wait around all day while I tested my own vegan pancake recipe. You know?
As it turned out, I take FOREVER when I make a recipe for the first time, not to mention the slooooow torture that is heating up my electric burners, so everyone had to wait around for their pancakes all morning anyway. Oops. But that’s what the holidays are for! Hanging out with family on lazy mornings (and of course eating pancakes). Right?
These pancakes have a great tender and fluffy texture that I loved, due to several things:
First of all, the buttermilk substitute made of almond milk and cream of tartar. I read in Cook’s Illustrated recently that milk and cream of tartar makes the best buttermilk substitute, because there’s no flavor from the lemon or vinegar that’s often used as a substitute to curdle the milk. Not only is this substitute vegan, but it means you won’t end up with a mostly-full container of buttermilk at the back of your fridge for a week after making pancakes. Hooray!
Second, using half whole wheat flour and half oat flour. I love the texture of oat flour, and felt like it really added some bulk to these pancakes. Just grind up some oats in your food processor or blender and you’re good to go!
I should also mention that you’d never know these were vegan. And there’s not a flax egg in sight! Pure magic.
I knew these would be a hit in our house because they are basically a pancake version of the oatmeal we’ve eaten every single weekday morning since September. (Would you guys like to see it? Or is microwaved oatmeal too boring to count as a recipe?) And I was right – Nate was not at all disappointed when I made this recipe two weekends in a row to perfect it. He even hinted for them a third time, too… I don’t think I knew what I was getting myself into!
Have a great weekend filled with relaxation and (hopefully) pancakes!
- 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp plain unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 Tbsp cream of tartar
- 1/3 cup packed pumpkin puree
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup oat flour (1/2 cup oats ground to a powder in a food processor), or use all whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- pinch of kosher salt
- vegan butter or neutral cooking oil
- maple syrup
- pecans
- other desired toppings!
- In a large bowl, whisk together almond milk and cream of tartar. Let sit 5 minutes to curdle.
- After 5 minutes, whisk in remaining wet ingredients.
- Place a sifter over the bowl with the wet ingredients and sift in all dry ingredients. (If not all of your oat flour will sift in, it's fine to just dump it in afterwards!) Gently whisk until combined. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes to thicken. This is important!
- While the batter sits, preheat a griddle or non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. (I especially recommend doing this the entire time your batter is sitting if you have electric burners like I do!)
- Add a small pat of vegan butter or drizzle of cooking oil to the skillet to coat it evenly. Using a 1/4-cup measure as a scoop, drop pancake batter into skillet, leaving plenty of room in between. (I can get 3 pancakes in my large skillet.) Cook several minutes on the first side, until edges begin to darken. Flip and cook 1-3 minutes longer on the second side. Repeat with remaining batter.
- Serve topped with maple syrup and sprinkled with pecans or other toppings of your choice. Enjoy!
These look really good Erica! I will have to google ‘cream of tartar’ since it’s not a thing that rings a bell with me (I’m from the Netherlands ;-).
HOLY CRAP!! These pancakes look incredible!! As many pancakes as I’ve made, I have never ever made a vegan pancake, and have been meaning to for quite some time. These are gorgeous and I can taste the flavor and fluff right now. Have a great weekend, lady!
These look great, Erica! I’ve done vegan baking more and really should do more! Do you think you’ll do more vegan baking and if so, what’s next? Have a great weekend! <3
Girl, these pancakes look so stinking good!!! I cannot believe how moist and fluffy they look for being vegan. If Nate is a fan I know Taylor would be all over these (I’d have to hide the fact that they are vegan) Happy Friday!
These look absolutely scrumptious!!! My question, how much cream of tartar to how much almond milk? Tried to figure from amounts in the recipe, but that was a no-go…..HELP!!!! I really would like to serve these tomorrow….Thanks for your wonderful site!!!! Kelly
Hi Kelly, 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons almond milk to a 1/2 tablespoon cream of tartar. Hope that helps! Have a great weekend :)
So glad you liked these, Kelly! I did a lot of testing to get them right so I’m glad you enjoyed them so much. Thanks for the share, too! And great photos!
I love that these are vegan and I LOVE that I am still finding pumpkin recipes out there! I have decided that I am going to be eating pumpkin year round :).
ohhhh my goodness… these look amazing! I’m certainly no vegan but I see NOTHING wrong with these vegan pancakes :) will be trying them out ASAP!
Saturday morning breakfast here we come!
Seriously?? No flax egg? AND a better buttermilk substitute!! And it’s pumpkin spice! Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is the recipe I’ve been dreaming of my whole life! SOO happy I checked in tonight! I can smell tomorrow’s breakfast already! :)
I never believed those bloggers either but I guess I can believe it now. :)
These look delicious! I’d be more than happy to hang out and wait for a stack.
These pancakes look SO good!! I love making pancakes in the mornings ;)
Same here – I really should make time to do it more often!
Ha! So good to know I’m not the only one who takes forever when creating a recipe! Oat flour is my go-to for pancakes…I swear it makes them so much lighter and fluffier than whole wheat pastry flour. And I almost always go the route of almond milk + apple cider vinegar for a buttermilk sub…interesting to hear about the cream of tartar! I’ll have to give that a go sometime!
Hi Erica!,
Love your blog. Woke up with no eggs in the house and a craving for pumpkin pankakes.
Now i can make them in my jamies.