I really wanted some fluffy pancakes this morning and have some applesauce I need to use up before going home for the holidays, so I decided to come up with a recipe for extra fluffy vegan applesauce pancakes. Usually vegan or healthy pancake recipes I’ve made are fairly flat, although tasty, but these are so fluffy AND delicious! You’d never think they were vegan. The applesauce sweetens them and provides an oil substitute, without adding a strong flavor, so if you wanted to, you could add other fruit or flavors to these. Most vegan pancake recipes use bananas, which I do love, but they definitely have a stronger flavor, so this a great alternative!
My inner chemist knew I’d have to use baking soda and vinegar to get the most fluff. This was so fun, because of course it fizzed when added together! This whole recipe can be mixed together in one bowl (besides the flax egg preparation), and takes less than 10-15 minutes to whip together. So it’s perfect if you’re hungry for some pancakes!
I used whole wheat flour for more protein and whole grains, and added wheat gluten for extra fluff. To make this gluten free, you should be able to substitute about ½ cup gluten free all purpose flour, although you may need to add a tad more of the baking powder or baking soda and vinegar to add fluff. Let me know if you’d want me to work on perfecting a gluten free version!
Ingredients (makes 5 pancakes):
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp vital wheat gluten (makes for more fluff)
½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
¼ cup milk of choice (I used oat milk)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg (optional)
Pinch of salt
Splash of almond extract (optional, omit if nut free)
1 flax egg (1 tbsp flax meal mixed with 3 tbsp water and placed in fridge for at least 5 minutes to set)
Add last:
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Steps:
1. Prepare the flax egg. Assemble the rest of the ingredients.
2. Mix all other ingredients together except the baking powder, baking soda, and vinegar.
3. Once the flax egg has set, add it to the mixture. Mix in the baking powder, baking soda,
and vinegar.
4. Heat a pan on medium heat and lightly spray with cooking oil. Add a few large spoonfuls of batter to the pan and cook for a few minutes, until the bottom is golden brown, then flip. The pancake will become very fluffy! There was a beautiful surprise kitchen rainbow after cooking my first pancake, as you can see above!
5. Let cool and enjoy! I ate mine with more of my applesauce, some almonds, banana slices, and some unsweetened reduced fat shredded coconut (also tahini, except I forgot to add that before taking a picture).
I also made this as waffles for my brother with the Millenium Falcon waffle maker I got him for Christmas! We are both Star Wars fans, but he knows everything about Star Wars and loves it so much, so this was a really fun present for him, and he thought the waffles tasted great as well! I didn’t have wheat gluten at my house in Minnesota, so I used regular eggs and didn’t add baking soda and vinegar, and these were equally fluffy and delicious! We topped them with applesauce, pure maple syrup, and cinnamon.
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