These gluten-free carrot cake pancakes are made only with whole grain oats and no regular flour for a hearty and delicious breakfast.
Bursting with the warm spices of carrot cake, these oat flour pancakes are almost like having dessert for breakfast.
To make this recipe, you can use my buttermilk oatmeal pancake recipe and add lots of spices and carrots to make them a little more special. These carrot cake pancakes are perfect for Easter brunch or any day of the week. They cook up quickly and make for a fun and different breakfast option the whole family and guests will enjoy.
Ingredients
Oat flour pancakes are super easy to make. You can buy oat flour but I recommend making your own. Here’s what you’ll need:
Oat flour
Your favorite milk
Egg
Vanilla extract
Baking Powder
Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger
Fresh carrots
Make oat flour from regular oats
To make your own oat flour, you just need some old fashioned oats, a blender and a few seconds. Take care to only blend the oats for a few seconds. If you blend it too fine or leave it too coarse, the pancakes will not be light and fluffy.
Tips for the best results
- Blend the oats for a few seconds to get a light, flour-like texture. Don’t grind the oat flour too much. When making your own oat flour, it’s easy to make the flour too fine or to take it so far that it becomes gummy.
- Let the mixture sit to thicken for at least 10 minutes. This will produce the big fluffy pancakes in the photos.
- Use your favorite milk. To keep this recipe dairy-free, use plain almond or cashew milk but you can use regular milk too.
- Grate the carrots fresh and small. Using a bag of shredded carrots would be a mistake. They are drier and often quite hard. Freshly grated carrots will add some moisture and a subtle carrot flavor not crunch.
Once you’ve tried this recipe, use up your traditional oats with one of the recipes below. These are all easy ways to remix that bowl of morning oatmeal!
Healthy oatmeal recipes
Carrot Cake Oat Flour Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups old fashioned oats (ground into flour)
- 1 cup almond or cashew milk
- 1 egg, beaten
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon or more
- tsp ground ginger
- tsp ground nutmeg
- splash vanilla extract
- ½ cup grated carrots, plus more for garnish
- chopped walnuts (optional)
- oil for the griddle
Instructions
- Combine the ground oats with the milk and egg. Let sit 10 minutes to let the mixture thicken.
- Stir in the baking powder, spices, and vanilla extract.
- Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium, until small drops of water sizzle and evaporate within a few seconds. Swirl butter until it melts but doesn't brown.
- Drop two tablespoons of pancake batter onto the griddle. Top each with ~1½ tbsp grated carrots. Cook pancakes – 3 at a time- in the hot pan until small bubbles form on the top. Flip once. The pancakes should be golden brown. Serve warm with butter, maple syrup, extra carrots, and chopped walnuts. Enjoy!
Notes
- Blend the oats for a few seconds to get a light, flour-like texture. Don’t grind the oat flour too much. When making your own oat flour, it’s easy to make the flour too fine or to take it so far that it becomes gummy.
- Let the mixture sit to thicken for at least 10 minutes. This will produce the big fluffy pancakes in the photos.
- Use your favorite milk. To keep this recipe dairy free, use plain almond or cashew milk but you can use regular milk too.
- Grate the carrots fresh and small. Using a bag of shredded carrots would be a mistake. They are drier and won’t work as well.
Danielle
Marisa