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I am a fan of simple, easy to make meals. I can eat my oatmeal every day and never get bored with it. However, we have a couple of meal-related family traditions. Every Saturday, my husband makes us crepes (I’ll be sharing the recipe soon), and every Sunday I make these protein and iron-rich vegan pancakes.
What is so unique about them? Do we really need another million-and-three-hundred-forty-fifth pancake recipe?
I think we do 🙂
These pancakes use a carefully-chosen flour blend to make them high in iron, enriched by silken tofu for protein content, and do not contain any sugar or syrups and oil! Yes, sugar-free and oil-free pancakes!
I don’t even add oil to the frying pan 😉
None!
They are naturally sweetened by banana and an apple and can be eaten just like so or served with fresh fruit, vegan sour cream, or maple syrup (if you insist :)).
You don’t need to hunt for the ingredients, as you can find them in any grocery store or online.
Let’s jump to the recipe right away, and I will provide more nutritional info below.
Vegan pancakes recipe
Here are all the ingredients. So far, pretty easy, right?
Protein and Iron-rich Vegan Pancakes
Ingredients
Liquid Ingredients
- 1.5 cup soy milk You can use other plantbased milk but I found soy milk to curdle best
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Dry Ingredients
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup semolina flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup brown rice flour
- 1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Additional Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed soft tofu
- 1 mashed banana the riper the sweeter
- 1 diced apple
Instructions
- In a bowl mix soy milk and apple cider vinegar and set aside.
- In another bowl mix the dry ingredients.
- Add mashed banana and tofu into the soy milk and apple cider vinegar mix and stir.
- Add the soy milk mixture to the dry ingredients bowl, add the diced apple and stir.
- Heat the griddle or frying pan on medium-high for a minute or two.
- Scoop the batter to the pan into the desired size pancake, cook them for a minute or two until lightly brown, turn them on the other side and cook for another minute or two.
- Enjoy!
We had so much fun shooting this stop motion video 🙂 Who said making food isn’t fun? 😉
So, what is so unique about these vegan pancakes?
First, they are rich in protein. And because they have a combination of various amino acids contained in the flour blend, soy milk, and tofu, it makes them a complete plant-based protein food. Those who tell you it is hard to obtain complete protein on a plant-based diet, just ask them to think again 🙂
Why this flour blend?
Whole wheat – source of fiber, rich in calcium, iron and protein.
Almond flour – rich in iron, calcium and protein. It is gluten-free (this pancakes recipe is not GF due to the whole wheat and semolina content). Almond flour is also paleo-friendly, though I don’t follow paleo in general.
Semolina is a great source of iron and is a very popular staple in many cultures (including Russia/Ukraine and India). It is high in good carbs and Thiamine (B1 vitamin). Thiamine is essential in the breakdown of carbohydrates from foods into products needed by the body (source).
Brown rice flour – I just add it to make the pancakes fluffier as brown rice flour is very light. But it is also an additional source of plantbased protein.
You can omit tofu if you don’t have it on hand. However, if you don’t like tofu, but still want to keep it in the recipe for that extra protein, you will be happy to find out that you can hardly feel it in these vegan pancakes! Just make sure you use the soft (sometimes it is called silken) tofu and to mash it really well.
By the way, I am hosting a free 31-Day Home Workout Challenge. Wanna join me?
What to serve with pancakes
For those of you who are trying to reduce the amount of sugar (simple carbs) in the diet, you will love the fact that these vegan pancakes are sweet enough to eat on their own, and they have 0 (=zero) added sugar in them.
But if you like your pancakes with fresh fruit, jam, maple syrup, or any other favourite topping, just jump ahead and serve them that way 🙂
I like them with my Vegan Cherry Sour cream made with cashews and frozen cherries. It literally takes 2 minutes to make them (plus 1/2 hour soaking time) 🙂
Just soak 1 cup cashews in water for at least half an hour. After that, drain water, add them to a blender with 1/2 cup of frozen cherries, 1 tbsp maple syrup and juice of half (medium size) lemon. Blend all until smooth, and voila! You have a delicious cherries-flavoured vegan sour cream 🙂
More from my blog:
Vegan Whole Wheat and Almond Flour Waffles
Easy Vegan Quinoa Salad with Herbs
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Brussel Sprouts
If you make these pancakes, please share your feedback with me 🙂 Sharing your food creations on Instagram? Please tag me @prettyveganfit if you post your pancakes photo there. I’ll be super-duper excited to see how they turn out for you 🙂
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