I recently finished watching the entirety of Star Trek Voyager. All seven seasons of a crew of Star Fleet officers and a crew of Maquis rebels working and living together to get back to the Alpha quadrant. If this sounds like gibberish to you, it’s okay. But these whole wheat banana pancakes were inspired by an episode where B’Elanna Torres, a half-Klingon half-human engineer, really really really wanted banana pancakes. And whenever I hear banana pancakes, all I think of is Jack Johnson and his ridiculously catchy song. And because I like to make things healthier, I made it with whole wheat and vegan. Voilà , vegan whole wheat banana pancakes that you’ll feel good about.
Recently I asked on my facebook page how many people you feed in your homes. Since I’m a student and I live with a roommate who eats meat, I typically cook for myself. Sometimes I have guests over, but usually I’ll cook things in batches so that I have some lunch/dinner to take to school (and work, but I work at school so it’s the same thing). But there are some things that I can’t always cook in batches and save for later. Like smoothies. Or oatmeal. Or pancakes. Note that these are all breakfast foods.
All these things are best made fresh. Reheated pancakes? Bleh. No thanks.
So this recipe is a single serving of pancakes. It’s a good chunk of them, and while the whole wheat will fill you a bit more, the healthiness factor is a bit evened out if you’re like me and you like to drown your pancakes in some maple syrup.
You can feel free to double, triple, or quadruple this recipe for your family, but the single serving is exactly the stack of pancakes depicted above, topped with some banana slices and a good drizzle of maple syrup.
I hope my fellow Canadians had a good long weekend, and that everyone is getting ready to go shopping for Back to School season. Did I mention that Back to School season is my favourite season? It’s weird. I have a lust for pens and notebooks that can only be satisfied with the cheap sales of Back to School season.
What can I say, I like school so much that I’ve been in school straight from high school for the past 5 years. This year may be my last year for now, but I think I’ll be coming back to do my PhD not too far off in the future.
For now, I need to catch up on the much needed work on my Master’s thesis. Boy have I been slacking.
Enjoy the pancakes!
Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes
Heart healthy, vegan banana pancakes! Great for a quick, breakfast.
Ingredients
- - 1/2 cup whole wheat all-purpose flour
- - 1 tsp baking powder
- - 1/2 large overripened banana, puréed or mashed
- - 3/4 cup almond milk (or other milk alternative)
- - 1 tbsp sugar
- - oil for the pan
Instructions
- Preheat a pan over medium heat.
- Mix all ingredients together until you get light batter. It shouldn't be very thick, but it shouldn't be super runny either.
- Add a little bit of oil to the pan (not much). Add batter to the pan, and swirl around until you get a round shape (you may need to use the ladle to spread around the batter).
- Cook until the edges have lightly browned and there are bubbles around the edges. Flip and cook until the other side is completely cooked.
- Remove from pan and stack on a plate. Continue to cook batches until all the batter is gone.
- Serve with the other half of the bananas, and top off with maple syrup.
Savannah says
Mmm, I’ll definitely have to make this for a nice Sunday brunch sometime!
Savannah says
Also, I really appreciate that you made the recipe for a single serving!
[email protected] says
Yummy! Bananas are a great “thickener agent” for many vegan desserts and smoothies! Maple syrup is my favorite topping for most pancakes.
Lisa Mai says
I totally agree! And maple syrup is always my topping of choice, does that make me a Canadian stereotype?? haha
Aneesha says
Can I substitute almond milk with coconut milk? Will they still come out to be fluffy?
Lisa Mai says
I’ve never tried that before, it might be a little thick though. Maybe try a little watered down coconut milk so the batter isn’t so thick?
Aneesha says
I tried the recipe with coconut milk this morning. I loved the pancakes! I did water it down a little, next time perhaps I will add more water to the coconut milk. The banana flavour was wonderful too.
Disclaimer – I have never had pancakes before so I have no idea what they are really supposed to be like. I don’t eat eggs so this was really great for me.
Thanks!
marita nizam says
Well, I was making these pancakes for myself and my daughter for breakfast. My son has been eating the same Yogurt pancakes for years (he is a picky eater) but since I didn’t want to make two different types of pancakes I just served him these vegan ones fully expecting him to hate them. He loved them!
Lisa Mai says
That’s so great! Thanks for letting me know =)
Tina says
Hey – just wanted you to know that if you make steel cut oats, you can make a big batch ahead and put them in the fridge. In the morning, I add a bit of almond milk and heat them in the microwave. I add my cinnamon before putting in microwave. After the oatmeal is heated, I add my strawberries, banana, etc. And the steel cut oats taste so much better than the rolled oats – more of a nutty flavor. And buying them in bulk makes them cheap too.
Mary says
Hi, how many cal does this have aprox.? tnxx
Lisa Le says
Hi Mary,
I honestly have no idea. I don’t typically count calories so I haven’t a clue =P
Star says
This was a delicious recipe! I substituted the almond milk for banana milk (just mixed a banana and some water, about a cup or so). The best part was layering the pancakes and banana with Vegan Butter and then pouring some organic maple syrup. It was pure L O V E ! Thanks!
Lisa Le says
Glad you liked them! Layered stacks with more bananas sound fantastic. =) Thanks for coming back to comment!
Tia says
Hi! I have been using this recipe for quite a while, and I even impressed my omnivore parents with it, but ever since we moved into our apartment, for some reason, I can’t get it right. They stick to the (nonstick) pan like crazy and they kund of just turn into mush. Besides lots of oil, is there a fix for this?
Clever says
Thanks for the recipe. I make it weekly. I don’t add the sugar, or add syrup. They’re perfect as is.