Apple Oatmeal Pancakes & News!!!
Fluffy apple pancakes that you can make in your blender! These healthy apple cinnamon pancakes are gluten free, too (no flour required, just oats!).
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
I have never enjoyed keeping secrets, even the good kind. I just might burst from anticipation so here it goes: I’m making a cookbook! It has been in the works for ages, and by ages I mean years, which is a long time in the blog world.
My cookbook is called Love Real Food, as in Cookie and Kate Love Real Food. It’s a title that makes a statement, one that I hope will appeal to you, my most wonderful readers, and a broader audience that hasn’t yet stumbled on this blog or this way of cooking. It’s a statement that conveys my bursting-at-the-seams enthusiasm for real, wholesome food, the kind that both delights the senses and nourishes the body. I hope you like it!
Love Real Food will be an extension of what you have come to expect on this blog, plus some fun special features. It will include 100 recipes that are all vegetarian, fresh and full of flavor. I’m being very careful to use accessible ingredients and have been testing the recipes over and over again to make sure they’re perfect.
I’ve finalized about a quarter of the recipes so far and I CAN’T WAIT to share them with you all. The blueberry muffins alone! They took me nine tries to get just right but they were worth it. The book won’t be complete without a few favorite recipes from the blog (even those will be reworked and tweaked), but the vast majority will be brand new. My stomach is so full right now, you guys.
I’m busy in the best of ways, stretched to maximum capacity with both the blog and the book. Maintaining my presence here and my recipe quality is very important to me, so I’m just moving a little slower than usual. Please keep visiting and letting me know how the recipes turn out for you and sharing my blog with your friends and family! I can’t tell you how much that means to me.
In all sincerity, this blog would never have turned into a recipe website or now, a cookbook, if it weren’t for your presence and your kind words. I took an awfully long time to gather the courage to write this cookbook proposal (my second proposal, long story). Every time you asked me when I was going to publish a cookbook, you gave me a welcome push in the right direction. Thank you. I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been working on!
The book will be coming to you in spring 2017, which might seem like a long time from now. It’ll be here before we know it! I’ve grown accustomed to doing everything myself on this blog, so learning to lean on others in order to make a book has been an adjustment. Big thank you to my awesome agent, Steve Troha, for believing in me and helping me land a deal with Rodale. Rodale has been promoting healthy lifestyles since 1942 (they’re the publisher behind Yummy Supper, Thug Kitchen and The Year of Cozy), and they seem like the perfect fit.
My editor, Dervla Kelly, has been reading this blog for four years, which is pretty special. I’m really excited to be working with her. We’re going to make sure Love Real Food is beautifully designed and full of big, colorful photographs of the recipes (and of Cookie, of course).
I’m so glad the secret’s out now so I can start sharing the creation of Love Real Food with you. Be sure to follow us on Instagram (I’ll be using #loverealfoodbook) and Snapchat (we’re @cookieandkate) for updates! I’ll be putting out a call for recipe testers, too, if you’d like to get involved!
Oh and these pancakes! I thought we could celebrate with pancakes. They’re light, fluffy and infused with apple flavor times two (applesauce and grated apple). They’re also 100 percent whole grain, gluten free and, I kid you not, you can make them in your blender. Just throw everything but the grated apple in there and you’ll have pancakes in no time flat!
Apple Oatmeal Pancakes
Fluffy apple pancakes that you can make in your blender! These healthy pancakes are gluten free, too (no flour required, just oats!). Recipe yields 6 medium pancakes about 4 inches in diameter.
FAIR WARNING: For reasons that I have not been able to deduce, these pancakes haven’t turned out well for everyone like they did for me (I’ve made them six times and they always turned out well!). Oat flour is always a little finicky but I don’t know why these pancakes have been particularly problematic. These pancakes are the reason why my cookbook’s pancakes aren’t oat flour based.
Ingredients
- 1 cup apple sauce
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats (gluten free if necessary)
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil or butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup or honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup grated tart apple (1 large honeycrisp apple was more than plenty for me)
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients except for the grated apple in your blender. Blend until the batter is completely smooth (as in, you shouldn’t see any remaining bits of oats or hear oats hitting the blades), pausing to scrape down the sides as necessary. Stir in the grated apple but do NOT blend again.
- Heat a heavy cast iron skillet/non-stick pan over medium-low heat, or heat an electric griddle to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly oil the surface of your pan with coconut oil, butter or cooking spray. If you’re using a non-stick electric griddle like mine, you might not need any oil at all.
- Once the surface of the pan is hot enough that a drop of water sizzles on it, pour about ⅓ cup of batter onto the pan. This batter is thick, but your pancakes won’t cook through if they’re thicker than ½-inch, so you might need to help spread the batter out with a spatula. Let the pancake cook for about 3 minutes, until bubbles are popping up and the edges are more matte than shiny. (Be patient, these pancakes need to cook a little lower and slower than most.)
- Once the underside is lightly golden, flip it with a spatula and cook for another 90 seconds or so, until golden brown on both sides. You may need to adjust the heat up or down at this point to avoid burning the outsides before the insides are cooked. Repeat with remaining pancakes.
- Serve the pancakes immediately or keep warm in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my gluten-free peach pancakes and vegan pancakes, with reference to Kelly’s banana blender pancakes and Deb’s apple pancakes.
Applesauce substitutions: If you can’t find applesauce, use plain yogurt instead (I know this works with regular plain yogurt, but suspect that Greek yogurt will be too thick). For the yogurt version, increase the amount of maple syrup or honey to at least 1 tablespoon. Milk will not work.
Storage suggestions: These will keep well, covered and refrigerated, for several days. I bet they will freeze well, too!
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Congrats on the book, I’d love to be a recipe tester (I have plenty of experience in this area)!
Question – have you tried this pancake recipe with an egg replacement?
Thank you so much, Jessica! No, I haven’t tried the oat pancakes with an egg replacement. You might even be able to skip it altogether, but I haven’t tried. Please let me know if you do!
Congratulations on your cookbook! I make your recipes often and not a recipe that we have not loved and we have made a lot of them!
I was eager to make these pancakes this morning but they really did not cook no matter what I did. Started at 350, too hot, then down to 325, then I ended up turning the grittle down to 300 and cooking them for a long time and still not cooking. Followed recipe exact so not sure what to change…any thoughts would be appreciated as I know my kids would love these
Hi Amanda! I’m so sorry the pancakes didn’t turn out right for you. I just retested them tonight. I didn’t run into the pancakes not cooking—do you mean they never cooked through the middle? The batter is pretty thick, so I used my spatula to spread the batter out a bit (it shouldn’t be thicker than 1/2″ tops). I’m making a note of that now. Do you think that might do the trick for you? I want them to turn out perfectly!
Congratulations on your book dear! And those pancakes are giving me life right now!
Thank you, Sophie!
I’m so pleased to hear about your cookbook. I don’t think I’ve ever commented here before, but I’ve made a number of your recipes with great success. Recently I made the the wild rice salad (with dried cherries and almonds), and enjoyed it so much I turned around and made it for company just a few nights later. And your West African Peanut Stew is so delicious, and perfect for when you feel under the weather — at one point last winter when I had a terrible cold, it was all I wanted to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’ll certainly look for your cookbook and pre-order it with pleasure!
Thank you so much, Janey! Delighted to hear that. Thank you for commenting! :)
Oh man I am sooooo excited!
Every single recipe I try from your website is AMAZING!
Can’t wait to get your book, just make sure it’s full of vegan recipes too okay…?
Because I think I would cry otherwise ;)
I would love to try this recipe (just swap out the egg of a flax egg) but I have an oat allergy (this sucks just as much as you’d think), so do you think that normal flour would work?
Thanks Kate, and I just can’t wait :D
Thank you, Jadzia! I’m doing my best to make sure there are lots of vegan recipes in the book (I’ll be sure to offer vegan substitutions when they’re available). I think you’d have good luck using my vegan pancake recipe and just adding some cinnamon and freshly grated apple. You could try substituting applesauce for some, if not all, of the almond milk, too. Please let me know if you give that a try!
Looks Fantastic.Love your food photography and details, really helps,
thank you so much for sharing
Congratulations!!! I look forward to making and devouring every recipe in your cookbook!
Thank you, Cheryl!
Congrats on the book, Kate! I hope we’ll get to meet in person at Chopped Con this year. (We have the same agent– I love Steve!) Until then, good luck on the cookbook writing!
Yes! I will be there! Can’t wait to meet you, Megan! :)
Best of luck with the rest of the process! Can’t wait! This will certainly become a staple in my kitchen.
Thank you, Emily! :)
Um…. well….. it seems such a long time to wait – because it is such a long time to wait for something so awesome!
Congratulations on the book!
That is so so exciting, and I think that the fact it’s coming out only in 2017 means it’s going to be beyond awesome, as it won’t have to be rushed and we’ll know the recipes have truly been tried and tested =)
Thank you, Teffy! I’m determined to make sure the recipes are well tested, for sure!
Congrats, Kate! I can’t wait to be able to add your cookbook to my small, but awesome, collection. Your recipes are always a hit in my home. What an awesome accomplishment for you! And I call dibs on being a recipe tester :)
Thank you so much, Toby! I just added you to my testers list. :)
Congratulations on the book. I printed out 2 of your pancake recipes last week. Really wanted to make this one but that 1 T of baking powder gave me pause. That combined with the 1/2 t of salt means the whole recipe has as much sodium as you’re supposed to have in a day. My DH can easily eat 6 pancakes. Ended up making your pumpkin pancakes and they were yummy.
Hi Sue! Thank you for pointing out the sodium issue. I hadn’t taken that into account when I switched from baking soda to powder. I just reduced the salt to 1/4 teaspoon. Glad you enjoyed the pumpkin pancakes!
These would help keep my toddler’s breakfasts healthier than the cereal she keeps getting! These look so good and simple!
Congrats!!! Sounds like you’ve lined up a great team. I’m guessing you will be a bit stressed over this project, but it will be worth it. Try to find a way to celebrate when it’s done. And try to carve out some quiet moments during the ride!
Thank you very much, Deb! :)
Great news about the book! I’ll definitely have to rethink my “no more cook books” policy and make space for this one! I love your recipes and have tried several.
I made the apple pancakes over the weekend and I’m afraid I didn’t really like them, a first for your recipes. It took me a couple of tries to get the cooking right and then I was into the rhythm but I didn’t like the texture (slightly squidgy) of the end result. Sorry! I guess if you are gluten intolerant, which I’m not, they are a good alternative but for now I’ll stick to my flour based apple pancakes.
Now I’m off to make my current favorite lunch; veggie sushi bowls.
Thanks for making an exception for my book, Kate! I’m so bummed you didn’t love these pancakes. They do have a little more give than gluten pancakes, but I love them. Glad you like those sushi bowls!
Hi! I have never posted before, but every recipe of yours I have tried has been FABULOUS! I am so excited about your book!!! Congratulations! Your blog if def one of my favorites- I turn to it often for new recipes & your pics are always so gorgeous! Thanks to you & Cookie!
Kate :) (& Frank >^^< )
Hip hip! Thanks so much for saying so, Kate (and Frank)!
Hi Kate! Your blog is one of my favorites when I’m looking for new, delicious recipes. I’m beyond excited to hear about your cookbook and can’t wait to see it in stores!
I’ve had this pancake recipe bookmarked since it was posted and finally had time to make them this morning. Unfortunately, I had many of the same problems as other commenters – batter was just too thick, pancakes wouldn’t cook through, even after adding milk to thin the batter and spreading them out in the pan. Sadly, the flavor of mine seemed off too. I ended up tossing the batter :( I’m mostly blaming my really terrible blender! I should have known that a blender that can barely make smoothies couldn’t handle pancake batter!
Hi Vicki, I’m so sorry to hear that these pancakes didn’t work for you! Sometimes, recipes work well for me and I don’t know until I post them that they’re finicky in other kitchens. Boooo. I’ve remade these multiple times and can’t figure out why they aren’t working for some others, but you’re right, it could have to do with your blender! Apologies again and glad to hear that you’re looking forward to my cookbook. :)
Kate, I love your blog and can’t wait for the cookbook! Yay, how exciting! Keep it coming! :)
These pancakes are awesome!
So satisfying and don’t give me the bloated feeling after eating wheat-based pancakes. I have made them twice already to rave reviews.
They will definitely become part of my regular breakfast repertoire.
Can’t wait for your cookbook!
Hooray! Thanks, Cindy. They’ve given some people trouble so I’m really glad they have turned out great for you. :)
Hi Kate.
Congrats and yum! I want to know if you think I can make this batter the night before and then cook them in the morning. With some pancake batters, I have found that the pancakes are flat if I store the batter in the fridge overnight. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Rachel
Hi Rachel! So the differenece is probably due to the leavener. Baking soda bubbles up right away, and once those bubbles dissipate, you’ll end up with flat pancakes. Baking powder is double action, meaning it bubbles up some right away and then heat activates it again, producing more bubbles. These pancakes use baking powder, so they might work well as an overnight batch. I’m just not sure, since the oat flour soaks up more liquid the longer it rests (you might get some really fat pancakes). Please let me know if you try! Another option would be to mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet in another, and store them separately until you’re ready to make pancakes (store the wet ingredients in the fridge). Then just whisk them together and proceed as directed.
Congratulations on the cookbook! That’s so exciting, and I’ll definitely be on the look out for it. I’ve loved every recipe I’ve made from your blog, and am really excited to know that there will be a book out. Thank you for sharing your recipes!
Yay, thank you, Patricia!
Hi Kate,
Is the call for recipe testers still on? I’d love to be one for you. I have done a few of your receipes in the past and have turned out great!. Looking forward to many more!
Thank you, KD! I just added your name to my list!
Congrats on this milestone. You more than deserve it!
I don’t know how I missed this news! Congratulations a thousand times Kate! I cannot wait to have my own copy of Love Real Food sitting on my kitchen bench, loved and stained and saturated with memories of good times had over your delicious recipes! Also, I will be buying like ten copies for family and friends :)
Thank you SO much, Amy! :)
If I want to omit the maple syrup, do I need to add additional liquid (applesauce, yogurt, other)? I make most of my pancake recipes sans sugar, since I top them with maple syrup anyway. Also, could these be made with oat flour instead of rolled oats and if so how much? I’d love to be able to whisk these by hand in a bowl to eliminate having to wash the blender.
Hi Kristin! I know that incorporating sugar/maple syrup in pancake batter seems a little excessive since we all pour maple syrup on top anyway, but the sugar/maple syrup actually improves the texture of the pancakes and helps them cook more evenly. You could make these with oat flour, for sure. I’m not sure exactly how much to use, but if you have a scale, you could measure 1 cup oats and use that weight for the oat flour.
We LOVED these pancakes. I didn’t have any problems with the batter that the other users did. They don’t quite cook up like white flour pancakes. I think I had to watch them more than regular pancakes to make sure they were not over cooked but in the end I thought they were really moist. Used Gala apples and honey in the recipe. The maple syrup on them made the pancakes complete. Really great apple-maple flavor. My husband, who is the best pancake maker in the world, loved these and wanted to make them again. Thanks for another great recipe.
I forgot to mention that I thought using the blender was more work than it was worth. I find it easier to grind the oats first and pour in to a mixing bowl, add the other ingredients to them and then just stir. I found it too hard to get all of the ingredients to mix properly in the blender.
Thanks, Julie! So glad these turned out great for you. I hear you on the blender trick, too.
Apple pancakes are my favorite! Can’t wait to give these a try this weekend :)
Hi,
I haven’t made these yet but they sound amazing. Just wondering if there is a recipe without oats/wheat/egg/dairy?
Can the oat come out of this recipe?
Thanks, will definitely try these without my daughter high :)
Hi Lisa, I’m sorry, these pancakes are a little finicky as is so I’m not sure that making substitutions will work. I have heard that these buckwheat pancakes turn out well with flax eggs instead of real eggs, and you can make your own buttermilk with dairy-free milk (just check the recipe notes).
The recipes I find on this blog are my favorites, and they’ve proved to be a rich source of inspiration. So I’m so eager to get my hands on your new book (Love Real Food) as soon as possible.
Thanks for the great work you’ve done over these years Kate!
Thank you, Reza!
This seems amazing but…the egg…I’m vegan, so can I use a flax or chia egg instead?
I’m sorry, I’m not sure an egg replacer will work well for these pancakes. They’re a little finicky as is. :(
So exciting!! Congrats on the cookbook!!
Have you tried to make this without the egg? I don’t have any here but I love adding the apple and oats for the kids. :)
Thanks!!
Thanks, Brooke! I’m sorry, I haven’t tried these without egg, and I’m not sure they’ll turn out well without the egg as a binder. :(
I can’t wait for your book, congrats!!! By the way I did these pancakes and are so awesome, thanks
Thank you, Liz! So glad the pancakes turned out well for you!
I did it in a foodprocessor instead of a blender, so they were a bit crumbly due to not being able to chop up the oats quite enough, but SO DELICOUS! Love ’em.
I am new to your blog and have made your veggie chili twice with great success. These pancakes were a mixed bag… they didn’t hold together well at all and the final product was pretty mushy. Maybe they needed a bit more oat flour? The taste was amazing, though, and my 2-year-old and 4-year-old gobbled them up. My older son even said, “These are better than apple turnovers,” which is high praise! My other complaint is that there definitely weren’t enough… my husband and I only got a taste because the kids ate almost all of them! ;) So I would double the recipe and possibly tweak it a bit to make them less mushy. Thanks for the great blog!
Do you know the nutritional value for the recipe? They are awesome! Thanks for posting.
I love this recipe! The only thing I want to say is that oats aren’t gluten free unless you buy specific ones. Trust me, you are not the only person who has done this, but it kinda annoys me because I know multiple coeliacs and I really want to cook nice food for them without having to buy gluten free versions of things. Anyways, great recipe! Looking forward to trying it out!
I am using few of these recepies in my childcare and the children just love it.
These were so good! I’ve tried so many online oat pancakes recipes that just fell apart or tasted like cardboard. I accidentally used a tbsp of honey instead of a tsp but I like very sweet things so it was fine. I also added a tbsp of cinnamon, raisins and walnuts to give it a lot of flavor & luckily I didn’t affect the cooking time. The only con was that I did this in the bullet blender & it was hard to open & the batter was very thick on the blade making it hard to clean. But in taste, a 10!!!
Hello Kate. I made these last night for supper using a few substitutions to accommodate my diet – egg replacer for the egg (you could possibly use flax or chia eggs but I prefer the egg replacer when such goods need rising) and more apple sauce in place of the melted coconut oil or butter. I did also increase the maple syrup (2 teaspoons) as I generally top my pancakes with a berry compote, smear it with PB2 and raspberry chia seed jam or the like. Next time however I think I might add a little more maple syrup (1 tablespoon) because I found the pancakes a little tart-tasting, or I could use a sweeter apple variety instead. Nevertheless, with my substitutions, these pancakes remain delicious overall. I think I’m going to make these pancakes for my mother, keeping to the recipe as is for she has no diet restrictions – I know they will just come out super tasting then. Thank-you for all your wonderful recipes. I am extremely excited for your cookbook, Love Real Food, and am counting down the days to its release. Keep the healthy recipes coming!
Greetings from the land Down Under – Melbourne, Australia :)
Oh, and I just noticed in your Notes for this recipe, you state to reduce the salt to 1/4 teaspoon if using plain yogurt. Do you mean to eliminate the salt as the original recipe reads 1/4 teaspoon already?
Many thanks in advance for the confirmation.
Hi Quinn! I’m sorry for the late response. I haven’t been able to keep up with comments like I’d like to since the cookbook has been taking up so much of my time. I can’t wait for you to see it! I am so glad you could make these pancakes work for you. I believe that my recipe originally called for 1/2 teaspoon salt, but I reduced that later, so you can disregard that comment about the salt. I just deleted it. Thank you for pointing that out!
I am using few of your recipe in my childcare and the children just love it. I love it there is no artificial sugar in your recipe.
Thank you, Monika! I’m so glad!
I’m so disappointed! I tried this recipe for my family this morning, and the they do not cook in the center even if you smear the “batter” across the pan. Don’t waste your ingredients, unless you have a half hour per pancake, only to still be left with a gooey center.
Hi Julia, I’m so bummed these pancakes didn’t work out for you, too. :( They have always turned out well for me, but you’re not the first to have trouble. I don’t know why the pancakes wouldn’t rise at all, unless there was an issue with your baking powder. You might double check to make sure it is still active—all you have to do is drop a little bit of it into hot water and look for a bubbling reaction—if it fizzes, then that wasn’t the issue.
I’m making the apple pancakes this morning but I need calorie count on your goodies. I’m counting calories to lose,the pounds, so my calories count,although I can break,this down and figure it out, thought perhaps you had the nutritional values…thanks, Betsey
Hi Betsey, I’m sorry, I don’t have the nutrition details for my recipes, although I am considering adding them in the future. They aren’t easy to calculate given that I often offer ingredient substitutions, and ingredients vary by brand anyway.
I’m so disappointed!!! This is my very first recipe by you that didn’t work at all! I love you and Cookie so much but I guess this recipe just wasn’t right.
I’m super disappointed to hear that, Ana! I’ve heard mixed results from readers on this one, and I just can’t figure out what’s going wrong for them. They turned out well for me six times in a row. :(
Fantastic Recipe! My deviations — used a food processor which helped get the right texture for the batter, pink lady apples, and, 1/2 the vanilla for my taste…really incredible outcome…I’ve been looking for a really flavorful gluten free pancake recipe for some time. The Magic of this recipe IMO are the shredded apples folded in at the end.
Thanks for the tips, I’ll try your suggestions.
I tried these this morning. They didn’t turn out well at all. The flavor is great though. I’ve made pancakes with oat flour before and they have always turned out very well so I thought I’d give these a shot. Certified gluten free ingredients are expensive, but I’ll keep trying and let you know how I do. I would suggest you have 15 or 20 random gals of various cooking abilities test kitchen your gluten free recipes before you book publish them and then post all the tips you can accumulate with each recipe. On average, the majority of cooks should be able to follow a recipe and it turn out close to the picture. I’m 54 and have been told I’m a good cook. It’s also not the first GF recipe I’ve made. Too embarrassed to send a photo. Good luck and thanks for sharing your recipes with others. I’m giving the recipe a three on the grounds the ingredients are healthy and the taste is great, and lastly to give you the benefit of the doubt that it could be user error.
Te apple oatmeal pancakes sound good and I will try them but you did not say to use gluten free oat meal to make them truly gluten free
Thanks, Lynne. Just fixed it.
I’ve made these twice in the past week, my little one loves them. Have turned out amazing both times. Thank you so much for the recipe!
I love this recipe! I made it twice this weekend, both times getting great results. I really appreciated your thorough directions, especially about the consistency of the batter and how long to cook them. My 14-month-old daughter loves them as well, and I am so happy about this recipe because it uses no added sugar. Thanks! Can’t wait to take a look at your cookbook!
Thanks so much for letting me know, JoAnna! I’m glad they turned out great for you.
I just made these for dinner as I’m doing an elimination diet (no gluten, dairy, soy etc.) These turned out pretty good for us. Good flavor and very moist. The texture was interesting as it was a bit more like french toast (custard-like). I think maybe I’ll add a smidgen more oats next time to see if that helps. Also, I might have to double the recipe. They were gone fast!
Thank you, Shirley! Good idea to add a teeny bit more oats next time.
I just tried these again and cut the applesauce by a 1/4 cup and added a 1/4 cup of oats and they were perfect! Thank you for the recipe!