Banana Oat Pancakes
This fluffy banana oat pancake recipe is made with 100% oat flour, so it's gluten free. These pancakes are a delicious, healthy and easy-to-make breakfast.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
Good morning! I’m sitting cross-legged on my hotel bed in San Antonio, next to a big window overlooking the Tower of Americas. It’s so cloudy I can barely see the top of it. The fog in my head is slowly lifting as I sip on my cup of coffee, and I just scraped the last bits of my “all natural, super premium” (what does that mean?) instant oatmeal off the sides of its disposable cup with a plastic fork. It’s not bad.
That oatmeal and these photos of fluffy banana pancakes take me back to last Saturday, when I took my time making breakfast, with Cookie by my feet. Cookie loves bananas almost as much as she loves cheese, did you know that? I couldn’t resist making her twirl around on her back feet for bites of banana. Sometimes I think she escaped from the circus, that dog.
These banana pancakes are a little more time consuming than the average from-scratch pancakes, but my oh my, was my work rewarded on my lazy Saturday morning. After making, photographing and fending the cakes from Cookie, I sat down and slid the side of my grandmother’s old fork through three layers of the most creamy, fluffy, heavenly sweet pancakes I have ever tasted.
To my pleasant surprise, I realized that the pancakes inherited oatmeal’s creamy texture thanks to the oat flour, and that the bananas contributed such a lovely, natural sweetness that they hardly needed any syrup. I topped my banana pancakes with sliced banana, toasted coconut flakes and a drizzle of maple syrup, but peanut butter or coconut butter would be a natural fit as well.
So reward yourself after a hard week of work with these banana pancakes while you sip on some freshly brewed coffee from your own mug. You deserve it!
Gluten-Free Banana Oat Pancakes
These fluffy banana oat pancakes are a deliciously healthy, naturally sweetened breakfast for lazy mornings. The recipe is made with 100% oat flour instead of wheat flour, so it’s gluten free, as well as dairy free. Recipe yields about 8 pancakes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup oat flour*
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Scant 1 ¼ cup mashed bananas (about 3 small bananas, mashed, or 9.5 ounces)
- 2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter or coconut oil, plus more for cooking
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oat flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- In a small mixing bowl, stir together the mashed bananas, melted butter, maple syrup, and lemon juice. Add the eggs and whisk until blended. (If your butter or oil goes back to its solid state like mine did at this point, just warm the mixture for short 15-second bursts in the microwave, stirring between each, until it is melted again.)
- Form a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. With a big spoon, stir just until the dry ingredients are thoroughly moistened. Do not overmix!
- Let the batter rest for 10 minutes to give it time to thicken. If you’re using an electric griddle, heat it to 350 degrees Fahrenheit now. Otherwise, you can wait a few minutes before heating your skillet.
- Warm a large skillet (stainless steel or nonstick) over medium-low heat. You’re ready to start cooking pancakes once a drop of water sizzles on contact with the hot surface. If necessary, lightly oil the cooking surface with oil or butter, carefully wiping up excess with a paper towel (nonstick surfaces likely won’t require any oil).
- Scoop ¼ cup batter onto the hot skillet, leaving a couple of inches around the pancake for expansion. Cook until small bubbles form on the surface of the pancake and the underside is golden, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Flip the pancake, then cook until lightly golden on both sides, 1 to 2 more minutes. Repeat the process with the remaining batter, adding more butter and dialing down the heat if the pancakes turn dark on the outside before they’re cooked through on the inside.
- Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven. Leftover pancakes can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, or frozen for up to 3 months. To reheat, stack leftover pancakes and wrap them in a paper towel before gently reheating in the microwave.
Notes
Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking.
Make it gluten free: These pancakes are gluten-free, so long as you used certified gluten-free oat flour or certified gluten-free old-fashioned oats.
*How to make your own oat flour: To make oat flour out of old-fashioned oats, simply pour one cup of oats into a food processor and process until it looks like fine sand. See pictures here.
Preparation tips: This whole grain batter is thicker than most, so it’s more difficult to gauge when the pancakes are ready to flip. I learned that it’s easier to go by the timer: set it for 2 minutes for the first side, then gently check underneath to see if it’s golden (if not, wait up to 1 more minute). Flip and wait another 90 seconds for the other side to finish. The time will vary depending on your temperature setting and subsequent pancakes will cook more quickly, but that’s about the time it should take.
Freeze it: These pancakes freeze well. (I’ve never met a pancake that doesn’t.) Commenter Megan had good luck making the batter the night before, refrigerating it overnight, and proceeding with the recipe the next morning (add a splash of milk to thin out the batter).
Make it dairy free: Use coconut oil instead of butter.
Make it egg free: Replace the eggs with flax eggs (I’ve heard this works well from other commenters, but haven’t had a chance to try myself).
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.
You had me at banana. These look awesome Kate!
These look great! Do you know how many cups of banana that is? Bananas vary in size so much I think. These will be perfect for my gluten-free kiddo! Thank you so much! Sarah Martinez
Hi Sarah, you’ll need just a little over 1 cup mashed bananas for these pancakes.
I am coming over for breakfast!
The pancakes look hearty and delicious! I am obsessed with banana pancakes, and usually sauté the slices in butter and rum before pouring them over the pancakes. :) It’s fun to read about Cookie, the circus dog. I think we need a picture of the twirling.
So there’s no wheat flour in these at all? Because at the bottom you say “this whole wheat batter is thicker than most…” But if there’s no wheat flour, that’s so awesome! Thanks for the recipe.
Oops! You’re right, these pancakes are wheat free! I have a bad habit of calling whole grain recipes whole wheat.
Amazing pancakes Kate. Why aren’t men knocking down your door? Hello!
I’ve been into making waffles, but I’ll have to switch to pancakes this weekend.
Haha! I wonder the same thing sometimes. Maybe I should start introducing myself to attractive men like, “Hi, I’m Kate and I make amazing pancakes.” I’ve been more into waffles and pancakes lately but I assure you that these are worth the switch.
Mmmm, these look perfect. I love that they just use oats – for some reason I just love oaty pancakes…. But I really love the coconut over top :D
I’ve totally been thinking about pancakes lately. It’s been so long since I’ve made a batch! These sound pretty amazing, love that they’re basically made with my favorite morning breakfast, oats!
Kate, these pancakes are beautiful. I would totally not mind spending an extra longer time making these. More than worth it! Beautiful, delicious, healthy! Thanks for sharing this. I’ve been making pancakes every weekend and can’t wait to try this soon.
I will gladly give up my morning smoothie for these – they look delicious! I am picturing having these on a cold winter morning. Yum!!
lovely photography, commentary and recipe, as always. Bookmarking these now!
Those look so good! I love that they’re not just whole grain, but made with oats instead of whole wheat. I make everything whole grain but I don’t actually like the taste of whole wheat. Oats are so much better. :) I’m allergic to bananas so I won’t be making these but they sure look good.
Congratulations on your nomination! I voted for you under best healthy food blog.
Hey Erin, I am sure you could substitute pumpkin, butternut squash or sweet potato purée for the bananas if you like any of those flavors. I love the taste of whole wheat, but I’m looking forward to trying more recipes with oat flour! The creamy texture is wonderful.
That picture of the syrup drizzling over the pancakes– oh my! Scrumptious in both the food AND photography aspects!
I’m voting for you right now, Kate! Well deserved!
Oat pancakes are actually my favorite because of that specific texture though I hardly ever take the time to make them because it requires using (and more accurately, cleaning) the food processor.
You really just made me long for a lazy Sunday morning with this post :)
These look fantastic! The perfect filling breakfast! :D
I have been craving pancakes on and off for the last couple of months. This recipe is not doing anything to help me! I may have to hunker down and get some made this weekend…. YUM!
Yum! These sound like the perfect weekend breakfast. My son would love them! Isn’t it funny what foods dogs get obsessed with? Our old dog used to come running when she heard you chopping raw veggies – she would eat celery leaves, beets, romaine, anything lol!
I love the look of these – all that wholegrain makes them seem so wholesome! And the first shot with syrup pouring over is wonderful :-)
D-lish. We have pancakes every Saturday… might have to add these to the repertoire.
Thanks for sharing!
: ))
Jen
Oh how delicious sounding!! I have had such pancake cravings lately – I really need to get on it! I think I would most like them topped with peanut butter – I love anything involving peanut butter and bananas!
These look so yummy! Lovely idea!
Yum. This looks delicious!
OH MY GOD. these are the best Ive ever had!!!! so delicious! had to blog them straight away for my swedish readers! http://www.traningsgladje.se/2012/03/pannkakor-utan-gluten-och-laktos/
Mmm these look so good – I know what I want for my Saturday morning tomorrow!
YUM YUM! Looks so good :)
Yum, I’ll have to try making my own oat flour, these look so delicious!
hi kate,
these look STUNNING – i couldn’t e-mail you directly because for some reason the contact link insists on putting me onto an e-mail server i don’t use- but i just wanted to say i wish i’d seen it in time to vote for you in the healthy eating blogs award- i looked at all the others who are ranked above you in it (an hour when i should be writing well spent) and you are definitely a personal favorite. Please keep doing what you do so well
amber xx
Thank you so much for your sweet comment and support, Amber! It means more than you know.
Inspired by these, but without bananas I made a variation this morning for breakfast with 2/3 cup white whole wheat flour, 2/3 cup fresh ground oat flour, 2/3 cup all purpose flour. Very tasty and I love the texture the oats bring. Thanks for the inspiration.
I just tried these and both my partner and I LOVED it!!!
We just had them for breakfast this morning as well! Really, really good! I added dark chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.
Thanks for posting such a tasty recipe!
Hooray! Glad to hear you enjoyed the pancakes. Chocolate and walnuts sound like delicious additions!
The photos show bananas served on top of the pancake – how were these made? We’re they raw banana or heated?
Hi Joanne! How are your pancakes? I topped my pancakes with slices of uncooked, raw bananas and toasted coconut flakes. If you want to get fancy you could sautée the sliced bananas in a pan over medium heat in a bit of coconut oil or butter.
PS they’re on the griddle now and it smells wonderful :-)
These pancakes look wonderful! I have a bag of out flour and two ripe bananas that need to be used up so I’m going to make a batch that I can freeze and eat for breakfast this week.
yum! I have been on a gluten free pancake bender as well, I’ve been using almond meal but the texture of yours looks incredible! I’ll be trying this next
You really know how to lure a girl in with that lead photo, Kate! :) Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and pancakes are one of my favorite breakfasts…so obviously I need to try these ASAP. I bet they smell amazing!
I know what I’m making this week-end!
Your photos are beautiful. I will be looking at your site often. Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Wow! Made these this morn. Can’t express n words how YUMMY these are:)
Eating these right now. Delicious!
I made these this morning! Very good! Weight Watcher Points is 3 for 1/3 of recipe. I added 1 T Lite Syrup making them just under 4 points!
Thank you for sharing your Weight Watcher calculations, Dorrie! That is great to know.
I just came across your blog recently, and I want to whole heartedly thank you for this recipe! I made the pancakes this weekend and they came out FANTASTIC! My husband has already requested them for this weekend! Recipes I have made in the past with oat flour have come out dense, but these are light as air. I mixed the bananas, Earth Butter, lemon juice and maples syrup in my electric mixer and then added the egg (similar to the process of making cookies). I think this gave the bananas a nice distribution throughout the batter. Then I carefully folded in the dry ingredients. Letting the batter sit for 10 minutes is key, it really changes the consistency of the batter. Thanks again!
Thanks Christine! I’m so glad you enjoyed the banana pancakes. If you’re not on a gluten-free diet, I also have a recipe for banana bread that calls for honey and whole wheat pastry flour that I think you’d love!
I just made these tonight for dinner (I love breakfast for dinner) and WOW! They are so yummy! My two year old daughter asked for ‘more mummy’, and my Husband asked if they were hard to make because he’d like to have them again! Thank you for sharing. :)
I’ve had these bookmarked for some time but finally made them this morning. So worth the wait! They were amazing and kept me full all day. A definite keeper! I love to bake but as a new mom desperate to get my pre baby body back, I thought pancakes and baked goods were off the menu. I am so relieved to know I can satisfy my sweet tooth and still be healthy. Thank you, Kate!!! Your recipes give me hope! :)
I’m delighted you enjoy the pancakes, Jessica! Bananas are a great fat replacer and natural sweetener. I bet you would enjoy my banana bread recipe, too!
Fabulous pancakes! Light and fluffy and relatively guilt-free. Our bananas were not quite as ripe and sweet as I would have liked, so added about 1/2 tsp. Frontier banana extract (all natural no alcohol). So glad I subscribe to your blog!
I made these this morning, and they were delicious thank you!
I tried making these today and my family loved it, even my picky 22 month old who normally doesn’t eat pancakes. Thanks for posting!
These were a part of our Mother’s Day breakfast this morning…so pleasantly surprised at how well they turned out! They were really soft and I loved coming across bits of banana. It made a total of 7 for me, but perhaps I was a little heavy handed on the first couple pancakes :) Thank you!
So glad my pancakes could be part of your Mother’s Day, Steph!
Just made them. They’re delicious. Didn’t follow your recipe exactly because baking soda did not make sense to me… used baking powder instead. Doubled the honey and omitted the lemon juice since we did not have any. Newly-Diagnosed gluten-intolerant fiance loved them, too:)
Glad to hear that you both enjoyed the pancakes! It is probably good that you subbed baking powder for the baking soda since the soda requires the acidity of the lemon juice to react. Good thinking.
Made these this morning and they are fab! I was wondering if you could sub out the bananas for apple sauce if you didn’t always want the banana flavor? You could sneak in some chocolate chips if you wanted a little treat! : )
Hey Liz, so glad you enjoyed the pancakes! I haven’t tried them with apple sauce (I am generally underwhelmed by apple sauce in baked goods) but I have wanted to try them with pumpkin purée or carrots instead! If they turn out great that way I’ll post those recipes, too!
My son’s girlfriend made these this morning and I may NEVER eat another pancake!! They were D’LICIOUS!! Just a drop of real maple syrup and so yummy!! I am new to your blog but can’t wait to try out the other recipes.
Thanks for commenting, Dotty! I’m glad to hear it!
I made these pancakes for my girls this weekend (age 3 and 6) and they loved them! I was surprised how easy they were to make too- none left to be frozen so will just have to make some more!