Pumpkin Pancakes
These healthy pumpkin pancakes are so fluffy, you won't believe they're 100% whole grain. This pumpkin pancake recipe is sure to become your favorite.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
Happy Sunday! I’m sharing these fluffy whole wheat pumpkin pancakes too late for breakfast this morning, but the recipe has actually been available here since 2010. It’s actually one of my oldest recipes, and one of my favorites for fall.
These pumpkin pancakes taught me that whole grain pancakes can be every bit as tasty and fluffy as pancakes made with regular flour. Bonus? These babies don’t send my blood sugar spiraling out of control like the regular kind.
This recipe taught me a lot about making pancakes from scratch. It inspired my fluffy vegan pancakes, gingerbread pancakes, and the pancake recipes in my cookbook. I’ve made these pancakes for my family on Thanksgiving morning and they were a big hit.
I never felt like the old photos did these pancakes justice, so I’m sharing the recipe again today. I updated the recipe notes and added nutrition information while I was at it. Pumpkin pancakes for dinner, anyone?
Watch How to Make Pumpkin Pancakes
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes
These healthy pumpkin pancakes are so fluffy, you won’t believe they’re 100% whole grain. This pumpkin pancake recipe is sure to become your favorite. It’s naturally sweetened with maple syrup, too! Recipe yields 6 to 8 medium pancakes, enough to serve two to three people. Double the recipe for a larger crowd, or if you would like leftovers.
Ingredients
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon (for stronger pumpkin “spice” flavor, use 1 teaspoon or substitute 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice blend)
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk of choice
- ⅓ cup pumpkin purée
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup or brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons melted butter or coconut oil
Instructions
- If you’ll be using an electric skillet, preheat it to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir until blended.
- In a separate bowl, combine the milk, pumpkin purée, egg, maple syrup, vanilla extract and melted butter. Whisk until thoroughly blended. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir until no big lumps remain. (If your butter or oil solidifies on contact with cold ingredients, just warm the mixture in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds until it melts again, or let the mixture rest for a few minutes in a warm place).
- If you’re not using an electric griddle, heat a heavy cast iron skillet or nonstick griddle over medium-low heat. You’re ready to start cooking your pancakes once the surface of the pan is hot enough that a drop of water sizzles on contact.
- If necessary, lightly oil the cooking surface with additional oil or cooking spray (I don’t oil the surface of my non-stick griddle and my pancakes turned out great).
- Using a ⅓-cup measure, scoop the batter onto the warm skillet. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until small bubbles form on the surface of the pancakes. It’s ready to flip when about ½-inch of the perimeter is matte instead of glossy. Flip each pancake and cook on the opposite sides for 1 to 2 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
- Repeat the process with the remaining batter, greasing the skillet as needed. If necessary, dial the heat down to prevent burning the pancakes. Serve the pancakes immediately, or stack them and cover the plate with a tea towel to keep them warm.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Big Girls, Small Kitchen.
Leftover pancakes? Pancakes make great leftovers! Store them in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or freeze them for months. To warm, wrap a short stack of pancakes loosely in a paper towel and gently reheat in the microwave until warmed through, flipping and re-wrapping the stack halfway through.
Make it vegan: Use non-dairy milk (like almond milk), omit the egg and replace the butter with coconut oil.
Make it dairy free: Use non-dairy milk and replace the butter with coconut oil.
Make it egg free: Just omit the egg (really).
Flour options: All-purpose flour should also work fine here.
Make it gluten-free: Bob’s Red Mill’s gluten-free all-purpose flour will work well here. Or, check out my pumpkin oat pancakes!
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.
Here’s the original photo for these pumpkin pancakes.
Great recipe! I used a flax egg (1T ground flax/3 T hot water) instead of the egg and liquid coconut oil in place of butter. They were delicious! We topped with salted pecans as well. Thank you for the recipe. They were perfect on this crisp autumn morning.
Thank you for sharing, Vicki!
Whoop! Mine turned out awesome! I used a buckwheat pancake mix from Bob’s red mill. I used the same proportions (1 c flour-mix to 1c liquid) but doubled the recipe and used a carton of evaporated soy milk for the liquid. I mixed the milk, pumpkin and the syrup and oil all together first before adding to the flour. -(I left the egg out, didn’t miss it.) I also did not use oil with my nonstick pan. I think I will never use oil again with pancakes, with a ceramic coated pan, it’s not needed! Even though it was a buckwheat-blend pancake mix they still turned out relatively fluffy. I’m freezing these for lazy Sunday morning breakfasts.
Great to hear, Sarah! Thank you for your review.
So delicious! Put in the increased amount of cinnamon, and topped with some sort of stewed apple chunks and cinnamon, and whipped cream. The very best indulgent yet healthy weekend breakfast! Made extra, and am going to freeze them for later. Thanks for a scrumptious recipe Kate!
Thanks for your feedback, Kate! I’m happy you loved them.
Needed to use up some extra pumpkin puree and tried these out. Super easy and delicious! I love that it doesn’t require anything fancy and I have it all in the pantry!!
Great to hear, Sarah!
My kids and I LOVE this recipe. They’re so good, my kids just eat them plain, straight off the skillet. I like mine with a bit of butter. We always at least double the recipe. Perfect for fall, especially as a special treat when we have guests. Quick, easy & delicious, as always! Thanks again (:
I love these pancakes! The coconut oil is a nice alternative to butter. I topped the pancakes with diced apples sauteed in butter and apple pie spices. Then I added a dab of vanilla yogurt. Yum! Than you!
These were yummy (much like your pumpkin muffins) and my husband and three-year-old gobbled them up! However, when I made them they came out quite thin – more like crepes. Any suggestions? I followed the amounts in the recipe. (For the choices, I went for the maple syrup and melted butter options. I also used spelt flour instead of whole wheat flour in case that makes a difference.)
I had a similar challenge, I think if I make it again I’ll add a couple extra tablespoons of flour to thicken the batter. Otherwise the flavor was delicious and they were easy to make.
I’ve been making these for a while, and really liking them. This morning I increased the pumpkin to 1/2 cup and loved it!
These were soooo good!!! Very indulging with maple, peanut butter & bananas on top. I especially frozen some puree for both these and your pumpkin bread which was awesome as well. Thanks Kate!
Your recipes are fool proof. I Made both the pumpkin pancakes and the pumpkin muffins this weekend and they are both delicious and turned out perfectly! Thank you :)
Thanks for sharing! I appreciate it.
I made these pumpkin pancakes for Thanksgiving breakfast. My girls and I scarfed them down! They are my new favorite pancakes! Thanks so much for the recipe!!
I love that! Thanks for sharing, Ashley.
Thank you for the recipe. I felt it needed more pumpkin but it could have been the that this was my first try with whole wheat flour. It overpowered the pumpkin. I will keep trying the recipe. Thanks again
Thanks for sharing your feedback! Maybe try some more spice next time instead of pumpkin. Let me know how that works!
Hi Kate, I tried your Pumpkin Pancake recipe, and it’s delicious! The minimal 1/3 cup pumpkin puree was just enough to taste, but not too much to make the pancakes soggy.
Wonderful recipe. These were the best pancakes that I have ever made. I followed the recipe exactly the same except I used all-purpose flour, vanilla unsweetened almond milk, grade A maple syrup, and canola oil. I am curious how your pancakes and the ones that I just made would compare. That is where my knowledge of what ingredient does what evades me. It will have to be an experiment down the road. Anyway, I loved these pancakes and would highly recommend to anyone. There are light on the sugar and quite fluffy. They aren’t dense and make you want to have more. Great work Kate!
Thank you! I’m so glad you loved them, Brandon.
One of my favorites for weekend mornings! I’ve made these a few times, and use whole wheat pastry flour for a super fluffy, light texture. I also add closer to 1/2 c pumpkin and up the spices a bit for a stronger flavor. I love serving them with with plain yogurt mixed with a little maple syrup and toasted pecans!
I made these tonight for dinner and my daughter LOVED them (she insisted I use all caps)! I didn’t see the note about how many pancakes a single batch made, so I tripled it. Needless to say we will be enjoying these for breakfast this weekend
Thanks for sharing! These freeze well. :)
This has become our family’s go-to pancake recipe! At first I just planned to use it in the Fall, but now I have every intention to use it all year round! I can’t have dairy or gluten so I use coconut oil as she suggests and substitute the flour with 1-to-1 gluten free flour and it works great! Even my family members who can have dairy and gluten love these!
I’m happy to hear this one is such a hit with everyone, Carissa! Thanks so much for your review.
Just googled “healthy pumpkin pancake recipe” and glad I went with this one. Really wouldn’t tweak a thing. I had chèvre out for something else and my husband decided to smear one with it, and honestly, so good.
These are amazing! I doubled the recipe (used regular whole wheat, butter, maple syrup) and they were so delicious, I didn’t even need syrup. My sugar loving family did use extra maple syrup on top, though. I did have to heat up the wet ingredients in the microwave because my butter solidified on this cold morning, so I had to transfer it to a glass bowl. Will definitely make these again and again!
Oh. My. Gosh. These pancakes were amazing. I had very low expectations since most whole wheat recipes I’ve tried don’t turn out so well, but these were awesome. I followed the recipe as written, opting for whole cow’s milk, maple syrup and melted butter. Both I and my picky husband loved them! Thanks so much for the recipe!
This was a wonderful recipe. I have a ‘picky eater’ and ‘super taster’ in the family and they enjoyed these pancakes. They were delicious and now added to my repertoire of favorites. I would just like to know how you made these pancakes so round, did you use a silicone ring or something similar? Please share. We do pancake/waffle Tuesdays at our place and I plan to try out all of your recipes for this category.
Hi Kumi! I used a measuring cup to pour and waited to flip them. I have made lots of pancakes through the years so have it down :)
Delicious recipe as is. Second time around, I made small edits to be even healthier, and it was still fantastic!!
– 1/2 cup pumpkin purée (gives it a ricotta pancake texture)
– only 2 teaspoons of coconut sugar
– No oil in batter
– Used 1 teaspoon cinnamon and whole milk
Cooked in a stainless steel pan with coconut oil to get crispy edges around the pancake, and topped with a little maple syrup. Will definitely be making it again!
These were delish, followed the recipe to a T! Can they be made into waffles?
Thanks Tina, glad to hear it! Typically, waffles contain more fat than pancake (so they crisp up nicely against the hot iron). I haven’t tried pouring this batter into a waffle iron, so I can’t say for sure. I have an oat flour-based pumpkin waffle recipe here!
I’m excited to try it! Thank you
Can I use less baking soda? I know they won’t be as fluffy but will they still work okay? We could taste the baking soda too much for my family, so want to try to reduce it next time. Loved them otherwise though!
Hi Adah! I don’t know if it will work as well as baking can be a little tricky and this needs enough leavener to really work together with the other ingredients.
I use yogurt/kefir/buttermilk for the milk and use 1/4 tsp baking soda for every cup of flour instead of using the baking powder. They are thinner but don’t have the baking powder taste and are still light and tasty.
-Sara
Adah, If you look back at the recipe, it’s Baking powder not soda, that’s why the taste was off! These are the Bomb Pancakes!! Hope you retry them, as Kates recipes are fool proof!
I completely agree. There was a very bitter taste because of the large amount of baking powder. If I try again, I think I’ll use a teaspoon max.
I have tried this pancakes this morning. They turned out amazing. I only couldn’t get this golden color.
I had pureed sweet potato in my freezer so used that in place of pumpkin. Regular wheat flour and cows’ milk. These came out perfectly–rose, flipped easily, and were fun to make on my fifth-burner stovetop griddle. Thank you for the recipe!
These are delicious!! Easy to make and light and fluffy and so flavorful. I used a whole tsp of cinnamon because I like cinnamon. I also used almond milk. So good they almost don’t need syrup. Will definitely keep this recipe!
That’s great! Thank you for sharing, Jeri.
These are a staple at our house. Just to note, the coconut oil did not work for us and we preferred how the butter worked in the recipe!
I used regular whole wheat, 1 tsp of pumpkin spice (made my own from instructions on the back of a pumpkin can: 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp cloves), unsweetened almond milk, flax egg (1 tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 2.5 tbsp water and let sit for 5 mins), decreased oil to 1 tbsp( avo oil), used 1.5 tbsp maple syrup and .5 tbsp molasses…the flavors here were perfection. Loved it! Thank you!!
Hello! Can I make the batter the night before and leave it in the fridge?
Or will that not work well? Thnk you!
Unfortunately, you don’t want to let the batter set. You could mix the dry and then do the wet & final mix the next day.
I love these pancakes! I make them for my boyfriend and he said they taste just like his favorite brunch restaurant’s pumpkin pancakes!
Oooh. Pancakes often send me into a sugar related grumpy state. I’m excited to try these.
I made this three separate times and all 3 times the pancakes turned out bad. I think 1 tbsp baking powder is too much. Did you mean 1 tsp?
Hi Jen! I’m sorry these didn’t work out well for you. What about them seemed bad? Maybe I can help trouble shoot as I know I had success with the recipe as did lots of others. Let me know!
The batter looked and cooked as if there was way too much baking powder and when cooking, the pancakes looked like they were bubbling and almost dissolving. I think less baking powder might work. I cook pancakes often and consider my cooking skills to be above average, but these didn’t work unfortunately. Your other recipes I’ve tried are great though.
Hi Jen, I used a heaped teaspoon of baking powder and a 1/2 tsp of baking soda, followed the rest of the recipe as directed. Used 1 tbsp of maple syrup (I knew my sugar loving husband would need to top his pancakes later)!
They turned out great!
Thanks, Kate, for this delicious and healthy recipe. This is a keeper!
I never comment on recipes, but had to because these were SO good! I just honey instead of maple syrup in the batter, and stone ground white whole wheat flour. I added choc. chips and topped with cashew butter and maple syrup. 5stars, and it’s my new go to pancake recipe!
I made these this morning and love the flavour, but mine turned out really fluffy and ended up either undercooked in the middle, or the pumpkin just makes them overly moist? Any tips? I doubled the recipe and used half whole wheat and half all purpose flour.
Hi Michelle! I’m sorry to hear that. I wonder if the mix of flours impacted your results. Or they may have needed just a little more time.
I chose this recipe because I only had about 1/3 cup of my pumpkin left and this best matched in my Googling. I don’t usually review random recipes I make, but I felt like I had to because my husband said these are the BEST pancakes I’ve ever made! And I make a lot of pancakes. He really liked the texture and the spice level. So, 5 stars from him for sure!
I love these pancakes. Followed recipe exactly and the whole family enjoyed breakfast! Will make again.
I’ve made these almost every weekend for the past 2 months. I swap the oil out for half a mashed banana. I also add mini chocolate chips because chocolate. I eat them with peanut butter and fresh fruit. They’re so good and reheat really well in the microwave.
Made these pumpkin pancakes twice in the last couple of weeks! They are delicious with just the right amount of pumpkin-spice flavor (I used just under 1 tsp of cinnamon). Thank you for a great recipe!
Loved this recipe. My husband is diabetic and I am constantly trying to find new recipes that won’t adversely affect his blood sugar. This didn’t for him. The recipe is simple and delicious. They cooked up quickly and looked great. Unfortunately they were all eaten before I could get a picture. Maybe next!
These came out fluffy and delicious. So easy too.
These are fantastic!
I substituted chia seeds and flax for the egg (I doubled the recipe and did 1 tbsp of each mixed with 5 tbsp water). I also did 2 tbsp coconut oil and 2 tbsp butter.
Can I make pumpkin puree from the raw pumpkin myself? We don’t have pumpkin purées in stores in Ukraine.
Hi! Yes, you can follow my how to roast a pumpkin from my pumpkin soup recipe. Use the amount it calls for in the pancakes.
These pancakes are phenomenal. Our new family favorite for sure!
Great to hear, Nicole! Thank you for your review.
Nice and light for whole wheat pancakes. Will up the spices next time.
So good! I’ve tried other pumpkin pancake recipes, and they call for too much pumpkin, leaving them mushy and seemingly undercooked. This one is perfect!
I’m glad this one met expectation, Lori! I appreciate you taking the time to review.
I recently moved away from Boulder, CO and have been missing the sweet potato pancakes from my favorite breakfast place (they serve them with a few chopped walnuts and delicious ginger butter). So this morning I decided to try these pumpkin pancakes to see if it would satisfy that craving and BOY did they deliver. I whipped up a bit of ginger butter which went great with the pumpkin. What I like about this recipe (and all of the pumpkin recipes I’ve tried from Kate) is that the pumpkin element is always just the right amount so that it isn’t overpowering. I would love to see a sweet potato pancake recipe on here, but ‘settling’ for these isn’t settling at all! :)
I’m glad you have found these to help satisfy your craving! Thank you for your review.
Love these! Added vegan chocolate chips, and vegan whipped cream. Topped them with pecans and maple syrup.
Sounds delicious, Sharon!
I made these today and they were good, but they have too much baking powder making them almost bitter? Should it be 1 tsp instead of 1 TBSP? Wondering if it was a typo.
Hi Deb, I’m sorry you didn’t love these. I know I have had a lot of success with these as did others. This one does require more baking powder due to the ingredients needing more leveaner.
Okay, these were the best pumpkin pancakes I’ve ever had. I love cooking but my pancakes always come out dense- not these ones! Wow. They are SO fluffy and the flavor is incredible. (I used vegan butter and almond milk!) Definitely husband approved ;) Thank you so so much for this recipe!!
Hooray! I’m excited you to hear that. Thank you for taking the time to review.
Another win! I was worried about the amount of baking powder, but these puffed up nicely. I made chocolate chip “faces” and called them jack-o’-lantern pancakes for Halloween morning. Kids loved them. Thank you!
Kate—these are delicious! Light and fluffy and oh so easy! I have been making your gluten free banana oat pancakes for forever, and am so happy I tried this recipe too! This will definitely be a go-to breakfast for our family!
Came out awesome! Made a double batch to have through the week. Such a great way to start the weekend, and even our toddler couldn’t stop eating them :]
Great! Thank you, Dani.
These were great. 1 TBS of baking powder is 2x too much. I used 1 tsp plus 1/2 tsp of baking powder, since I was using buttermilk. Very tasty