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Recipe Connection: Easy Paleo {Grain-Free} Banana Pancakes

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paleo pancakes

I shared this paleo pancake recipe last week on Twitter in well less than 140 characters.

Brace yourselves.

I’ll flesh it out a little more today, but rest assured it’s THAT brain-dead easy.

It’s really nice having some grain-free options to take the place of traditionally grain-filled breakfast foods. We miss our oatmeal, so options like this simple paleo pancake that take us beyond “eggs or yogurt?” for a grain-free Lent make me happy.

paleo pancakes

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Simple Paleo {Grain-Free} Banana Pancakes

  • Author: Katie Kimball
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 10 mins
  • Total Time: 15 mins
  • Yield: 2-3 adults 1x
  • Category: Breakfast
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Ingredients

  • 3 bananas, slightly overripe is fine
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 Tbs oil (melted butter or coconut oil), optional
  • 1+ tsp. cinnamon
  • chopped walnuts, optional
  • 1/4 c. yogurt cheese, optional

Instructions

  1. Mash the bananas well, then mix in all the other ingredients. I usually use my hand blender, but I’ve also done it with a fork (just takes longer). Use a potato masher for chunkier texture.
  2. Fry in lots of fat until brown on the bottom, flipping once.
  3. Really let the pancakes get brown on the bottom before attempting to flip, as they’re very fragile. A quick move with an extremely thin spatula is the way to go. (See Notes for an adaptation to make them easier to flip.)
  4. Serve with butter and real maple syrup. However, they’re typically so sweet you don’t need the syrup.
  5. The leftover pancakes can be stored in the refrigerator and reheated in a toaster oven just like you would grainy pancakes, although you probably won’t really have leftovers unless you make a double batch.
  6. (I only know the fat is optional because I forgot it this week! Best to leave it in though…)

Notes

The pancakes are very, very thin, hard to flip and time-consuming if you use a stick blender especially. If you add a Tbs. or two coconut flour (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!) (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!), they handle much better. Cutting down on the fat may help as well.

Frozen and thawed bananas are fine.

Variations: adding mini chocolate chips is a super fun celebration breakfast, like for a birthday or first day of school.

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A Few Other Grain-Free/Paleo Breakfast Options

paleo grain free granola

I promised you yesterday in the “go big” Monday Mission that I’d share the grain-free granola recipes I played with this weekend:

  • Grain-free granola (recipe found in the newly expanded Healthy Snacks to Go eBook, pictured above): The first time we made this recipe, we may have kind of eaten it all in one day. In fact, I had to say to my husband, “Please leave a little for me to try with milk in the morning!” Winking smile
  • Sometimes you really just want to grab something and go, without all the prep. I hear you!! Have you ever tried to find a soaked-oats granola in the store? Pretty hard, isn’t it… but Thrive Market has you covered! I found this Apple Crisp Granola that won’t break the bank (or your teeth!) – and it’ll be delivered right to your door. Receive 15% off your first order, no coupon required.
  • The grain-free almond apple pancakes (which used to be in this post as well, if you’re looking for them from a bookmark or pin) are over here with better photos (like the one below)…
  • I also made a couple varieties of power bars (reverse engineered Larabars) from my eBook Healthy Snacks to Go this weekend.
  • We could eat these grain-free “pumpkin” pancakes at least once a week, which can be made with coconut flour (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!) (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!), almond flour, whole wheat, and even sourdough starter! They also don’t always use pumpkin.
  • Although I haven’t made them yet this Lent, last fall we regularly enjoyed the coconut muffins found in the newly expanded Healthy Snacks to Go eBook; they’re super moist and easy to make!
  • Here are some tasty grain-free apple flax muffins.

grain free almond apple pancakes

Also keep in mind that Health, Home & Happiness has entire grain-free menu plans with breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. A wealth of information!

The Healthy Breakfast BookIs breakfast monotonous at your house? Uninspiring? Or worse…processed? Get a little inspiration from The Healthy Breakfast Book, over 60 recipes plus efficiency tips and sample meal plans to make every breakfast nourishing. This recipe is just one of the great ideas in the book!

Get the whole premium package with bonus mini eBooks and Kindle/Nook files right HERE.

40 Bites of Conversation So Far

  1. I make apple and banana pancakes for my son almost every morning. I usually just mix homemade applesauce or a mashed banana with a heaping spoon of peanut butter (or almond butter), 2 eggs, a dash of cinnamon and a dash of baking powder. I just toss it all in a bowl, beat and then fry in palm oil or butter. I serve it topped w/ yogurt. Easy and tasty.

  2. Your pancakes look fantastic! We love banana pancakes- and you inspired this morning’s breakfast. Frozen bananas that have been thawed work fantastically for these as well.

  3. Love pancakes! Thanks for sharing these recipes. If you need some grain free inspiration have you looked at the gluten free girl blog? She just had pancakes as well but has many great recipes. Also, she has a nice blend of flours for baking (she gives you the proportions to make it yourself in an earlier post) and you can basically take any favorite recipe and then turn it wheat free.

  5. SO grateful for this. I just added it to my GAPS recipes folder as I wait for the GAPS books to come in the mail so I can decide whether on not to do this thing. Thanks for these recipes, my family will be thrilled to try these pancakes.

  6. For another grain free-pancake option, use macadamia nuts ground into butter. Add some egg, coconut oil (melted) and a pinch of baking powder, salt and a drop or two of vanilla. This combination looks so similar to regular pancakes you can hardly tell the difference. They make GREAT waffles as well. My daughter is on the ketogenic diet for seizure control and this is what she eats for breakfast every day! Now our whole family loves them too!

  9. Love the first one, made it this morning for my kiddo and he liked it! Next time I will add some cottage cheese – it will be even tastier
    Thanks for this receipt

  10. Do you know of a way to dehydrate without a dehydrator? My oven’s lowest setting is 170.

    I would love to try the Almond-Apple pancakes, but I have noticed that raw nuts make my stomach hurt, so I am unwilling to try a recipe unless I could cook the nuts.

    • Becky,
      Some people will use that 170 degree temp and then leave the door slightly ajar to dehydrate, however, if you need to roast the nuts anyway, just soak in salt water and bake in your oven at 200 or even 250 or 350, whatever you think you need for your own best digestion. They’ll go pretty fast at 350, maybe an hour or so (?) – just keep a close eye b/c burnt nuts are no fun! I bet roasted almond apple pancakes will taste even better with that added depth of flavor!

      Hope that helps! 🙂 katie

  11. I made the banana ones this morning and my son5 loved them! I’m not eating grains and I don’t let him have them in the mornings, so this was a nice treat for us both. Thanks!

  12. I made the banana pancakes this morning, but had a little difficulty with them staying together! Is it normal for them to be really fragile? I really want to make them again b/c the kids LOVED them despite their “appearance”. haha. I’m just wondering if I need to adjust anything to make them stay together better. They were plenty sweet with the bananas and no one even asked for syrup~!

    • KJ,
      We just had them this morning, too, so I have a ready answer for you – cook them a little longer on the first side. My husband made the first panful and made a terrible mess of them. You really have to be patient with these. You might leave an egg out to try to get them to thicken up a bit.
      🙂 Katie

  13. Just wanted to let you know that I made the banana grain-free again today (to get ready for breakfast tomorrow) and added one tablespoon of coconut flour to the recipe. It made them much less fragile and a lot easier to cook and flip! They also taste YUM! My kids love these!

  14. Yum! I made the banana pancakes this morning for my 13 month old who can’t seem to digest wheat very well. She loved these. She also loved the pumpkin pancakes! Thanks for the great and easy recipes.

  16. Yay for grain-free breakfast ideas!! Thank you thank you thank you! Don’t know how I missed this post the first time. 🙂

  17. I’m so glad you’re reposting this! I have really been wanting to try the grain-free pancakes, but I will need to use an egg sub. I’m a little nervous about wasting ingredients! Haha! I will let you know when I eventually do it if it works! I’m so glad you linked to Health, Home & Happiness. She seems to have a lot of info. on GAPS, and we are eventually wanting to try that. I subscribed to her blog!

  18. My kids and I LOVE these! Had them for lunch, and topped them with peanut butter. I really wish we;d known how to do these when we were on GAPS last winter. We made the standard GAPS peanut butter pancakes all the time, but these are better (and way cheaper!). Thank you, Katie!!!

  24. we’ve been making these for a few months and love them! more than the old regular pancakes even 🙂

  25. I make the banana ones occasionally, and my boys love them. And there are so manny choices for toppings; nearly anything tastes good on them.

  26. If anybody’s wondering about substituting coconut flour, I made the apple pancakes using 1/3 c. coconut flour instead of the almond flour. I also increased the eggs to 4. They were delicious! Thanks for a great recipe, Katie!

  27. I’m thinking about these recipes slightly adapted for my 6 month old. I’m going gluten free for a year, and I can’t give her egg whites for a year. I’m thinking of using just egg yolks, and maybe adding applesauce so I can skip the oil. Any thoughts?

    • Sheri,
      The eggs are a huge component of the banana pancakes, so changing to just yolks may or may not work – I’d try with just one banana, one egg yolk, and see what happens. Add a bit of coconut flour to help hold it together. For the almond pancakes, you might be in luck, but again, I’d just try a very small batch. You could also dabble with the flax meal replacement for eggs, but probably only in the almond pancakes: 1 Tbs flax + 2 Tbs warm water = 1 egg.

      On the oil, babies need healthy fats more than anything, so definitely don’t skip that for your little one. Applesauce just adds carbs and sweetness. I’d slather them with butter for a baby! (or myself, actually) 😉 Could the 6mo do nuts, though? You may want to wait on that one, anyway…

      Sorry I missed your comment; I was offline for Holy Week. Let me know if you try the egg yolk only thing; I’d love to let others know if it works!
      🙂 Katie

  29. I made of similar version a couple weeks ago and they were terrible. I hope yours were better.

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