How do you get your kids to eat their vegetables…for breakfast? Even child visitors to our home munch down on these healthy grain-free or low-carb pancakes.
Pumpkin For Breakfast
I usually refer to these babies as “pumpkin pancakes” simply because people are used to sweet pumpkin treats, but they give me skeptical looks if I offer “squash pancakes.” They are pretty much grain-free pancakes (or at least super low-grain, depending on how you prepare them), so they’re a great substitute for the carb-loaded breakfast options we’re used to.
RELATED: Sheet Pan Pancake Hack & Butternut Squash Gluten-Free Biscuits
Super Nutrition in Orange Veggies
Pumpkin, sweet potatoes and carrots are all on my Super Foods list, and for good reasons. Without overdoing it, suffice it to say that these orange veggies are great foods to include in your diet.
Here are the main nutrients in all three orange vegs:
- TONS of Vitamin A
- Vitamin C, anti-inflammatory (sweet potatoes)
- Super antioxidants (cancer fighters and system healers)
- Good source of fiber
- Carotenes (the orange thing)
- Antioxidant
- Fights heart disease
- Fights cancer
- Increases absorption of Vitamin A, especially when paired with fat
- Helps eye health
- Boosts immune system
Eat orange vegetables with fat (butter, olive oil, salad dressing, etc) in order to make the best use of the Vitamin A.
All varieties of winter squash are an excellent vegetable to add to your diet, not just pumpkins. They are an excellent source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C – and can even provide a nice boost of Vitamin B to your diet. Here’s more info about how to prepare many different types of squash, and some more squash recipes.
Your kids CAN make their own healthy breakfast!
Join the Kids Cook Real Food Weekend Challenge: Kids Master Breakfast and imagine your kids making breakfast independently! This challenge contains pro-filmed video lessons you can do at your own pace and finish in one weekend. Perfect for busy families!!
We love these pancakes so much, we used this recipe to teach some of the skills in our video ecourse, Kids Cook Real Food.
RELATED: Kid-Friendly Gluten-Free Sheet Pan Pancake Recipe
Pumpkin Pancakes (Grain-Free)
- Yield: 15 small pancakes 1x
- Category: Breakfast
Ingredients
- 1 c. cooked, pureed squash*
- 4–5 eggs**
- 2 Tbs. coconut flour OR 1/4 c. whole wheat flour OR almond flour OR 1/3 c. sourdough starter OR brown rice flour
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. cloves
- 1/4 tsp. ginger
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1–2 Tbs. maple syrup (optional)
- 1 tsp. vanilla (optional)
Instructions
- Separate eggs. In one bowl, whip egg whites a few minutes until frothy/foamy.
- In a separate bowl, combine yolks with squash, flour, sweetener, vanilla and spices. Fold in egg whites.
- Fry slowly in lots of fat in a cast iron skillet over medium-low heat OR on a griddle with a bit of butter at about 300-350F. Watch for the bottoms to begin browning when the edges look dry and flip once. If you find the pancakes are very thin and breaking apart, add a bit more flour or sourdough starter to the batter.
- The lazy way: Instead of separating the eggs, just mix everything together willy nilly in one bowl. The pancakes might not have as much height or fluff, but they’re still perfectly fine, especially for a weekday morning! I often use my stick blender to whiz it all together, especially if I have un-pureed squash or sweet potato.
- Need a little help getting healthy food on the table every day? Real Plans takes the stress out of meal planning and puts the nourishing food BACK on your table. There’s a plan for every diet type, including GAPS, Paleo, AIP, Whole30, vegetarian and more! You remain totally in control: use your own recipes, accept theirs, and teach the system what your family likes…Check out how powerful it is here!
*I recommend a sweeter squash like buttercup for these pancakes, and butternut works very well also. Cooked sweet potatoes or pumpkin puree, even from a can, is also delicious and still gets excellent super food veggie nutrition into your breakfast.
**Note on eggs: The recipe works with either 4 or 5 eggs, which you may choose depending on how large your eggs are or how many you have on hand. What kind of eggs should I use?
Make every breakfast nourishing
Is breakfast monotonous at your house? Uninspiring? Or worse…processed?
Get a little inspiration from The Healthy Breakfast Book, over 60 real food recipes plus efficiency tips and sample meal plans to make every breakfast nourishing.
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If you like this recipe, share it with friends!
Other Pancake Recipes:
- Soaked 100% Whole Grain Fluffy Pancakes
- Grain-free Almond Apple Pancakes
- Grain-free Banana Pancakes
- Potato-Vegetable Pancakes (Latkes)
- Sourdough Pancakes
Other Fall Recipes:
- Apple Flax Muffins (available in the updated 2nd edition of Healthy Snacks to Go, FREE to purchasers of the 1st edition!)
- Healthy Pumpkin Bread (or muffins)
- Apple Bars
- Roasted Fall/Winter Vegetables
- Simple Cabbage Soup with Fall Vegetables
- Brussels Sprouts People will Love!
- Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal
- Pumpkin Pie Breakfast Bites
- Naturally Sweetened Sweet Potato Casserole
Holy cow, y’all, look how horrible my photos used to be when I first started blogging!!
More Healthy Breakfast Recipes
- The Healthy Breakfast Book with over 50 recipes!
- Tastes Like Pizza Breakfast Hash
- Autumn Spiced Pumpkin Pancakes – can be made grain-free, gluten-free, sourdough or whole wheat!
- Grain-free Pumpkin Pie Breakfast Porridge
- Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal (pumpkin pie version)
- Instant Pot Apple Cranberry Steel Cut Oats
- Best Homemade Soaked Granola
- Best Pancakes: Whole Wheat or Gluten-free or Sourdough or Paleo Apple Almond
- Veggie Potato Latkes
- Grain-free Pizza Quiche
- Best High Protein Scrambled Eggs Ever
- Candy Cane Smoothie Bowl
- 10 Healthy Brunch Dishes for Potlucks
- Creative Ways to Add Veggies to Breakfast
- Allergen Free Breakfast Hummus
- Lots of Breakfast Ideas for Meal Planning
- Hard Boil Eggs in the Instant Pot
- Protein-Packed Breakfast Cupcakes
- Make-Ahead Egg Cups
These were just ok. A little mushy, bland. I have to doctor it up a bit. Not isure what I can do about the mushy texture though
So good! My 3 kids (5 and under) will eat almost a double recipe for supper, topped with unsweetened applesauce. I had to double the flour for a more cakey texture, and use 3-4+ T pumpkin pie spice. I haven’t found a squash that isnt good in this, but my favorite is pink banana squash, easy to clean/bake and lasts a few meals. Also, I only use the quick method, separating 16-20 eggs is not my cup of tea! So those who think it’s too fluffy, just blend everything at once!
This called for sweetener but never said how much or what type….
The 1-2 tablespoons of maple syrup is the only sweetener in this recipe and it’s totally optional. We like to omit the syrup from the recipe and then just add it on top with butter when serving. 🙂
I just made these and the batter was literally like a soup consistency. I used almond flour and four eggs. Not sure what I missed.
Hi Quianna,
Hmmm, we make this recipe ALL the time, and it is a runny batter, but not soup. The almond flour should thicken it up quite a bit. I wonder if your pumpkin was maybe very runny? Sometimes home-cooked pumpkin requires water added to blend, so you have to drain that back out through a tea towel or similar. Could that have been the problem? If you try again, feel free to straight up double the flour if it’s that runny. Good luck! 🙂 Katie
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Katie, I have just been diagnosed with SIBO and I must remain on a very restricted diet, probably forever. I am able to use coconut flour and I am so grateful to have found your site. I can’t wait to try your recipes.
God bless you for generously sharing your recipes and wise baking tips.
Marti
So glad these pancakes work for you, Marti – SIBO is a rough one but you’ll feel so much better once it’s under control I’m sure!! Best, Katie
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