Fluffy Coconut Flour Pancakes
Edited to Add: You must check out the latest update on this recipe including tips and tricks.
When it comes to an easy breakfast I love pancakes. As you can probably tell from my soaked buckwheat pancakes and soaked, flour-free oatmeal pancakes. They are just so simple to cook – mix, ladle, flip, eat. No wonder our pioneer foremothers served them frequently on their trek out west.
But for those of us who don’t eat grains or are restricting our carbohydrates the smell of pancakes can feel a bit isolating. I’ve tried probably a half dozen coconut flour pancake recipes over the past year and have the same complaint with all of them – they are thin and eggy.
So I tweaked, tested, and tweaked again and finally came up with a pancake that is fluffy, not overly eggy, and pretty darn tasty.
My husband said these taste like donuts as he slathered them in coconut oil and honey. That’s coming from someone who does eat grains, is skeptical of coconut flour, and knows his way around a pancake. So when he said that I knew my recipe testing was over.
Finally, a coconut flour pancake worth eating.
Fluffly Coconut Flour Pancakes
Recipe Notes: Both cow and coconut milk work well in this recipe. You can also add cinnamon or fruit as desired. Just keep the pancakes small and watch them so they don’t burn.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup milk (raw cow’s or coconut both work)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon honey or a pinch of stevia
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- coconut oil or butter for frying
Directions
- Preheat griddle over medium-low heat. In a small bowl beat eggs until frothy, about two minutes. Mix in milk, vanilla, and honey or stevia.
- In a medium-sized bowl combine coconut flour, baking soda, and sea salt and whisk together. Stir wet mixture into dry until coconut flour is incorporated.
- Grease pan with butter or coconut oil. Ladle a few tablespoons of batter into pan for each pancake. Spread out slightly with the back of a spoon. The pancakes should be 2-3 inches in diameter and fairly thick. Cook for a few minutes on each side, until the tops dry out slightly and the bottoms start to brown. Flip and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.
- Serve hot with butter, coconut oil, honey, syrup, or fruit.
You can get coconut flour and coconut oil here:
For bulk orders of coconut oil we highly recommend:
I made these, but (honestly) I was too hungry to wait for the eggs to come to room temp. I also used unsweetened almond milk instead of whole, and I did not include a sweetener (I ate them with no-calorie pancake syrup, so I didn’t think I’d need it). I do think using apple sauce would have made them fluffier.
I thought they were good, but quite dense and not much like traditional pancakes. I do think they were good enough to satisfy a craving, especially with the no-calorie pancake syrup. The first couple I made were much too thick. I found that if you add just a bit more almond milk, you can easily plop spoonfuls of the batter onto the skillet without needing to mash them down as much.
Here are a few photos of my attempt.
@Keegan, Anything that is “no calorie” but is a form of junk food, ie: syrup; isn’t good for you. It’s pure chemicals. Things that are calorie free are things that aren’t eaten, like household cleaning supplies or a dresser. Food should never be calorie free.
@Keegan, agreed. Very dense ant not at all fluffy.. A little bitter too.
What could I use in place of the eggs?
@Erin, I believe you can use a flaxseed meal/water mixture to replace the eggs.
flaxmeal/water mix, as well as arrowroot. On my search for this wheat free pancake recipe I have come across a website on paleo food, that actually did tell the correct measures. Just can’t seem to locate it now, but flaxmeal/water or arrowroot would be good options to eliminate the eggs.
paleo/primal Gluten-free baked goods(The Paleo Food Recipe Collection) have some alternatives to using eggs in more details- at the bottom of their pancakes/waffles/crepes/tortillas chapter. Hope that helps!!!
My entire family loves this even my 3 year old! I used 3 eggs half the flour. Come out small like an ounce each. I paired it with a little creamcheese 3 small diced strawberries. I made some egg bacon quiche also Keto friendly.
I’m in keto heaven
these were delicious! a great healthy alternative. my only
these were delicious! a great healthy alternative. my only problem was I used 2% milk because it was all we had and I think it made the mixture too runny. it was extremely hard to flip them, even with them only being 3 inches big.
I think next time I will definitely use the coconut milk. or do you know if they will work with almond milk?
I made these this morning, I used unsweetened almond milk and I added more coconut flour because it was too runny for me. I think they are good but I will be using less salt and baking powder next time. I could really taste the baking soda and they were salty for me. odd because I used measuring spoons. :/
Wow! Thank you. I kept to the recipe but halved it as it is just for me. They were perfect! I am so full, I ate them all. Mmmmmmmm
Hi there,
I just came across this website and your recipe for coconut flour pancakes. I made them and my whole family just loved them. I did make some substitutions, though. Instead of milk, I used 100% organic kefir – non flavored; whole fat). They were easy to turn in the pan once they set on one side, even though I made them larger than recommended (5″), and they came out fluffy and delicious.
Thank you for sharing!
They were really good! My mistake was to use cheaper coconut flower, so the batter looked odd and I could feel the coconut pieces in my mouth. Other than that they were really nice, once in the pan the coconut dissolved a bit more. Will buy better flour next time though. I am so full, it’s perfect breakfast if you’re going to have a long day! I used the same amount of baking soda but didn’t taste it in the pancakes.
I must have done something wrong since the recipe seems to have worked for others – for me it was a complete disaster. They were so watery that when I tried to flip them they splattered all over my stove. I ended up throwing the whole batch out.
These were amazing!! I added blueberries, oiled the pan with coconut oil, made one giant fluffy pancake, cut it into pieces and put pure good ol Canadian maple syrup on it and they were perfect!! I loved how you can taste the egg a bit and the texture was superb:) yummy yummy yummy I got love in my tummy!:)
FINALLY!!! I have tried SO many grain free recipes and this was the first one that was actually fluffy and pancake-like (rather than a wet weird thing i had to drown in syrup to get down). Sharing on my facebook, thanks!!
I am going to try this, but can’t use egg, so it has to be either flax fell, or a powdered egg replacer. Any body have luck with either? I am thinking about doing it with coconut “buttermilk” as well.
Freakin Amazing!!!! Will def be making these again x
I followed the directions exactly and they came out great, my family gobbled them right up. You definitely need a large spatula at least the size of the pancake to ensure they don’t fall apart when you flip them. For us this recipe made 10 small/med. size pancakes.
I made these, and used the ingredients you specified and followed the directions to a T. They were so thin that even after they were dark brown on the bottom, I couldn’t flip them without them bunching up and being all wrinkly. Perhaps there should be more flour?
Then the taste: gritty, eggy, and overpoweringly coconutty. I had to douse them in butter and maple syrup to make them palatable. I don’t know why mine didn’t turn out fluffy and donut-like, but I’m not going to make this recipe again. I feel like I could have just used those eggs to make omelets and I would have had a more enjoyable meal. 🙁
Love this recipe, it’s become my go-to for a morning when I want to sit with a cup of coffee & enjoy some guilt-free pancakes! I’ve tried a few other coco-flour pancake recipes and they were all too eggy, or had an “off” texture… This morning gave it an autumn twist– did half the amount of milk and replaced the other half with pumpkin puree, then added some cinnamon/cloves/nutmeg. It didn’t get too thick like I was worried about and came out tasting great!
I have found that using an electric mixer makes a world of difference. Also keeping the batter stirred between cakes. They taste great, and are filling.
@Janis, I will have to try that next time. I am ending up with a lot of coconut flour from making coconut milk and would like to use it. Thanks for the tip.
These were delicious! This was my first recipe using coconut flour, and I was apprehensive about serving them to the kids….they devoured them and asked for more! They never noticed the difference between these and wheat flour pancakes. My only issue is the same issue I have with all “fluffy” pancake recipes; they fluff up while cooking and deflate as soon as I start to spread on the butter. 🙂
Thanks for an awesome recipe!
I have been cooking pancakes on Sunday mornings for 40 years and I just used this recipe for the first time. My wife and I really enjoyed them both plain and with homemade blueberry syrup.
I think I might be doing something wrong 🙁 I tried making them this morning but they were too runny and I couldn’t flip them. Could it be the flour I was using?
Success! I used unsweetened soy milk, and it worked perfectly. I agree about it being too salty. I would cut down the salt, bump up the stevia to a large pinch, but keep the soda for fluffiness. Sautéed apples with cinnamon and nutmeg and plenty of melted butter made a nice accompaniment on a snowy day.
I am usually not a pancake fan, but a friend of mine posted this recipe on fb,so I wanted to try i as I am looking for alternative ways to eliminate wheat from my diet. I halved the recipe as I am eating breaky alone this morning, used xylitol, instead of stevia and added blueberries. They were so good, that I ate the whole batch. I can barely move now. This recipe might has changed my mind on me not liking pancakes. Delicious and fluffy…thank you!!!
I made these last night and OMG they came out soooooo good. I spread coonut butter on them and rolled up some bacon and eggs in them.
Thank you so much for the recipe. This was so easy to make. Except…I found this to taste too eggy. It was almost like eating an omelet with syrup. How can i reduce the egginess now that the batter is made?
I had no luck with these. I used homemade coconut flour and milk, which probably made it trunnier, but that isn’t what bothered me… Once I got the hang of cooking and flipping, they came out looking and smelling nice, but were inedible because they were SO salty. I followed the recipe as far as baking soda and salt go, so am not really sure what went wrong… I may try again and just alter the recipe.
I used coconut crystals to sweeten, make my own coconut milk from a young coconut because I don’t like using anything from a can unless it has enamel-like finish on inside, most don’t. I added 2 tablespoons of coconut oil. Next time I will try without the oil. Very good with blueberries and raspberries, dollop of plain yogurt, organic or not from treated cows, and coconut crystals to sweeten. Delicious Christmas breakfast!
loved the pancakes but could taste the baking soda & salt wondering why, i did follow recipe. We ate them all anyway. Thanks,Marie
I made these yesterday for the very first time and they turned out perfect. I used 5 eggs instead of 4, but I also purchase small rather than “jumbo” eggs. The batter was a perfect consistency – not too thick, not too thin. I think they’re great with some almond butter and a bit of blackberry jam.
I really wanted these to be good but they were awful!! I don’t know what I did wrong? Mine where spongy and grainy if that makes sense and just not even edible. They looked like perfect little pancakes but didn’t taste like it. Any suggestions?
These pancakes were delicious! Thanks for sharing such a great recipe. I topped mine with Greek yogurt, cocoa, bananas and shredded unsweetened coconut!
I am also having trouble with the batter being too runny & not being able to flip bc they never actually firm up. When I increase heat and/or wait longer, they stick on the bottom but are still runny on top. What am I doing wrong? Followed recipe to the letter.
Lovely recipe! The best I’ve tried yet 🙂
I have been making these for several years now and they truly are delicious. When we have them for breakfast we put cooked blueberry compote and yogurt, sliced bananas and toasted coconut chips, absolutely decadent tasting but very healthy.
People really should try these, I have found a wonderful cookbook with coconut flour recipes and no longer use wheat flour for anything.
My first one worked well, but then I thought the mixture was too thick so I added a little more milk and then it became too runny so I couldn’t flip them. The rest were a disaster, next time I won’t add more milk 🙂
what a disaster this was… had to make them tiny otherwise they wouldnt flip and they are so dense they were not fluffy like a normal pancake.
I tried this recipe this morning as I am new to the wheat free thing…and loved it! Gave it to my colleagues and they all agree this is yummy.
I will keep this recipe for sure! Now looking for a bread recipe too.
Hi,
How many pancakes does this recipe make? I’d hate to use 4 eggs for one serving
The texture was awesome! However, couldn’t stand the egg taste. My son gagged when he took a bite. Are there any alternatives to eggs without ruining the texture? Thank you