Grain-Free (and dairy-free) Fluffy Coconut Flour Pancakes, revisited
One of the most popular, most commented on, and most polarizing posts I’ve ever published is not one that argues for agrarianism or home birth or all the saturated fat you can eat. Nope, it is this recipe for grain-free coconut flour pancakes.
I have gotten some of the funniest comments on this recipe – some published and some I’ve deleted. One day I will get a comment saying “These are the best coconut flour pancakes I’ve ever had!” and the next some lady will tell me “These were the worst pancakes I’ve ever eaten in my life!” Other comments were not so nice.
I guess you can’t please every body.
Probably 90% of the comments have been positive, though, which is good. We still eat these pancakes frequently so I am fairly confident in the recipe as written, but I wanted to share a few updates and tips that I’ve learned after making these dozens of times.
- If your pancakes are grainy I think it may be because the coconut flour has been exposed to moisture and its high fiber content has absorbed water. There’s really not much you can do about this except buy new coconut flour.
- If your pancakes are eggy that is because either a.) you have never eaten a coconut flour pancake before and are not used to the higher egg content necessary to bind the pancakes or b.) your batter is too thin because you’ve added too much milk.
- If your pancakes are not lovely and fluffy it is because you have added too much milk. The original recipe was created to be dairy-free, but I also have made it with dairy. The fat content of coconut milk and whole milk are different, so in the revised recipe below you will find different measurements for dairy-free versus dairy-laden pancakes.
- If your pancakes are too salty for your taste cut the salt in half.
- If your pancakes are still absolutely the worst thing you have ever eaten in your life and you wish to tell me so and say “I followed the recipe exactly, except I substituted x for y and a for b… oh and I skipped that step where you said beat the eggs,” then that is probably the problem.
- If, after attempting to fix 1-5 with this new recipe you still loathe these pancakes with a fierceness that can not be described then maybe you should punch a pillow, take a breath, and then step back for some perspective before you let it ruin your life. They are, after all, just pancakes.
With that, here is the updated and revised recipe that we still really enjoy.
Fluffy Coconut Flour Pancakes 2.0
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 coconut milk or 3/4 cup cream + 1/4 cup whole milk (best) or 3/4 cup whole milk yogurt + 1/4 cup whole milk (good)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon honey or a pinch of stevia
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 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 3/4 of wet mixture into dry until coconut flour is incorporated. Allow to sit for 3-5 minutes.
- At this stage your batter should be thick, almost like brownie batter. If it is still fairly thick and dry add the rest of the wet mixture.
- 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.
Anyone else have a few tips after making these pancakes?
You can get coconut flour and coconut oil here:
UPDATE – Check out this new video of the recipe in action!
Shannon, I love this post for MANY reasons! As a fellow real foodie recipe creator, I was absolutely laughing out loud at points 5 and 6. Who knew pancakes could bring out such hostility. Well, your grace and humor in how you’ve responded shows a lot about your character, which I respect! Keep on creating and sharing your delicious, healthy recipes! We appreciate you! Blessings, Kelly
oh my gosh, this post had me laughing out loud.
haha, well I have to say that I have made this recipe SO many times and we absolutely LOVE it! we don’t do grains unless they are soaked or sprouted (and that’s even rare) so these babies hit the spot for any of my soft, warm bread cravings! thank you THANK YOU for this recipe! it is a favorite and keeper in our family!!
Ok, I have not attempted this because I cannot begin to figure where I’d get coconut flour in the little town where I live and I will not order food products off the internet. But I do want to ask- Alisha- if you do not eat grains what in the world do you eat? And what about those soaked or sprouted grains- initiate me, please! I love your blog- and this post too!
Jennifer – When we have gone grain free we usually continue to eat about the same amount of pastured meats and lots of fat and lots of good veggies and fruits.
We are grain-free and use this recipe all the time 🙂 The only two things I’ve changed are:
1. I use kefir instead of milk, as it reacts with the baking soda and gives a great rise to the pancakes.
2. I use a little less coconut flour (I eyeball it) so that the batter is not quite so thick and heavy.
These pancakes are awesome, and they smell amazing!
I used to live in a tiny town in Wyoming and so I’d just buy my random stuff online. Try talking to your local grocery manager – I bet Bob’s Red Mill has one and your store could order it. There are lots of buying clubs out there too – United Natural Foods, Azure Standard for example – and there may be one near you. Another idea would be to ask a friend when they’re going to the ‘big city’ to pick some up. Most natural food stores, small co-ops and big ones like Whole Foods, will have it.
We’re going back to no grains (we went back to eating corn and rice over the summer/fall). We eat meat, nuts, dairy, fruit, vegetables! I make crackers and breads out of nut flours. We never got into sprouting before going grain free but I believe it’s to increase the digestibility.
I LOVE these pancakes and tip #5. Number 6 made me pee a little from laughing but I’ve carried 5 pregnancies to term so that’s acceptable. Have I mentioned that I love these pancakes?
Kim – you made me pee a little too I think with your comment :).
Awesome thanks for the recipe.
I always laugh when people say I followed it exactly but added this and this …
I can’t eat gluten and this is a recipe I’ve been trying to figure out..
I liked your commentary throughout – too funny!
Love your capturing of human drama, it’s so funny and we’ve all probably been on both sides 🙂
That said, I have tried to enjoy things made with coconut flour and I simply do not like it, ever. It makes my throat feel like it’s closing, perhaps I’m allergic. It’s Weird, but your pancakes do look very delicious.
Haha, love 5&6! =) Too true…people are wacky. And the pancakes sound amazing and I can’t wait to try them out !
The hostility comes in because people expected them to be the gluten-goodness they once smothered in fake maple syrup.
I am off to punch a pillow or two now. lol.
This recipes saved me when we were on coconut. 🙂
Ha ha ha!! Lol!! (I can’t believe people actually negatively comment to the point you have to delete the comments. Crazy!) thanks for all your hard work and wonderful recipes! 🙂
This was a very funny post, and I hope to try out this recipe someday.
So funny! Thanks for the laugh…..
Jennifer-
I have trouble finding coconut flour in my town too, so I usually order it from Amazon.
Soaking and sprouting grains (and nuts) helps to neutralize the phytic acid in grains, which makes them easier to digest and helps your body better absorb the nutrients in them. You can read about it in the book Nourishing Traditions. Or there are a lot of wonderful bloggers who post recipes/menus that follow this same line of thought.
A lot of people choose to forgo grains completely and instead focus on nutrient-dense meat, dairy, fruit, nuts and veggies. That’s what we do when I forget or am too lazy to soak or sprout something. Hope that explains things for you a little! 🙂
Ha! How hilarious! For the record, we eat these all the time and love them. I’ve shared the recipe with many friends who have also loved it. People are funny sometimes.
LOL!!! I LOVE this updated post. We have made the pancakes many times and as you can imagine in a family of 10, some of us love the pancakes while others would rather eat cardboard. Or Brussels Sprouts. The fault doesn’t lie with the recipe, it’s a simple case of taste/texture preference. I appreciate all of the work that you did on this recipe and I especially love your hilarious post.
That’s hilarious!! I believe I was one of the first to try this out and I have always loved it. We have slacked on our SUPER nutritious eating but I am planning on following your 5 breakfast rules this month to help us get started. I am excited to make these again, thanks for the reminder. Would love to know what your favorite thing is to combing this with for breakfast for that well balanced breakfast on a winter morning.
Mary Kathryn – We like to serve them with lots of butter and maybe a nut butter and/or jam. Then on the side we usually do either a breakfast meat like bacon or plain yogurt or raw milk.
Thank you! I’ve been grain free for 5 days now and these made me very happy:) I quartered the recipe for just myself and they were perfect! The looked just like yours.
Huge smile to #6 on your list. We love these pancakes and I know others who have tried and love them too, but they are still pancakes, for people to get mad… Hmmm, yes, I think they need to seriously look at other parts of their lives and perhaps acknowledge that the pancakes aren’t the problem. 🙂 Hope you are doing well and your pregnancy is going great. Loving your posts about the homesteading and all your new adventures!
HILARIOUS! I have always loved these babies – they hit the spot and keep me full for hours. You do great work, and you are greatly appreciated!!!!
I have not been in love with coconut flour pancakes in the past.. but it is really good to know about the milk thing.
That said, though- I do like them as waffles..
jenetta
Can’t wait to try these! They look amazing! So far, I’ve only made almond flour pancakes… sometimes they turn out… sometimes not so much.
Wow, these have me wanting some breakfast right now (even though it is 11:30 at night)! I’m gearing up to buy coconut flour for the first time, yay!
We’re having these for breakfast today. My husband just ran out for some eggs. I’ve been grain free for over a month and he’s just joining in. Looking to get the kids on board next! <3 These pancakes will go a long way toward converting them, I think! 😉
Well, I just made them for brinner (you know, breakfast for dinner ala George Costanza) and they were easy, delicious, and a big hit with the under 10 set!
Thanks!
This post made me LAUGH. Love it.
I also have trouble finding coconut flour, so I usually just use finely dessicated coconut and it works OK. The result probably isn’t as fluffy as you get, but I still think they taste good.
I’ve made these pancakes every week since discovering your recipe and have NEVER had any issues with them, I have used both coconut milk and raw milk. They turn out perfect every time…
Shannon, I made these last month and they were AMAZING.
The secret? Making sure you have butter or some kind of butter sub to smear in large quantities on top. They are delicious dry but they REALLY sing when you put the butter on.
my 2 cents! thanks for the recipe! My husband and I are gluten, soy, dairy, shellfish, fish intolerant (and eggs have to be really limited).
I make my coconut pancakes into waffles. Just add some olive oil, or another fat, to the recipe so that they come off the waffle maker fine. They cook up wonderfully and I don’t have to deal with the whole mess making pancakes has been for me with coconut flour! 🙂
Just made these! They are tasty and out of all the recipes I dug through yours seems to have the best ratios (egg:flour:milk) they turned out a little on the salty side for my taste, but I think it was more the baking soda than the actual salt. I am used to baking powder wheat pancakes. Will try this again with coconut milk. Was I too harsh:) thanks for the recipe!
Made these for the first time today, loved them! 🙂 These are great for us right now because I accidentally let my sourdough starter die here recently (I’m pregnant w/ our 3rd, let’s just say it’s been rough). Recipes like these that don’t require any kind of preplanning are wonderful.
this morning i made these. i had to add about a 1/4 cup more coconut flour and they need to be cooked slow and low heat, or they burn so easily, but are not cooked in the middle, so they are impossible to flip. i used 1/2 cup buttermilk and 1/2 vanilla whole milk yogurt. i loved them! and so did my dog, so much that she passed up begging for lamb ribs, to instead beg for my pancakes. also, my 21 month old ate his all up, which is extremely rare for this super picky little boy, who won’t eat a regular pancake to save his life. i eat wheat, but am trying coconut flour for the minerals, kind of hard to work with, but i love the flavor!
How many servings does this make? I try not to make too much for my husband and myself (we usually eat 4-5 pancakes each, about palm-sized).
Thanks!
Perfection!
Loved these pancakes almost as much as the ‘tips’ you provided. Please keep the cooking, posting, and comical relief up!!
Love this post! Thanks for your honesty! I have been using this recipe for about a month now and it probably took me until just a couple days ago to perfect the process. I stick to the recipe as you have it written. The first few times I forgot to set out the eggs. Room temp eggs definitely helps. and actually warmer coconut milk helped too (I make my own!) and it’s important to beat the eggs well, I skipped that a few times too and the batter didn’t thicken well. Another trick I learned is once all ingredients are combined, let the batter sit for about 10-15 min to give the baking soda a chance to thicken the batter even more which will make it easier to flip. We also add bananas and it’s delicious! My kids down these. Of course the texture is different, as with all grain/gluten free recipes and my husband is getting used to them but I have used a different recipe before and they were not as good. SO, thank you! As others have noted… preheat the skillet or griddle, use low heat (like from 1-10, I use 3 or 4 heat intensity) make them smaller, watch closely and I get my spatula under them very quickly which helps keep them together and sometimes just patch ’em up a lil if need be. I have found that the coconut flour I got off amazon from tropical traditions worked better than other brands too. Thanks again!!!
I made these this morning, but didn’t have any whole milk, so I had to substitute water. They still came out amazing!
How many pancakes will this make….or how many servings?
Made both with coconut milk and the whole milk/cream combo and both were delicious!
We tried the original recipe yesterday (using 2% milk) which was pretty good; I saw someone’s suggestion to use kefir (which I happened to have on hand!) so we gave it a try…and they turned out much better 🙂 We used a strawberry-banana flavor kefir so it gave it a nice extra hint of flavor. These are probably the best paleo pancakes I’ve found yet!
I tried this recipe last year and it was simply delicious. I have recently made several version of this recipe swiping the milk with Greek yogurt . This a very simply and easy recipe. Thankssss
Wonder if the size of the eggs makes a difference? I used jumbo, and the batter was just a tench too loose. Made it hard to flip them without them spreading. Then again, if I was using a griddle, it would be easier, rather than have to maneuver over rhe edge of the skillet : ) Nice!
Pam – I would think the size would effect the batter, especially since you mentioned them being too loose.
Delish,looks awesome. I add sprouted spelt flour…and coconut flour(half/half) and like to add kefir. Very tasty.
Thank you 🙂
I realized I didn’t have vanilla extract by the time I had everything mixed, but they were still nomnomnomnomnomnomnom.
Made this recipe for this first time this morning. Didn’t have all the specific ingredients so had to substitute here and there. They tasted wonderful despite their somewhat mishapen look. I kept changing things as I went along due to the first batch being too thin. By the time I ran out of batter, I almost had the proportions perfected. Next time! Someone asked how many servings in the recipe. Well, my husband and I, neither a big eater, finished them off! I didn’t count, but my guess is there were at least a dozen, 3″ pancakes. Thank you, Shannon, for the recipe and your terrific sense of humor.
The recipe is great, thank you for sharing it.
I followed your recipe to the T, but the pancakes turned out too sour. I realized the problem was the amount of the baking soda so I tweaked the recipe a little bit the second time I made the pancakes and they were delicious!
The changes I made were:
1. instead of using 1 teaspoon of baking soda, I used half of a tsp.
2. I used 3 large eggs instead of 4 because the first time I had a lot of the wet mixture left (so I made sweet omelette :D)
3. I used 200 g of coconut milk (a little bit over half a cup) because a whole cup turned out to be too much
4. I used Stevia powder for sweetener (one and a half spoon). I made so many pancakes with that! I had enough for breakfast for 3 days 😀
Mind you, I was making these pancakes for just myself so putting 4 eggs and a cup of milk was giving me too much of the wet mixture. You can always make more of the dry mixture, like I did the second time because, again, I had some of the wet mixture left. But then I would end up with too many pancakes. If you’re making these for breakfast for 4 people, then Shannon’s recipe is absolutely perfect.
Thanks again, Shannon! I love these and will be making them a lot in the future 🙂
Tried this recipe this morning – the best grain free recipe I’ve tried thus far! Kudos!! The pancakes turned out extremely light and fluffy, with just the right amount of grain-iness and a lot less eggy than most of the other recipes for grain free pancakes out there. Looking forward to making these again next weekend! Thanks so much for the lovely recipe.