Grain-Free (and dairy-free) Fluffy Coconut Flour Pancakes, revisited

359 Comments

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. If your pancakes are too salty for your taste cut the salt in half.
  5. 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.
  6. 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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!

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359 Comments

  2. Went down well with the whole family. I halved the salt for blood pressure reasons. Thanks for the recipe!

  3. Thank you for the recipe, Shannon! Made these this morning, as I had a nearly full bag of coconut flour to use up. I’ve made a couple coconut flour items and have never been very impressed with the results. These were a different story.

    They were light and fluffy and very good. Yes, there’s a tiny bit of an eggy taste. But with a topping of maple syrup or combined with chocolate chips and whipped cream they were very tasty! I used maple syrup in the batter, like they did in the test kitchen video. I also halved the salt. I used “let’s do…organic” brand coconut flour for what it’s worth. And fried up in butter. They weren’t overly coconutty.

    Almost every weekend I make pancakes- usually of the sourdough variety, with an overnight ferment. These were a nice change and I’ll be adding to the pancake recipe rotation for sure!

  4. Chocolate chips in pancakes?! A friend showed me his paleo magazine recipe, wow talk about not being able to get away from the white stuff, flours, etc. very laden with fat, which apparently we are being fooled into thinking is ok, I think it’s ok if your doing physical labor all day. OK, I’m going to try this recipe (not on other people first of course) ALSO OF NOTE, paleo style pancakes are way more filling than traditional wheat cakes, here is the other recipe I’ve been making. 3 brown bananas, 3 eggs, 1/2 cup nut butter, 2-3 teaspoons cinnamon, blend, cook in 350 degree griddle, they cook kind of slow, in a right now society, we forget cooking takes patience, especially cooking from scratch. I just made a batch of stock with this huge bone my Mom gave me and it took 2 and a half days.

  6. Oh gosh, let me tell you. I have failed many, MANY times at coconut flour pancakes. There’s a lot of recipes on the web, but lets just be honest many of them suck. Coconut flour is EXTREMELY dry and each time I made them the end result was far, far away from fluffy pancake land. I just made these this morning & they were phenomenal! I’m from the south, Texas to be exact and I take my food darn seriously. I want it to be whole and nutritious, but still taste good. This recipe rocks. I followed your directions exactly. Used raw honey instead of stevia. Thanks for sharing!!!

  7. I tried the recipe for my keto diet son and he loved the result. I thought it was bland and eggs but edible. My keto guy wants them again with sausage, eggs and cheese inside like a McGriddle. I’ll try that next.

  8. Just made these for my toddler and me since I had no flour in the pantry, but wanted pancakes. I have to say for how many eggs are in the recipe this turned out really yummy. I added a little bit of cinnamon to mine, too. Ate with butter and a tiny bit of syrup. Great alternative to regular pancakes. Thank you for posting!

  9. My whole family love these! I even use this as a recipe base for all different flavoured muffins! (They work great as muffins by the way!!) Today we had blueberry pancakes and muffins, I make big batches to freeze for school lunches too. My 4 year old and 8 month old devour them! I have had no issue with making these and I have done it a few times now! Anyone who has cooked flour less pancakes before will know they arent the traditional texture while cooking, theyre more delicate and dont bubble indicating when to flip, go gently with them and they turn out fine!

  11. Just had these with some double cream and a few berries. Am new to LCHF and still getting uses to using different ingredients etc., however these were awesome!! Way better than I was expecting tbh. Thanks for sharing this great recipe. Umm I hate to ask, but do you have a nutritional guide for these to use in my app?

    1. You can input your ingredients on MyFitnessPal as a recipe, and it will break it down for you, if that helps any.

  12. Gave these a try today. I really liked them. I used 3/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt as the only milk product in mine, and it turned out well. I only found them impossible to flip, even with a spatula, so mine were in pieces, but that didn’t hurt the flavour any XD. Super fluffy from the eggs. I will definitely try these again with fruit added.

  13. The best ever!! I add blueberries to the tops of mine as they bake – heaven! I’ve shared this with many of my gym friends. We all are grateful! Your tips were helpful. I’m still laughing at #6 ?
    Cheers ?

  15. Today I made these lovely pancakes with a little potato starch (NOT potato flour)– about 1/6 starch to 2/6 coconut flour (which makes 1/2 cup). My reason was to nourish my gut biome with that good starch. The resulting cakes were so light and tender. It makes a looser batter so they spread rather than need flattening, and they rise beautifully. A nice variation if you have potato starch in the cupboard.

  17. Your response is hilarious. Way to keep your cool. I’ve often wondered at people berating a food blogger about not liking the recipes (as though they bought your cookbook and somehow you owe them money).

    I have a request: Would love to be able to PIN your recipes on Pinterest for future reference, but I don’t see that share option. Just a thought! Thanks for sharing – will be trying these soon.

  19. Before I try this recipe…. do you think it would be hideous if I were to omit the honey or stevia entirely & maybe double the vanilla? Wanting to make large batches to use more as easy, reheatable quick “bread” to toast with almond butter– so not so much needing it to be “pancakey”? (Looking for less time comsuming alternative to the sweet potato pancakes I do same thing with)

  20. Hi Shannon,
    I’m very excited to try these pancakes and will do so in a minute. Just looking at the photos is making me very hungry. Before I stepped into the kitchen to get started I just wanted to say how much I love your #6 tip above. Made me laugh! (and such good advice!)
    Okay, off to the kitchen!
    Thanks!

  21. This is not a “pancake.” So let’s call it what it is…an “omelet with coconut flour and hopefully enough flavor to get it close to flavors associated with pancakes and syrup. All that said, it wasn’t horrible or something I stopped eating after the first sloppy resemblance of a pancake. This is my first attempt and I share many of your 1-5 issues; the grainy texture of course, but then again, I wasn’t that surprised given the fiber content in them. Moving forward, I will place the coconut flour in a food processor and attempt to make the texture more like wheat flour. At first glance I though the amount of liquids to dry was wrong; it just looked that it read; one sided. I could never get the “browning” right, thinking is, a more thinner batter. First crack at this, I’d give it a 3 out of 5, but this is a recipe I will need to play with. 4 eggs? Wow! May take a shot at something more crepe like moving forward! Again, the flavor wasn’t too bad.

  22. I can’t wait to try this recipe, I am wondering though about how many pancakes thos recipe makes?

  23. Someone else asked earlier, but some clarification on the type of coconut milk would help loads. The main issue being is there are several kinds:

    Coconut “Milk” AKA Coconut “Beverage” which is similar to Almond or Rice milk in consistency
    Full fat canned coconut milk
    Low fat canned coconut milk

    Looking forward to your reply as well as trying these once it’s cleared up! Thanks!

  24. You are fantastic and so are your pancakes.

    People are funny. And rude. They want the danish without the disease… Go figure! LOL!

  25. new to this blog and i like the tongue in cheekiness of it thus far 🙂
    greatly admire ur family’s perseverance at the sustainable , off grid lifestyle. we try to be sustainable but we are def not off grid though id like to be-one day soon i hope.

    to this recipe. i followed it with two changes (lol- roll eyes here): i added a ripe banana and did 1/2 coco flour and 1/2 brown rice flour. i used raw honey and coconut milk- not the the high fat canned; they turned out lovely

    finding gluten free, healthy flours has been difficult in the past- we lived in nicaragua- but we recently moved to mexico and found an organic section at the grocery store. yay! been a few years since ive shopped in a grocery store lol.
    looking forward to the other delights im sure to find on this blog and thx for creating it. and please dont loose the cheekiness 😀

  26. I stumbled across your website in search of this recipe since we had lost the one we normally use. I am so very excited to delve in and read, you are living our dream that hopefully one day may come true! We home-school our four children, and live as frugally as possible. I love whole, real foods and learning new things! I’m curious if you have ever pre-made and froze these pancakes?

  27. I haven’t made your pancakes but I will now after reading your blog about this. Entertaining and well-written!

  28. Hi, hello, hey.

    I’ve been craving pancakes for a very long time, and after taking a bite just now — literally, just now — I am so stoked. They are fluffy and wonderful.

    I added a thinly diced apple because I’m eating those right now, and it is a fabulous combination!

    Thanks for the great recipe. Thanks for the troubleshooting tips. Thanks for the pancakes.

  29. To be honest this is one of the recipes which worked for me… I mean like in the end I have some pancakes.. The thing is that it looks nothing like the photo. It looks like my pancakes are made from semolina. But the reason is that I used cream and almond milk I guess and didn’t add vanilla or honey. So any change of the recipe brings different effect on the ingredients and the mixture.

  31. I love these pancakes – I use half skim milk and half cream (because I don’t use whole milk for anything else, so do not have it on hand). I’m very happy with the result – I make a batch, fry them all and refrigerate for more breakfasts, or lunches or suppers. Good Stuff. Thank you.

  32. Just made a patch of pancakes from this recipe. My first try and they were yummy.
    I did substitute a 1/4 cup coconut sugar for honey and also unsweetened coconut/almond milk.
    I also used all organic ingredients and is always more flavorful. Support organic farming!!!
    Thanks Shannon 🙂

  33. This re-post is hilarious! I personally love these pancakes and have made them plenty of times, thanks to you!

    Sometimes I go all out and add: about 1/2 can of pumpkin, 1 tbsp of ground flax and a few drops of almond extract along with a heavy dash of cinnamon and/or nutmeg … Oh my words, they’re good. They’re very delicate in the pan, but still come out great. Top with real maple syrup, real butter and a handful of you walnuts and it’s amazing.

  34. For UK readers, what are the equivalent measurements in grams and millilitres? When I tried your recipe I ended up with a bowl full of unappetising, semi dry coconut flour which I think I’m just going to throw away.

  35. I honestly don’t know what people could possibly be complaining about–these pancakes are great. My son loves them, and even my husband who usually hates coconut flour anything has to admit they’re pretty good. They’re simple, fluffy, delicious, and a sometimes add a little maple extract and vanilla stevia drops so they’re sweet by themselves and i can take them with me or pack them for my son as a snack, no syrup required. They’re my go-to pancakes. Just one question, how many servings is this recipe supposed to be? Just curious, because I could (but don’t) eat them all by myself:)

  36. These were good. My daughter equated the *taste* (eggy flavor) to french toast. This is only my second coconut flour recipe that I’ve tried, and it was worth making again. 🙂

    I ate mine with a light spread of Natural Peanut Butter with a drizzle of honey on top. Very delicious!

  37. I found these delightful. I’m currently on a low carb diet, which translates into minimum grains. I love breakfast, particularly pancakes and waffles, so I’ve been on a quest for grain-free options. I found this recipe, and admittedly it was the first one I tried. I’m absolutely satisfied with them. The texture and flavor was spot on. I cooked your original recipe, but will likely try with the posted cream/milk mixture next time. Thanks for giving me my breakfast back!

  38. These are the first coconut flour pancakes I’ve made that turned out fluffy and not a soggy mess when I tried to flip them! Great recipe- I added a ripe mashed banana to the wet mixture because I had one to use but followed the rest of the recipe exactly. Thank you for a great breakfast and a midnight snack!

  39. Wow, I just made these pancakes from your recipe, followed your instructions to a T, and this is the first time I’ve used coconut flour with success after many, MANY tries. Thank you! I’ve been looking for ways to cut out a dependency on almond flour and this is going to really help!

  40. Great recipe. Thanks. We are doing grain free, sugar free so this was great. A little bland but I used avocado oil in the fry pan. Then did butter in the fry pan. I did not put in the honey for diabetes reasons. I will pass this on. Really missed pouring maple syrup on them, (Canadian) but have to make a choice on the sugar. They did come out fluffy. Beating the eggs. Tip: if your eggs are out of the fridge, put in hot water for a few minutes to make them room temperature. They will beat fluffy.

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