These green smoothie pancakes put some of my fave green smoothie ingredients into delicious pancake form! The batter is made in the blender for a no mess, no fuss healthy breakfast.
Now that winter is here in Australia I don’t always feel like a frosty smoothie (though I am one of those people who still want them even when it’s cold, sometimes!). So why not enjoy the same ingredients in some green smoothie pancakes?
When the weather cools down I naturally want to warm up my meals. Baked sweet potatoes, soup, curries, porridge, hot chocolates and chai tea…and pancakes of course! Even when you make a healthy version, the best thing is that a stack of pancakes always feels like a treat. Delicious toppings mandatory, whether that’s a simple drizzle of maple syrup or a whole stack of extras.
Green Smoothie Pancakes Tips
Just like a smoothie, you make the batter for these green smoothie pancakes in a blender, so they’re super quick and not very messy, either. Whack everything in, blend, scoop into the frypan and voila, that’s it!
The trick to getting a nice set of pancakes is to make sure the batter is actually quite thick, especially when there’s fruit or vegetable in the batter. When I first started making pancakes like this I was making the batter way too thin, and they’d turn out like crepes (or just not turn out at all). Keep that batter thick and you’ll get fluffy pancakes that flip so easily. You’ll see there’s hardly any liquid in this recipe, but that’s because of the banana that you blend through it.
Now, the only thing left to discuss is, what are the best toppings for these delicious pancakes?
In the pancakes pictured, I used fresh berries, coconut yoghurt, cinnamon and some of my Mixed Berry Chia Jam. This is literally the easiest ever jam to make – just cook some frozen berries until soft, add a little bit of sweetener of choice and chia seeds. It will thicken up quickly!
Other toppings that I think would work well are (1) nut butter with a drizzle of honey or maple syrup or (2) Greek yoghurt with honey and chopped nuts for crunch. Yum yum. Or good old sliced fresh fruit never goes wrong either! Because these are nice simple pancakes with a little fruit and veggie thrown in, I think they’re also perfect for a baby or toddler – serve them plain for baby-led weaning or just with one simple topping for a toddler. Maybe they can dip them into some Greek yoghurt?
Let me know if you make these Green Smoothie Pancakes by taking a snap and sharing it on Instagram, you can find me at @nourish_everyday!
Green Smoothie Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1/2 large banana or 1 whole small banana, ripe to overripe
- 1 large handful baby spinach
- 4 tbsp buckwheat flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- olive oil or coconut oil for cooking
Instructions
- Place banana, spinach, buckwheat flour, baking powder, egg and vanilla in a blender and process to a thick batter.
- Heat a non-stick frypan to a low-to-moderate heat and add a teaspoon of coconut/olive oil.
- Add 2 heaped tbsp of batter to the pan and smooth out a little to form a pancake. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, flipping gently.
- Repeat with remaining batter. Serve with maple syrup and berries.
Notes
Hi! I would like to make this but I want to know if I’m able to substitute the buckwheat flour for another kind of flour?
Hi! I’m following a minimal fructose diet, so I can’t have banana. Could I substitute with sweet potato instead? Thank you!
Hi Kate, I haven’t tried it with sweet potato but I think that you probably could! Maybe like a half cup? Let me know how you go!