Pancakes (gluten-free, dairy-free)

I think everyone should be able to have delicious pancakes made from scratch. These thick and fluffy gluten-free and dairy-free pancakes are super easy to make, and a great way to get more pancakes into your weekends! 🙂

Do you prefer box mix pancakes or homemade?

I won’t judge either way. Some of my favorite brownies are from a box mix! 🙂

But, for pancakes, I’m all about homemade. And, I guess it’s just because that’s how I was raised and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree here.

After decades of making a few of her favorites repeatedly, my Mom has her recipes memorized. She can rattle off a full pancake recipe for you just like that! Several other recipes too actually… I’m hoping someday I’ll be able to do the same.

I can just see myself in twenty years, rattling this recipe off to my own kids on the phone. Who knows where they’ll be, but maybe they’ll be in need of a good pancake recipe 😉

Over the years I’ve tried several different gluten-free pancake recipes, combined a few here or there, made a couple tweaks, and landed on these. I like these best because they’re:

• Super thick and fluffy! If you prefer thinner pancakes though you can always add more milk.
• Easily made with “buttermilk” by mixing vinegar and almond milk, making them dairy-free.
• Sweetened with maple syrup instead of sugar, for a naturally sweetened pancake.
• Made with coconut oil or dairy-free butter, whatever your prefer. I like dairy-free butter in these in particular for a little extra butter flavor. 🙂
• Made with a gluten-free all purpose flour. No mixing flours needed!

So push your box mix aside, and let’s get down to making some homemade gluten-free & dairy-free pancakes!

First, you’ll need white vinegar.

Odd way to start a pancake recipe, huh?

For thick and really fluffy pancakes, buttermilk is where it’s at. It helps to give the pancakes a little extra rise and makes them a little more tender. But, how do you make dairy-free buttermilk?

Easy, you make it yourself of course… which is where the vinegar comes in! You can make “buttermilk” by adding vinegar (or lemon juice) to almond milk, to curdle the milk.

It’ll give the milk a touch of tang and a bit of a different texture. Just add them to a small bowl and set them aside for several minutes so the milk has time to curdle and you’ll be just dandy.

In the meantime, you can add all your dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl and stir them together (gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt).

In another mixing bowl, add your maple syrup and coconut oil and whisk those up. Now, you’ll add that “buttermilk” in and your egg and whisk it again. If you like to add vanilla to your pancakes, you can add about 1/2 teaspoon here too.

Lastly, mix your dry and wet ingredients together for one smooth pancake batter. Be careful not to over-mix your pancake or you can create too many bubbles, which will show in your cooked pancakes as air pockets and the texture won’t be quite the same.

If your pancake batter is too thick, add a little more almond milk. If your pancake batter is too thin, add a little more flour. You can test it out with your first cooked pancake.

Cook your pancakes on about medium heat, for several minutes each side, or until you start to see those lovely little bubbles form, then it’s time to flip them over!

Continue till you’ve cooked all of your pancakes. You should get about 8 medium sized pancakes from this recipe, or 10 small pancakes.

Lastly… top them however you like and share them. My personal favorite topping is peanut butter and jelly. And a little syrup on top too! 🙂

If you’re looking for some fun pancake flavors, I’d recommend my gluten-free Banana Pancakes, Carrot Cake Pancakes, and Red Velvet Pancakes!