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Tomorrow we are visiting a pumpkin patch and letting the kids pick out their favorite pumpkins. When we do that, it’s usually a pumpkin to paint and decorate, not one to cook with. Most of the time, when I cook pumpkin flavored things I just take the easy way out and use organic canned pumpkin puree. It’s absolutely perfect and easy to use in these healthy pumpkin pancakes!
How are these Healthier?
- Compared to your average pancake recipe, I make these using whole wheat flour, which is slower for my body to digest as compared to white flour. That means I’m fuller longer but there’s zerio sacrifice on the taste and fluff factor!
- There’s less oil/butter in the batter of the recipe compared to traditional pancakes! How do I make them moist? It’s all in the pumpkin puree which contributes to the moisture, texture and taste of these healthy pumpkin pancakes.
- I don’t use any sugar in the recipe. The pancakes are naturally sweetened with maple syrup, which has more nutrients and antioxidants compared to regular granular sugar.
How to Make Healthy Pumpkin Pancakes
This is a super simple pancake recipe that I adapted from Cookie and Kate. She’s been making it for 8 years so that’s gotta be legit. I made a couple modifications but otherwise it’s a perfect recipe that you can easily whip up for breakfast.
To start, whisk the dry ingredients first. This includes whole wheat flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice mix and salt.
Next, we’ll hit up the wet ingredients – milk, pumpkin puree, egg and maple syrup. Give that a good mix.
Then pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and viola! You can fold in some chocolate chips. I’ve made it with and without, and surprisingly I actually prefer without the chocolate chips because it allows the pumpkin flavor to really come through! But you can probably guess what my kids prefer 😉
Next, cook them on a griddle or skillet, with or without grease on the surface. You can use butter, coconut oil or vegetable oil spray. Any and all will work. I love the rich warm buttery taste that complements pumpkin flavors, so I opt for the butter!
The recipe will make about 6-8 medium sized pancakes, which is great for 3-4 people. It’s a delicious breakfast inspired by fall flavors that will leave you with allllll the fall feels. Pair it with some coffee in the morning, and relish that moment!
For more ideas of what to do with leftover pumpkin puree, check out these fall-favorite recipes!
- Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte
- No-Bake Pumpkin Spice Balls
- Mini Pumpkin Pies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
More pancake recipes:
- Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
- Flourless Strawberry Pancakes
- Pink Pancakes (made with beets)
- Banana Pancake Dippers
- Oat Flour Pancakes
- Chocolate Pancakes
- Blueberry Pancakes
If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feel good Healthy Pumpkin Pancakes recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
Healthy Pumpkin Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin spice blend
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup almond milk
- ⅓ cup pumpkin purée
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoon butter melted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup chocolate chips optional
- Butter or cooking oil spray for cooking
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice blend and salt. Stir until blended.
- In a larger mixing bowl, combine the milk, pumpkin purée, egg, maple syrup, melted butter and vanilla extract. Whisk until completely blended.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips, if using.
- Heat a nonstick griddle over medium-low heat. Melt butter on the surface or spray with cooking oil spray.
- Pour ⅓ cup of the batter into the hot griddle. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until small bubbles start to form on the top and the edges firm up. Flip the pancake and cook for another 1-2 minutes until the pancake is cooked through.
- Serve immediately with maple syrup.
Video
Notes
- You can sub the whole wheat flour for all purpose flour. As for gluten-free flour, unfortunately I don’t bake with gluten free flour so I can’t be sure how they will work in this recipe.
- You can leave out the egg completely if you want to make this vegan and skip the butter when cooking the pancakes.
- You can use any milk of choice.
Nutrition
Came out great! Hearty and fluffy, very flavorful with the spice. Only mods were using a full 1/2 cup of pumpkin and using sugar free maple syrup to cut down the sugar.
So glad to hear it! Thank you 🙂
When you only use part of the can of pumpkin, what do you do with the rest?
I recommend these recipes because they are very forgiving in the amounts needed. You can add a little more or less and they’ll still turn out great!
https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/no-bake-pumpkin-spice-bliss-balls/
https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/vegan-pumpkin-pasta-crispy-sage/
https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/homemade-pumpkin-spice-latte/
These pancakes were wonderful! We love everything pumpkin spice and these pancakes had that perfect pumpkin spice flavor. My 12-year-old loved them. I used unbleached all purpose flour, regular milk, and omitted the maple syrup and they were delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Yay, so glad to hear it! Thank you!
I made these this morning for breakfast. Wow!! They are super good! I made them exactly as written except used honey instead of maple syrup and canola oil instead of melted butter because that’s what I had on hand. I did add 2T. ground flax to the dry ingredients (I add flax to most everything bread). They were light, pumpkiny, and delicious. Just the right touch of spice, too. I used my homemade pumpkin pie spice to make these. Will definitely be making these again as long as my supply of frozen puree lasts in my freezer! I sprinkled mine with walnuts and chocolate chips right after pouring them in the skillet.
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed them! I love that you added the flaxseed to dry ingredients…extra fiber! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Can this also be used as waffle batter too?
Yup! Just add 2 tablespoons of oil to it and then you can use it as waffle batter.
Just made this! It was super delicious!!! I didn’t have maple syrup so just put some honey on top and was just lovely!
Yay! So glad to hear it! 🙂
Love everything with pumpkin! I know these are going to be a hit with my family 🙂