Discovering Healthier Pancakes: From Bananas to Pumpkin

Breakfast is a big deal in my house—we love everything from breakfast sandwiches and omelets to French toast and, of course, pancakes. Recently, I found a Mediterranean diet-friendly banana pancake recipe that quickly became a staple for us. What makes it special? There’s no flour or added sugar. The pancakes are made with ripe bananas, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla extract, eggs, and a splash of milk. The bananas provide all the sweetness you need, making these pancakes both healthy and delicious. I make them so often that I keep a batch ready in the freezer, and even my dog gets to enjoy one or two!

When fall arrived, I started thinking about how to adapt this recipe for pumpkin pancakes. I love cooking with pumpkin, but most recipes leave me with leftover pumpkin purée that ends up forgotten in the fridge. I wondered if I could use pumpkin butter instead, since it’s one of my favorite autumn treats. Unfortunately, that experiment didn’t work out—pumpkin butter is too runny and already sweetened, which led to mushy pancakes. Lesson learned: pumpkin butter is best as a topping, not an ingredient. Still determined, I tried adding a third cup of pumpkin purée and a half teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the original recipe. Success! The result was a batch of fluffy, flavorful, and healthy pumpkin pancakes. They were so good, I made another batch just to use up the rest of the purée—problem solved!

Pumpkin Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

Adapted from the Healthy Oatmeal Banana Pancakes recipe at ambitiouskitchen.com

Click here to view the original recipe.

• 2 medium ripe bananas (best when they have lots of brown spots)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk of your preference (I like to use almond milk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups quick oats
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup pumpkin purée*
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice*
• Olive oil, for cooking
  *omit if you do not want pumpkin pancakes

Add all of the ingredients (except for the olive oil) to a blender and blend on high until completely smooth, about 45 seconds. Let the batter sit in blender for about 3-5 minutes while you heat up your pan or griddle to medium heat.

Lightly coat your pan or griddle with olive oil and place over medium heat. Once the surface is hot, add 1/3 cup of the batter to the griddle for each pancake and cook for 2-4 minutes until pancakes slightly puff up and you see a few bubbles along the edges.

Flip the pancakes and continue cooking for another two minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

The batter will make approximately 7-9 regular size pancakes, or about 12-15 silver dollar size pancakes. You can also half the batter if you wish.

Refrigerate leftover pancakes in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or you can freeze them in a freezer bag for up to two months. To freeze leftover pancakes, place them individually on a baking sheet and place the baking sheet into the freezer. This will help avoid the pancakes from sticking together. Once frozen, you can place them into a freezer bag.