Beautiful, tasty and healthy green pancakes are also very easy to make in a blender.
The perfect St. Patrick’s Day breakfast. And once your kids try these, they will want them every other day. They are delicious, colourful and have some added nutrients with a couple of extra ingredients.
Pancakes aren’t just great for breakfast. Try packing a green pancake for your little one to school. They’ll be so excited to show it off to their friends.
We serve pancakes at least once a week so I always cook up a double batch on the weekend and freeze the leftovers. It makes things so much easier during the week. This recipe serves our family of 4 where Kyle and I will each have 3 and the kids may have 2 each, depending on the day.
If your kids aren’t into coloured pancakes, perhaps they’ll enjoy our Apple Pancakes with Kefir. They are full of protein and vitamins and also freeze really well.
Preparing Green Pancakes
Ingredients
Milk: Milk makes up the liquid and adds a bit of the fluffiness in these pancakes. I add partly skimmed or full fat milk.
Egg: The egg is a key binder in this recipe. If you opt to separate the egg yolk and egg white you will end up with much lighter pancakes.
Brown Sugar: Brown sugar adds the sweetness to the recipe. You can pare it down to two table spoons if you prefer less sweetness.
Vanilla: Vanilla also adds a hint of sweetness but of course it adds delicious flavour. It’s very important in this recipe to make sure the spinach doesn’t take over the flavour.
Spinach: I suppose you have figured out by now that the spinach is my secret green ingredient. Its gentle flavour doesn’t change the pancakes into a savoury dish and of course its beautiful colour makes these green pancakes pop. Not to mention that spinach is full of iron and other wonderful nutrients.
Rolled Oats: Oats add some fiber and protein to this dish making it that much more nutritious relative to regular pancakes. I use rolled oats but any oats will be fine since they will be blended into the batter.
Flour: All-purpose white flour is best to keep the colour nice and bright.
Baking Powder and Soda: These are the agents that contribute to the beautiful texture of our pancakes. They help make the pancakes nice and fluffy.
Coconut Oil: Coconut oil is also one of my secret ingredients. Though the flavour is quite subtle it adds just enough to elevate the overall taste of the pancakes.
How to Make Green Pancakes
You have the options to separate the egg yolks and egg whites for extra fluffiness, but its not necessary. It requires one extra step and an electric mixer, either handheld or a stand mixer. When you separate the eggs only include the egg yolk in the blender with the wet ingredients.
In the jug of your blender, add the wet ingredients up to and including the spinach. The
egg whites should be in a separate bowl which we will get to later.Blend all the ingredients on high for about 30 seconds or until they are well mixed and there are no spinach bits left.
Next, add the dry ingredients in the following order: oats, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Blend once again for 30 seconds. You do not want to overmix here so be sure to only blend until there are no lumps.
If you opted for separating the egg whites and egg yolks, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Pour the beaten egg whites into the batter and use a spatula to just fold them in.
Now you’re ready to cook! Warm-up a teaspoon of coconut oil in a large pan on medium heat. Once hot, use a ¼ cup measuring cup or equivalent size ladle to pour batter onto the pan.
Cook for about 2 ½ minutes. Once you see air bubbles starting to form on the top flip and cook for another 1 ½ minutes.
Repeat cooking until all the batter is gone, adding coconut oil, a teaspoon at a time, between batches.
Substitutions
Milk: You can use any milk that you like. The more flavourful the milk however the more it will impact to flavour of the pancakes.
Brown Sugar: White sugar will work just as well in this recipe.
Vanilla: You can skip the vanilla if you don’t have any but it does add more sweetness and a hint of flavour to the pancakes.
Rolled Oats: Any type of oats can be used in this recipe since they are being blended anyway. If you don’t have any oats feel free to skip them and add another ¼ cup of flour.
Flour: White flour helps to brighten the final colour of the pancakes however whole wheat will work just as well if necessary.
Coconut Oil: You can use a plant-based oil instead noting that the more flavourful the oil the more it will change the taste of the pancakes.
Serving Green Pancakes
Serve green pancakes just as you would regular pancakes. Top with fresh berries and maple syrup. You can also top with powdered sugar or just eat the pancakes on their own.
If you like green pancakes then you should also try our pink pancakes recipe.
Blue pancakes recipe is coming soon! Subscribe to our weekly email to get updates about new recipes, weekly meal plans and other kitchen tips and tricks.
Update: Blue pancakes are here!
Green Pancakes Recipe
Equipment
- Electric mixer (optional)
- Spatula
- Ladle ((1/4 cup or 60ml))
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup spinach
- ½ cup rolled oats
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 3 tsp coconut oil
- Maple Syrup and berries optional
Instructions
- If you have an electric mixer separate the egg yolk and egg white. Put the egg white in the bowl of a stand mixer or a bowl for an electric mixer.1 egg
- In the jug of a blender add milk, egg yolk (if not separating egg, add the whole egg here), brown sugar, vanilla and spinach, in that order.1 cup milk, 1 egg, 3 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 cup spinach
- Blend for 30 seconds until the spinach is blended well.
- Next add the oats, flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.½ cup rolled oats, 1 cup all-purpose flour, ¼ tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda
- Blend again for about 30 seconds. You don’t want to over mix now so just blend until everything is mixed and there are no lumps.
- If separated egg in step 1: In a stand mixer or using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff. You should see small peaks form.1 egg
- Scoop the egg whites into the batter and gently fold them in just until combined. Don’t over mix. I do this in the jug of my blender but you can choose to move the batter to a bowl.
- In a large pan, heat up 1 tsp of coconut oil on medium heat.3 tsp coconut oil
- Once hot, use a ¼ cup measuring cup or a 60ml ladle to scoop the batter into the pan. I can fit three pancakes at a time in my pan so I get three full batches and one more for one pancake. Cook the pancakes until you see air bubbles start forming, approximately 2 ½ minutes. Flip and cook for another minute to minute and a half.
- Repeat steps 8 and 9 until you have used all the batter.
- Serve with maple syrup, fresh berries and any other toppings you like.Maple Syrup and berries
These were my favourite !!
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