Oat Cakes: A Pancake Alternative
April 25, 2010 at 12:21 am 40 comments
One of my great loves in life…pancakes! Unfortunately, when I eat “traditional” type pancakes made with flour, they don’t sit too well with me. I feel so bloated and full, even just after a few. So I wanted to find a gluten-free pancake alternative. I had tried making them with different gluten free flours + xanthan gum…but I didn’t like the texture at all.
Lucky for me, I have awesome friends. I was lamenting about my pancakes woes to Tara, and she clued me in to the recipe that she uses. We made it this morning for our pancake feed at the NuRVers Rally and they were AMAZING. These aren’t just “oh well, they will have to do”. They are “oh wow!”. They taste like a bowl of yummy oatmeal, but in a pancake. I love to top mine with more yumminess. Today I enjoyed maple almond butter (I love these little squeeze pouches for when I go to restaurants or out on the town for the day), bananas, and pure maple syrup. That combination is like heaven to me.
Ok, enough about me. Let’s get to the recipe!
Oat Cakes
4 cups traditional (not quick) oatmeal — ground to a flour-like consistency in food processor
4 cups almond/soy/rice milk
4 T melted organic butter
4 large farm fresh eggs
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp baking powder-Soak oats for 12-24 hours in the milk (store in fridge overnight).
-Mix everything else into that.
-Make pancakes and be happy.
Tara also said that her friend uses them as “sandwich bread” for PB & J and such. They are yummy and hearty and would perfect for that. I thought that was a great idea!
And now I have a question for you: What are your favorite pancake toppings?
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Happy Foody 
1.
Rachel | April 25, 2010 at 1:44 am
Oats aren’t gluten-free though are they? If you made pancakes with regular wheat but soaked the wheat overnight in a little acid (ie lemon juice or whey) does that make it easier for your body to cope? I love pancakes with oats in them though. They taste great!
2.
Katie | May 3, 2010 at 7:40 pm
gluten free oats are GF. But they are much more costly and harder to find. Bob’s Red Mill carries GF oats and we love them. And the celiacs in our house do not react to them.
3.
livelightly | April 25, 2010 at 9:01 am
Rachel…there doesn’t seem to be firm evidence either way. I’m not celiac, so I don’t need to be concerned about it. Tara had said that the reason people say they aren’t is just from cross-contamination in the manufacturing process, not because they aren’t inherently gluten free. All I know that they they are MUCH better than flour for your body. I don’t think soaking flour wouldn’t fix the real problem…but soaking and sprouting the actual wheat berry would be better.
4.
Kristen | April 25, 2010 at 9:44 am
All I can say is yummo!! I can’t wait to try this recipe. It looks fantastic! My favorite toppings are strawberries, a fresh nut butter and fresh maple syrup from my parents property up in North Eastern Ohio. Their neighbor taps all the trees on the property and makes it in his sugar house, and in return my parents always get a nice stock of bottles out of the agreement. Seriously, the best maple syrup I have ever tasted! Oh how I miss living at home 🙂
5.
jimaiemarie | April 25, 2010 at 11:58 am
oh yum, i love oats and i love pancakes so this sounds so good!! I can’t wait to try them with some strawberries and a bit of sour cream! 😀
6.
Denise | April 25, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Oats are gluten free, but they are contaminated. You have to buy “certified GF oats” if you have celiac. Bob’s Red Mill has them and they are becoming more widely available. I am SO excited about this recipe. I always buy a GF mix, but I don’t love them and these sound perfect!
7.
Tuon | May 23, 2012 at 10:51 pm
Thanks RCS,Great photos and I heard it was a great time for all. Thanks for all of your supprot. I hate to have missed it. Worst-case scenario: coming down with a 24 hour bug the night before your big event. Life. It goes on without you. Oh, well. There’s always next time. Until then,Cooper
8.
Alicia | April 25, 2010 at 4:10 pm
Ok this makes me very happy. I have been trying to find a wheat free version and while we’ve had some success, this sounds better! Thanks Sara.
9.
Dawn | April 25, 2010 at 6:21 pm
My favorite pancake topping: my mom’s apple syrup recipe! It’s apple juice, cinnamon and other spices, and a little bit of cornstarch to thicken it up. No sugar, although I’m sure it’s full of natural sugar from the apple juice. But it is YUMMY!!!
10.
Marina | April 25, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Hi Sara!
I love all your blogs and read them frequently. I’m so excited about this pancake … like yourself, when I eat ‘normal’ pancakes, I can only have one or two and then feel so bloated I wish I hadn’t 😦 … I’ve tried other GF versions and they just aren’t nice… some are gritty or they fall apart …yuck!
So I’m dying to try this recipe!
My favourite topping is maple syrup and icecream.
My son’s favourite topping is golden syrup with warm milk poured over ( very dutch… my Ma eats them this way) and my hubby’s favourite is lemon juice with sugar.
ThankU for your wonderful stories… I am an RV/dreadlock/nosering wannabe… living vicariously through your blog and others … sad isn’t it 🙂
11.
Carolyn | April 26, 2010 at 1:48 pm
YUM! I’ve switched to whole wheat pancakes (vs. non-food white flour ones) but they are so dense they’re almost unpalatable. I will trying this soon! Thanks to Tara, too, for sharing the recipe with you!
12.
livelightly | April 26, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Carolyn…these are definitely still dense…there really isn’t a way to replicate fluffy and light flour four/sugar pancakes 🙂 But they are in the shape of a pancake and they taste good. 🙂
13.
heather | April 26, 2010 at 2:10 pm
I like to take a few strawberries and macerate them. Then I cover with a bit of honey or agave and let them sit so the strawberry’s natural juices come out. We use that to top pancakes (and do the same with blueberries). 🙂
14.
Heather H | April 26, 2010 at 4:22 pm
These look great and I want to try them soon.I am always looking for tasty recipes. One comment to the poster who was looking for GF pancakes that “look” like regular pancakes here is my suggestion. I use the Betty Crocker GF yellow cake mix. I mix it as instructed and just pour them onto the griddle as a pancake. They are SOOOoooo delicious and no one know the difference.
15.
livelightly | April 26, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Heather…that’s an awesome idea! If anyone is looking for a healthier alternative though, the oat cakes fit the bill. The Betty Crocker mix is still highly processed and contains white sugar and soy, which many are trying to avoid. My problem is that I want them to be more than just an “occasional treat” and the oat cakes allow that.
16.
~Tara | April 26, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Thanks for sharing my recipe Sara! I just posted it too! haha
I *have* made these and they turned out fluffy and light. I’ve been looking into why the difference and I think it’s that the friend that gave me the recipe suggests yogurt instead of milk of any kind. What I forgot is that when she substitutes yogurt, she adds 2 tablespoons of whey, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. I think the probiotics or acidic ingredients help break down the oats further or maybe sour (like sourdough bread) which adds a yeast-like property (“rising” the mixture).
Either way they are yummy, without the stomach-ache. 🙂
17.
Melissa | April 26, 2010 at 11:42 pm
I love chopped pecans IN my pancakes, topped with pure maple syrup. My family likes chocolate or carob chips in their pancakes. Blueberries are also yummy. I’ve also made pumkin pancakes using pureed pumpkin in the mix. It’s delish! A lil’ cinnamon and maple syrup on top and my daughter would say “heaven”!
18.
libby | April 27, 2010 at 12:42 am
Hi Sara,
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. As soon as I read it – on Sat night – I went and prepared the oats ready for pancakes on Sunday morning – and they were truly delicious. Will def. be making these instead of my normal “white flour” pancakes.
Libby
19.
Amber | April 27, 2010 at 2:20 pm
I Like the berry and date ‘syrup’ from Ani P’s cookbook! We feeze the left over and then put the bag in warm water as we make our pancakes.
20.
cavewoman | April 28, 2010 at 10:18 am
my favorite topping is blackberries.
I put about two cups of frozen blackberries on the stove with a scant 1/4 cup water. Then I drizzle agave on the mix.
I cook it down until it is a syrup.
If it is too thin—I grind up 2 tsp of flax meal and add it to the blackberries.
Then I pour it on like syrup.
I can’t stand traditional syrups, but the fruit syrup works well for me.
21.
Christina | April 28, 2010 at 9:58 pm
This recipe sounds yummy and healthy – two of our top requirements, especially for bright and early in the morning to start the day. I like super simple recipes, so the less ingredients the better and quicker! Here is the Banana Fritter recipe from Nava Atlas’ Vegetarian Family Cookbook, we love it!
2 mashed bananas
1 cup soy milk (or regular/almond)
1 cup wheat pastry flour (or rice/oat flour for gluten-free)
raisins/walnuts/pecans, optional
Earth Balance for pan
That’s it, just mix it all together. Then pour into buttered/oiled pan by the 1/4 cup. We top with a tad of maple syrup and whatever fresh fruit we have laying around.
22.
Harriet | April 30, 2010 at 8:11 pm
I just made these – they were amazing!! So good if you are gluten/dairy intolerant. Yum!
23.
ellen | May 2, 2010 at 7:54 am
OMG these are great pancakes. I made them this a.m. not expecting much. These are great! My family won’t even realize the flour is missing! Thanks for sharing. Love your blog.
24.
lostvegan | May 4, 2010 at 9:43 am
To combat the sogginess that sometimes occurs with alternative pancake recipes, I like to dehydrate pancakes, in a low temp oven, to make them crispy pancakes. Eventually they become like pancake crackers.
Recipes comes from Nourishing Tradidions, which also has instructions for soaking flour into pancakes. It can be done.
25.
Jen | May 8, 2010 at 11:36 am
You would not want to soak the oats in just milk or in the fridge. The whole idea of soaking is to replicate an environment where the enzyme inhibitors are inactivated so that the seed can begin to germinate. So you need moist, warm, and slightly acidic. Warm water with an acid medium added such as yogurt, whey, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, or kefir, 1 Tbl. per cup of soaking liquid.
A really yummy flour-less pancake recipe we’re found is for Banana Pancakes:
3 ripe bananas, mashed
6 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Beat eggs and then add everything else. Fry in coconut oil or butter, about 1/4 c. at a time. Turn carefully b/c they’re fragile!
They’re like a souffle. We don’t even put anything on them – maybe just applesauce or something.
26.
uppaparent | May 11, 2010 at 5:15 am
Sounds good. How about mixing some cinnamon and nutmeg into them as well? (Toppings inside the pancake are pretty good.)
27.
Jen | May 11, 2010 at 1:11 pm
I don’t know if you tried this brand, but Bob’s Red Mill has a really good gluten free pancake mix. I actually like it better than “regular” pancakes. Fried in a pan with EV coconut oil, and they are SOO good!
28.
jean | May 23, 2010 at 5:36 pm
oh. . my . . goodness
I JUST made these, signed on to read blogs . . . and “art imitates life!”
Same results here when eating wheat, most flours. Nothing like raw goodness, eh?
Loving your blog(s)
🙂
Jean
29.
Farm Fresh Jessica | June 1, 2010 at 10:18 pm
As my 3 yo would say: Yummaroo! We have pancakes every Sunday, and I will say I’m totally in love w/ the healthful recipe I use, I am going to branch out & try this one (& the banana souffle one!)
As far as toppings–I LOVE peanut butter and maple syrup together.
30.
Yvonne | June 29, 2010 at 11:11 am
I made these for my family this morning and they were SO delicious! Thank you so much Sara!
31.
Karen | July 27, 2010 at 12:44 pm
The Bob’s Red Mill GF Pancake is the best pancake mix my husband and I have ever put in our mouth! And we both grew up in very southern pancake families. And, we don’t have to eat GF. Have you tried it? Your thoughts?
32.
Nakai | August 3, 2010 at 7:17 pm
So, I’m making these right now and I was wondering if they are supposed to be slightly gooey on the inside? How long am I supposed to cook them on each side?
They taste yummy so far though. 🙂 I had a flop and I had to eat the cooked part to taste it and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was!! 🙂
33. Kitchen Corner – Homemade Oat Cakes | The EcoMaker | October 3, 2010 at 12:55 am
[…] Soak the oats after your ground them for 12-24 hours in the milk (store in fridge overnight). Mix everything else into that. Mix up the batter. Cook up oatcakes and enjoy! If you liked this article and would like more information, check out Happy Foody. […]
34.
Kazumi | May 22, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Jessica, they were definitely a pfeerct weekend breakfast. We finished them all and probably would have eaten more if I had made them! Salad oil is pretty much any type of oil that you would use to dress a salad- olive, vegetable, canola, sunflower ect. We used oil but I’m sure that substituting the applesauce tastes just as good. Let me know if you try them!
35.
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[…] made these oatcakes for supper last night and doubled the recipe to have enough for breakfast. I grind the oat flour […]
37.
ella | February 16, 2014 at 8:42 am
Late to the table, but do these pancakes freeze well?? x
38.
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essay | July 9, 2016 at 3:10 am
I don’t like usual pancakes too and your recipe with oat addition like a chip on my shoulder. I’m going to cook in the morning and sprinkle that my favorite strawberry jam. Thanks for your diet recipe.
40.
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