Perfectly Fluffy Banana Pancakes – Vegan

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to share my beloved pancake recipe with you, but then it’s fair to say I’m a notoriously slow blogger. I hope you’ll agree that this one is well worth the wait! We love a pancake breakfast more than I can possibly say; my daughter’s idea of a perfect Family Day™ begins with a plate of these gorgeous, fluffy beauties piled high with sweet, ripe berries and a glug of maple syrup. My husband is a night-shift worker and pancakes are reserved exclusively for when we can all eat together as a family – usually a weekend or school holiday – making them all the more special!

This recipe is a veganised version of my Moonstruck Pancakes, which was adapted from a standard breakfast pancake recipe I found in a lovely old American book. I have simply replaced the eggs with banana, this being one of only a handful of instances I would choose to use bananas in this way as they do make the finished goods taste – not overwhelmingly, mind – of banana. Not always desirable, but perfectly fine here as we like to add extra sliced banana on top anyway, along with blueberries, raspberries and strawberries.

The resulting pancakes are fluffy, tender and melt-in-the-mouth soft. Dare I say it – we like these even better than the ones I used to make with eggs! No sacrifices here; we enjoy our pancakes buttered (and I’ll grab this opportunity to rave about Naturli’ spread, found in Sainsbury’s – it is palm-oil free and unbelievably buttery) before loading them with fruit, maple syrup and sometimes a dollop of a simple blueberry sauce.

Leftover pancakes make a great pudding – just warm up in a microwave for a few seconds and top with a scoop of ice cream and leftover fruit or maybe melted chocolate!

Dry Mix:

250g plain flour
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Wet mix (This will weigh 500g approx):

350ml non-dairy milk (any, we’re Oatly junkies)
125g banana (roughly one very large – try to get this weight exact)
1 tbsp oil – sunflower or rapeseed
2 tsp lemon juice (squeezy bottle is fine)

1. In a large mixing bowl or jug, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon (if using.) Set aside.
2. Blend the milk, banana, oil and lemon juice on high until completely smooth and frothy.
3. Now pour the wet mix on to the dry ingredients and whisk by hand until completely combined. Don’t overdo it – just keep going, scraping down the sides as necessary, until you can’t see any dry bits.
4. Start warming your frying pan on a medium heat. I have three small pans going at the same time because I’m incredibly impatient and secretly enjoy the industrial-like chaos of a production line. One pan is fine!
5. Use an oil spray (or a small amount of oil) in the pan for each pancake and use a 1/4 cup to measure the batter. Fry each pancake for roughly a minute on each side – this all depends on your individual pans and cooker; flip the pancake when it starts to bubble, and test the first one when you think it’s fine – poke a fork in the centre to check for raw batter. If it looks dry, it’s done.
6. Transfer each cooked pancake into a pancake warmer or a plate covered with a tea towel until they are all done and eat immediately while still warm.