With under 300 calories and 20g of whole food protein for the ENTIRE recipe, these gluten-free banana oat Greek yogurt pancakes are a great way to start your day!
I’m a no-fuss kind of morning person. Despite the fact that I happily wake up early and jump out of bed full of energy and ready to go, you won’t find me doing anything overly complicated before the sun comes up. Making tea, reading my devotions, journaling, making breakfast — those things I can handle. The rest of the day is crazy enough… mornings should be easy.
On that same note, breakfasts should be easy. As much as I love the idea of freshly baked cinnamon buns and fancy stuffed crepes, the reality of the matter is that bringing a pot of water to a boil and tossing in some oats is about as much effort as I’m willing to put into my morning meal. Make me something else and I’ll gladly eat it; take me out and I’ll gladly order a fancier dish; but since I live alone and no self-respecting restaurant is open by the time I’m ready to gnaw my arm off in the morning, I’m on my own when it comes to breakfast, which means that oats are on the menu more often than not. I’m okay with this… 99% of the time.
But what about that rare occasion where I’m craving something different? What about those mornings where the thought of oats just isn’t appealing? For those days, there’s pancakes…
I love pancakes. The reason I don’t make them for breakfast more often is, again, the additional effort it takes. Mixing, pouring, monitoring, flipping — don’t even get me started on the flipping. I’ll literally be standing there over my stove with a white-knuckled grip on my spatula, constantly having to remind myself to be patient. “Not yet. Nooooooot yet. Wait for it. WAIT.” Needless to say, it’s not the simple and serene start that I look for in a day. But, ohhhh, those golden stacks of deliciousness and their sweet siren song…
Luckily I’ve come up with a way to have my (pan)cake and eat it too — a foolproof recipe that’s not only quick and easy, but tastes absolutely delicious. The ingredients list is short and simple; the batter doesn’t have to be babied; flipping is a breeze; and you can whip them up in your blender. It’s a recipe even I can manage in the morning, and the result is definitely worth the effort.
I’d love to know if you make this (or any!) recipe! Tag @runwithspoons on Instagram and Twitter, and be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to receive more healthy and delicious recipes straight to your inbox!
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Banana Oat Greek Yogurt Pancakes
- Total Time: 15 mins
- Yield: 1 serving, 6-7 pancakes 1x
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (40 g) rolled oats*
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 medium-size ripe banana, sliced (about 50g)
- 2 large egg whites
- 1/4 cup (60 g) plain Greek yogurt**
- 1–2 Tbsp (15–30 ml) unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat a skillet over medium heat and coat it with cooking spray or oil. You want to make sure that it’s very hot before you start cooking your pancakes.
- Add all the ingredients to a blender in the order listed and blend until the oats have broken down and batter is frothy.
- Using a ladle or 1/4 cup (60 ml) measuring cup, drop batter onto skillet until desired size of pancakes is reached. Cook until the edges begin to look dry and bubbles start to form on the top of the pancake, about 1 minute. Using a spatula, flip and cook about 2 more minutes on the other side. Repeat with the remaining batter, making sure to coat your skillet again with oil between each batch.
- Remove from heat and serve with your favourite toppings.
Notes
* Make sure to use certified gluten-free oats if you need these to be gluten-free.
** You can also use a flavoured Greek yogurt.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
I recently had Bariatric surgery so I have been hunting for healthier bypass friendly recipes. Made these this morning but added a touch of unflavored protein powder to them. Not as fluffy looking as your pics BUT they tasted fabulous and I’m hooked! Thank you for sharing this!
These pancakes are so delicious 🙂 I’ve made them quite a few times to eat for breakfast, even dinner… pancakes can be eaten any time of the day! I added a full banana instead of half and it was still amazing. I also tried your apple oat greek yogurt pancakes today also again for dinner 🙂 and OMG so delicious and amazing. You are so talented. Please keep making more amazing healthy pancake recipes.
These pancakes are just amazing! Added some blueberries to the batter and topped with bananas. Sooo gooooooood!
could you make waffles out of this recipe?
You definitely can. I’ve done it before with no problems, but you might want to grease your waffle iron a little bit beforehand to prevent them from sticking.
Questions.
1. Does the recipe call for cooked steel cut oats or uncooned?
2. Can I use instant steel cut oats?
3. Can I mix the dry ingredients the night before and place them in a ziplock bag?
The recipe calls for uncooked rolled oats — they’re easier to break down into a flour. I suppose you could use steel cut, but you’d probably have to grind them ahead of time to make sure they break down into a fine enough powder. And you could definitely mix the dry ingredients the night before.
Oh my God….they look amazing! I`m totally gonna try this tomorrow. How much almond milk did you put? 1 or 2 TBSP? Thank you in advance!
I usually just use 1 Tbsp. Start with that and add a splash more if you need to.
how many calories is this all?
The entire recipe is for a single serving and comes out just short of 300 calories with 20g of protein.
I’ve made this recipe at least a million times and will probably hit 2 million soon! It’s perfect.
These are absolutely delicious! They’re easy to make, hearty, and satisfying.
I’m glad you like them, Hayden! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Made these this morning! I don’t have a blender yet because we just moved a few weeks ago. I mixed everything by hand… First the banana with the oats to kind of break them both up a bit and all the other ingredients one at a time. They came out just fine. It was quite the arm workout! If only I were ambidextrous ha! Lovely recipe and a lovely start to my day. Thanks 🙂
Just finished them 🙂 These are very good pancakes for the amount you can eat for the calories. What the heck I used 2 whole eggs instead just the whites. I used 1 T. of amber 3 maple syrup which is darker and full of minerals which is alkalizing and 2 T. homemade raspberry jam. Thanks for the great recipe. They are light and cook very fast, I didn’t have to wait forever for the bubbles to appear they came up very fast. They came out golden brown, yes my tummy feels good.
I’ve been searching all morning for a good healthy pancake recipe and I’m thinking yours is the one I’ll try. I have a quick.question, have you ever substituted the egg for anything? I was looking for an egg substitution but wanted to make sure its gonna work! Thank you.
I haven’t tried it personally, Courtney, so I can’t vouch for the results, but I know a lot of people use flax ‘eggs’ to replace eggs, so you could give that a shot! Just 1 Tbsp. of ground flaxseed with 3 Tbsp. of water.
Did you try it with the flax eggs?
Hi there! This isn’t the first time visiting your blog (which is amazing btw), but my first time leaving a comment! I made your apple Greek yogurt muffins last night and they’re already gone! I saw this and HAD to try this morning. They were really good, but I think next time I will add a packet of stevia for a hair of sweetness to it. Otherwise, delicious and filling! Just the fuel I need for a busy Monday! Also, have you tried making these with oat flour instead? I know, same ingredients, but I figured doing oat flour I can throw all the ingredients in a blender bottle and pour from the spout instead of blending. Does the blending and frothing as make a difference? Thanks!
I haven’t tried it personally, Nina, but I’m sure using oat flour would work fine in a pinch! From my experience, the blending and frothing does help make the pancakes fluffier since you’re adding air into the batter, but they’d still taste the same.
Hi! These look awesome! My question is, can you make them without a blender? I don’t have one yet. I wonder if it would still work or if they would taste a bit gritty? Thanks!
They would for sure feel a little gritty if the oats weren’t broken down all the way, Thea. And I’m not sure they would stick together as well. You could always buy oat flour from the store!
Thank you Amanda!
My son eats cereal almost everyday because I’m still waking up with his brother so I wanted to make these as an alternative for school breakfasts. I wish I would have doubled the recipe so I could have popped some in the freezer but they were all gone! They are great with some berries and syrup. Awesome recipe! thank you
These look yummy!! Is it best to use quick 1 minute oats or the old fashioned oats?
Hi Jill! It doesn’t really matter since the oats are being broken down anyways. If you don’t have a high-speed blender, quick oats will be easier to process, but I’ve made these in my Magic Bullet plenty of times with no problem.
ahh so goood! I was looking for a semi-healthy pancake recipe to make on my day off and voila I landed here. Really easy to make and even turned out when I realized I didn’t have any yogurt!
These are some really tasty pancakes! Love the simplicity, flavor and texture. Thanks for the recipe!