Fluffy Coconut Flour Pancakes
Edited to Add: You must check out the latest update on this recipe including tips and tricks.
When it comes to an easy breakfast I love pancakes. As you can probably tell from my soaked buckwheat pancakes and soaked, flour-free oatmeal pancakes. They are just so simple to cook – mix, ladle, flip, eat. No wonder our pioneer foremothers served them frequently on their trek out west.
But for those of us who don’t eat grains or are restricting our carbohydrates the smell of pancakes can feel a bit isolating. I’ve tried probably a half dozen coconut flour pancake recipes over the past year and have the same complaint with all of them – they are thin and eggy.
So I tweaked, tested, and tweaked again and finally came up with a pancake that is fluffy, not overly eggy, and pretty darn tasty.
My husband said these taste like donuts as he slathered them in coconut oil and honey. That’s coming from someone who does eat grains, is skeptical of coconut flour, and knows his way around a pancake. So when he said that I knew my recipe testing was over.
Finally, a coconut flour pancake worth eating.
Fluffly Coconut Flour Pancakes
Recipe Notes: Both cow and coconut milk work well in this recipe. You can also add cinnamon or fruit as desired. Just keep the pancakes small and watch them so they don’t burn.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup milk (raw cow’s or coconut both work)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon honey or a pinch of stevia
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- coconut oil or butter for frying
Directions
- Preheat griddle over medium-low heat. In a small bowl beat eggs until frothy, about two minutes. Mix in milk, vanilla, and honey or stevia.
- In a medium-sized bowl combine coconut flour, baking soda, and sea salt and whisk together. Stir wet mixture into dry until coconut flour is incorporated.
- Grease pan with butter or coconut oil. Ladle a few tablespoons of batter into pan for each pancake. Spread out slightly with the back of a spoon. The pancakes should be 2-3 inches in diameter and fairly thick. Cook for a few minutes on each side, until the tops dry out slightly and the bottoms start to brown. Flip and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.
- Serve hot with butter, coconut oil, honey, syrup, or fruit.
You can get coconut flour and coconut oil here:
For bulk orders of coconut oil we highly recommend:
Love these! Has anyone had any luck freezing and reheating them?
Baking soda or Baking powder? Regular pancake recipes specifically say powder, because soda will make the pancakes bitter.
Made pancakes using a recipe for wheat flour and just ended up with a big pile of meh.
Made these. They were difficult to cook and had a bitter eggy taste. Will try with baking powder next time.
Not good! Totally failed. My first clue should have been the 1/2 cup flour with 4 eggs, how can that possibly created a fluffy pancake? I have a wonderful, timeless recipe for buttermilk pancakes. Save your eggs – this one was less than stellar!
You do realize this is a coconut flour recipe, right? A pancake recipe used to avoid grains. Any coconut flour recipe needs more-than-usual eggs to make it work. Considering your comment, I don’t think you understand any of this. Whether or not this is a good recipe, is another story. But, you simply missed the whole point of the recipe.
These are pretty bad. Came up top of Google search so got their seo on point.
Batter was too runny. Should’ve read comments before I wasted my ingredients.
Added more flour. Like someone said, tasted like a coconut omelette. No flavour. Back to square one. No breakfast for me.
Thank you, these are really nice. The tric is not to turn them too quick, let them cook well before turning.
I was going to make this recipe as is before reading the comments. I modified the recipe by adding 1/4 c nut butter and 3/4 c milk to improve texture and taste. Also, be very careful about the baking soda. With the full amount, my pancakes were almost too bitter, so I would suggest reducing the amount to 3/4 tsp.
This was my first experience with coconut flour and I think these pancakes are great. One thing I read when researching coconut flour is that if you allow the batter to sit for about 15 minutes after mixing, it improves the texture. True. Another thing about ‘paleo’ pancake recipes (this is the 3rd I’ve tried) is that you have to cook them slowly and be patient before you flip them. I still love the pumpkin/almond butter/egg pancakes, but I will use this coconut recipe often because it’s really good!
My Coconut flour pancake batter wasn’t runny – I think you have to beat the eggs till they are frothy. BUT they were tasteless. Added mashed banana which helped tremendously, but I wouldn’t make these again!
HORRIBLE pancakes. Ugh. Totally should have read the top comments before wasting my time, as someone else mentioned. Should have clued in with the small amount of flour. The baking soda added an awful taste, brought out the salt and was just a mildly coconut tasting salty omelette of sorts. Also, have to use an INSANE amount of coconut oil EACH time I put them on the pan. So greasy in the end. And still hard to flip, staying stuck to the pan. NEVER again. Gross.
I made these for my daughter who eats Paleo diet. She LOVES them. I don’t put any sweetener in per her request, then she tops with fresh seasonal fruit. I made them with baking soda first and then tried another batch with homemade baking powder. I let the batter sit a few minutes til it looks fluffy before I start cooking. They reheat very well but we have not had any left to freeze. We also made coconut milk/fat whipped cream. Thanks for sharing!
I think these either need to use lemon juice to turn the milk to “buttermilk” (so there is the acid to react with the soda), or need to use baking POWDER. There is just no acid to react with it as is and so it’s on the bitter side– if I’d used honey it would have been better. also reducing the amount would work, and adding in some cinnamon would improve flavor. As is, they are ok w plenty of butter and syrup, and even some chocolate chips. 🙂
These are just awful. I keep reading this to work out if she means 4 egg WHITES and nit just “eggs”. They come out as thin coconut flavoured eggs omelette. Don’t make them.
hello, i have read the comments after i already whipped up the ingredients 😉 and so many coconut flour things are super dry, we just started using coconut flour (on our second package) so i added to the ingredients one more tablespoon of coconut flour because it seemed super extra runny ( like applesauce) and added one ripe banana and mixed it up again, then added about a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar since the mix still seemed very bitter/salty ( like baking soda). The texture came out like a jar of babyfood with tiny pieces from the banana. It took me also 5 pancakes to figure out how to exactly bake them so they either don’t fall apart, stick to the spatula or burn 😉 i read some tips and put the stove on lower than medium heat and (3-4 of 10) and each pancake took about 4 minutes and i kept them thin, almost crêpe like. Buuuuuuut with all this, i will make pancakes always this way, they were super delicious, and juicy and just yum, we had about 8 and only my 5 year old and me had 7 that morning 🙂 they were really super good with just a banana and ACV and a TBsp more flour…. This is our favorite recipe now. Thank you for the basics 🙂
Perfect! These are my go-to pancakes for when I need something delicious. I have made them several times AS DIRECTED and have never had a flop. My four children migrate over to our side when I make these so I never have to make regular pancakes any more. These are AMAZING, thank you!
These pancakes were a fail. They stuck to the pan and they were very eggy to the taste, although i added extra vanilla…i felt embarassed having made such terrible pancakes, as my baking is usually above average. Yuck…will definitely not attempt this recipe again…
Thanks, these pancakes were very fluffy but we put coconut chips in the batter to improve the taste. Since we had just used the same coconut flour for a coconut
cake, wonder if baking preserves the coconut taste but range cooking destroys it.
Just a thought.
Mine were very dry. I didn’t use honey and used baking powder. They wouldn’t set in the pan.
My batter came out so thick I couldn’t pour. Very salty and egg tasting. Sigh. Back to square one for a recipe.
It is interesting reading the comments how different people’s results have been. I tried making these this morning for Sunday breakfast for my husband and son who are not paleo nor are they gluten free eaters. I did question the 1/2 cup coconut flour to the amount of liquid, but let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes to thicken up before cooking them. They came out pretty good! I was pleasantly surprised. I thought they would have a pronounced coconut flavor, but they did not. My boys ate all of them and even asked for more. Anyone with an outspoken 7 year old knows that trying new recipes doesn’t always go well. He declared the new pancakes delicious. The only think I didn’t really like was that they were kind of grainy in texture. I know this is how coconut flour behaves, but was wondering if anyone had any ideas in how to obtain a smoother texture. Overall, these are good and I would make them again.
Regardless of comments, I made these. THEY ARE SUPERB!!!! OH.MY.GOODNESS.!!! I accidentally doubled the honey, but otherwise followed recipe to a ‘t’. These are the MOST delicious pancakes I’ve ever had! (We’ve been Gluten Free for 2 years) This recipe puts all other pancake recipes to shame. I did burn a few because my heat was at med instead of med-low, but even still, they were delish! Follow the directions to butter your pan and cook med-low. I did use baking SODA like recipe calls for (contrary to other ppl powder comments)
The only downside is that they are indeed time consuming. BUT SO WORTH the wait!
My 7 year old asked if I can only make these pancakes again! We topped them with kefir, fresh nectarine/blueberries, chia seeds, and flax seeds. Superb!
Thank you for your efforts! This is going into my baking recipe arsenal! Mmmm!!
Tried this recipe to the T and failed miserably, Came out as mash rather than a pancake and tasted like eggs
Perfect; tricks are 1) room temperature eggs (to get fluffy) 2) care with the baking soda…I finally found aluminum wheat free baking powder but it isn’t used much in these new wheat free recipes. When using baking soda I always use just what is called for or a pinch less so I can’t taste it. 3) Burner down lower and let cook longer than traditional pancakes. I did make one substitute, but only because I had it. Just prior to finding this I found a recipe for condensed coconut milk…heaven. I used 3/4 c almond milk and 1/4 c of the condensed coconut milk (it has honey in it so I left out the honey/sweetener. Love it! lots of protein and not so much carbs. Filling also.
Made the batter last night and let it hang out in the fridge until I was ready to use it this morning. The pancakes aren’t bad, but they’re not good either. For a “Diet” pancake, they’re really not that bad. Yes they are grainy like some of the other posts stated and yes, they are eggy. Mine cooked perfectly fine. I did exactly as the directions indicated (2-3 TBSP and spread out with back of spoon). I found that the middle of the pancake wasn’t as eggy as the edges. I took a picture and would attach, but doesn’t look like I can.
These pancakes were awful.
These were okay. They taste nothing like pancakes though. Didn’t finish making them as the first three were sad and it all just ended up in the garbage. Tasted very eggy.
I’m surprised by many of the comments and wonder if the writers understand anything about coconut flour or Palo? I cooked them slowly in butter and they are delish <3 thank you
Perfect recipe!! We absolutely love these coconut pancakes-we top with organic maple, coconut yogurt and banana!!! Too good
I really enjoyed the pancakes, I also added oats to mine as well as egg whites. baking powder was used… I topped them with mix berries and fat free Greek Yogurt. I will try them again… you must cook them slow…
Fantastic recipe, thank you so much! So lovely to enjoy little fluffy hot cakes smothered in butter and maple syrup, yumm!!
I made this awhile back after trying some oat flour pancakes *blah* and these were GREAT! I added some PB, which gave them another level of yum. Good job.
Just ate them. I halved the recipe and made four normal sized pancakes and one Big Boy for me. I really enjoyed it. Very tasty. A little hard to flip but then I always struggle when flipping any pancake. I think I’ve found my go to grain free pancake finally!!
Sorry…but some of the worst tasting coconut pancakes we’ve had. Followed recipe as written + 1 tsp cinnamon, let batter sit for 15 min and cooked low and slow. Pancakes LOOKED great; golden brown on the edges, fluffy (relatively speaking) on the inside, but tasted akin to cardboard.
Hi All! I am a metaphysical & holistic healer and teach my clients all about raising your vibration through food so when i saw these I thought how perfect they would be for some of my clients who are looking to healthy substitutes of their fave foods.
I followed the recipe using a flat teaspoon of baking soda and coconut milk over raw milk and substituted 1tblsp coconut sugar for honey (as this contains trace minerals that I love). I like many of you, found the batter too runny so I added 1Tblsp of flaxmeal to bind the mixture better and this worked fabulously using a low-medium heat in a good job stick pan 🙂 The flaxmeal adds extra protein to these protein packed pancakes! Thanks for the recipe Shannon! Not everyone is always going to have positive feedback but just remember to focus on the positives and not the negatives and keep up the amazing work! ?
I think most of the negative comments are coming from people who expected these to be like regular white flour pancakes. If you follow paleo, low-carb or anything of that nature, these will be an amazing treat . I have made many coconut flour pancake recipes; this is the best so far, and the most simple. Much lighter than the result I usually achieve, delicious, even kid-approved (which is highly unusual). Yes it is hard to get the cook time correct, that’s the only downside I found. I used 3 packets of Truvia and 1 T of vanilla, and they had the perfect flavor. I will be making these again and again.
I wish I’d read the comments before cooking these. They were edible, but barely. Far too eggy and I had to adjust the mixture to get them to work.
These pancakes were awful. No one in my house would even eat them. Such an odd bitter taste. I should have read the comments first and saved my ingredients. ????????
My pancakes turned out perfect. Everyone loved them!
Errr… First time ever I throw a whole batch of pancake batter. 🙁
Thank you so much for perfecting this wonderful recipe. My husband is battling stage 4 cancer and has been put on a very low-carb diet. No grains of any kind. How he misses his foods.
He found this recipe so I made it. We had it topped with some strawberries and blueberries. We loved it.
I love this recipe! Thank you for sharing it! It’s now my “go-to” pancake recipe.
The only changes I made were to use almond milk (I didn’t have coconut milk) and to add a dash of cinnamon. Delicious & fluffy.
I made it exactly as instructions dictate. They. are. great! I am eating them as a snack, no syrup, they are just good! filling and full of texture. My hubby liked as well and he’s a skeptic.
I noticed everyone who liked them smeared them with other ingredients to make them taste good, they were not goo at all. Yuk couldn’t get through one.