Grain-Free (and dairy-free) Fluffy Coconut Flour Pancakes, revisited
One of the most popular, most commented on, and most polarizing posts I’ve ever published is not one that argues for agrarianism or home birth or all the saturated fat you can eat. Nope, it is this recipe for grain-free coconut flour pancakes.
I have gotten some of the funniest comments on this recipe – some published and some I’ve deleted. One day I will get a comment saying “These are the best coconut flour pancakes I’ve ever had!” and the next some lady will tell me “These were the worst pancakes I’ve ever eaten in my life!” Other comments were not so nice.
I guess you can’t please every body.
Probably 90% of the comments have been positive, though, which is good. We still eat these pancakes frequently so I am fairly confident in the recipe as written, but I wanted to share a few updates and tips that I’ve learned after making these dozens of times.
- If your pancakes are grainy I think it may be because the coconut flour has been exposed to moisture and its high fiber content has absorbed water. There’s really not much you can do about this except buy new coconut flour.
- If your pancakes are eggy that is because either a.) you have never eaten a coconut flour pancake before and are not used to the higher egg content necessary to bind the pancakes or b.) your batter is too thin because you’ve added too much milk.
- If your pancakes are not lovely and fluffy it is because you have added too much milk. The original recipe was created to be dairy-free, but I also have made it with dairy. The fat content of coconut milk and whole milk are different, so in the revised recipe below you will find different measurements for dairy-free versus dairy-laden pancakes.
- If your pancakes are too salty for your taste cut the salt in half.
- If your pancakes are still absolutely the worst thing you have ever eaten in your life and you wish to tell me so and say “I followed the recipe exactly, except I substituted x for y and a for b… oh and I skipped that step where you said beat the eggs,” then that is probably the problem.
- If, after attempting to fix 1-5 with this new recipe you still loathe these pancakes with a fierceness that can not be described then maybe you should punch a pillow, take a breath, and then step back for some perspective before you let it ruin your life. They are, after all, just pancakes.
With that, here is the updated and revised recipe that we still really enjoy.
Fluffy Coconut Flour Pancakes 2.0
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 coconut milk or 3/4 cup cream + 1/4 cup whole milk (best) or 3/4 cup whole milk yogurt + 1/4 cup whole milk (good)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon honey or a pinch of stevia
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 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 3/4 of wet mixture into dry until coconut flour is incorporated. Allow to sit for 3-5 minutes.
- At this stage your batter should be thick, almost like brownie batter. If it is still fairly thick and dry add the rest of the wet mixture.
- 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.
Anyone else have a few tips after making these pancakes?
You can get coconut flour and coconut oil here:
UPDATE – Check out this new video of the recipe in action!
I just made these and they were so good! As someone who likes to adlib a lot when making recipes, the comments were ver helpful. I followed the directions, and they turned out great! I opened the coconut milk I had in the fridge and it had gone bad, so I did have to fib a bit. I used 1/2 cup vanilla coconut milk yogurt and 1/2 cup original unsweetened almond milk. My dad even loved them and he’s a hard sell on anything “different”! Loved this post! Thanks do much! Definitely going to be a staple in our newly wheat free household!
All I had was Buttermilk and they turned out just fine. Better than the cream cheese/cottage cheese pancakes I’ve been eating. Will follow the recipe next time to compare.
Tried them and they were tastey. Thanks for the recipe. Being a foodie myself and an avid recipe tester I am constantly on a search for recipes that resemble what we used to eat (fluffly-buttermilk-white flour-pancakes). This is a pretty good alternative. It cracks me up to read some of the comments about coconut flour…”People, you do realize you have to like coconut flour, in order to like these pancakes???”
Thanks Again!
If I don’t have baking soda on hand, what should I do? Just double up on the baking powder?
This is the only pancake i can make that always ends up great. Never could make pancakes before, they would scramble/fall apart/burn but these never fail. I found that i like them best made with cream in stead of coconut milk as it tends to seperate a bit in the dough.. Awesome recipe!!!!
Just found this recipe and I am gonna try them this weekend!
These are amazing!!!!!!! I used the stevia the first time but not a big enough pinch. The batter was delicious and sweet but after cooking it was less sweet. So if using Stevia use more than you think 🙂 The second match was perfect. Light and fluffy but oh so filling. Thank you very much for the post. It gave me a good laugh as well. 😀
The first time I made them, I made a terrible mess. Come to find out I was using shredded coconut rather than coconut flour. The guy at the store told me it was the same thing, but I don’t think it is. My brother suggested I grind the shredded coconut in the magic bullet. I did that and also used coconut cream for the next batch and they came out PERFECT. Nice and fluffy and tasty. Next time I will get my hands on some real coconut flour rather than shredded coconut too. I am gluten sensitive trying to stay away from all grains and so I am very grateful for this wonderful recipe. Thank you!
Gabriella, I didn’t have baking soda so used baking powder in it’s place without changing the measurement. Used 1 teaspoon of baking powder and they came out perfect.
Got some Bob Mills Coconut Flour and it worked a whole lot better. Didn’t have any little bits of coconut in the pancake and had the texture of regular pancakes. Be sure to get coconut FLOUR y’all no matter what the guy at the store says.
I’m blogging this recipe on my blog because the pancakes are great! Thank you for the careful attention to detail. I must admit that I made one substitution; I don’t have a dairy problem so I used 1 cup of light cream to replace 3/4 C of cream plus 1/4 C of whole milk. I figured that my version would have a similar fat content to yours and it did.
How about half and half instead of the cream and milk?
I’ve tried a handful of coconut flour recipes… this is hands down the best! Not too eggy, the consistency of the batter is just right and they cook up lovely. THANK YOU!
I just discovered your website, love it. I added 1/4 cup coconut milk and they are great!
Delicious! I agree these are the best coconut flour pancakes I’ve tried. The only other ones that weren’t all dry also had applesauce in them which made them very different from a traditional pancake. My sister, who is a personal chef, also tried them and said they were great. “Better than a normal pancake that just tastes like white flour!”. Thanks so much!
Dumb question – do you use the coconut milk that’s thick and comes in a can or the watered-down coconut drink that comes in a square carton?
Hi, I made your pancakes and they were terrific! Thanks for the recipe.
These are amazing…..so nice and fluffy! I didn’t use any sweetener at all, and they really don’t need it. The only thing I noticed is that I had to watch my heat. In order to cook these through without burning the bottoms I turned the flame down to between medium and low. They take a little longer, but oh, so tasty!
These are fantastic. I made them exactly as you said, halfing the recipe. They were really flavorgul, fluffy, and easy to make. I will now try variations. Excellent recipe. Your website is impressive….
These are delicious and really fun to make! My husband and I were very grateful to come across this recipe because wee don’t eat grains at and completely avoid gluten (he has to because of stomach conditions, but I like how good I feel) ….(though in pregnant now and I’ve been more relaxed about it;-) ). It is so fun to eat pancakes again. Have been trying new things with them myself and am wondering if you’ve had any luck baking them day in muffin tins or something line that.? Thanks again:)
I just made these for the third time and added two heaping teaspoons of grated ginger (using 1/2 cup very cold coconut milk and 1/2 cup unsweetened greek yogurt) and they were fabulous! Thank you again for such a wonderful recipe – more importantly, the careful notes that accompany it.
Well I made them and hubby and I like them. I put just a bit too much soda in mine though by mistake and I could taste the soda but that wasn’t YOUR fault. 😉 You had me chuckling at your comments before the recipe. LOL Some folks are just plain out rude! Just ignore them! Thank you for sharing your recipes!!!
First time and these were tasty and came out remarkably well. Especially considering that I discovered my coconut milk was only coconut water and my cream was two months old, so I had to substitute plain kefir. That was a bit thicker than expected, so I needed to adjust for that. But thanks, they were fab!
I’ve made these a couple times now. I have found they are too eggy for my tastes when they’re warm, no matter how much syrup I use. But the fix is easy, I just let them sit & get to room temperature, usually marinating in a little syrup or jam. I like to take them to work so I love that they get even better as they cool, I don’t have to reheat them. One batch also lasts me a couple days & they’re so tasty right out of the fridge. A friend said they tasted “organic”, which I guess is his word for healthy. To remedy this he covered them in butter, sugar & lemon. I was a little offended, but I must admit it was a tasty combo!
I’m not usually a huge fan of coconut flour. But since I’ve given up grains I decided I simply must make it work so I don’t have to use almond flour all the time. I’m happy to say that these were delicious! My almost 2 year old gobbled them right down!
I was diagnosed in 2010 with gluten intolerance and I have to say with already being an adult it is challenging to switch over from the foods I love to trying something different and not always tasting the same. But these do taste good I like having a pancake or even a muffin that has more taste to it than just tasting doughy, these are a little more moist than I am used to but at least they are not rock hard like the past ones. Keep up the good delicious work.=)
I’ve made these almost every Saturday morning since I read the first post they were in. I love them!
I’ve made them with coconut milk, regular milk and almond milk and they’ve come out perfect every time. I always make a double batch and use the leftovers to pop in the toaster for a quick breakfast during the week. I also add chopped pecans to the batter.
Thanks for such a great recipe!!!
Finally, pancake success! Thanks so much for this. These were absolutely amazing…
Nickole
Don’t let these people burst your bubble you are a great… I’m gf df sf before you and other top cooks I was lost with no insurance and not the best cook…you have given me what it takes to eat good tasting foods, I like and even my non gluten free hubby has really enjoyed many recipes. Keep up the good work the pancakes are great with coconut milk…..
Love these!! Thanks so much for sharing. I do have a tip… when doubling the recipe make sure you also double the beating time for the eggs. Also, if you let the batter sit for ten minutes or so it seems to be fluffier, I found this out when my daughter insisted on nursing before I finished the pancakes. 😛
These are the best coconut flour pancakes I have tried. I appreciate the variety of ingredients to suit certain diets. Thanks for your work here.
My boyfriend and I are newly paleos and tomorrow morning I am making us a massive Sunday brunch and your recipe is going to play a role we have yet to see on this diet. I’ll be back here tomorrow morning letting you know how it turned out 🙂
Everything turned out perfect!! They were great! On there own they are delicious, but much can be advanced with the addition of fresh wild blueberries and of course real Canadian maple syrup! Because this can get expensive with the coconut flour, make sure you use up all the batter and save the pancakes! A great left over idea if yours are thick enough you can even slice them down the center like a bun and make a sandwich ;). Guilty as charged I made a very naughty sandwich….. bacon and nutella >.> lol oink oink
I too think these pancakes rock! Since having to go onto a grain free diet for health reasons, I have been missing pancakes terribly. These just made my morning!
One of my cooking assistants and I made the same recipes several times and I found that w/different brands of coconut flour, the results varied widely. Some versions of the muffin were light and airy. Others were dry and very disappointing!
I weighed 1/2 cupful of 4 or 5 brands of coconut flour and they all had different weights!!! Those variations can throw off recipes in a big way!! That could explain why some readers had poor results. Some countries list flour by weight not volume.
Coconut flour is a new product and not uniform from one brand to the next. Best coconut flour I’ve used is Tropical Traditions brand. You’ll have to order it online.
Chef Rachel
Thanks for this, I made it exactly as you instructed with coco milk and they are delicious! Utterly fluffy and perfect. I added one step which was to SIFT THE COCO FLOUR into the bowl as I did notice it had clumps in it from moisture. I think this really helped as the pancakes were fluffy and delightful not the least bit gritty like other coco flour things I’ve made. Thank you!! Yum!!
I made the original recipe just now. Sprinkled with a stevia blend… Eh. Had no maple syrup.. sure that would have been a delight. This is the first thing I have ever successfully made with coconut flour. My attempt at make-shift pudding yesterday was a disaster!!!!
The pancakes are reminiscent of corn bread in texture. I love corn bread so that was a plus! They fluffed up nice. Take forever to cook but I tend to burn pancakes because I walk away from the stove a lot so this is a plus too! (cooking more now.)
Topped with coconut yogurt and bananas they are amazing!!!!! Thank you!
Oh and does anyone have a good coconut pudding recipe without cornstarch or regular flour in it?
First time I made these (using raw, whole milk) they turned out pretty good. Seemed grainier than just a Bisquick pancake–not sure if that’s to be expected? I was using a brand-new bag of coconut flour.
Whole family enjoyed, though! Love this gluten-free option.
I’m so glad you revised the recipe for using cow milk; I will be making again with the revised recipe and hoping to love them even more!!
I was skeptical, but have been wanting to eat healthier so I tried out this recipe. I was pleasantly surprised! I am used to a sweeter pancake, so it was different, but I liked it after I had a few bites. They are very much like fluffy crepes! So the next time I’m going to try the recipe with some crepe filling I think it would be AMAZING! Thank you for your hard work perfecting this recipe for us!
PS. I always throw wheat germ and ground flax seed seed in my pancakes so I threw them in with this recipe and it worked out perfectly. I wish I would have added a little more honey though because it really cut the sweetness.
LOL at “they’re just pancakes.” Exactly, have some perspective people! I haven’t made them yet, but am very much looking forward to. I don’t expect them to taste like Denny’s pancakes, so I should be fine. 😉 ONe question: Have you tried a pumpkin version of these yet?! Those are my absolute favorite and I’m guessing just adding some pumpkin puree in may disrupt the balance or moisture, etc. Let me know how you think I could do this best or if you’ve tried it! Thanks!
i did the dairy version – 3/4cup light cream & 1/4cup of whole milk, plus added 1 large shredded carrot, a handful of dried cranberries and a pinch of nutmeg.
amazing!
the trick i learned was that they don’t cook like flour pancakes, so one must alter the habit of waiting for the bubbles as in traditional flour pancakes.
So I’ve been making these forever, using the 3/4 cup cream + 1/4 cup whole milk, and then one day I ran out of enough cream and milk! So I totally used 1/6 cup coconut milk (i.e. the rest of what I had in my fridge), 1/6 cup whole milk (to fill in the rest of the 1/3 cup sized scoop ;), 1/3 cup cream and 1/3 cup full-fat cultured buttermilk. They were even easier to handle. Just an FYI that mixing your own milks is fun to experiment with, and oh my, the buttermilk adds a nice little edge. 😉
I actually enjoy these more than regular flour pancakes. And they’re filling too. Thank you thank you thank you for the beautiful recipe!!!
I would like to comment on coconut flour. When I first started using it.. disaster, everything I tried to make was coarse and unpleasantly grainy. I gave up on it. Noticed one day at the co-op bulk area coconut flour that was the texture of wheat flour… I realized that the flour I had been using was way to coarse and hard to make sauce, bake with… soft coconut flour made all the difference in the world.
I loved them! Thank you for sharing!