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!
My kids said, “These are awful!” Then they informed me it was opposite day! LOL! Thank you so much for this recipe! We are newly Paleo and loved these pancakes! We doubled the recipe, used canned full-fat coconut milk, and added organic chocolate chips because it’s my dd’s birthday. They were great!
Love the recipe. Second batch I placed diced date, banana and persimmon into the pan in little mounds, let it cook a bit and then poured the pancake batter on top of the carmelized fruit. Flipped them when the bubbles formed on the edge of the pancake. They were excellent! YUM!
This recipe is wonderful! I made these pancakes this morning for my boyfriend and myself (I followed it exactly, but added 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice and they were delicious! We had butter, organic raspberries and a little honey on top and we couldn’t stop eating them! So tasty, so good for you! Thanks so much for the recipe!
We are just starting out gluten-free experiment. This is the first pancake we have tried, and we love it 🙂 Used the yogurt/whole milk combo, since thats what we had on hand. They turned out great!
Best grain free pancakes we have ever had! Thank you!!
I am wondering if you have done this recipe without the eggs, with maybe an egg substitute like I do not know banana or something simple. because my daughter is allergic to eggs and so we do not use them in my house. but these look fablous and I am slightly scared to try them, though tomorrow morning I may very well try to sub the eggs with something else. 🙂 I will let you know as well if you are curious on how they turned out. seriously though Just curious of you have tried that yet. thank you for the recipe I love finding new things to try and make from scratch.
Noah, Sorry I have not tried them without egg and have always cooked with eggs so am not familiar with the behavior of egg-replacers.
I just made these for the first time and they were PERFECT. I used Tropical Traditions coconut flour (which I definitely recommend their products over any other), local raw honey, Seven Stars whole milk organic yogurt, and raw whole milk. They were fluffy, not too sweet and absolutely delicious. As long as I kept them small, as you recommended, they fluffed up and stayed together just like regular pancakes. Thanks so much! I’ll definitely be back for more recipes in the future!
Loved these! I put coconut nectar on them and they were SUPER yummy. Very filling too!
I absolutely love these pancakes, and wanted to let you know. I’ve made them many times with great success. I use Bob’s Red Mill coconut flour, and I always sift it before adding it to the batter. I make the dairy-free version, and I’ve used every kind of coconut milk known to man, and they all work great. Thanks for your hard work on this recipe. You can’t please everyone, but you’ve definitely pleased me.
wow, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. The only substitution I made was almond milk with a little raw cream (because I was out of raw milk) and they have a fine grainy texture similar to corn bread but not as much texture and they have no flavor whatsoever. Unfortunately I doubled the recipe so I have wasted 8 eggs. 🙁 Any suggestions what I can do to salvage this batter?
Oh and I don’t believe my coconut flour has moisture in it…
I don’t know what all the fuss is. These were simple and wonderful. I used 1 cup 1/2-1/2 and then added some chopped bananas, which was yummy. First pancakes I’ve had since going gluten free, and two of these little guys with butter and syrup was pure heaven and very filling!!
My coconut flour was new, so I think these may seem “grainy” if you are used to white flour pancakes, but they worked well for me. Thank you!
Have you got amounts for soy/rice/almond milk (any of the above) will do, if we want to substitute those for the coconut milk / cow milk? I don’t understand why the fat content is critical here.
Thanks!
I just made these and my husband couldn’t eat enough of them. They are awesome! Nothing like the almond meal pancakes that I’ve been making, much more like the real thing. I used the full fat coconut milk and a little stevia. I made the recipe exactly as written. The only tip I have is to keep them small. The small pancakes are thick and fluffy. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I have made these once before and I remember them falling apart a bit. This time I made sure to beat the eggs well until frothy from room temperature but then I realized I had no more coconut milk! All I had was rice milk and that is such a different consistency. So I used that and then added about 1/8 cup of applesauce in hopes it would make up for it. IT DID! The pancakes were nice and thick, cooked up well and never fell apart at ALL like last time. Even hubby said “Hm, not bad” and ate 3 of them (for him to eat gluten/dairy free willingly already is a big thing!) Will def make these again.
Hello! I just made these pancakes this morning and my 7 year old daughter said, “You are the best mommy in the world!” Then went on to say, “They don’t make real pancakes at school, you made real pancakes, the ones at school are bad.” (I don’t like my daughter choosing school lunch, but I’m letting her learn how different foods make you feel so she will make better food choices on her own.) Needless to say your coconut flour pancakes went over very well! Both of my daughters, 3 & 7 loved them, as did I. Thank you : )
These look so good! Do you think there could be any possible way to reduce the eggs a little? A substitute? My hubby has an egg sensitivity (says his tongue tingles/throat itches), so he can’t eat plain eggs or anything that has too high of an egg content. I have successfully cut down the egg content on banana pancakes for him, and he likes those, but still misses real pancakes. He LOVES pancakes but grains make him very sick. Thanks!
Sorry, I just saw Noah’s comment above. No need to reply to mine.
Your theory that coconut flour that has absorbed some moisture might be the cause of grainy pancakes is confusing since that coconut fiber is going to be absorbing the moisture of the milk you put into the mix anyway.
I made these for dinner the other night and we were pleasantly surprised! They are definitely the best coconut pancakes we’ve had! I plan to add blueberries and cinnamon to the next batch! Oh, and I brought the leftovers to work today and am pleased to say that they hold up well.
Thank you for your recipe. I didn’t even notice the update until I had made the pancakes. I used baking powder instead of soda as I misread it and I left out the salt, not because of the comments but because I usually leave it out. It was my first coconut flour experiment so it is a texture we are not used to, but I really liked the flavour of the pancakes. I am looking forward to trying more coconut flour recipes. I also found you needed to cook these at a lower temp and for longer than I would a regular wheat pancake
Great recipe! I’ve been experimenting with coconut flour and often don’t enjoy the texture and/or flavor. I added some canned pumpkin with the coconut milk & eggs and it was yummy. I had extra wet ingredients and my dogs really enjoyed that part!
@devalin. A little science behind the coconut milk, liquid ponderings. When wheat flour comes in contact with water it swells releasing gluten. If you add higher fat liquids the fat interacts differently with the flour, fat coats the flour limiting the amount of hydration via water, and minimizes gluten giving a product a finer more tender crumb.
It is the same concept with coconut flour. There is more fat in coconut milk than regular milk and it helps to control the hydrative power of the dessicated coconut flour. The increased fat ratio of coconut milk gives these pancakes a very different mouth feel compared to 2% milk all due to the fat enrobing the flour and controlling how and how much liquid it absorbs. And when you start playing with almond or soy byproducts the chemistry changes yet again.
This post was hilarious. Thank you. I have wondered how you bloggers deal with all the commenters out there. And we love these, make them all the time. 🙂
If you like the flavor of popovers you will love these pancakes. If you don’t like popovers, you won’t like these. Also, very hard to flip in the pan.
i love update #6! definitely going to try these!
I have never seen my toddler enjoy eating anything as much as he enjoyed these pancakes this morning! Thank you!
I wish I knew what I did wrong, my batter was extremely dry and crumbly.
We just made these and my 4 boys loved them. We even subbed in duck eggs and rice milk. Thank you!
Loved these! I quartered the recipe for my breakfast this morning. I didn’t have any milk except almond and HWC so I used half of each and they were light, fluffy and FAB! Thanks for a tasty breakfast that was very filling.
oh man. i had an epic fail this morning. But it wasn’t the recipes fault. Totally mine- this was my first experiment with coconut flour/milk- i made “milk” in my vitamix and used the “flour” left over from that. So… the flour was still damp as i didn’t make a lot to put in the dehydrator… and my milk was very thin… so my batter made more of a crepe thin batter….well… i tried one pancake that way- it was really thin (no, duh) and tasted really really bad. straight salt bad. but there was so richness to my coconut milk so it’s probably because of that. i have a couple on the griddle now that have mashed banana in it… will let you know how that goes in a sec…oh drat. just as bad. so- don’t use undehydrated coconut flour- and use store bought coconut milk. lesson learned! hopefully with enough syrup, my kids won’t notice a difference…… LOL
Love this recipe, but should have cut it in half since it was just my daughter and I. So what to do with the extra (because storing here, means tossing later 😛 )? We took what was left and made a cobbler with mixed berries! Yummy!
I just made these – delicious!! I put some honey on them and then fresh squeezed lemon juice – delightful flavor. It is wonderful to find an alternative to grains. Thank you!
I made these pancakes and had none of the mentioned issues. I think one thing that may contribute to them being eggy (or denser than wheat pancakes) may be because the eggs are not beaten enough. I beat my eggs for 5 minutes until I felt the consistency was good enough.
I just made these again, I haven’t been feeling well and knew I couldn’t stand over a pan cooking the pancakes. I had an idea, I preheated the oven to 350, poured the batter in an 11×7 glass casserole dish and baked for about 20/25 minutes. Oh my gosh, I didn’t know it would be so good! I squeezed fresh lemon juice over a few pieces and then put on some honey – delicious. I will definitely make the pancakes this way again.
Excited to try! How much does this recipe make?
I’ve used your recipe as a “base” for coconut pancakes for over a year now, and I think it may be worth mentioning some tips:
Grain-free baking is extremely sensitive to the CLIMATE, weather, and elevation you are experiencing. High humidity, a dry spell, a higher elevation, a below sea level elevation, and all sorts of factors contribute. My batter, in the same kitchen, is different every. single. time. Texture, thickness, cooking time, fluffiness, everything.
You need to be willing to experiment, to do some research.
Other tips? Today I used two eggs, one flax egg, and one tablespoon of apple butter for the other two. Worked GREAT. Big and fluffy. May be hope for a recipe with all egg replacers if you use the right combination, though I have heard when it comes to coconut flour, nothing binds like an egg. May I suggest gelatin? Not vegan, so often overlooked as an egg replacer, but perfect for *egg allergies.*
I used about 1/3 cup of almond milk for the milk, worked great.
I do find these tend to taste “eggy,” so I up the vanilla and do things like use only one yolk (and replace the other eggs with whites, flax, applesauce, you name it). I think coconut milk would add a pleasant flavor as well, if that’s what you’re going for. Coconut flour never seems to taste like coconut.
I sift first.
-Sarah
Made these for the first time recently and my husband and I loved them! My husband is not GF and DF by necessity, but just out of love and support for me, and he wants no other pancake now except these! I didn’t have coconut milk to use, so I used my customary Almond milk, which is thinner. My batter was too thin so I just added a little more flour to get the right consistency, and they were perfect! Thank you for this delicious and lower carb pancake recipe!
I followed the recipe (the batter is thick) and these pancakes are very good! I made them small and they flipped fine.
First time making coconut pancakes! Love the recipe and love your comments for those who want to complain!!!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
This recipe is a keeper! The spongy texture felt like I was eating a tres leches cake ( I was missing some whipped cream). Had it with fresh fruit. Now, I won’t feel guilty eating pancakes.