4-Ingredient Fluffy Vegan Protein Pancakes
You only need a few basic ingredients to make these fluffy vegan protein pancakes and they take just minutes to prepare. All you need is flour, protein powder, sweetener and baking powder and you’re ready to go.
Make the Most of Carbs
These fluffy vegan protein pancakes are a good choice a few hours before a workout or shortly after one. Carbohydrates are the the body’s preferred source of energy so it’s a good idea to eat the majority of your carbs around the most active part of your day to make the most of them.
You want the carbohydrates you eat to either be used an an immediate source of energy or used to restore glycogen levels rather than be stored as fat. Sometimes pancakes are just pancakes and I’ll eat them for breakfast no matter what’s my plan for the day is but for the most part I try to eat most of my carbs before and after training.
If I was to eat these before training, I’d give myself a couple hours to digest and allow those carbs to get to work, ensuring blood sugar levels are up and glycogen stores are full prior to hitting the gym. Since they have some added protein they’re more balanced than regular pancakes and if you add some healthy fats on top, like almond butter or hemp seeds, they’ll be digested more slowly, providing sustained energy and helping to maintain more stable blood sugar levels.
If I was to eat these after training, I’d try to eat them as soon as possible to get those pancake gains!
But don’t worry too much about all that…these are also PANCAKES, guys, so go ahead and dig in anytime you need a pancake fix. Just keep those energizing carbs in mind when you might them to fuel up for a big workout.
I usually only eat pancakes on Sundays but these are so quick and easy they could work as a weekday breakfast for the family. Top them with loads of fruit or some of the topping ideas below and you’re all set for an active day!
Pancake Topping Ideas
Pancake toppings are the best part, aren’t they!? Here are some of my favourites.
- peanut butter, almond butter, tahini or sunflower seed butter
- dates soaked in hot water then blended to make caramel sauce
- nut butter caramel sauce – blend your fave nut butter or tahini with dates
- sliced banana
- fresh blueberries, strawberries or cherries (try berries added to the batter too, YUM!)
- homemade raw chocolate sauce made from maple syrup, coconut oil and cacao powder
- cacao nibs or dairy-free chocolate chips (you can also add these to the batter for chocolate chip pancakes!)
- pure maple syrup
- chia seed jam
- one of my absolute favourites: coconut butter
What are you favourite pancake toppings? I can always use delicious new ideas! Let me know in the comments what you’re putting on these.
More Vegan Pancakes Recipes
If you enjoy these, you’ve gotta check out these other pancake recipes:
- Vegan Chickpea Flour Pancakes – Oil-free, grain-free, just a couple ingredients!
- Whole Wheat Fluffy Vegan Pancakes – very popular, oil-free, can be sugar-free
- Vegan Chia Seed Pancakes – a reader fave, oil-free, super easy and so fluffy!
- Buckwheat Pancakes – 5-star reviewed and naturally gluten-free!
4-Ingredient Fluffy Vegan Protein Pancakes
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These extra thick and fluffy protein pancakes will be your new go-to pancake recipe. Top them with your favorites like berries, banana, peanut butter and maple syrup and dig on into a big weekend stack.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (28 g) vegan protein powder of choice
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt or kosher salt, see notes
- 2 tbsp maple syrup, see notes
- 1 cup water, plus more as needed, see notes
Instructions
- Mix the flour, protein powder, baking powder (make sure you don’t use baking soda) and salt together in a bowl until well combined, making sure to break up any clumps and fully incorporate the baking powder and salt.
- Add the maple syrup or sweetener of choice if using, then slowly add the water, mixing until “just mixed.” It should be a little lumpy and quite thick but still pourable. Add a little extra water if needed.
- Allow the batter to rest for 5-10 minutes while you heat a pan over medium-low heat. Use a little cooking spray or a good non-stick pan and scoop about 1/4 cup of the batter onto the pan for each pancake.
- Cook until bubbles start to appear and the edges of each pancake look dry and firm. Flip and cook for 1-2 more minutes.
- Enjoy right away with your favorite pancake toppings. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge or freezer and reheated as needed.
Notes
For best results, measure ingredients using a kitchen scale for accuracy.
Sweetening options include 1-2 tbsp pure maple syrup, agave or coconut sugar or for sugar-free pancakes, stevia powder, liquid stevia drops or monk fruit, to taste. If you’re using sweetened flavoured protein powder, you can omit or reduce the added sweetener. Nutrition facts are for stevia-sweetened pancakes, adjust accordingly if you use another sweetener. Depending on the protein powder used, you may not even need additional sweetener.
The original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of water but readers were reporting the batter to be too runny. I reduced it to 1 cup but you may need up to 1 1/2 cups works depending on the protein powder you use. Start with 1 cup and slowly add more as needed. It works great with 1 cup but the batter is very thick, however, this will result in an extra thick and fluffy pancake. If you want the batter to stretch a little further and make more pancakes, add a little extra water. The batter should be thick but pourable.
The recipe makes enough for 2 servings, however, the exact number of pancakes it makes will depends how big each pancake is and how much liquid is added to the batter. Regardless, however many pancakes you make, half of that is meant to be one serving.
Reduce salt to 1/4 tsp if you’re using table salt or if sodium content is a concern. You can also use a reduced-sodium baking powder.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 the recipe
- Calories: 295
- Sodium: 20.2 mg
- Fat: 1.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 60 g
- Fiber: 3.5 g
- Protein: 16 g
Keywords: vegan protein pancakes, protein pancakes, high-protein pancakes
Hi Deryn,
Just made these DELICIOUS pancakes !!! At this time I’m not a vegan, so I did use one egg and almond milk, other than that followed the recipe.. YUMMY 😉 Cheryl
I am a novice with vegan dishes and the technique adjustments that many recipes require. Additionally, new and different products are required.
I tried this recipe and have had great results. I could not tell the difference between my beloved old buttermilk homemade pancake recipe results and this.
The ease of the recipe was excellent. I found the protein powder in the baking section of my local grocery. The product I found and used Better Body Foods Organic Plant Protein (pea & quinoa protein powder) 12.7 oz package was $12.97 . There are approximately 45 TBS product in the package. 1/4 cup = 4 TBS, so I will be able to make 10 batches.
I will make 80 4 inch pancakes for our VBS program in two days!
This recipe made 8 4 inch pancakes
They cook beautifully and taste wonderful
★★★★★
10 out of 5 stars. I can’t tell u how many protein pancake recipes I have tried and they all tasted horrible or just okay (Or remained as flat as a sheet of paper). But these pancakes right here! Wow! Fluffy, tasty, easy and sweet! You don’t even need syrup. Thanks so much for this recipe!
★★★★★
I expected this recipe to be good with all the positive comments. It still exceeded expectations! I never had great luck with any other pancake recipes. This one has protein and is 10x better than any others I’ve tried. Texture/fluffiness is perfect. This is now a staple, looking forward to meal prepping it for weekday breakfasts. I followed the recipe exactly; I only have table salt so did the suggested 1/4 tsp salt. Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
So glad you liked them and thanks for the review!
Tried this recipe yesterday and oh my goodness! Loved it so much I ate 5 pancakes in one sitting 😂def saving this for my go to protein pancake recipe. Thanks for sharing 😊
★★★★★
These are the BEST, FLUFFIEST pancakes I’ve ever made. I did add an egg (I’m not vegan) and used a cup or so of coconut milk. I also used 1/4 cup pea protein. I mixed it all together without separating dry from wet and it worked great. Even my picky granddaughter commented that these were better than other recipes I’ve tried in the past. Most definitely a keeper!
★★★★★
Thanks, Marie! So glad you enjoyed them.
These were INCREDIBLE!!!
Could I make a batch of the batter and then refrigerate it for a couple days?
Yes. You can keep them in the fridge for up to 5 days and reheat in the microwave, toaster or a pan (or eat cold!). Or you can freeze them up to 3 months. If freezing, I’d recommend freezing on a pan before transferring to a container so they don’t stick together.
I never leave reviews, and most of the recipes I’ve tried that include protein powder taste awful. So I didn’t have high hopes for this, but I really need to up my protein so I gave it a go. And I’m gobsmacked at how delicious these are! I used vanilla protein powder and skipped the sweetener and I really can’t believe how good these taste. They taste a little cake like, perhaps because of the type of protein powder is used. I could eat the whole batch in one go! These are my new go to pancakes. Thank you!
★★★★★
I’m glad you liked them! Thank you for the review.
I used half oat flour half plain flour and these turned out amazing! Topped them off with warm blueberries. Love this recipe as it’s delicious and I have the ingredients always on hand. Thanks so much.
★★★★★
Great! So glad you enjoyed them.
I hate to leave a negative review but I’m not sure what has gone so wrong here, I used the last of my ingredients to make these after experimenting with different pancake recipes all week and this one had to be scraped into the bin, I couldn’t even finish a bite of it. It was extremely(!) salty? I used the exact measurements stated here, so I don’t understand what’s gone wrong? All other recipes I’ve used this week have called for much less salt or none at all and they were delicious but these were completely inedible. The positive comments have made me wonder if I’m just completely missing something here – I used 1/2 a teaspoon (not tablespoon) of table salt, chocolate protein powder, maple syrup as the sweetener and the rest of the ingredients listed at the same measurements in the recipe. Any ideas?
★★
I’m not sure. I’ve never had that feedback before. You used baking powder, not baking soda? Baking soda would definitely make them taste salty. Protein powders may also vary in sodium content. I’m reluctant to make any changes to the recipe because it’s so well loved, but I did add a note to use 1/4 tsp if you’re using table salt. The recipe calls for sea salt or kosher salt, which have coarser grains than table salt, so would amount to less in 1/2 a teaspoon.
These are the tastiest and easiest protein pancakes I’ve ever made. Thank you!
★★★★★
These were the best from-scratch pancakes I think I’ve ever made! I used Vega Vanilla Protein Made Simple and added a few dark chocolate chips and this absolutely will be my new go-to Saturday morning pancake recipe 🙂 thanks!!!
★★★★★
Thank you for this recipe! It made for a very nice post-workout meal! ☺️
★★★★★
Thank you for sharing. I was looking for a recipe to add more protein to my breakfast. These are perfect, easy to make and quick. I topped them with fruits (frozen and cooked on stove) thickened whit chia seeds.Yummy!
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for trying the recipe!
Delicious… Do you think these are feezable so that I can take to work over the next week?
★★★★★
Yep. You can freeze them. Thanks!
I followed the recipe just added some bananas to the batter because my protein powder is dark chocolate and they were soooooo good!!!
Can this recipe be made with almond flour instead? What would be the measurements?
★★★★★
They’d need some adjustments to make with almond flour and I haven’t tried these with single GF flours (a GF blend like Bobs Red Mill will work). I would suggest looking up an almond flour specific recipe if you need that. Thanks!
I used soy milk instead of water and added some blueberries in the batter. I also used vanilla extract, peanut butter flavored protein powder, and some pumpkin spice mix and these pancakes were absolutely delicious!! Super easy to make too.
★★★★★
Thank you Evy! I came here to see if anyone used soy milk instead and if it changed the integrity of the recipe. Thanks for chiming in!
Made these with vegan salted caramel protein and added a dash of almond milk and they were delicious and so easy! Thank you 🙂
★★★★★
I don’t know what I did wrong but matter what I did they just wouldn’t cook always raw in the middle
★
Did you follow the recipe exactly or make changes to the amounts or ingredients? These shouldn’t have any problem cooking. Thanks!
I’ve had this problem too. Try making the batter thinner. I found that I needed to make adjustments based on the protein powder I was using.
I just tried them with Bob’s gluten free baking flour in the blue bag and went with the general idea of them. They are definitely easy to make. I like that. I used 3/4 c. of almond milk (had some I wanted to use up) + 1/2 c. water. My pea protein powder is unflavored and unsweetened, so I added a tsp. of vanilla but stayed with the 2 T of maple syrup. I sprinkled in some cinnamon and a touch of nutmeg and kept the baking powder and salt the same. I also added some chopped banana I wanted to use up. They looked, smelled and tasted great. But, the texture was gummy and not great. Even maple syrup can’t help that! It was likely due to the gluten free flour, possibly the almond milk, too. I’m really after a high protein, vegan, gluten/grain free pancake. This was a good start.
★★★★★
Is oat a grain? I’m not sure, but if it isn’t, oat flour pancakes are great. I also tried this recipe, kept it relatively the same using normal flour and it was very good, have not tried this specific recipe with oats but might work 🙂
★★★★★
Oats are a grain, yep. I have chickpea flour pancakes though if you’re looking for something grain-free!
I am commenting while trying these nice pancakes! They are SO easy to make and the tasty:). I will definitely Anke them more often! Thanks
★★★★★