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These gluten-free vegan carrot cake pancakes are so easy to make you’ll want to keep them on your weekly breakfast menu. You only need a few simple ingredients to make them and they’re ready to eat in under 15 minutes. To create a delicious carrot cake flavour, these pancakes feature grated carrot, ginger and cinnamon.

Stack of vegan gluten-free carrot cake pancakes with maple syrup, coconut and walnut topping.
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Chickpea Flour

These pancakes are made with chickpea flour, which is actually my favourite flour for pancakes. Chickpea flour, or besan or garam flour is simply, ground dried chickpeas. It has a mildly beany flavour but that dissipates once cooked making it a good choice for both savory and sweet recipes.

Other Flour Options

If you don’t have chickpea flour on hand, these can also be made with whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour or a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend.

Dry ingredients for carrot cake pancakes in a glass bowl.
Mixed batter for vegan carrot cake pancakes in a glass bowl.

Carrot Cake Pancake Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this delicious breakfast option:

  1. Chickpea flour. The pancakes are made with chickpea flour, making them gluten-free and grain-free. Chickpea flour is easy, versatile, budget-friendly and easy to work with. If you’ve never tried it before, pancakes are a great place to start experimenting.
  2. Grated carrot. You’ll need 1/2 cup of fresh, finely grated carrot for this recipe. This creates all that carrot cake goodness!
  3. Baking powder. Baking powder helps these babies fluff right up. The recipe will work without it but it makes them extra thick and fluffy.
  4. Sea salt. Salt works with the baking powder to create an extra thick, fluffy pancake. As with the baking powder, it can be omitted if you’re on a reduced-sodium diet.
  5. Spices. Carrot cake is all about cozy, warming spices like ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. The recipe calls for ginger and cinnamon but feel free to add a little pinch of nutmeg if you like.
  6. Toppings. For more carrot cake flavor, I topped these with walnuts and shredded coconut. Raisins and pineapple are also delicious.

Optional Ingredients

I sometimes bake some raisins or other ingredients into the pancakes, as you can see in the photos. You can do this with shredded coconut, pineapple, walnuts or pecans. Just fold 1-2 tbsp of any or all into the batter with the carrots or drop a few onto the pancakes as they cook.

Vegan carrot cake pancakes with raisins in a black skillet.
Three cooked carrot cake pancakes with raisins on a small, white plate.
Overhead shot of carrot cake pancakes topped with coconut and walnuts.

Pancake Tips

Here are a few simple tips for pancake success:

  1. Mix all the dry ingredients first to ensure they’re evenly distributed.
  2. Slowly add the water and grated carrot then gently fold together until “just mixed” for the best fluffiness. If it’s a bit lumpy that’s great!
  3. For extra fluff-factor, let the batter “rest” for 5 minutes so the baking powder can work its magic.
  4. Pre-heat the pan over medium-high heat before you start cooking.
  5. Use a good non-stick pan or a bit of cooking spray to prevent sticking.
  6. Cook the pancakes until the edges look dry and there are some bubbles in each. Flip cook for 1 more minute.
Stack of vegan gluten-free carrot cake pancakes on a small white plate.

Vegan Carrot Cake Pancake Recipe

This recipe is super easy to make in about 10 minutes and can be customized with fun toppings like:

The recipe serves one but can easily be doubled or tripled for a bigger batch.

Slices of carrot cake pancakes on a fork.

More Chickpea Flour Pancakes

This is not the chickpea flour pancake recipe I’ve shared on the blog. If you’re loving this one, you’ll love these too:

Not into chickpea flour? That’s ok too. Check out my popular chia seed pancakes or fluffy whole-wheat pancakes.

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Stack of vegan gluten-free carrot cake pancakes with maple syrup, coconut and walnut topping.

Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes

  • Author: Deryn Macey
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 10 mins
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 5–6 pancakes 1x
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten-Free

Love carrot cake? You will love these easy, gluten-free, carrot cake-inspired pancakes! Add raisins or top with pineapple, coconut and walnuts for the real deal. 

★★★★★

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Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Mix the chickpea flour, salt, baking powder and spices together in a bowl.
  2. Add the water and grated carrot and gently fold together. The batter will be thick and almost “foamy” as the baking powder reacts.
  3. Heat a non-stick skillet or pancake grill to medium-high heat while you let the batter rest for 5 minutes.
  4. Use non-stick cooking spray if needed, scoop the batter onto the pan to create 5-6 pancakes. Allow to cook until the edges look dry and each pancake starts to show some bubbles. Flip and cook for 1-2 minutes.
  5. Serve topped with maple syrup, cashew frosting, pineapple, walnuts and toasted coconut flakes or shredded coconut. 

Notes

  • Use exactly 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp water for thick, fluffy pancakes or more for thinner, crepe-style pancakes.
  • You can make these protein pancakes by adding 1 scoop of vegan vanilla protein powder and increasing the water to 1/2 cup.

Keywords: chickpea pancakes, carrot cake pancakes, carrot pancakes, gluten-free vegan pancakes, easy, healthy