Quinoa Pancakes (Vegan + Gluten-Free)

These Quinoa Pancakes are thick, fluffy, perfectly chewy and super easy to

make. They have a nutty flavour, are made without flax eggs or aquafaba and make the best healthy and satisfying breakfast! They’re vegan, gluten-free, nut-free and refined sugar free (or can be made with no added sugar), and are a great source of protein and fibre.

Quinoa Pancakes (Vegan + Gluten-Free)

Ingredients

• ▢75 g (⅓ cup) quinoa *
• ▢75 g (¾ cups) oats ** (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
• ▢2 tablespoons maple syrup *** (or sub any other sweetener)
• ▢1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar **** (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
• ▢2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
• ▢¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• ▢185 ml (¾ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or sub any other plant-based milk)

For frying:

• ▢Coconut oil (or sub vegetable oil)

Instructions

• Place the quinoa in a blender or food processor and whizz until you get a fine powder.
• Transfer into a bowl.
• Place the oats in the blender or food processor and whizz until you get a fine powder.
• Add to the bowl.
• Add all the other ingredients for the pancake batter to the bowl, and mix well.
• Cook the pancakes as soon as possible after making the batter, otherwise the oat flour will soak up liquid and the batter will become too thick!
• Heat up a tiny bit of oil in a frying pan (non-stick is best) and spoon or ladle in a small amount of the pancake batter.
• Cook on a low heat for a few minutes until you see little bubbles appear on the surface and the bottom of the pancake comes away easily from the pan.
• Use a spatula to flip it over and cook for another few minutes, until golden brown on both sides.
• Repeat for the rest of the batter – makes around 6 pancakes.
• Best enjoyed immediately, but they do keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days.

Notes

*If you want to use quinoa flour instead of making your own, you can use 75 g (⅔ cup) quinoa flour.

**If you want to use oat flour instead of making your own, you can use 75 g (⅔ cup) oat flour.

***You can omit the maple syrup to make these free from sugar.

****The vinegar is crucial as its acidity needs to react with the alkali bicarbonate of soda to make the pancakes fluffy. Can be replaced with lemon juice.

Top tips

• I tested these pancakes with different combinations of flours in different ratios. Using quinoa flour alone meant the pancakes turned out dry and crumbly. I found that a half-half mixture of quinoa and oat flour was the best. This is because quinoa flour can be quite crumbly, but oat flour tends to be sticky. So, oat flour works as the perfect binding agent to make soft and fluffy quinoa flour pancakes that stick together.
• I recommend white quinoa over tricolour quinoa, as the grains have a thinner skin meaning they’re much easier to whizz into a flour. Plus, the white quinoa gives these pancakes a better colour.
• Although I usually recommend washing quinoa first before cooking it, I find it is better not to wash it when making flour because it doesn’t blend as well when it’s wet. 
• I recommend using a blender not a food processor if possible, as it takes much longer in a food processor. Plus my food processor isn’t completely well-sealed so the process ended up spraying quinoa flour all over my kitchen. However, if you don’t have a high-speed blender, a food processor will work too.
• Quinoa takes longer to blend into a powder than oats, so I recommend blending them separately for this reason. Otherwise, if you blend them together, the quinoa will be under-blended while the oats will be over-blended.

Can you freeze these?

Yes they can be frozen – just make sure to freeze them with a sheet of baking paper in between each pancake if you want to take them out one at a time! Reheat in a dry frying pan or pop in the toaster.

https://www.rhiansrecipes.com/quinoa-pancakes/