Banana Pancakes

Banana pancakes are one of my favorite breakfast treats.

Pancakes are always a hit and one of the great weekend breakfast recipes. I think almost everyone loves pancakes of some sort.

I certainly love them and I like to make different kinds of pancakes, as you can tell if you look at the breakfast recipes section of the site. I have lots of different pancake recipes to try.

I don’t make pancakes often, but when I do I often reach for the bananas. Bananas and pancakes just seem like the perfect pairing don’t they?

I love this particular banana pancake recipe because the bananas aren’t just in huge slices in the pancake batter, or just sitting on top. I like to chop my bananas finely before I add them to the pancake batter to make sure that each and every bit of delicious pancake contains at least one piece of banana.

When I eat banana pancakes, I want full on banana deliciousness.

I add cinnamon to my banana pancake recipe because I think it goes really well with the taste of bananas. Feel free to leave it out if you don’t like it, or add more if you love it.

That’s what I love about cooking from scratch. You get to create the food that YOU love to eat, not just some recipe that someone else thought would be good. Within reason, you can add and subtract ingredients to make the perfect pancake recipe for your own taste buds.

Pastry Flour vs All Purpose Flour for Pancake Recipes

This recipe calls for pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour. Why is that? Because pastry flour is softer and results in a more tender pancake. That said, I usually don’t have pastry flour in my pantry and most often make pancakes with all-purpose flour. I think most people do, so I have adjusted the recipe so it reads either pastry flour OR all-purpose flour. Either one will make a great pancake.

No Buttermilk for Banana Pancakes? Do This

The recipe also calls for buttermilk. Buttermilk is wonderful to use in your baking because it really does result in a very tender pancake, cake, muffin or cupcake – pretty much whatever you are baking.

I don’t always keep buttermilk in my fridge, so here’s another easy tip:

When a recipe calls for buttermilk and you don’t have it you can do one of two things.

1. You can substitute plain milk. The result will be pretty close to the original recipe.

2. If you want that extra tender pancake, waffle, cake or muffin just make your own buttermilk. Several minutes before you are going to need the buttermilk do this: For 1 cup of buttermilk called for in the recipe, take a 1 cup measure and add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (fresh or bottled, although fresh is always nicer). Fill the cup with regular milk and let it sit for 10 minutes or so while you assemble the other ingredients and get your pans ready to use.

By the time you are ready for the buttermilk your own “buttermilk” will be thick and ready to use. It’s that simple.

Not using dairy milk? Not a problem. Simply swap out the dairy milk with a milk alternative. I have made pancakes with almond milk and oat milk and the pancakes have been fabulous with each of them. I haven’t tried other milk alternatives, so I can’t comment on how they would work out, but try your favorite dairy free drink and see how it works.

Making Fluffy Banana Pancakes

You might notice that the recipe below calls for the eggs to be “lightly beaten”. Whenever you bake, eggs are probably lightly beaten or just “beaten” before they are added to the other ingredients.

Beating the eggs helps the final product to be lighter. In fact, you can even beat the egg whites separately to make even lighter pancakes. If you separate the yolks from the egg whites and beat the egg whites until they are frothy before adding them to the pancake batter, it really does result in a lighter, fluffier pancake.

I don’t often do that because I love the texture of pancake as they are, but if you are a really fancier of lighter pancakes, get out the whisk and beat those egg whites before adding them to the batter. It does make a difference.

Banana Pancake Tip!

Here is another easy way to make your pancakes fluffy.

Baking powder helps batters to rise. If you just make your batter and let it sit for a few minutes before making the pancakes, they will turn out nice and light with no fuss.

Making Your Banana Pancakes

The process for making banana pancakes is pretty simple.

Mix the dry ingredients together first and make sure it is well stirred, then add in the buttermilk and eggs. If you have chosen to beat the egg whites first, add the milk and egg yolks to the batter, mix it all together well first, then add in the beaten egg whites and fold it all together well.

Make sure your frying pan is well heated before adding the pancake batter. Either add a touch of neutral flavored oil (like grape seed oil or avocado oil) or spray with non stick spray.

Add the pancake batter to make one larger pancake or a few smaller ones, whichever you prefer. Cook the pancake until the top (uncooked) side of the pancake begins to bubble and small holes appear in the pancake. When there are quite a few holes, it’s time to turn the pancake.

Flip the pancake over and continue to cook it for another minute, until the bottom is nice and golden brown.

Topping Off Your Banana Pancakes

Pancakes are always wonderful with your favorite syrup but how about a few other toppings?

Finely chopped walnuts or pecans are wonderful with this banana pancake recipe. Then drizzle it all with a bit of pure honey.

My “go to” when I want to cut down on the sweet factor is to top my pancakes with applesauce. It’s one of those things from my childhood that I still love.

These banana pancakes will be delicious no matter how you top them. Just go for it.

Eat and enjoy!

If you like my banana pancakes, you might also want to have a look at our healthy(ier) whole wheat pancake recipe too.

Browse all of our breakfast and egg recipes here.

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