These Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes are moist and fluffy, subtly spiced and perfectly satisfying! They make a filling breakfast and are perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas! They’re refined sugar free (or can be made with no added sugar) too.
I tested lots of different types of pumpkin pancakes, initially using my Gluten-Free Vegan Pancakes recipe, which is made using a mixture of ground almonds and gluten-free flour. However, they turned out too dense and weren’t fluffy enough. But then I decided to use my Flaxseed Pancakes recipe as a base instead, and they turned out perfectly moist and fluffy.
Tips for making these pancakes:
- You can use either brown or golden flaxseeds, but I found the colour was much nicer with golden flaxseeds, plus they have a milder flavour.
- You can buy either whole flaxseeds or flaxseed meal – it doesn’t really matter because either way you’ll need to grind them up into a fine powder.
- You can buy flaxseeds in most supermarkets, local health stores or online.
How to make these Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes
Scroll down to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe.
Tip: Whether using whole flaxseeds or flaxseed meal, you’ll need to grind them up into a fine powder. Store-bought flaxseed meal isn’t fine enough for making these pancakes.
- Place the flaxseeds in a food processor.
- Whizz until you get a fine powder.
Tip: This can take quite a lot of time and it’s much easier if you have a powerful/high-speed food processor.
- Transfer the flaxseed powder into a glass mixing bowl, along with the gluten-free flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
- Mix well, ensuring you’ve got rid of any clumps of flaxseed powder.
- Add the pumpkin purée, almond milk, vinegar and maple syrup and mix again.
Tip: Use a measuring jug to measure out the plant-based milk.
Tip: Leave the batter to sit for 5 minutes to allow the flaxseed to absorb the excess liquid before frying the pancakes.
- Heat up a tiny bit of oil in a frying pan (non-stick is best) and add a few tablespoons of the pancake batter.
Tip: Control the amount of oil you use by using a spray-on oil or rubbing a piece of greased kitchen paper over the bottom of the frying pan – too much oil will make the pancakes ragged at the edges, and too little will make them hard to flip over.
- Cook on a low-medium heat for a few minutes until the bottom of the pancake comes away easily from the pan.
Tip: Use a non-stick frying pan so that the pancakes don’t stick to the bottom of the frying pan!
- Flip over and cook for another few minutes, until golden brown on both sides.
Tip: Use a spatula to flip over the pancakes.
- Repeat for the rest of the batter – makes around 7 pancakes.
Substitutions you can make to this recipe:
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can omit the maple syrup to make these free from sugar.
- You can replace the apple cider vinegar with lemon juice.
- You can use any type of oil to fry the pancakes: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- To make them nut-free, use a nut-free plant-based milk.
- If you’re not gluten-free, you can use plain flour.
- You can use either shop-bought pumpkin purée or make our own.
- The pumpkin purée can be replaced with sweet potato or butternut squash purée.
- You can omit the mixed spice/pumpkin pie spice.
Ingredients you can add to the pancake batter:
- Chocolate chips.
- Dried cranberries.
- Fresh or frozen berries: blueberries, raspberries etc.
Serving suggestions for these Pumpkin Pancakes:
- Maple syrup.
- Sliced Baked Apples.
- Melted chocolate.
- Almond or peanut butter.
- Chopped nuts.
- Fresh berries.
- Coconut yogurt or coconut whipped cream.
How long do these Pumpkin Pancakes keep for?
These Pumpkin Pancakes taste best when fresh, but leftovers do keep covered in the fridge for a few days – reheat in the toaster or a dry frying pan.
Can these Pumpkin Pancakes be frozen?
- They can be frozen and last for about a month in the freezer.
- I would suggest keeping a sheet of baking paper in between each pancake if you want to take them out of the freezer one at a time, otherwise you’ll end up with a solid block of frozen pancakes!
- Either reheat in a toaster straight from frozen or leave to thaw at room temperature for about half an hour then reheat in a dry frying pan.
More gluten-free vegan pancake recipes:
- Oatmeal Pancakes
- Coconut Flour Pancakes
- Banana Pancakes
- Buckwheat Crepes
- Oat Flour Pancakes
- Cornmeal Pancakes
- Banana Oatmeal Pancakes
- Crepes
- Buckwheat Pancakes
- Quinoa Pancakes
- Flaxseed Pancakes
- or browse the whole collection!
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes
Ingredients
- 50 g (¼ cup) whole flaxseeds * (I used golden but brown works too)
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 4 teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 2 teaspoons mixed spice to taste (pumpkin pie spice, or a mixture of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon)
- 270 ml (1 ⅛ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or sub any other plant-based milk)
- 150 g (⅔ cup) tinned pumpkin purée
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar ** (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup *** (or sub any other liquid sweetener)
Instructions
- Place the flaxseeds in a food processor and whizz until you get a fine powder – this can take quite a lot of time and it’s much easier if you have a powerful/high-speed food processor
- Transfer the flaxseed powder into a large bowl, along with the gluten-free flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice
- Mix very well, ensuring you’ve got rid of any clumps of flaxseed powder
- Add the almond milk, pumpkin purée, vinegar and maple syrup and mix again
- Leave the batter to sit for 5 minutes to allow the flaxseed to absorb the excess liquid before frying the pancakes
- 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 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 and crispy on both sides
- Repeat for the rest of the batter – makes around 7 pancakes
- Best enjoyed immediately, but do keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days
Notes
- Yes they can be frozen – just make sure to freeze them with a layer 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!
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you click through and purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me, with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
Sandi
Hi Rhian,
These look so yummie. Can’t wait to make them
Kind regards,
Sandi.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much!