Fluffy and light coconut flour pancakes, perfect for a relaxed breakfast. Best of all, these easy pancakes are low carb, grain free and sugar free!
What is it about pancakes that makes them so irresistible?
The answer is simple. Pancakes, just like their very close relative, the waffle, are reserved for days you look forward to. They are signifiers of fun, relaxation, enjoying yourself.
I have some awesome low carb pancakes on this website already – for example my almond cream cheese pancakes. They use, as the name suggests, almond flour and cream cheese and are one of my most popular recipes.
This time I wanted to make healthy grain free pancakes that were extra fluffy extra light and extra thick – and an alternative for my readers who are allergic to nuts.
Coconut flour pancakes!
I’m sure you’ll absolutely love these pancakes. Coconut flour is my absolute favourite grain free flour and, as an added bonus, very healthy. It is really high in fibre and has a lovely mild coconut taste.
The secret to supreme fluffiness in low carb pancakes?
You have to beat the egg white until they form stiff peaks and fold them into the batter at the very end.
I used to think it was impossible to get egg whites stiff – until I discovered some very useful tips, listed in my post for this strawberry mascarpone tart. Follow the instructions and it’ll ALWAYS work!
You can play with the sweetness and spices in this recipe as you wish.
I used 1 teaspoon of mixed spice (that’s pumpkin spice for my US readers). Cinnamon or vanilla extract/powder would be great in this recipe too.
Recipe TOP TIP: The one thing to note with coconut flour pancakes is that you need to a lil’ bit of patience when frying them. Keep your stove to a low or medium heat so they do not burn!
If you have a large non-stick (!!) pan, you can make 2 pancakes at a time. Watch’em with hungry eagle eyes and as soon as they start bubbling on top, turn them over.
I slathered my pancakes with sugar free syrup and we ate them with berries. If you have time, you could also make this very yummy 2 ingredient sugar free caramel sauce or have them with blueberry jam.
Update October 2018: These pancakes taste SUPERB with the Lakanto sugar free maple flavored syrup. Lakanto make very reasonably-priced erythritol/monkfruit sweeteners. At the moment the brand only ships within the US, but they sent me their products to try. I use a bit of syrup in the pancake batter and squeeze more over the finished pancakes. YUM.
I have negotiated a special discount for Sugar Free Londoner readers – if you enter the code SUGARFREE at checkout you get 20% off all non-sale Lakanto products!
I have successfully toasted leftover coconut flour pancakes on the next day.
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Coconut Flour Pancakes (Low Carb, Gluten Free)
You'll love these fluffy and light coconut flour pancakes! This easy recipe is low carb and sugar free.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs separated
- 1/2 cup coconut oil melted (90g)
- 4 tbsp coconut flour
- 2 tbsp coconut milk or almond milk
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp Lakanto maple flavored syrup or sweetener of choice (optional)
- 1 tsp mixed spice/pumpkin spice or cinnamon
Instructions
- Melt coconut oil and mix with the egg yolks, coconut flour, coconut milk, baking powder and spice/sweetener, if using. I did this with a food processor, but you can use a stick blender, too. If you just use a fork, sift the coconut flour first so it does not clump and use some serious elbow grease to get the mixture nice and smooth.
- In a clean metal or porcelain bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. The stiffer you get the whites, the fluffier your pancakes will be!
- Fold the egg whites into the mixture.
- Heat some coconut oil in a non-stick pan. This mix makes 6 pancakes (ca 10cm diameter each) using 3 tbsp of batter per pancake. Fry them over a low-medium heat so they do not burn. Turn over once the top starts bubbling.
Recipe Notes
These pancakes are filling - that's the nature of coconut flour. One was enough for me. If you have a teenager, a hungry husband or an active day ahead of you, you might want to calculate two per person. You know your crowd best, so do increase the amounts accordingly!
To keep things on the simple side, I have calculated the nutrition info per pancake.
Tip: Do invest in a quality pan when you're cooking low carb. Coconut flour pancakes, for example, are more fragile than wheat pancakes because they lack the gluten. You don't want them to stick!
Update October 2018: These pancakes taste SUPERB with the Lakanto sugar free maple flavored syrup. Lakanto make very reasonably-priced erythritol/monkfruit sweeteners. At the moment the brand only ships within the US, but they sent me their products to try. I use a bit of syrup in the pancake batter and squeeze more over the finished pancakes. YUM.
I have negotiated a special discount for Sugar Free Londoner readers - if you enter the code SUGARFREE at checkout you get 20% off all non-sale Lakanto products!
This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one of these links and purchase a product as a result, I may earn a small commission. This money goes towards the running costs of this website. Thank you for supporting Sugar Free Londoner.
Karen says
Do you have a cook book??
Katrin says
Not yet – sign up to my newsletter and I’ll let you know as soon as it’s ready!
Frannie says
I have made these a few times now and they taste great! However, the batter has not been a pourable any of those times. I’m melting the coconut oil and using room temperature eggs. Any ideas?
Katrin says
The batter is thicker because you use stiff egg whites. It would be pourable if you did not did that. But – that’s what makes them so fluffy!
Autumn says
I just made these for my 10 year old daughter, and she LOVED them! She has Hashimoto’s, so finding a recipe for anything that she can and will eat is very hard. Can these pancakes be frozen, and them microwaved? I want to make these for school morning breakfast, but don’t always have a lot of time in AM to cook.
Katrin says
Yes, absolutely! You can microwave them ot even stick them in the toaster
Nina White says
Don’t make these when the temperature is cold! I really struggled to get my batter to a decent consistency because my coconut oil kept hardening during the process. I managed to get them to turn out pretty well, it was just a struggle!
Katrin says
Good to know Nina, thanks for your comment!
brushfire says
I have made this recipe a few times and I love it. I have a couple modifications that work well for me. I use butter and milk instead of coconut oil and coconut milk and I just crack the eggs and put them whole into the batter, no separating or whisking required and they still fluff up beautifully. 🙂
Katrin says
Thank you for your comment and tips! It’s always so interesting to hear how people adapt recipes. 🙂
Analiz De Jesús López says
Can I substitute the Coconut oil for Butter?
Katrin says
Of course you can! This would work in pretty much any recipe.
Lisa says
It the batter suppose to be thick?
Katrin says
Hi Lisa, it is thick but pourable, a bit like the batter for my almond butter waffles – you can take a look at the video to see the consistency. I hope this helps 🙂
cheryl peng says
I tried making this recipe but epically. 🙁 the batter seemed really clumpy and runny. Any tip for trouble shooting?
Katrin says
Sounds to me that you did not mix the batter well enough? If it’s clumpy and runny at the same time… Coconut flour can be tricky to work with, so next time you make a coconut flour recipe just make sure you end up with a smooth dough. I hope this helps and let me know if you try again!
Jane says
Love your pics. They make my mouth water 🙂
Katrin says
Thank you Jane! Hope you’ll try the recipe
Claire F says
That syrup!!!!! I’ve just ordered it. Looks so good.
Katrin says
I really like the taste of the syrup. It got the thumbs up from my kids too, who are very suspicious of “diet foods”
Fiona says
Great recipe! And everybody who’s making these, make sure you fry your pancakes at a low to medium temperature, just like Katrin recommends. I was impatient and managed to burn my first one!
Katrin says
Thank you for your comment Fiona. Shame you burned your first pancake! I did too – even though coconut oil has a very high burning point, coconut flour does not!
Sarah Hickey says
I am a big fan of your almond cream cheese pancakes. Looking forward to trying this one now. Will keep you posted!
Katrin says
Please do! I’ll look out for your comment. Have a great weekend 🙂
Keren says
They look delicious. Can’t wait to make this recipe!
Katrin says
Thank you Keren. Hope you’ll try it soon.
Stacey Jennings says
These are AMAZING! We just had the most wonderful pancake breakfast. Will make a double batch next time so I have some spares.
Katrin says
Great news Stacey! So happy you liked the recipe. Making a double batch sounds very sensible 🙂
Ray Whitmore says
Would this recipe work for making waffles? Some pancake recipes say to add 1 tbsp of butter if you want to cook them in a waffle maker.
Katrin says
You could give it a try! There’s quite a bit of oil in the recipe already so apart from greasing the waffle maker well I don’t think you need any more butter or oil. They might get firmer though as the waffle maker compresses the batter – meaning you might need to use less coconut flour. My tried and tested waffle recipe are these low carb waffles, which use a different egg/flour ratio and butter instead of the coconut oil.