Almond Flour Pancakes

These low-carb almond flour pancakes are hearty and delicious! This almond flour pancake recipe easily adapts to several dietary preferences, and everyone will enjoy a stack topped with syrup or fresh fruit!

After we officially finished the Whole30, one of the first things my family requested – aside from Fudgy Paleo Brownies – was pancakes.

Since Paleo seems to be the non-strict version of Whole30, and I had practically ZERO experience cooking Paleo, I researched Paleo pancakes that I thought my family would like.

After several test batches (a few unsuccessful, I might add), we landed on a paleo almond flour pancake recipe that with some of my own frugal tweaking, we absolutely love!

Before you even get out a bowl to make these, you should know that just because WE experiment with different styles of eating, it doesn’t mean YOU have to do it. You can scroll back through my posts and see that we clearly enjoy grains, legumes, and dairy. We just like to see how different foods make each of us feel.

But I promise, even if you’re not eating paleo, this is a delicious almond flour pancakes recipe!

EASY ALMOND FLOUR PANCAKES

This almond flour pancake recipe is a bit fussier than most of my recipes, but for those who are coming off the Whole30 or following a Paleo diet, you know how much work it takes to prepare all of your meals.

These almond flour pancakes are worth the effort, I promise!

And I promise, even a “fussier” recipe from me is still pretty simple. That’s just how I do things in my kitchen!

To save time, you can mix the dry part of the recipe ahead of time and store it in a glass jar, much like you would for Homemade Bisquick, Homemade Yellow Cake Mix, or Homemade Chocolate Cake Mix.

Aside from fitting with a Paleo way of eating, I like that these almond flour pancakes are also:

• Made with simple, real food ingredients. And our ingredients list isn’t overly long either!
• Rich, filling pancakes with great flavor. We all enjoy having these pancakes for breakfast!
• Easy to adapt to different dietary needs. They’re already a gluten free pancake, you can make them without eggs if you need to, and you have options to make them dairy-free as well.

ALMOND FLOUR PANCAKE RECIPE INGREDIENTS

Let’s break down the major players for this awesome almond flour pancake recipe:

ALMOND FLOUR

This should be obvious given the name of the recipe, but let’s talk about it anyway. Almond flour really isn’t milled flour like wheat flour or spelt flour; rather, it’s simply finely ground almonds.

Some people use the terms “almond flour” and “almond meal” interchangeably, but they’re not the same food.

• Almond flour is made from blanched almonds which have had the skins removed and is ground more finely.
• Almond meal is made from almonds that still have the skin and is typically more coarse.

I’ve only used fine blanched almond flour in this recipe, so that’s what I’m going to recommend. I’m not sure if almond meal pancakes would turn out quite as well. I think they would probably crumble apart a bit more.

I buy almond flour at Costco in bulk, because it’s the cheapest that way at roughly $4/lb. I suggest checking your local warehouse store for the best deal.

I’ve also purchased this brand at Walmart before and it works just as well, it just costs a little bit more.

TAPIOCA FLOUR / OAT FLOUR

As I bake with non-grain flours, I’m learning that they don’t work like the flours I’m used to. Using just almond flour in this recipe made pancakes that fell apart when they were flipped, which meant we were pretty much eating blobs of almond flour pancakes rather than cute little rounds.

Adding just a teeny bit of another flour – preferably tapioca flour for Paleo – makes them stay together SO much better.

If you don’t have tapioca flour, or if you’re not following a Paleo diet (or even if you are for the most part but make exceptions now and then for the budget like me), then you can substitute a little bit of Oat Flour for the tapioca flour.

EGGS

Eggs are purely the binder in this recipe, so if you can’t do eggs, feel free to make flax eggs instead.

COCONUT MILK

I usually have canned coconut milk in the pantry, so when my husband randomly requests that I make No-Bake Coconut Blueberry Pie, I can oblige.

If you don’t have canned coconut milk, the kind of coconut milk you drink works just as well!

With that said, I’m willing to bet that unsweetened almond milk will work too, and also dairy milk. I haven’t tested either of these myself but let me know if you do!

ADDITIONAL ALMOND FLOUR PANCAKES INGREDIENTS

The rest of the dry and wet ingredients are what I call “minor” players, meaning they’re important (obviously) but you have some leeway with them.

Maple syrup: I normally don’t add any sweetener to something my family is going to top with maple syrup anyway, but we all agreed that these almond flour pancakes without the sweetener were just so-so. The recipe doesn’t call for much – just 1 Tablespoon for the entire batch – so these pancakes aren’t super sweet. Honey would also work as the sweetener, with a slightly different flavor.

Vanilla extract: I absolutely LOVE the flavor of vanilla (hence my Vanilla Bean Coffee Creamer and Vanilla Ice Cream), but I don’t usually put vanilla extract in my pancakes or waffles because the cost of vanilla is so high right now. You can make Homemade Vanilla Extract to help cut the cost, or you can omit it if you’d like.

Apple cider vinegar and baking soda: Since almond flour doesn’t have any gluten, and therefore no proteins to make the pancakes rise, we’re relying on baking soda and an acid to make our almond flour pancakes fluffy. The recipe calls for apple cider vinegar, but you can use lemon juice, whey (if you’re not dairy-free), or white vinegar.

Salt. Just a bit to enhance the flavor. Not all salts are made the same! I love Ava Jane’s Kitchen because it doesn’t have microplastics (gross, right?) and it’s SO GOOD! Plus, you can get a free 8oz. bag of sea salt (just pay shipping and handling!).

Butter or coconut oil: These are your choices for cooking fat, so choose whichever you happen to have or can tolerate on your diet.

HOW TO MAKE ALMOND FLOUR PANCAKES

Step 1. Preheat your griddle or cast iron skillet to medium-low.

Step 2. In a blender, combine eggs, milk, honey, vanilla, and vinegar. Process on low until everything is well combined.

Step 3. Add the remaining dry ingredients – both flours, baking soda, and salt – and process on high until you have a thick batter, about 30 seconds.

Step 4. When your skillet is hot, add 1 teaspoon of fat and swirl to coat the pan. Add 2 tablespoons of batter to the skillet and using either a cookie scoop or the back of a spoon, gently spread the batter into a 3″ circle.

Step 5. Let the pancake cook for about 1-2 minutes, or until it’s golden brown. Carefully flip over and let the second side cook until it’s also golden brown, 1-3 minutes.

Step 6. Repeat with the remaining pancake batter, adding additional butter or coconut oil to the skillet as needed.

These easy almond flour pancakes are best hot off the griddle, but leftover pancakes store well in an airtight container in the fridge and freezer. If you meal prep, adding these pancakes to your lineup is an excellent idea!

TOPPINGS FOR ALMOND FLOUR PANCAKES

Can you even eat pancakes without toppings? Not in my house! We always need maple syrup. You could also try:

• Fresh fruit, like sliced strawberries, a handful of blueberries, or even sliced peaches or bananas
• Whipped Cream. Whipped cream isn’t paleo, but it is delicious!
• A drizzle of honey or a sprinkle of cinnamon. Just a little bit of added flavor.
• Spread some almond butter or another nut butter on top to really bring out the nutty flavor of these pancakes.

ALMOND MEAL PANCAKES TIPS

A few things to consider as you whip up these awesome almond flour paleo pancakes:

Use your blender. I’ve had a Blendtec blender for several years now and I absolutely LOVE it. I use it almost every day (here are 50+ awesome ways to use a blender!) and it has paid for itself time and time again. You can use a regular blender too, but you might have to blend the batter a few times to get it smooth.

The batter will be thick. The batter for paleo almond flour pancakes is very thick and almost cake-like texture. This is normal, and you don’t need to try to thin the batter. The thick batter gives you the fluffy almond flour pancakes!

You need a preheated skillet. Starting with a skillet that’s fully preheated will give you a good sear on the one side of the pancake. This will make the flipping easier and make a delicious pancake. If you start with a cool skillet, the pancake will stick and be much harder to flip.

Make smaller pancakes. I mentioned before that we’re using a second flour to make the pancakes easier to handle, but making smaller pancakes also helps with this. I use this cookie scoop and use two scoops per pancake and it works perfectly. If you go any larger, know that you might have a hard time getting your pancakes to stay together as you flip them.

Don’t over-indulge. These pancakes are crazy delicious, but they’re also dense. My husband can easily take out an entire batch of pancakes by himself without blinking an eye, but I’ll warn you like I warned him – the pancakes will catch up to you! They don’t taste rich but consider them as such when you enjoy them. This will make your tummy happy later in the day.

If the pancakes burn quickly… make sure you add a bit more coconut oil or butter to your skillet. Food burning is a sign that it’s not really cooking. It’s just going from raw to burned because of the direct contact with the skillet.

ALMOND FLOUR PANCAKEA FAQS

MORE YUMMY PANCAKE RECIPES

If you don’t have almond flour and still want to make awesome pancakes, I suggest giving some of my other delicious pancake recipes a try:

• Blender Protein Pancakes – naturally gluten-free and crazy good
• On-a-Whim Strawberry Pancakes – uses whole wheat or all-purpose flour, no advance work required
• Toasted Coconut and Banana Sourdough Pancakes – uses sourdough starter
• Sheet Pan Pancakes – uses your favorite recipe, hands-off because they’re baked in the oven!
• Homemade Bisquick – use this mix and the recipe in the post if you’re used to pancakes from a yellow box!

Or if you’re more of a waffle-type of family, my Blender Cinnamon Oatmeal Waffles are SOOOOO good. They come out perfect every time and they freeze really well. I always 6x the recipe and save them for a quick breakfast for busy mornings.