Healthy Pumpkin Pancakes (Vegan)

Name: Healthy Pumpkin Pancakes (Vegan) Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: ¾ cup canned pumpkin puree; 1 ½ cups all purpose flour ((or use gluten free flour)); 1 cup unsweetened almond milk ((or any unsweetened plant based milk)); 1 tablespoon baking powder; 2 tablespoons sugar ((or stevia sweetener)); 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg; ½ teaspoon salt

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

These vegan Healthy Pumpkin Pancakes are fluffy, sweet and delicious. The ultimate fall breakfast, Healthy Pumpkin Pancakes are made with a few pantry staple ingredients and tastes just like pumpkin pie. Serve with maple syrup for a delicious breakfast recipe the whole family will love.

Healthy Pumpkin Pancakes are light, moist and vegan. When Fall rolls around, this breakfast recipe becomes a staple for our Sunday mornings. I first tried making this recipe a few years ago and ever since, I have been making healthy vegan pancakes for my family when the temperature begins to cool. This breakfast recipe uses a few simple ingredients that are common pantry items. The star ingredient, pumpkin, makes the pancakes incredibly moist and flavorful. This recipe is egg and dairy free, just like my Vegan Blueberry Pancakes and Easy Vegan Pancakes.

Why I love healthy pumpkin pancakes

Quick and easy: you only need 6 ingredients, most of which you probably already have in your pantry
Versatile: healthy pumpkin pancakes can be served for breakfast, lunch and dinner
Storage: pancakes store quite well in the fridge for up to 5 days
Vegan: you don’t need milk or eggs for this recipe
Family treat: this recipe sticks to your healthy lifestyle but feels like you’re having a naughty meal
Adjustable serving size: easily make more pancakes by keeping the same ingredient ratio

Ingredients You’ll Need

The great thing about making this easy vegan pancakes recipe is that you only need six ingredients, most of which you probably already have handy. Here is everything you will need for this simple recipe.

Flour: I use all-purpose flour for this recipe. Alternatively, you can use whole wheat, buckwheat, spelt flour or gluten-free all purpose flour.
Pumpkin puree: not to be confused with pumpkin pie mix. Just get a can of plain pumpkin puree.
Baking powder: you’ll only need 1 tablespoon of baking powder. This is what makes the pancakes light, airy and fluffy.
Sugar: really just a pinch of sugar to sweeten the batter. I use regular organic cane sugar. Feel free to use coconut sugar or raw maple syrup as a sweetener.
Ground cinnamon
Ground nutmeg
Salt
Unsweetened non-dairy milk: any plant-based milk will work here. I use unsweetened almond milk because that’s what I always have handy. You can use soy milk, rice milk, hemp milk, cashew milk, oat milk, etc.
Water: you may want to add some water to the batter if you find that it is too thick. To thin out the batter, add 1/2 tablespoon of water at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Easily Adjust The Serving Size

I am constantly changing the serving size on this recipe depending on how hungry I am (LOL) or if I am making pancakes for a group. What’s great about these easy vegan healthy pumpkin pancakes is that you can easily double, triple or quadruple the recipe. The recipe card below yields enough pancakes for 2 people. For a larger group, simply take the measurements and multiple it by either x2 (feeds 4 people), x3 (feeds 6 people), or x4 (feeds 8 people). And as always, if you have any questions about this recipe, leave a comment below and I’ll respond.

How to Make Healthy Pumpkin Pancakes

Time needed: 10 minutes.

Step by step instructions for preparing healthy pumpkin pancakes

Preheat griddle or pan
Preheat a greased griddle or pan on medium heat. You can use vegan butter or non-stick cooking spray to grease the pan.
Combine dry ingredients
In a bowl, mix together the flour, salt, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, baking powder and sugar. Use a whisk to sift through any clumps of flour and to help fully incorporate the ingredients.
Add wet ingredients
To the same bowl, slowly add in the unsweetened almond milk (or any plant-based milk.) and the pumpkin puree. Fold the batter until the dry and wet ingredients are completely combined to form a batter. If the batter is thick, add 1/2 tablespoon of water to thin it out, otherwise the batter should be just right.
Cook the pancakes
Use a ladle or large spoon and pour 1/4 cup of batter onto the greased hot griddle or pan.

Cook the pancakes for 2-3 minutes until you see bubbles forming on the surface of the batter. That signals that they are ready to be flipped.

Flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes. The pancakes are ready when they are golden brown, slightly crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
Serve
Serve the pancakes hot off the griddle. Drizzle with organic pure maple syrup and enjoy.

Tips and FAQs for making healthy pumpkin pancakes

Is it better to use canned pumpkin or fresh pumpkin for this recipe?

Use canned pumpkin for this recipe as fresh pumpkin can be watery and alter the texture. Fresh pumpkin may also change the consistency of the batter and effect the recipe. Remember to use plain pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie mix.

How thick or thin should my pancake batter be?

The recipe directions yield the perfect consistency of pancake batter- not too thin but not too thick. Thin batter will make thinner and lighter pancakes. Thicker batter will make thicker pancakes but risk being dense. Either way, they come out tasting great.

Why are my pancakes turning out dense?

The first reason is that the batter may be over mixed. This will result in dense, rubbery pancaked. You may also be measuring the ingredients incorrectly. To correctly measure flour, spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level off with the back of a knife. Do not dig the measuring cup into a bag of flour. This will compact the flour and you’ll end up using too much.

Can I make this recipe gluten-fre?

Yes. To make this recipe gluten free, use a gluten-free all purpose flour.

Can I use coconut or almond flour for this recipe?

Avoid using coconut or almond flour when making pancakes. These flours do not bind well and it will most likely ruin the recipe.

Can I use this recipe to make vegan healthy pumpkin waffles?

Yes! Follow the recipe and cook in your waffle maker.

Can I store healthy pumpkin pancakes?

You can store pancake batter overnight in the fridge since this recipe doesn’t use eggs. After one day, that’s up to you. I suggest making all of the pancakes and then storing leftovers in the fridge. Leftover cooked pancakes last up to 5 days in an air-tight container.

How to store and reheat healthy pumpkin pancakes

Fridge: store cooked vegan pumpkin pancakes in an air-tight container for up to 5 days.
Freezer: store cooked pancakes for up to 3 months in the freezer. To freeze, let the pancakes cool completely and store in sealed freezer safe container or ziplock bag.
Reheat: To reheat, place frozen or refrigerated pancakes in the toaster or toaster oven. Alternatively, microwave using 30 – 60 second intervals until warmed through (it does help to cover them so they do not dry out).

Serving suggestions

Drizzling pure maple syrup on pancakes is of course the classic way of serving this dish. You can also serve with:

homemade vegan butter
fresh fruit
sweetened cashew ricotta cheese (add honey to ricotta cheese)
tofu scrambled eggs
breakfast skillet potato hash
breakfast nachos
vegan blueberry muffins

More vegan breakfast recipes

If you try this easy vegan healthy pumpkin pancakes recipe or have a question, please let me know. Leave a comment and rate it below. I love to hear what you think, or any changes you make. Cheers.