Vegan Gluten-free Corn Flour Pancakes! These are incredibly soft and tender and taste like a super soft cornbread. They are made without any eggs, are oil-free and dairy-free and just 6 ingredients!
Sometimes miracles do happen. Pancake miracles. Okay, a bit dramatic, but seriously I didn’t think it was possible to make low-fat pancakes be delicious and also be vegan, gluten-free, nut-free and oil-free. And only require 6 ingredients! All of the above! I’m also sharing 3 flavor combos today with you. And get this, my husband loves these above all my other pancake recipes??! He really liked the flavor and amazing soft texture that these have.
These are so delicious and a wonderful change from my Best Vegan Fluffy Pancakes? I mean, instead of 15 g fat per pancake, these are just about 3 g fat! That’s a huge difference. And while they are not as rich, they are still so close and delicious.
With these low-fat pancakes, you will have plenty of room to stuff your face with my recipe post from earlier this week, did you catch the Smoky Jalapeno Black Bean Dip?
Knowing that a large amount of my readers are following a low-fat diet or need nut-free recipes, I knew they, and I, would love some low-fat pancakes to enjoy on the weekends.
HOW DO YOU MAKE FLUFFY VEGAN PANCAKES?
The “miraculous” flour? So, I used a flour not what you’d expect to see in a pancake recipe, corn flour. Not to be confused with cornmeal or cornstarch. I had some leftover corn flour sitting in my pantry from when I made my Hushpuppies and after a muffin recipe didn’t work out, I decided to see what would happen with them as pancakes. I was utterly shocked. The corn flour gave a naturally mild, sweet flavor to them and made them SO SOFT.
This is not the same taste/texture as you’d get from coarse cornmeal pancakes/waffles. These are super soft and tender. I switched up my starches too. I normally use my go-to potato starch, as in my other vegan pancake recipes, but since these corn flour pancakes have such little fat in them, the potato starch made them too dry. Potato starch works better in recipes that have a lot of moisture/fat in them. Of course I had to try these in different flavors, cinnamon was my favorite. Or, maybe tied with the chocolate chip ones. The cinnamon pancakes were quite delicious with some chai tea. You can make regular, cinnamon, chocolate chip or blueberry or extra vanilla. Really, it’s the perfect basic pancake recipe to add anything you want or just enjoy them as is with some maple syrup.
I love that these are fluffy too. I cannot stand paper thin pancakes. That is what crepes are for.
VEGAN PANCAKES MADE WITH CORN FLOUR
Would you look how soft and fluffy the insides are too?
So, these pancakes are easy to make and should basically fit the majority of allergies out there. They are vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, nut-free and low-fat and definitely kid-friendly.
MORE VEGAN PANCAKE RECIPES
- Vegan Gluten-free Buttermilk Pancakes
- Fluffy Vegan Blueberry Pancakes
- Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes
- Vegan Gluten-free Sweet Potato Pancakes
- Vegan Gluten-free Pumpkin Pancakes
Vegan Gluten-Free Corn Flour Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons Bob's Red Mill corn FLOUR (not the same as cornmeal or cornstarch. I highly recommend to use Bob's Red Mill here)
- 3 tablespoons (22g) arrowroot (I tested these with 3 different starches, arrowroot yielded the best result)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4-1 cup lite canned coconut milk (I recommend the Thai Kitchen or Sprouts brand)
- 3 tablespoons (60g) pure maple syrup
- 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
OPTIONAL FLAVORS
- Chocolate chip: add 1/4 cup chocolate chips
- Blueberry: add 1/4-1/2 cup fresh blueberries
- Cinnamon: add 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
NOTE
- These pancakes have a very mild cornmeal type of flavor to them, which I LOVE, so expect that. The wet batter tastes stronger than the cooked pancake, so don't be alarmed. Corn flour is very finely ground like all-purpose flour, it's not cornmeal and not the same as cornstarch. Corn flour is what cornstarch is called in England, so please click the link above to see exactly the product I used. Also, Bob's Red Mill corn flour is gluten-free naturally, but is processed in a wheat facility, so if you need a certified gluten-free corn flour, search for that online. Different corn flour brands vary in the batter thickness, so note the milk measurement.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- These are delicious with maple syrup on top. Since these are really low-fat, they are super soft and light, but not as rich as the fat-filled ones (obviously), so they are just perfect with maple syrup and some fruit. Enjoy!
- Combine the corn flour, arrowroot, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and whisk really well to make sure there are no lumps remaining from the starch.
- In a separate small bowl, combine the milk, syrup and vanilla and stir. Start out with 3/4 cup milk and add more as needed. You want a fairly thick, but smooth batter. This is what will produce thick, fluffy pancakes like in the pics. If your batter is too runny, it will produce thin pancakes. Slowly pour over the dry ingredients, whisking it in slowly until the batter is completely smooth.
- Let the batter sit for 15 minutes while you heat up the pan. This will give time for the baking powder to react with the liquid and also soak up the starch. This is what yields fluffy pancakes.
- Add a nonstick pan over medium-low heat.
- Spray the pan with nonstick spray and pour a 1/4 cup of batter on the pan, it should naturally form a round shape. You should hear a sizzle, that's how you know it's hot enough. Let the pancakes cook about 3 minutes or more, looking for the top to have a dry look and the edges look dry and small bubbles forming. Flip over and cook the other side for just about a minute. If you find they are cooking too fast, just slightly turn down the heat.
- These are very tender upon just coming off the pan, so give them a few minutes before eating so they firm up. They firm up a lot more after they've sat several minutes.
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Just made these this morning and they were so yummy! How do you get yours so thick!? Mine were really thin :/
I’m so glad you loved them! Hmm, that’s odd, I make them each weekend and they are always fluffy. Did you use a different corn flour other than Bob’s Red Mill? I purchased another corn flour one time (Hodgson Mill) and noticed my mixture was more thin, so I’m guessing it varies by brand. I will note to use between 3/4-1 cup milk.
As you know, I’m addicted to all your sweet recipes. I had to tear myself away from the Life Changing Pancakes to try this one, since I shouldn’t be indulging ALL the time! These were great! All your pancake recipes are so different, they really offer options for texture and sweetness level. I appreciate that so much– I was very happy with the easiness and outcome of these!
So happy to hear you enjoyed these Liz! I know they are not as indulgent as the Life Changing ones, lol! But a nice much lower-fat version to enjoy more often for sure, with less guilt. Thank you so much for the feedback!
Those are my hands down favorites! My girls call them cuddle cakes and we limit them to birthdays and Christmas! Although we just tried the chocolate waffles with her sauce and those may go into birthday rotation.
That is so awesome to hear Elyse! So glad these are such a favorite, thank you so much! Would you mind star rating the recipe next time, I’d really appreciate it, thank you!
So I think it’s entirely possible I may have used masa instead of corn flour….
They don’t taste of lime at all though so I think I’ll be able to squeak them by. Must. Label. Mason jars.
Brandi, these are so good! So thick and fluffy. And I love that you include weights for ingredients in most of your recipes. I can’t believe how inaccurate my measurements were before I started using a scale. I was surprised these are as sweet as they are with such a little amount of sugar added. I used lite coconut milk and I guess that combined with the corn flour makes them sweet. I’m sure I’ll be making these again!
Another winner. Had to really watch the heat. The recommendation to use a little cooking spray and to use a nonstick pan was a good one. Only had to spray the pan once before I started. The recipe yielded 6 pancakes. I love chocolate chips so we added those for that extra zing!!! As usual they were a real hit. Thanks again for this awesome low-fat recipe. My daughter loved them too
WOW. I have been looking for a vegan pancake for a while and came upon this recipe. I decide to give it a try and I am hooked. Just made them and they taste even better than regular pancake. Thank you Brandi. Much love. Oh I did not have arrowroot so I used brown rice flour. Next time will try arrow root and see the difference.
Yay! That is so awesome to hear Nicole! Thanks so much for making them and leaving feedback!
Looks amazing 🤗 What is arrowroot? I have never heard of this before and what could be used as a substitute? Xx
It’s a starch sold in the baking aisle. Very common starch. As noted, it needs to be arrowroot. I tested other starches and they did not work well at all.
Is masa harina the same as corn flour?
No they are different. Masa harina goes through a process. Corn flour does not and they are labeled differently. This article on google explains it. https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/what-is-masa-harina/
Very dry so added more water and 1/8 tsp xanthum. Better but cheated and added 1.5 tsp yogurt. Also added tsp vinegar.
What kind of flour did you use? They shouldn’t be dry at all.
Made these this morning and they were delicious! My stepdaughter brought us corn flour from the Seneca Nation reservation in New York and we found your recipe online. Perfect! I’m now following your Instagram account.
Yay, so glad you loved these!
Could these be made into waffles?
I’ve not tried it, but I think so!
Can I use oat milk instead of coconut milk?
I haven’t tried it so I don’t know if they will turn out as fluffy since coconut milk is creamier and higher fat. Let me know if you try it!