The Best Vegan Gluten-Free Buttermilk Pancakes that are made with white rice flour, almond flour and potato starch. These are so fluffy and soft, nobody would know they are oil-free and not made with any eggs! Just 8 ingredients and 1 bowl!
Have you ever had dreams of soft, fluffy and light buttermilk pancakes? Well, wake up, you aren’t dreaming, these are Vegan Gluten-free Buttermilk Pancakes are real. They are vegan and gluten-free, but taste amazingggg. My blog is no stranger to some amazing pancakes. In fact, some of my most popular recipes are in fact, my pancakes. These are consistently reader favorites:
- Best Vegan Fluffy Pancakes
- Vegan Sweet Potato Pancakes (also grain-free!)
- Fluffy Vegan Blueberry Pancakes
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes
But, I’ve never made just a classic buttermilk flavored pancake. All of my other ones are flavored in some way. It took me 3 trials to get these right, and third time was the charm. They are super soft, light, fluffy and moist.
To get that buttermilk flavor, I combine “lite” canned coconut milk with apple cider vinegar. Coconut milk has a different flavor than any other milk, in the sense that it lends a buttery mouth-feel. These are truly incredible. For gluten-free, these really are the best vegan pancakes. Honestly, just as good as regular gluten!
Vegan, and especially gluten-free, pancakes have a bad reputation for being raw and mushy inside and that is because most of them are. To me, there is nothing worse than a raw, flat, dense and disgusting pancake. The lack of eggs is the culprit, but I’ve found many tricks in many of my trials in creating the most amazing, soft and fluffy vegan gluten-free pancakes.
HOW DO YOU MAKE FLUFFY VEGAN BUTTERMILK PANCAKES?
Easy, you will start out by adding the rice flour, almond flour, potato starch, baking powder and salt to a large bowl and whisk for a couple of minutes, making sure it is well mixed and all lumps are broken up.
Make a well at the bottom and pour in the milk, don’t stir yet, then pour in the remaining ingredients. Don’t over mix it or the batter will get overly thick. This batter will be fairly thick, kind of like a thick cake batter. It should still be smooth though, not stiff. The thick batter is what will yield fluffy pancakes.
Let the batter sit 10 minutes before cooking. This is necessary to let the ingredients soak in together and allow the starch and baking powder react with the liquids, resulting in more fluffy pancakes.
Heat up your pan on medium-low while the batter sits.
Pour a scant 1/3 cup batter into the circle and lightly smooth out the top. Let them cook about 3 minutes or until the top is starting to look dry before you flip them. Repeat with all of the batter. If you have a griddle, it will go really fast.
The inspiration for this recipe came from my super popular Garlic & Chive Dinner Muffins. Those are so darn light and fluffy and buttery, and that is thanks to the coconut milk, almond flour and rice flour mix.
No raw mushy inside in these babies! These really are the best fluffy vegan pancakes!
I really hope you all love these Vegan Gluten-free Buttermilk Pancakes as much as we do.
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Vegan Gluten-Free Buttermilk Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (100g) white rice flour
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (70g) superfine blanched almond flour
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (60g) potato starch (potato starch is what makes these so fluffy, other starches don't work well)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
- scant 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (150g) room temp "lite" canned coconut milk, shaken first (Highly recommend Thai Kitchen-SEE NOTES)
- 4 teaspoons (20g) apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons (30g) water
- 2 tablespoons (40g) pure maple syrup or agave
- 2 teaspoons (10g) vanilla extract
- Optional: a 3.5 inch cookie cutter for perfect round pancakes like in the photos.
- I use this scale.
NOTE
- Always use a scale for accuracy when using flours, following MY gram weights listed. You never need cups, just the scale and bowl.
Instructions
- Add the rice flour, almond flour, potato starch, baking powder and salt to a large bowl and whisk for a couple of minutes, making sure it is well mixed and all lumps are broken up.
- Make a well at the bottom and pour in the milk, don't stir yet, then pour in the remaining ingredients. Give the liquids a light stir and then whisk them all together just until it is smooth and no lumps remain. Don't over mix it or the batter will get overly thick. This batter will be fairly thick, kind of like a thick cake batter. It should still be smooth though, not stiff. The thick batter is what will yield fluffy pancakes. If it is way too thick, you can add a tiny bit more water, but don't add too much or you will have thinner pancakes.
- Now, important, let the batter sit 10 minutes before cooking. This is necessary to let the ingredients soak in together and allow the starch and baking powder react with the liquids, resulting in more fluffy pancakes. At this same time, heat up your pan on medium-low, closer to low for those same 10 minutes. It's important your pan is hot when you add the batter.
- If using a cookie cutter, place the cookie cutter (I used 3.5 inch one for 1/3 cup batter, if you use larger, your pancakes will be thinner or you will need to pour a bit more batter) on the preheated pan and spray within the circle with nonstick spray. I used coconut oil nonstick spray and it works perfectly. If you don't use spray, these will stick to the pan! This is necessary so the cookie cutter works and the pancakes don't stick. Pour a scant 1/3 cup batter into the circle and lightly smooth out the top. Let them cook about 3 minutes or until the top is starting to look dry before you flip them. You can peak underneath to see if it's browned. If they are cooking too fast, slightly turn down the heat. Gently pull off the cookie cutter with tongs and flip the pancake. Otherwise, if not using a cookie cutter, just pour onto your pan or pancake griddle, lightly smoothing out the top, but not spreading out the batter too much. The more you spread out the batter, the thinner your pancake. The pancakes will still be delicious and fluffy without a cookie cutter, just not quite as tall.
- Serve with delicious maple syrup!
Notes
- COCONUT MILK: DO NOT use the Polar brand, it is all stabilizers and additives and not pure coconut milk, it will yield dense/gummy pancakes. I highly recommend the Thai Kitchen brand for best results. Also, the Sprouts brand "lite" coconut milk works great. Just make sure if the milk is separated and chunky, to blend it first before measuring.
- ALMOND FLOUR: The key to these fluffy pancakes is also the texture. Almond flour brands vary greatly in how fine they are, this can affect how thick the batter turns out. As well, how fluffy your pancakes turn out. Make sure to use a superfine one for best results.
These did come out fluffy and looking nice but they do taste like gluten free pancakes. They’re a bit gritty too. Even with super fine almond flour. Bummer!
Hi Kendall! Sorry to hear that. These are gluten-free, so they are not going to taste like all-purpose flour ones, however, they should NOT be gritty whatsoever. I can promise you it’s not the recipe, but either the almond flour or white rice flour. I cannot stand grit and I make these quite often and so do my readers and never once are they gritty. Did you use Bob’s Red mill almond flour? These should be really soft and fluffy, not grit at all. Some white rice flours are more gritty than others as well I’ve found. Readers have absolutely loved this recipe so I would love to help you out on the flours used. Did you sub any of the ingredients so I can help?
I weighed all the dry ingredients on a digital scale, and followed the recipe exactly, but after the 10 minutes of rest, the batter was bubbly, but almost solid. There was no way I could “pour” it. At this point I think it was too late to add some water. Also my pancakes barely got browned at all, they were more of a light yellow colour, so looked a bit anemic. I heated the pan to medium for the 10 minutes the batter was resting. I used two tablespoons of maple syrup. The second batch I cooked at a higher temperature, but this did not improve the colour. The pancakes tasted of apple cider vinegar, and had an unpleasant smell when cooking (the vinegar is noticeable) It seems like 4 tsp of cider vinegar is too much. I used Braggs Apple Cider vinegar. I really wanted these to work out because I need to eat gluten free, but my husband wanted “fluffy” pancakes. I usually make oat flour pancakes which are not fluffy at all. I would have to alter the measurements of the coconut milk (I used Aroy D), cider vinegar, and maple syrup if I were to make these again.
Sorry you had trouble with them Lydia, the color is supposed to be a light yellow color, they aren’t supposed to be brown, they are buttermilk pancakes so they are just a light color like any traditional pancake. The only reason there is some brown on mine is from the maple syrup. I have no idea what smell you are smelling, perhaps too much vinegar got added?? I never smell that when I make these and they just taste delicious, no strong apple cider taste and I’ve not heard that from any other reader. The batter is supposed to be thick, that is what yields the fluffy pancakes and you just use a 1/3 cup of batter to add to the pan. They always work out for me when I make them.
I have an oat flour pancake recipe on the blog that are very fluffy and loved by readers.
You could try that one instead and you will see all the rave reviews in the comments if you are curious.
https://thevegan8.com/2015/04/03/peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookie-pancakes/
So, it’s a stormy Saturday night and my hubby & I were just enjoying Comedians in Cars Getting Cofffee when Jerry & guest start chowing down on these scrumptious-looking pancakes. We both turned to one another and said, “That sounds perfect for dinner!” :). While it was tough to choose from your recipes I opted for these beauties bc they’re Low Fodmap and I’m having a reflux issue at the moment. Anyway, the house still smells Vanilla-licious but all that remains are fond memories of scarfing these down! 😋 I didn’t have potato starch so I used tapioca (Google told me to add a tiny bit more for the same rising property as potato) and they were awesome! It’s always a bit sad to see a few reviewers who didn’t get the same terrific results, but sadly you can’t be in everyone’s kitchen to see what the issues might be. (New career path, Brandi?! Traveling chef advisor?! 😜). I have found if my baking powder or soda is past 6 months old things don’t rise correctly. Even flours and starches need to be changed more often than folks think. Once they’re open the “use before” date is no longer valid, but I know you know all that. I just don’t want you taking their failures to heart bc this is an amazing recipe! As always, THANK YOU for sharing your hard work and creativity!! 💗
Hi Colleen! Oh, this makes me SO happy to read! Especially after the previous 2 reviews weren’t great, haha! I have no idea because all the previous reviews above those are all fantastic and they are so amazing everytime I make them! But as you know, some almond flours are gritty and others are not and if somebody doesn’t weight ingredients, particularly with gluten-free, it can really alter the results! I totally agree with everything you said too 🙂
Oh, I will add that note about the starch, cornstarch actually will work much better than tapioca even, as tapioca can tend to make things rather chewy, gooey and rubbery….cornstarch is closest in results to potato starch, sorry for not mentioning that! And I LOVE to have pancakes for dinner, my Mom used to do that a lot when I was growing up, such a great idea, thanks for inspiring to make that happen again. Thanks for leaving this awesome review Colleen, it helped boost my rating back up, haha!
Made these this morning and they are incredible!
Texture is light and fluffy….like fluffy pillowy clouds of heaven!
Thank you so much Brandi for all of the work you put into your recipes and your thorough instructions..cant imagine how much work it takes to achieve results like this!
Yay Emily! I’m just so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for this incredible review!
5 star recipe!
Oh my gosh are these pancakes AMAZING! I have tried so many vegan pancake recipes before and this BY FAR is the best! So easy to make and so yummy! I topped mine with blueberries/chocolate chips/and kept some plain. This is a must try!!
Thank you so much Lynn! I’m so very happy you loved these so much!!
Made these for my daughter’s birthday breakfast and they were a hit! I’ve struggled with gf pancakes in the years since we became vegan, and have stuck to waffles since they’re easier. My daughter has missed pancakes and these blew every recipe I’ve tried out of the water!
Yay Charisse, happy birthday to your daughter! So happy to hear these blew away every recipe you’ve tried, woohoo!
These are an awesome “buttermilk” pancake! Move over boxed pancake mix, these are Waaay better! Light, sweet, perfect, traditional pancake! This is the 3rd Vegan 8 pancake recipe I rotate in on the weekends for my family. I triple this recipe so we have enough for a couple of days. I throw them in the toaster oven the next day and they are great.
I’m really starting to love cooking by using the scale vs the measuring cups. It’s so simple and less cleanup!
Aww yay, I’m so very happy to hear how much you loved these! So glad you family loves them too! Yes, weighing makes the results MUCH more accurate too!
One of my favorite pancake recipes! So easy & they turn out perfect every time!
That is amazing to hear, thank you Jess!
Amazing! Thanks for sharing this recipe! 🙂
My pleasure, so glad you enjoyed them!
Can these be frozen? I love them so much and sometime I just want to pop one out of the freezer to heat up. I thought of making 2 batches at once…on to eat and one to freeze. Do you know if they freeze well?
Hi Laura, so happy to hear you love these so much! I’ve honestly never tried freezing these in particular, but typically things frozen that contain starch, especially potato starch in larger amounts don’t freeze well because when thawed, they become much more dry and crumbly. But, again, I’ve not tried these, so they might be okay, so I would just try freezing one to see and make sure to wrap it really tightly a few times to minimize them getting too dry hopefully!
Hi! Would it be possible to make these without the rice flour- just almond and potato starch?
Hi Tam, no, the rice flour is needed for the texture. Omitting it would yield very dense, mushy pancakes.
My son is allergic to nuts- what would be the best replacement for the almond flour?
There is none for these. Make these instead. https://thevegan8.com/vegan-fluffy-pancakes/
I made these today in a smaller 3″ cookie cuter version and they were perfect. I usually don’t like pancakes because they always fall flat but followed the instructions and they came out perfect.
Best GF/V recipe!!! I used soy milk and half brown rice flour:cassava, added a pinch of cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. I usually can’t find good tasting, fluffy pancakes but these tasted just like the real deal. I made the batter a bit thinner.
Yay, that is so wonderful to hear Rebecca, thank you!
I do not have potato starch at home can be replaced with cornflour?
I just made these after bookmarking this recipe quite a while ago (it took me a while to source potato starch). The only thing I did differently was to sub rice malt syrup for the maple syrup. And I accidentally used an extra 5g of apple cider vinegar, which I couldn’t taste at all.
They turned out really great! I didn’t have a cookie cutter to use for the cooking process but they were still really fluffy, not chewy or anything. I probably wouldn’t know they were gluten-free if I hadn’t made them myself. And they didn’t fall apart when being flipped like other gluten-free pancakes I’ve tried to make in the past.
I will definitely be using this recipe again. Thanks Brandi 🙂
Greetings to you! Do you think I can use more flour instead of a starch or a gum? I am allergic and cannot use anything like this. Usually, they say you can use more flour. I will be using quinoa flour instead of the rice. It’s supposed to be a good sub. Any information will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for all of your hard work & I do not mean to be a problem. Take care.
Every.single.recipe. Has been delicious and worked exactly how you described! These pancakes were no exception. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to making such yummy foods for us vegans and gluten free peeps!