Vegan Peanut Butter Pancakes that are gluten-free and filled with dairy-free chocolate chips. These are oil-free, fluffy, light and gluten-free. They will remind you of a chocolate chip cookie!
VEGAN PEANUT BUTTER PANCAKES
These Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes are to die for, like totally legit. They are SO good, they are definitely reserved for a special treat, because they are borderline a vegan dessert.
These are definitely an impressive, crowd-pleasing vegan breakfast recipe to wow your friends and family with! Many readers have given me the title “pancake queen” and while it sounds really funny, it is because I create delicious vegan pancake recipes. Vegan pancakes are usually quite dense and gummy and undercooked in the middle, due to the lack of eggs. Since I was a pancake-making queen back in the day before I was vegan (just ask my family!), my standards to create just as delicious vegan versions is quite high. They have to be fluffy and delicious and in no way, detectable they are vegan. That can be tricky and requires the right ratio of ingredients. This is even more important when you are dealing with vegan and gluten-free pancakes.
But I have created many delicious vegan pancake recipes that will amaze you. These Fluffy Vegan Whole Wheat Pancakes are my family’s favorite for years. And these Best Ever Vegan Pancakes are so good, you’ll be in pancake heaven!
I wanted to use this vegan 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Caramel in another recipe, so these vegan gluten-free pancakes were the perfect breakfast to top with the amazing caramel.
I’ve shared how I created this magical gluten-free flour combo I came up with. Not only does it give an amazing texture, it is ONLY 2 ingredients. What?! Oat flour and starch, yup, that’s where it’s at. That’s all you need!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
(Full amounts on recipe card below.)
- Superfine oat flour
- Potato starch: Making pancakes with all oat flour will result in quite dense and gummy pancakes. I know a lot of vegan recipes rely solely on oat flour, but if you don’t mind gummy pancakes, then go for it. I personally am very picky with textures and they are just way better when combing oat flour with starch. It makes them much softer and fluffier. Since oat flour can give dense results, the best starch to offset that is potato starch. It makes such fabulous fluffy results.
- Baking powder
- Natural peanut butter: You want a peanut butter that does not have any added sugar or oil. Salt is okay.
- Maple syrup: Using pure maple syrup instead of refined sugar here.
- Unsweetened applesauce: This replaces oil and helps to make these pancakes moist, so they can be oil-free.
- Vanilla extract
- Dairy-free mini chocolate chips: I used the Enjoy Life brand.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN PEANUT BUTTER PANCAKES
Step 1: To a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients and whisk well.
Step 2: To a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Step 3: Combine the wet with the dry and stir just until mixed, but do not overmix.
Step 4: Heat up a pan over medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes, minimum. It’s important at this time to let the batter sit fully while the pan heats up. This allows the batter to absorb and react with the baking powder, which will result in better cooked-through and fluffy pancakes. Do not skip this!
Step 5: Add either a 1/4 cup or 1/3 measuring cup (depending on how big you want them) to the preheated pan and cook 3-4 minutes or until the top is looking dry all over. Flip and cook another 1-2 minutes. Repeat with all the batter. I use and love my pancake griddle. It never sticks and requires no oil!
Cook the caramel and drizzle on top of the vegan peanut butter pancakes for the ultimate breakfast!
TIPS FOR FLUFFY PANCAKES
- Use store-bought or superfine oat flour. Gritty oat flour will result in dense pancakes and they will be a lot less fluffy.
- Use a scale following my gram weights. Doing this will ensure the right ratios so the pancakes turn out as the recipe is written.
- Don’t sub the ingredients.
- Don’t over mix the batter. With oat-based pancakes, overmixing oat flour batters can make them turn gummy, so mix just until moistened and blended.
- Let the batter rest. Make sure to let the pan heat up while the batter sits. Doing so will result in fluffy pancakes that are cooked through and not underdone or gummy in the middle.
- Don’t flip them too soon. Low and slow is best for vegan, especially gluten-free pancakes. Rushing this will result in pancakes overcooking on the outside before the inside cooks. Follow my directions below and they will help you out!
MORE VEGAN PANCAKE RECIPES TO TRY
- Best Vegan Fluffy Pancakes
- Vegan Gingerbread Pancakes
- Fluffy Vegan Blueberry Pancakes
- Vegan Sweet Potato Pancakes
- Vegan Gluten-free Pumpkin Pancakes
- Vegan Gluten-free Buttermilk Pancakes
Vegan Peanut Butter Pancakes (Gluten-free!)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (192g) superfine oat flour (I use Bob's Red Mill)
- 1/4 cup (40g) potato starch
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (96g) peanut butter (or use almond butter, but it will make them slightly more tender)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (120g) pure maple syrup
- 3/4 cup (180g) unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2-3/4 cup water (if using almond butter it is only 1/2 cup, but with peanut butter or the all-purpose flour version, you may need up to 3/4 cup)
- 1 tablespoon (15g) vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (50g) mini dairy-free chocolate chips
PEANUT BUTTER CARAMEL
- 1/2 cup (120g) pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup (64g) creamy peanut butter-mine has added salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt if your peanut butter doesn't have any
- I use this scale.
- I use this pancake griddle.
Instructions
- Add the oat flour (or all purpose flour-see note below), potato starch (or cornstarch-see note below), baking powder and salt to a large bowl and whisk really well to make sure there are no lumps.
- In a separate medium bowl, combine the peanut butter, syrup, applesauce, water and vanilla and whisk until completely smooth. Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients while whisking. Add the chocolate chips.
- The batter should be thick and smooth, but still slightly pour-able, not runny, but similar to muffin batter. If you add too much liquid, your pancakes will be flat. Important to now let the batter sit 10-15 minutes (while you heat up the pan) to let the baking powder react and absorb the other ingredients, this will make a difference in how your pancakes cook and fluff up, trust me. While the batter is sitting, begin heating up your pan over medium-low, closer to low.
- For extra fluffy pancakes, I use a 4.5 inch round cookie cutter. You will get 8 large pancakes this way (using 1/3 measuring cup). It truly makes a perfect, fluffy round and evenly-cooked pancake. You don't have to do this, but please know that your pancakes will not look quite as fluffy as in the photos without a cookie cutter. If you make more traditional medium size pancakes, you should get 12-14 pancakes, using a 1/4 measuring cup. Pour the batter in and immediately smooth out the top with the back of a spoon (if using the cookie cutter). Let it cook for 3-4 minutes or until the sides have started to dry up, you don't want to flip it too soon or they won't cook all the way through.
- For the caramel: Add all of the ingredients to a small sauce pan and turn the heat to medium. Whisk until smooth and combined. Once the mixture starts to bubble, let it cook for about a minute just until it starts to thicken, that's it! Don't cook it too long or it will get overly thick. This caramel will thicken even more as it sits, so just gently reheat it or add some plant milk to thin it out some, if desired.
Notes
- Nut-free: sub with sunbutter. I have also made these with almond butter and they are just as delicious, just slightly more fragile since it's less sticky than peanut butter.
- To make with regular all-purpose flour: Omit the potato starch completely and use the same weight amount as the oat flour for all-purpose flour (192g).
- Cornstarch: Potato starch will yield the best fluffiest pancakes, but if you cannot find this (I linked above to the one I order), sub with cornstarch. But since cornstarch weighs less per tablespoon than potato starch, you can either follow the same weight amount of 40 grams, or if you don't have a scale, you will need 5 tablespoons.
- Nutrition: Nutrition stats do not include the caramel since some may or may not make it and it will vary how much a person uses greatly.
Nutrition
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I love these pancakes they are my go to pancakes. Brandi have you ever tried adding banana slices?
Hi Shannon! So happy to hear these are you go-to pancakes! I don’t like bananas unfortunately, so I haven’t tried it, but I would imagine they would work…would definitely give them a more gooey center 🙂
These look so amazing and I am beyond excited to find a recipe that works almost entirely with my allergies… except I can’t use oats… do you have a suggestion for a sub? Sorghum? Thanks!
Hi Katrina! Sorry for the delay! Hmmm, I definitely would not suggest sorghum, sorghum will give them a very off taste and completely affect the texture and make them crumbly. That is a tough one since the oat flour is the main flour ingredient. My best suggestion would be to try a pre-made gluten-free all purpose mix and hopefully that would work, but I have no idea what it would do to the texture. You could also try brown rice flour, but again, that will alter the taste and texture some. If you weren’t gluten-free, then I would suggest all purpose flour, so that is why I would say a pre-made gluten-free all purpose flour mix would probably produce the best results. Please let me know if you try it!
These look amazing!!! Only problem is I can’t do potatoes :0( And the Gf flour (that I have, for my son) has potatoes in it also. Is there another sub for potato starch???
Hi Jenny! Please see NOTES at the bottom of the recipe and I list a sub for potato starch. They won’t be AS fluffy, but they are still good, that is the best sub. Please let me know if you try them, thank you!
OH. MY. WORD. These have my name all over them! Yum! I don’t have potato starch, but I have everything else! I want to try these, but I’m afraid I’d eat the whole batch. Ha ha.
Oh my goodness these look amazing! Going to share this recipe with our nutrition team – they’ll love this recipe!
Sounds wonderful, thank you so much! I appreciate that!
These were AMAZING!!!…. They were so moist and fluffy. Made me see oat flour in a whole new light. My daughter loved them too. The peanut butter Carmel drizzle was to die for. I love your recipes. You never disappoint
Woohoo, really love hearing that Coletha!!
I just stumbled upon your blog today; and WOW am I glad that I did! I will definitely be a loyal reader from now on. Excellent recipes, photos, and writing!
Awww thanks so much Liz! So happy you found me and thanks for the compliments!
Omg!! Your a Genius! You know how I am girl. I luv waffles especially yours! So healthy, moist, soft, delicious I’m gonna make more asap next week! !
I’m so glad you loved these so much Tiffany and they sound wonderful as waffles too!
Thank you Rebecca! I wish I could, but that’d be too much, haha!
Oh my gosh, this is recipe is soooo good….the sauce totally makes these pancakes taste so delicious….i am in a sugar coma…thank you my friend….
I’m so happy you loved these pancakes and the caramel so much Elilta!! I love the pancakes on their own, but yes, the caramel takes them over-the-top….which was the point of doing both per the request! I’m thrilled it met your expectations…makes me so happy!! Sugar coma….hahaha!
My word! These might be the sexiest pancakes I’ve ever seen. And I know that’s like a weird thing to say, but that was seriously the first thought that came to my mind! Yum!!
Thank you so much Hannah! They ARE sexy, haha! 🙂
I could not have thought of a more perfect recipe for Easter brunch! We came home from church and I told hubby I had a surprise lunch for him (he had wanted to stop at IHOP ewww). I finally had bought potato starch and I had just ground some oats for oat flour the other day so I was ready! I followed your recipe exactly (including waiting 15 loooong minutes for the batter to rest) BUT instead of making individual pancakes, I poured the whole thing in a 9″ springform pan! (I got this idea from Robin @robinsveganlife) I baked it at 425 for 11 minutes, then 375 for another 8 minutes. I made the peanut butter caramel during the last 5 minutes of baking. OH.MY.GOSH!!!! These were amazing! Just like a warm, fluffy peanut butter cookie! The caramel put it over the top! I expected it to be super sweet but it really wasn’t, just perfectly balanced sweet. I really loved this recipe Brandi! Happy Easter to you and your family! Off to post picture on Instagram!
Thank you so much for this amazing feedback Diana! I truly appreciate it and I love that you all enjoyed it so much and yes, the caramel just sends you straight into food heaven, haha! I love how you made it too!
Wow, these look and sound amazing! Peanut butter + chocolate + pancakes = HEAVEN!
So I just finished making these and mine don’t look like yours??? I followed the direction exact until I noticed the batter wasn’t pourable so I added a little almond milk but they didn’t cook in the middle? maybe my pan wasn’t hot enough? but when I turned up the pan the outside burned and inside still didn’t cook-
maybe the extra liquid was too much my husband wondered if maybe they would cook better in the oven like a cookie? I will try again another day.
thanks for sharing
I love pancakes but haven’t found one that works well all the time.
Hi Martha! Sounds like your pan was actually TOO hot which means your heat was too high. I have noted to keep it towards low because if the heat is too high, the bottom will burn before the inside has enough time to cook. It is better to have the heat towards low so they have enough time to cook through. Pancakes are something that you have to figure out the proper heat setting with your stove/pan, etc. Since there is only a few minutes to cook them (unlike an oven) you have to make sure your heat is correct. I’ve made this recipe 5 times, all versions and they are fluffy and cooked through everytime and the reader above had success as well. It sounds also, like you said, that you may have added too much liquid. The batter should be fairly thick, thicker than traditional pancake batter, but still spreadable with a spoon, but not straight up liquid. You don’t want to add too much liquid. I’ve updated that more specifically in the recipe. Also, as I’ve stated, they won’t be as fluffy without a cookie cutter, that is my trick to get them extra fluffy 🙂 Hope those tips help and try again, they are worth it! Which flour combo did you try?
Tried making these and they were absolutely delicious! I used all-purpose flour and ended up having to use about a cup of water to get the batter smooth enough to pour. I didn’t have any cookie cutters big enough for these so I just poured the batter straight onto the pan and then smoothed it out with a spoon and they held great shape! My non-vegan sister approved 🙂 Definitely using this recipe again!
Thank you so much Madi for the wonderful feedback! I’m so glad you loved them so much and even your non-vegan sister approved, yay! I just updated the recipe in the notes regarding the water….I had written it out wrong since I had only tested a half recipe with the all-purpose, so it’s fixed now, thank you for letting me know! Thank you for sharing your gorgeous photo on Instagram as well!
These pancakes look so good and decadent. Love the peanut butter caramel! Pinned!
Thank you so much Azu!!
I could polish off that stack of pancakes in NO time!
OH MY gosh girl my mouth is actually watering!!! These pancakes look OUT OF THIS WORLD!! I cannot wait to try them. Getting my hands on some potato starch and trying these ASAP!
I’m so intrigued and impressed by this magic gluten free flour combo you’ve invented. I can’t wait to see more recipes with it. I LOVE love love baking with oat flour but it does make baked goods quite dense by itself – I can’t wait to try your recipes with potato starch because these pancakes look SO damn fluffy and perfect! YUM!!
You are sooo sweet Ceara, thank you friend!! Seriously, I’m thinking this will be my new go-to blend, it’s WAY lower in fat (which I’m trying believe it or not, lol) than my almond flour recipes and it gives better rise than the almond flour does AND obviously, it’s nut-free, so more peeps can make them! I just need to test it out in baking in the oven.
I agree about oat flour alone, and even some baked goods, making them really dense which is why I’m normally against oat flour pancakes in the past….everytime I tried making them, they sucked and were disgustingly dense. But, practice practice and this day that I came up with it, I was just throwing darts and hoping for the best…I was AMAZED at the results. The key is adding starch to the oat flour, and the RIGHT RATIO….that offsets them being too gummy. They become fluffy and soft and just amazing. 🙂
Sexy is the perfect word for these pancakes, Brandi! I’m in awe over how tall and fluffy they are! I’ve been drooling over the peanut butter caramel since you posted all the photos on social media. I need it in my life, pronto!
Thanks!
I’ll take a stack {or two!} — these are gorgeous! I love that you used oat flour — I’m considering using more gf oats on my blog too. I have been very sensitive to them in the past, but I think my sensitivities may be beginning to vanish {yay!}. I’m fairly certain these pancakes will knock the socks of off everyone though — I hope the person requesting these follows up to confirm how awesome they are and how much their family loved them, for surely these can’t be but LOVED.
Thank you so much Audrey for your kind words!! The oat flour ratio to the potato starch ratio really is amazing and gives the most incredible texture!! I was so beyond thrilled!!! I can’t wait to hear what everybody overall think of these as well! I’ve eaten so many of them, it’s crazy!
Dreamy!! I saw the caramel sauce yesterday and immediately thought of your gorgeous pancakes.
Grade A breakfast Girl. Tell me does the syrup stay sticky when it cools down?
I’m asking for another dessert idea I had for it.
Pinning: )
Thank you so much Angela! It’s not really sticky at all, just thick and creamy, but not as sticky as regular storebought caramel, for example!
Thanks Brandi. I was thinking of mixing it with a healthy dry cereal and pressing it into a pan like rice crispy treats. I’ll let you know how it goes but I’m thinking the flavors will be outstanding.
Have a happy Easter!
Omg YES girl! I think that would be fabulous. It gets really thick by the next day…almost fudge-like, just not quite as firm. But mixed with maybe coconut butter or a bit of hardening agent, that would work or maybe just as is and keep them in the fridge. That sounds delicious. I actually have several ideas of what to do with it myself!
My mouth is open and ready…looks so good!!! And I love the standing up fork pic. So fun to do those!
Thanks Sophia! Yeah-I do that often on my pics….did it with my Life Changing Pancakes and pasta dishes, etc. It is saying ” EAT ME” lol!!
Hi Vanessa! Sorry about that, I have updated it, it is salt! Let me know how they turn out!