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Healthy spinach pancakes taste like traditional pancakes, but are secretly filled with nutritious ingredients like fresh spinach, almond milk, and coconut yogurt. They are vegan-friendly, and easily customizable to be gluten-free and are refined sugar free. They're a delicious breakfast for the entire family!
While green smoothies are absolutely delicious, it's nice to switch things up a bit and get our daily greens in other ways. I wanted to have a little fun and play around with different spinach recipes, and I fell in love with these green spinach pancakes! I am so excited to share them with you all and know you will love them too.
I have created so many healthy pancake recipes, but I think this one is my new current favorite! Whether you want a festive way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day or Christmas time, or simply want a wholesome breakfast any time of year, these easy spinach pancakes are a perfect choice.
We all know that it is important to eat our vegetables, but actually getting picky eaters to do so is a whole different story. These spinach pancakes for picky eaters are a win win, because they will love the taste and you will love the healthy nutrients they are getting!
Want even more spinach recipe inspiration?! Try out these banana spinach muffins and these green spinach waffles!
👩🏽🍳 Why You'll Love These Green Pancakes
- Picky Eater Approved: This green pancakes recipe is a great way to sneak in leafy greens for picky eaters, toddlers, and kids of all ages. Kids love calling them all kinds of fun names like "Hulk pancakes" or "Grinch pancakes" or even "Shrek pancakes!" They are one of my kids favorite foods now!
- Easy To Make: These vegan spinach pancakes do not require any flax egg or chia egg, saving you time and making the preparation way easier. All you have to do is dump everything into a blender and you'll have healthy pancake batter ready in no time!
- Impressive: You will definitely impress your family or friends with this fun recipe! It looks like you've spent a long time preparing this recipe for spinach pancakes, but really it only takes 25 minutes total.
- Versatile: Switch up the toppings depending on whether you are craving something more sweet or savory. The versatility allows for these to be the best spinach pancakes for kids and adults!
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🥘 Ingredients
These blender spinach pancakes call for simple ingredients that you can find at your local grocery store. Check out this ingredient list to make sure you have everything you need before you start baking! For exact measurements, check out the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Flour: This spinach pancakes recipe calls for all purpose flour for that classic texture, but you can use whole grain flours for more nutrients (see our suggestions below).
- Baking Powder: Using baking powder serves as a leavening agent, allowing the batter to create fluffy pancakes.
- Spinach: Baby spinach gives these vegan pancakes the vibrant green color without needing any unhealthy food dye.
- Sugar & Cinnamon: These ingredients will add sweetness and flavor to the batter, along with hiding the taste of spinach. Cinnamon is also great for keeping blood sugar levels stable.
- Almond Milk: This plant-based milk gives a neutral, slightly nutty flavor.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: ACV is a great ingredient for fluffy pancakes. You can even mix it with the almond milk and set aside for a few minutes to create a buttermilk alternative.
- Coconut Yogurt: Coconut yogurt gives extra moisture to your batter for light and airy pancakes.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla is a classic flavor perfect for these kids pancakes!
🍲 Ingredient Substitutions
- Flour: While all-purpose flour will give the best texture, you can also try this recipe with a whole grain flour like whole wheat flour, oat flour, or even other gluten free flour options.
- Sugar: Any sweetener will work in this pancake recipe!
- Spices: If you do not have cinnamon on hand, you can try this out with other spices like nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice for the same warm and cozy effect.
- Dairy: Swap the almond milk and coconut yogurt for any dairy or non-dairy alternatives. Try regular milk, oat milk, greek yogurt, or almond yogurt.
- Vinegar: If you do not have any apple cider vinegar you can use white vinegar or lemon juice.
🔪 How To Make Spinach Pancakes
Here is how to make this simple spinach pancake recipe:
Blend Ingredients: Place your dry ingredients and wet ingredients into the bowl of a high speed food processor. Blend until smooth, scrape down the sides and blend again.
Let Batter Rest: Transfer batter to a large bowl and allow the batter to rest at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before cooking.
Heat Pan & Add Batter: Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and lightly spray with cooking spray. Using a ¼ cup, scoop the batter into the pan to form a pancake. Repeat to form another 2-3 pancakes depending on the size of the pan used.
Cook Pancakes: Cook the pancakes for 2-3 minutes until small bubbles begin to form on the top of each pancake.
Flip Pancakes: Turn each pancake and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes or until cooked through. Transfer these green smoothie pancakes to a plate and repeat with remaining pancake batter until all batter has been used. Batter makes approximately 12 pancakes.
Serve: Serve these healthy pancakes with your favorite toppings like fresh berries, and enjoy!
💭 Expert Tips
- Coating The Pan: If you do not have cooking spray handy, you can also coat the pan with olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, or even a little butter.
- Measure Correctly: Pancakes can be a little finicky, so it is important to measure your ingredients precisely. It is best to level out the flour in your measuring cup by using a knife to even out and remove excess flour.
- Let The Batter Rest: Rest the batter to allow the gluten in the flour to relax, while giving time to absorb more liquid. The liquid will cause the flour to release starches and proteins. This gives you a fluffier pancake.
- Adjust Heat As Needed: If the bottom of the pancakes are browning too quickly, adjust the heat to medium-low heat.
- Use Fresh Spinach: For the best results, use fresh baby spinach leaves. Frozen spinach will release too much water into the batter.
📖 Variations
- Spinach Banana Pancakes: Give a natural boost of sweetness with bananas! You can mix mashed banana into the batter or add slices of banana after pouring the batter onto the skillet. Banana and spinach pancakes are a fun and healthy choice for both kids and adults.
- Chocolate Chip Green Pancakes: For a sweeter pancake, add in some dark chocolate chips. Make sure they are vegan, if needed. You can also add these chocolate chips to the spinach banana pancakes mentioned above!
- Spinach Baby Pancakes: You can easily make these spinach pancakes for baby, just by cutting them up into small bite sized pieces that little hands can grab and chew!
- Kale Pancakes: Replace the spinach in this recipe with baby kale as a 1:1 substitution!
- Spinach Protein Pancakes: Add in some protein powder to the pancake batter for an extra boost of energy and nutrients to keep you full longer.
- Savory Pancakes: If you enjoy savory pancakes, you can compliment the spinach flavor instead of masking it by playing with toppings like sauteed onions and swapping cinnamon and sugar for some sea salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
This fun green pancake recipe is delicious when served with a dollop of whipped cream, drizzle of syrup, and fresh fruit. If you want to enhance this recipe even more, here are some other serving suggestions that you are sure to love:
- Other Toppings: Try these delicious pancakes with coconut flakes, peanut butter, chia seeds, vegan nutella, blackberry syrup, or vegan honey. (Note: if you're making these green pancakes for toddlers, make sure they have no allergies to any of the nuts/seeds or syrups/honey. For babies, avoid honey).
- Sweet Breakfast: Add a scoop of matcha ice cream for the ultimate sweet green breakfast! You can also pair with a mixed berry smoothie for a sweet yet healthy breakfast option.
- Savory Breakfast: For savory spinach pancakes, pair with other breakfast items that lean on the salty side. These will go great with scrambled egg whites, but if you (or your child) have an egg allergy I also love this silken tofu scramble.
🙌 Dietary Adaptations
This spinach pancakes recipe is very versatile and can be easily modified for dietary needs. While the original recipe is already vegan and dairy free, here are a couple other adaptations:
Gluten-Free Option: Gluten-free green pancakes can be made by substituting the all purpose flour for buckwheat flour, almond flour, or all-purpose gluten free flour. You can even blend up your own oat flour using rolled oats. Keep in mind, the texture of the pancakes may change slightly with a gf flour.
Refined Sugar Free: If you prefer to leave out the white sugar, easily modify the recipe with other alternatives like pure maple syrup, raw honey, or coconut sugar. You can also leave the sugar out all together, and use fruit like bananas. Making banana spinach pancakes is a great option for cutting out processed sugar while still having the sweet taste. Be mindful of the almond milk and coconut yogurt that you use as well - opt for unsweetened choices.
🫙 Storage Directions
Here is how to store and keep these spinach blender pancakes.
- To Store In The Fridge: Leftover batter can be stored in an airtight container and kept in the fridge for up to 2 days. For cooked pancakes, place in a container and keep in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- To Freeze: Let cooked pancakes cool completely and then place in a ziploc bag and freeze for up to 1 month.
- To Reheat: Next time you are wanting to eat these yummy pancakes, let the frozen pancakes thaw in the fridge and then reheat in the microwave for 15-30 seconds, or until warm.
❓Recipe FAQs
ARE SPINACH PANCAKES HEALTHY?
With only 4 tbsp of sugar in the whole batch, these spinach pancakes are a much healthier option than most pancake recipes out there. And let's not forget the obvious - these pancakes are made with spinach! Spinach is nutrient-rich with antioxidants, fiber, and a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals. You will find potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, folic acid, and vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin K. Plus, B vitamins! You might also be surprised that spinach contains protein! If you are looking for ways to support your eye health, spinach has you covered in that category too. Spinach is rich in zeaxanthin and lutein which are both great for the eyes!
CAN YOU TASTE THE SPINACH IN THESE PANCAKES?
No you can't! The spinach flavor is masked by the addition of sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract so you really will not taste it! These healthy spinach pancakes will taste very similar to regular pancakes, except more fun thanks to the bright green color. If you happen to find that you are still tasting the spinach, try adding toppings and maple syrup.
