Vegan Brunch Solution – Banana Walnut Pancakes

It’s NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month. For the month of November, I’m going to post every day. This is day 11.

The vegan experiment was going along smoothly until we came to our first weekend as vegans. I’m not sure about you, but we definitely have a different weekday routine from our weekend routine. During the week breakfast is a pretty standard fare of oatmeal. Yet on the weekend, we like to enjoy long leisurely breakfasts that include feasting on more elaborate dishes like eggs or frittatas, pancakes or waffles. Our first vegan weekend found us scratching our heads a bit wondering what to do. We didn’t want to just have oatmeal like we’d been having all week, even if it is tasty and filling.

With a bit of research and experimentation, we enjoyed these amazing pancakes. I don’t think anyone would have known the difference. Once you add in the walnuts and bananas they were so incredibly filling too. Mike and I couldn’t even finish the batch – something that has never happened before. These kept us full and energized for hours. Better yet – we enjoyed the leftovers later in the week as a weekday oatmeal-shakeup.

I hope you’ll enjoy our variation on vegan pancakes. I’ve made regular pancakes probably hundreds of times (at least I’ve eaten them that many times), but this was the first time having success with an animal-free version. See, you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Vegan Banana-Walnut Pancakes
Serves 4
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. canola oil
1 1/2 c. plain unsweetened soy milk
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
4 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1 banana, sliced

1. Put cookie sheet in oven and preheat to 250 F to keep finished pancakes warm while you continue to cook the remaining pancakes.
2. In a large bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Stir with fork to aerate and combine (or sift everything together.
3. In a medium bowl combine water, oil, soy milk, vinegar, vanilla, and maple syrup. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
4. Add wet ingredients to bowl of dry ingredients. Stir until combined and there are no lumps.
5. Use rubber spatula or wooden spoon to gently fold in walnuts and bananas.
6. Heat large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add vegetable oil to pan and tilt/spread out so pan is well oiled.
7. When drop of water sizzles on pan, it’s ready for the batter. Ladle generous amount of batter onto pan – adjust amount based on desired size of pancakes. I like slightly smaller pancakes and use about 1/4-1/2 c. of batter per scoop.
8. When pancakes have formed bubbles evenly throughout, it’s time to flip. With flexible spatula, carefully flip over pancakes. Cook on other side.
9. Transfer to oven to stay warm and repeat cooking pancakes until all batter is used up.
10. Serve with maple syrup, jam, vegan butter, whatever your favorite topping is.