Whole Wheat Pancakes Recipe - Sally's Baking Addiction

Light and fluffy whole wheat pancakes packed with nutritious ingredients to fuel your day, and sweet maple flavor everyone will love. These are worth getting out of bed for!

These aren’t your typical Saturday morning pancakes. Sure, they are delicious, fluffy, and taste incredible topped with maple syrup, but these breakfast delights also boast hearty whole grain, protein from Greek yogurt, and no refined sugar. Which makes them the perfect everyday pancakes you can feel good about serving. Make a big batch ahead of time, freeze, and reheat for a quick and easy breakfast that satisfies. (Or have pancakes for dinner! The BEST!)

What You’ll Love About These Fluffy Whole Wheat Pancakes

• Made with healthful whole wheat flour, but still light and fluffy
• Packed with protein thanks to eggs, Greek yogurt, and milk
• No refined sugars—we’re using pure maple syrup, yum!
• Quick and easy to make
• Delicious with a variety of add-ins and toppings

These are 100% whole wheat pancakes. Making the swap from all-purpose flour to whole wheat flour sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it? Just a simple, 1-to-1 replacement. Well, it’s not always that simple. More often than not, your whole wheat baked goods will taste overly heavy, dense, or tough. Not at all the fluffy, rich, soft recipe you were expecting. I wouldn’t use it to make cinnamon rolls, for example.

Because whole wheat flour is capable of making pancakes taste like dry hockey pucks, let’s avoid that nonsense by loading the batter with just enough moisture.

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Grab These Ingredients:

• Whole Wheat Flour: I’m a total fangirl for King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour. Not a celebrity, just a fangirl for… a flour company. You can also use white whole wheat flour.
• Baking Powder + Baking Soda: Both give the pancakes some serious lift. Since whole wheat flour tends to weigh things down, we need to add just enough leavener to aerate the cooking batter without leaving any chemical aftertaste.
• Salt + Cinnamon: For flavor.
• Yogurt: I typically use plain Greek yogurt, but you can use any kind: dairy or nondairy; full-fat, low-fat, or nonfat; plain, vanilla, or honey flavored. You could even use sour cream.
• Milk: These whole wheat pancakes are great with any type of milk, dairy or nondairy.
• Maple Syrup: Not just for topping! We’re sweetening the batter with it. Make sure you use the pure stuff, not the one labeled “pancake syrup.”
• Eggs: To bind the ingredients together.
• Vanilla Extract: A kiss of vanilla is the perfect flavor enhancer for these pancakes. Have you tried homemade vanilla extract before?
• Coconut Oil: The recipe calls for melted coconut oil, but you could substitute vegetable oil or melted butter if you prefer.

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Preparing the batter takes just a couple minutes. Whisk the dry ingredients in 1 bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients in another, then pour wet into dry and whisk together to combine. Easy-peasy. Let the batter rest for a few minutes while you preheat your griddle/pan.

I like to use a large mixing bowl with a pour spout. Makes pouring the batter onto the pan/griddle much easier.

How Do I Know if My Pan Is Ready to Cook Pancakes?

The best temperature for cooking pancakes is 375ºF (190ºC). If you’re cooking on an electric griddle, you can simply set it to heat to that temperature. If you’re cooking in a griddle pan or large skillet on the stove, allow the pan to preheat for several minutes over medium heat. Don’t be tempted to crank the heat up to high; that will lead to unevenly cooked, burnt pancakes.

To test if the pan is ready, flick a few drops of water from your fingers onto the pan. If they sizzle in place and disappear, it’s not quite hot enough yet. If they “dance” around on the surface before sizzling out, your pan is good to go! (Feel free to dance around a bit yourself, too!)

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5 Success Tips for Making the Best Whole Wheat Pancakes

1. Don’t Over-Mix: A few lumps are OK! If you mix too much, the gluten from the flour will start to develop, resulting in chewy, rather than tender, pancakes. Mix until just combined.
2. Fresh Is Best: (Part 1) Baking powder and baking soda are key ingredients in pancakes, because their job is to lift up the batter while cooking, resulting in fluffy (not flat) pancakes. These leaveners lose their magical properties over time. If yours are older than 6 months, you might need to replace them. (Part 2) Don’t make the batter in advance. While we all love a good prep-the-night-before breakfast recipe, like this breakfast casserole, the baking powder activates as soon as it’s wet, and its effectiveness lessens over time. Fortunately, whisking up pancake batter is quick and easy, so you don’t have to set your alarm for o’dark-thirty! Or feel free to mix wet and dry ingredients together, but keep them separate until the morning.
3. Give It a Rest: The mixed batter should sit for a few minutes. While your pan or griddle is heating, let your mixed batter sit, which will allow it to thicken up, making for thicker, fluffier pancakes.
4. Use the Proper Pan: A griddle pan is best for cooking pancakes, but if you don’t have one, use your widest, shallowest skillet/pan. You want a thick-bottomed pan to prevent burning.
5. Don’t Flip Too Early—Watch for Holes: Many pancake recipes instruct you to flip when you see bubbles forming on the surface, but you’re actually looking for holes. Your whole wheat pancakes are ready to flip when the bubbles are popping, forming little holes in the surface. Cook until the edges look set and you notice holes in the pancake’s surface around the border, about 2 minutes.

For more pancake-perfecting tips, read this article on 10 Pancake Common Mistakes—and How to Avoid Them.

Can I Make These Whole Wheat Pancakes as Waffles?

Absolutely. Use today’s batter and follow the same cooking instructions for these buttermilk whole wheat waffles! (Or just use that recipe, which is pretty similar!)

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Optional Pancake Toppings and Add-Ins

A pat of butter and drizzle of maple syrup tastes wonderful on these, of course! As does whipped cream and honey butter. You could also try topping them with some melted peanut butter or almond butter, strawberry topping, raspberry sauce, apple butter, or lemon curd.

I have separate posts for both whole wheat blueberry pancakes and whole wheat banana pancakes, but you can simply make this recipe and mix in up to 1 cup of your favorite pancake add-in, such as berries or chocolate chips.

Serve Alongside:

If serving these pancakes as part of a big brunch, they plate nicely with fresh fruit, eggs, quiche, everything bagel breakfast casserole, or ham and potato casserole.

More Favorite Pancake Recipes:

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