Vegan pancakes are just as good as the standard variety, and they’re just as fluffy too—if you use one crucial pantry staple (and make sure it’s still in good shape before you get cooking).

For vegans, breakfast can look a little different when you cut out staples like eggs, bacon, and milk. These absences can also leave most omnivores imagining their plates as daintily adorned with a small fruit dish or perhaps bread with jam—but they couldn’t be more wrong. With just a little creativity, plenty of other traditional breakfast items can be tweaked to accommodate someone avoiding animal byproducts. While waffles, quiche, pancakes and even “omelettes” (check out chickpea flour!) can be whipped up easily without milk, eggs, or cheese—the pancake continues to prevail as a vegan breakfast’s steadfast champion.

The Secret to Fluffy Vegan Pancakes

It’s the addition of baking powder that really helps make these fluffy. It’s also important to be sure your baking powder is still good before you begin:

How to Make Fluffy Vegan Pancakes

To make these delicious vegan pancakes, start by collecting your ingredients and tools.

For this recipe, you will need the following:

  • Frying pan, cast iron skillet, or griddle (as you prefer)
  • Balloon whisk
  • Spatula
  • Cooking spray
  • 1 cup flour (try whole wheat if you want to be extra health-conscious, or use almond flour for a gluten-free option, but in that case, start with slightly less of it and add more at the end if the batter seems too runny)
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup soy milk or other non-dairy milk
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Steps to Making Vegan Pancakes:

1. Start by mixing your flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl until it’s evenly dispersed. Using a whisk can help break up any lumps of flour.

2. Pour in the soy milk, maple syrup, and vanilla. Whisk again until the mixture is totally lump-free.

3. Turn a burner to medium and heat your pan (or turn on your griddle if using an electric non-stick version). If your pan is not non-stick (or well-seasoned cast iron), spray it with a bit of cooking spray before placing it on the burner.

4. When the pan is hot, use a large spoon to scoop a dollop of batter onto the pan. Do two at once if they’ll fit without touching—you can make your pancakes larger if you like, but smaller ones are easier to flip, especially for novices.

5. Cook until bubbles start to appear, about three minutes.

6. When you see those bubbles, use your spatula to carefully flip the pancake(s).

7. Cook another two to three minutes until golden brown and cooked through. If you want to cook all your pancakes at once before serving them up, transfer them as they’re done to a baking sheet and keep it in the oven on the lowest setting so they just stay warm.

Variations

If you want a bit more texture in your pancake, consider this trick: Remove the maple syrup and vanilla altogether and put in just 1/3 of a cup of flour versus the entire cup. Then, add one cup of rolled oats, a mashed banana, and two teaspoons of chia seeds to the batter. The consistency is a little bit less true to traditional pancakes, but it’s absolutely worth trying.

Top It Off

To make this healthy meal even more impressive, invest in some delicious vegan toppings like sliced bananas, strawberries, maple syrup, powdered sugar, soy yogurt or coconut yogurt, fresh jam, cashew or almond butter, or the seed butter of your choice.

While there are plenty of different ways to make them, one thing is for sure: With a little bit of research and the right toppings, vegans aren’t missing out on much when it comes to the most important meal of the day.

Related Video: Make Your Own Cultured Vegan Butter to Melt on Top

Header image by Chowhound.