A quick morning breakfast…that isn’t a bowl of cereal.
That has been my goal for quite a few years. Boxed cereal is toxic. And it isn’t filling or nourishing! When I am feeding little mouths and small bellies, my goal has always been making every bite count. Filling and nourishing friendly fats and protein. Energy producing carbohydrates.
A few years ago I made up this oat pancake recipe, and as my family has grown, I have condensed the ingredients (to make it go faster), and bulked it up (to make it last longer). I use coconut butter, nut butters, or butter on top of the pancakes and it makes a very filling, nourishing breakfast – or lunch. We are a gluten free house, and to be honest, gluten free bread from the store is just not in our budget. I use homemade pancakes for sandwich “bread” a couple times per week.
So here is one of my family’s favorite pancakes! It is a huge batch that I usually make last 3-4 weeks! It takes me about an hour start to finish, and while they are on the skillet cooking I can do other things like clean up, put a load of laundry in, change a diaper, or…you know, EAT 😉
Have a fun pancake morning this weekend, and put the rest in the freezer to make life easier during the work week this month!
Soaked Oat Pancakes
Ingredients
- 12 cups oats Not quick oats. If you are gluten free, be sure the bag specifically says gluten free oats such as Bob’s Red Mill brand.
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
- ½ cup sucanat pure maple syrup, honey, or organic pure cane sugar
- 2 TB cinnamon
- Whole milk coconut milk, or water to desired batter consistency (will be a good 2 cups or so)
Instructions
- The night before you want to make the pancakes, grind up the oats in a food processor or blender into a “flour” (it doesn’t have to be super fine at all).
- Put the oat flour in a large mixing bowl with the lemon juice and water to cover. Put the bowl under the light in your oven over night. This soaking process breaks down the phytic acid in the oat grain making it easier to digest.
- The next morning add the rest of the ingredients and use a handheld blender to mix thoroughly. Add the milk or water a cup or so at a time until you get the batter to the consistency you like – if you like thin pancakes you will use more liquid – if you like them thicker not as much.
- Cook the pancakes on a hot skillet, just as you would regular pancakes.
Tips:
- This batch makes quite a few pancakes – they freeze up fantastic. You can pop them into the toaster right from the freezer for quick morning meals. Half the recipe if you don’t feel you need so many!
- If you make the batter thinner you can get even more pancakes out of this. I tend to opt making them thicker/more filling because that is how I like them, but they are great thin too.
- I like to use my electric skillet
vs a fry pan to make them. I can fit 6 pancakes on at a time and it goes pretty quick. - Use the pancakes as sandwich bread for a lunch change up!
- Don’t forget the babes! Babies over 1 year old can be introduced slowly to properly prepared grains. The soaking process of the oats in this recipe helps it digest well, and my girls loved having a few small pieces of pancake to try practicing first finger foods! Skip the toxic O’s cereals and just do this!
- HERE is what Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oats looks like – if you are gluten free be sure to get these as oats can have traces of gluten.
- Aluminum is very toxic to the body so please be sure you are putting aluminum free baking powder in your baking for your family.
vs a fry pan to make them. I can fit 6 pancakes on at a time and it goes pretty quick.
is what Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oats looks like – if you are gluten free be sure to get these as oats can have traces of gluten.
in your baking for your family.Let me know how the batch up goes!
SO excited to try these! I have been looking for something easy that I can eat in the mornings at work (I already get up at 5:30 for the day and really dont have time to eat until I get to work!) I think I will make the large batch and store some in the freezer at work, then just pop them in the toaster when I get here 🙂 Thanks for sharing!!
Perfect Cassie! Let me know how it works!
Hi,
i can’t have oats. Is there any other flour that you can recommend?
Hi Amber! Yes! I do a pancake with a coconut flour, white rice flour and tapioca flour blend! I really should get that recipe up here too. You can basically follow this recipe and instead of the oat flour do a combo of the other flours to how you like your pancake consistancy to be. You will need a couple eggs to bind it as well. I will make my next pancake making the other recipe and try to get that up here soon 🙂
Thanks for the quick response!!
I can’t have eggs nor can i have flax or chia seeds. Which egg replacement would work???
BTW, your Email Subscription feed doesn’t work. I am not sure if you know that already or not.
Hi Amber! Thank you for telling me – I will look into that!
I would do 1/4 cup banana mash or applesauce per egg – they make good egg subs 😉
This might be a silly question but I was wondering if you mix in the water and lemon juice into the oat flour or just pour it on top? Thanks!
No silly question here! Mix everything up together!
I was really excited about trying this recipe. Somehow something went wrong tho. My pancakes wont cook right. They’re really gooey in the middle. It was also really chunky when i went to get it after soaking last night. Any suggestions?
Hi Gabbie! It definitely sounds like you need more water! Add enough water to the batter to come up above the ground oats a good couple inches so there is some give when they soak it all up. Making the batter a little runnier with more water will help with the gooey too – make sure you are cooking them long enough as well. Sometimes if the heat is too high the outside looks done but the inside is not. I hope that helps! Don’t waste the ones you made though! Pan fry them in some butter and cook through a bit more and that should help.
There’s no eggs in here, right? I did not see any in the recipe but saw that someone else asked about the egg substitute above. Thanks.
Hi Rachel! Nope – no eggs. She was asking how she could make the pancakes with some different flours like coconut flour and to use those kinds of flours you really need the egg to bind. The soaked oats make a great bind so as long as you follow this recipe you won’t need the egg. Hope that helps!
This looks amazing! I am making these this weekend 🙂 we spend a fortune on gf bread and I have three small boys and a hubby that eat a lot!! This will help so much. My question is: I am grinding up the oats then adding the water and lemon juice, popping them in the oven overnight with the light on but no heat then adding more liquid in the morning? Just wanted to clarify I got it right so I don’t mess up such a large batch 🙂
Thanks!!
Hi Petra! Yep that is what you want to do! It is a really forgiving recipe and hard to mess up 😉 I hope your family enjoys them!
Just wondering why we can’t use quick oats? Thanks!
Quick oats are processed with heat/extrusion just like boxed cereal – it is a process that destroys the structure of the grain and makes it less nutritious and harder on the gut to digest/recognize. Hope that helps!
I have never soaked oats or used them in a recipe, and I really want to try this recipe out this weekend, because what better way to try it out than making pancakes?! Just to clarify,
when you add the water and lemon to the oats and soak them overnight, do you just add the rest of the ingredients afterwards, or do you rinse and strain the oats? I have seen some recipes that do and some that don’t…? Thanks for your time!
Hi Jenna! That’s great! And yes you don’t have to strain/rinse the oats out in this recipe! This is a super easy one to start out with – I hope you enjoy them 🙂
Hi! I just put this together to make in the AM. Do u ever add salt or vanilla? I love my Himalayan pink salt and usually add to my pancake recipes. This one seems super simple/plain…I imagine it would be fine to add a few things? Yum! Can’t wait for the morning…good looking straight forward recipe…thanks!
Hi Angie! Sure! Go for it! That will work fine 🙂
Hi Renee,
I made these last week and it was big success with my teenagers. My 16-year old son is autistic and has always have a difficult relationship with food in general. Trying new things is not on top of his list of favorite things to do 😉 But when he saw that his younger sister was really enjoying the pancakes he decided to take a tiny bite, and then ate them for three mornings in a row 😉 Thanks so much! Gonna make another batch this weekend!
Hi Renee,
How many pancakes did this batter make? Thanks
Hi Swarna! Quite a few! As in at least 20!
Hi,
My grandson would love these! Is there a substitute for the lemon juice (allergic) or can you just not add it?
Thanks so much.
Hi Steph! Yes sure! You can use apple cider vinegar or yogurt. You need an acid medium for the soaking process to break down the phytic acid in the grain 🙂
Can you just use oat flour instead of blending the oats? Thank you!
Hi Amy! Yep!
silly question – I’m new to using raw milk, but do you use raw milk in this and other recipes that are cooked? if so does it lessen the benefits?
My kids loved these!
Great Theresa!
I am making them for tomorrow and bought 12 cups or 3 bags of 32 oz each. I measured as I ground them and ended up only using half to equal 12 cups of ground oats, i have confused myself. Is it 12 cups before you grind it or after?
Hi Heidi! It is 12 cups of the oats before you grind them 🙂
Lovely recipe for this oaty gf vegan!
Lazy too, and I was amazed when you said oh so casually and just pop them into toaster! I have never heard of that. So thank you.
I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Rolled oats or steel-cut oats/groats?
Hi Jessica! Rolled oats.
What a smart way to make healthy pancakes so easy. Thanks for sharing !
Definitely on my list of breakfasts to add in to my ‘repertoire’
Can’t wait! Thanks Renee!
Hi Renee, I have no idea why the center remained sticky/ goopy no matter how long I cooked these! It was almost like the outside of the pancake was kind of nonporous! I used GF rolled oats and followed the recipe, I just reduced the amounts cause I didn’t need so much. I soaked the oats for 8 hours instead of 12. I used Bob’s Red Mill no added aluminum baking powder. I loved that they held together as a pancake and they tasted plain. Any thoughts? I adjusted the frying temperature so it was just right.
Hi Sharon! Did you happen to use quick oats versus regular oats? I know it happens with quick oats.
Hi Renee,
Would it be possible to make this recipe with steel cut oats?
Hi Ash! I would blend them up first to make more of a flour but I think it would work fine!
Can I skip the soak if I’m using sprouted oats? Or will it effect the texture? Thanks! Can’t wait to try these 🙂
Hi Erin! Yes that should be fine 🙂
Hi there, for the lemon juice/water to soak the oats – how much water approximately? Am I just putting a layer of water over the oats and then stirring up? Should it be very wet?
Hi Robyn! Yep, just cover with water just over the oats – it will be wet!
Hi,
I wanted to ask about oat flour. If using store bought oat flour, do I still need to soak it overnight?
Thanks!
Hi Jay! Yes, I would still soak oat flour since it is just the oats blended up into a fine flour 🙂