Healthy Chocolate Pancakes
Posted Jan 28, 2018, Updated Jun 03, 2024
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These healthy chocolate pancakes are easy to make with wholesome, nutritious ingredients. They are moist and chocolatey and gluten-free!
These healthy chocolate pancakes are made with wholesome ingredients like oats, bananas and milk. They are gluten-free with no refined sugar, but no one would ever guess they’re healthy because they are so chocolatey & delicious!
Plus these chocolate pancakes freeze & reheat very well, so you can make a batch to meal prep for the week. My kids gobble these up, and ask me to make them regularly! Sometimes I even add a dollop of homemade whipped cream on top for an extra-special treat.
Healthy Chocolate Pancakes: Ingredients & Substitutions
- Old-fashioned oats. If you do not have a high-powered blender, you can buy pre-made oat flour and substitute it 1:1 for the old-fashioned oats. All-purpose flour works well too.
- Whole Milk. Any type of milk works well in this recipe. I have used almond milk, coconut milk and 2% milk with great results.
- Honey. Maple syrup or your favorite liquid sweetener can be used in place of honey.
How to Make Healthy Chocolate Pancakes
This chocolate pancake recipe is best when it’s made in the Vitamix, or another high-powered blender! We’ll walk through the process together, and don’t forget to watch the video.
Begin by blending the dry ingredients first. We do this to ensure the oats reach a flour-like consistency.
Then, add the rest of the ingredients except for the egg and blend until smooth.
Next, add the egg and blend until smooth.
Lastly, stir in the mini chocolate chips by hand.
Once the batter is finished, cook the pancakes over medium-low heat (350 degrees on an griddle) on the first side until the sides look set and start to bubble.
Then, flip and cook on the second side until lightly browned.
Heart-Shaped Pancakes
To make heart shape pancakes, put the batter in a Wilton Squeeze Bottle and draw an outline of a heart, then fill it in with batter. You can also use a metal heart-shaped cookie cutter and pour the batter into it too.
Serve
Serve the healthy chocolate pancakes warm with butter, syrup and fresh berries. We like serving them alongside our favorite breakfast recipes, or with a smoothie.
Store/Freeze
Store the pancakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for 2 months. Reheat in the microwave or toaster.
Healthy Chocolate Pancakes Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can easily scale this recipe to fit your needs.
No, you can heat a cast iron skillet or nonstick skillet over medium-low heat.
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Healthy Chocolate Pancakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups old-fashioned oats
- 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1 banana (overripe, large)
- 3 Tablespoons honey
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips
- Butter (for greasing the griddle)
Instructions
- Warm an electric griddle to 350 degrees F. (medium heat).
- Combine the oats and cocoa powder in the container of a high-powered blender (Vitamix) and blend, starting on low speed and increasing to high, until the mixture reaches a flour-like consistency (about 15-30 seconds).
- Add banana, honey almond milk, sea salt vanilla and baking powder and blend until combined.
- Add egg and pulse to combine.
- Stir in mini chips by hand.
- Melt 1 Tablespoon butter or coconut oil on the warm griddle (or spray it lightly with cooking spray).
- Drop batter in ¼ cup portions onto the pre-heated griddle, with at least 1” of space between each pancake.
- Cook on the first side until the edges start to become darker brown and look set, and bubbles begin forming throughout the batter (about 2-4 minutes).
- Flip and cook on the second side for 3-4 minutes or until it is lightly golden brown.
- Repeat until all the batter has been used.
- Serve warm with pure maple syrup and fresh berries!
Video
Notes
- Old-fashioned oats. If you do not have a high-powered blender, you can buy pre-made oat flour and substitute it 1:1 for the old-fashioned oats. All-purpose flour works well too.
- Whole Milk. Any type of milk works well in this recipe. I have used almond milk, coconut milk and 2% milk with great results.
- Honey. Maple syrup or your favorite liquid sweetener can be used in place of honey.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Wow, tasty and healthy??? Yup! Made kid size pancakes with a cookie scoop for a breakfast pancake picnic with my 4 yr old granddaughter. Added a coconut sauce I made with nondairy yogurt Maple syrup, vanilla & coconut extract. Pink plates, pink napkins, pink sparkle flatware. And of course, our always meal companion, her stuffed Minnie mouse doll. I’d say she loved it but she was sick. Look forward to another day. I know she will loooove them❣️
How much other flour instead of oats? I want to use almond flour but that doesn’t need to be ground of coarse.
My 11 year old got up in the mood for pancakes and made these by herself. Easy recipe and they turned out delicious, hearty and healthy!
Hi Laura,
As a Type 1 diabetic, I don’t add sugar to most recipes. I find pancakes are great with no sugar and with fruit and yoghurt on top. Please let me know for your various pancake recipes, which all look delicious, whether I can just delete the sugar or do I have to make any changes to amount of other ingredients. Occasionally, I use Truvia. I assume that is a straight sub for sugar.
Many thanks!
Vyshnavi here and I’m from India. I love pancackes.. I found such a wonderful why because -1) no egg smell after cooking 2) no wetness in middle of the pancake which means evenly cooked and no banana smell to the pancake even after using it.. Really a great thanks to you….!
Soooo good! I don’t love the taste of too much banana so I only put half and used regular salt. I used vanilla oat milk instead of almond and replaced the honey with pure maple syrup. It was amazing!
How many pancakes per amount of the nutrimental table you considered????
The nutritional information listed is for one pancake!
These look amazing! Just a question-as far as the nutrition facts go, is that for one single pancake? If not, how many is it for? Thanks so much!
These are SOOO adorable; especially those little heart pancakes. And I love the idea of mini chocolate chips for BURSTS of chocolate flavor. You are just making SOOO many good chocolatey delicious treats. Thank you Laura!