Healthy Greek Yogurt Pancakes
Posted Jan 02, 2019, Updated Jun 10, 2024
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These healthy Greek yogurt pancakes are fluffy and moist. They are easy to make (one bowl) and are the perfect delicious and nutritious breakfast recipe that your whole family will love! Gluten-free & refined-sugar-free options.
My love for breakfast knows no bounds. I could seriously eat breakfast food all day every day and never get tired of it. Smoothies? Always. Oatmeal? Sign me up. Muffins? Yes Please.
These healthy Greek Yogurt Pancakes are my go-to recipe when I want to make a special breakfast for my family. They’re easy to whip up in one bowl, made with vanilla Greek yogurt, and are easily made gluten-free.
These Greek yogurt pancakes are so healthy that they don’t putย you in a pancake coma after you’re finished eating them. Instead, they leave youย feeling energized and ready to tackle the day. Especially when served with this Greek yogurt smoothie!
These healthy pancakes can hold their own even without maple syrup (although hello, why someone would not douse their pancakes in the best substance ever is beyond my realm of understanding).
Greek Yogurt Pancakes: Ingredients & Substitutions
Let’s take a minute to chat about the ingredients in this Greek yogurt pancake recipe, as well as possible substitutions.
- Oat flour. Make your own or use store bought. Or, substitute the oat flour with all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour, or all-purpose gluten-free flour.
- All-purpose flour. I really feel like the blend of flours is important in this recipe. The addition of all-purpose flour with oat flour makes these pancakes more hearty and easy to flip. You can substitute gluten-free all purpose flour, whole wheat flour or more oat flour (but if you make this choice the pancakes will be more delicate).
- Vanilla Greek yogurt. If you use plain Greek yogurt you may need to adjust the amount of sugar in the recipe. Or, use a flavored yogurt for different varieties.
- Granulated sugar. Any granulated sugar works well in this recipe! For a refined sugar free version use coconut sugar or honey.
- Milk. Any dairy-free or regular dairy milk works perfectly in these healthy greek yogurt pancakes.
- Mix ins. you can add up to half cup of mix ins like chocolate chips (try these chocolate chip pancakes – yum), nuts, dried fruit, etc.
How to Make Greek Yogurt Pancakes
Let’s walk through the process of making this Greek Yogurt Pancakes Recipe step-by-step to ensure your success!
Make Oat Flour
Since we always have old-fashioned oatmeal on hand, I choose to make homemade oat flour because it is easy and inexpensive. To make oat flour to use in these Greek Yogurt Pancakes,
- Measure 1 cup of old-fashioned oats and put it in the container of a Vitamix (or another high-powered blender.
- Blend for 10-15 seconds.
- Remove and use in the recipe.
You can choose to use store-bought oat flour as well! It is an inexpensive, gluten-free baking flour.
Make the Batter
Next, combine the wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl. You will only be using one bowl in this recipe, so be sure to choose large enough to accommodate all the ingredients.
I recommend using a wire whisk to combine the wet ingredients. This will ensure that they are all fully combined and there are no lumps of yogurt or wisps of egg left in the batter!
Since this is a one-bowl recipe, the dry ingredients are whisked in after the wet ingredient mixture is smooth. You can always mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and add them to the wet ingredients if you prefer.
The batter should be smooth & thick before proceeding to cooking the Greek Yogurt Pancakes. If the yogurt is thin/watery or your eggs are unusually large, then you may need more flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time.
Once the batter is smooth, you can add your favorite mixins like sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, etc.!
Cook the Greek Yogurt Pancakes
Scoop 1/4 cup portions of the Greek Yogurt Pancake batter onto a greased skillet or griddle. Cook for 2-4 minutes per side over medium-low heat.
I recommend cooking these Greek Yogurt Pancakes in melted butter for the best taste and flavor. However you can use cooking spray or coconut oil to grease the pan/griddle as well.
I suggest cooking them on an electric or stovetop griddle with a temperature knob and cook them at 350 degrees F.
You can also cook pancakes in a skillet over medium/low heat, but just be sure to watch them carefully and adjust the heat as neeeded.
Serve
Serve these Greek yogurt pancakes with syrup, berries, or a slather of cinnamon honey butter or peanut butter. We love serving them alongside a greek yogurt smoothie.
Prepare in Advance
To prepare the night before: combine the wet ingredients in a glass bowl with a lid and store the mixture in the refrigerator overnight. Then combine the dry ingredients and store the mixture at room temperature. Then mix them together in the morning and cook!
Store
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Freeze
To freeze, cool pancakes completely. Lay them out in a single layer on a baking sheet and put them in the freezer until they have hardened. Then transfer the frozen pancakes to an airtight container and store them in the freezer for up to 2 months. Reheat in the toaster or microwave.
Greek Yogurt Pancakes Recipe FAQs
Here are a few commonly asked questions when it comes to making the best Greek yogurt pancakes recipe!
I do not recommend using yogurt as a substitute for eggs. In this Greek yogurt pancake recipe the eggs are important component to achieving the fluffiness pictured above.
To make this recipe gluten-free, just be sure to use gluten-free oat flour (gluten-free old fashioned oats blended into flour), and all-purpose gluten-free flour. You can also substitute the oat flour completely with all-purpose gluten-free flour.
Here are some tips on fluffy pancakes:
Leavening agents.ย baking powder and baking soda to give them a beautiful rise.
Eggs.ย Eggs also add to the fluffiness of these Greek yogurt pancakes.
Greek Yogurt.ย Using yogurt instead of milk makes these healthy pancakes super thick (but still light).
As you can see in the recipe card, this healthy pancake recipe only calls for 1-2 TBS of milk if the batter is not thin enough. So yes! You absolutely can use yogurt in place of milk when making pancakes, like these!
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Healthy Greek Yogurt Pancakes Recipe (gluten-free option)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup oat flour (1 cup old-fashioned oats blended)
- ยผ cup all-purpose flour (or gluten-free all-purpose flour)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ยฝ teaspoon baking soda
- ยฝ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ยฝ teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 1 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1-2 Tablespoons milk (if needed) regular, almond, coconut, etc.
- salted butter or coconut oil (for greasing the skillet)
Instructions
- Preheat an electric griddle to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl mix together the Greek yogurt, eggs and vanilla. Whisk until mixture is smooth.
- Add sugar, oat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl. Whisk until completely combined.
- If the batter is too thick, add milk 1 TBS at a time until it reaches your desired consistency.
- Grease a griddle or skillet by melting butter on it and moving it around until the surface is coated.
- Pour ยผ cup portions of pancake batter onto the greased, heated surface.
- Cook until bubbles start forming in the batter and the sides become set (about 2-4 minutes)
- Flip and cook for 2-4 minutes on the second side, or until golden brown.
Video
Notes
- Oat flour.ย Make your own or use store bought. Or, substitute the oat flour with all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour, or all-purpose gluten-free flour.
- All-purpose flour.ย I really feel like the blend of flours is important in this recipe. The addition of all-purpose flour with oat flour makes these pancakes more hearty and easy to flip. You can substitute gluten-free all purpose flour, whole wheat flour or more oat flour (but if you make this choice the pancakes will be more delicate).
- Vanilla Greek yogurt.ย If you use plain Greek yogurt you may need to adjust the amount of sugar in the recipe. Or, use a flavored yogurt for different varieties.
- Granulated sugar.ย Any granulated sugar works well in this recipe! For a refined sugar free version use coconut sugar or honey.
- Milk.ย Any dairy-free or regular dairy milk works perfectly in these healthy greek yogurt pancakes.
- Mix ins. you can add up to half cup of mix ins like chocolate chips,ย nuts, dried fruit, etc.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Pancakes are delicious but I do think the calorie count is off. It says 56 per pancake but the oat flour alone is worth about 45. That assumes 0.1 cups (we got 10 pancakes from the recipe, so 1 cup thatโs called for divided by 10). Add in the Greek yogurt, egg, sugar, etc and I get closer to ~100 per pancake.
Still a great recipe that we will revisit often!
Is it possible to make this batter before hand (say the night before) and then just cook them in the morning?
This is exactly what I was looking for. I canโt wait to make this for the week! Thanks for sharing ๐
My go-to recipe for pancakes now! so so good!! even when all i have is plain greek yogurt, they are plenty sweet and taste great – thanks for sharing the recipe!
Bookmarked <3 Just made my own version tonight and they are so rich and tasty and hearty <3 Used plain greek yogurt, 2 tbs brown sugar, and swapped 1/4c of the oat flour with protein powder.
I made a fairly humorous mistake that I thought others might benefit from hearing about. Iโve made this recipe a couple of times now and itโs been great. Yesterday, when I went to make it, I misread the instructions and added 1 cup of oat flour PLUS 1 cup of oats. I just kept adding almond milk until it reached the right consistency and they actually turned out pretty good!
Made these this morning and they were some of the best pancakes Iโve had! I skipped the sugar but added two bananas (blended in blender) and also skipped the milk. Made for my partner and I before big workouts and we felt nourished and not bloated at all. Good clean eating recipe will make again!
I made these but kind of adapted the recipe to make it with less carb and fat and calories.
I used swerve instead of sugar, 1/4 less oat flour, nonfat plain greek yogurt and added a tablespoon each of chia and ground flax. Also a 1/2 cup blueberries. It made 12 using a 1/4 cup measure to pour. Absolutely amazing!
Good morning – just made these and they are delicious! I used Icelandic skyr instead of Greek yogurt and the results were great. In particular, I used Siggi’s vanilla skyr. Also mixed in blueberries and used half the sugar. Thanks!
Thank you so much! So glad you enjoyed them!
I made these this morning for my kids! They loved them! #JFSrecipechallenge
So glad you love them!