These Buckwheat Pancakes are gluten free, dairy free, grain free, and absolutely delicious! 
Back when my daughter Meghan was a toddler, she had gymnastics on Saturdays. My husband Tim started a tradition of making pancakes every Saturday morning before taking her to her class. Once I had to take wheat out of my diet, I was sad to have to miss out on the delicious breakfast.
I went on a quest to make some gluten-free pancakes. Like a lot of gluten-free baked goods, the pancake recipes I came across were full of tons of different flours, starches, and gums. Ugh. No, thanks.
Then I discovered that buckwheat is not actually heat at all. How did I not know that? I mean it has wheat in its name, I guess I just jumped to the natural conclusion.
It turns out buckwheat isn’t a grain at all. Huh? Yep. That’s right. It comes from the fruit of a flowering plant. The part that is ground into flour, the groat, is actually the seed of the fruit. Interesting, right?
Buckwheat flour is super nutritious, giving us one of the best plant sources of protein, along with a good amount of fiber, calcium, copper, and magnesium. It’s been shown to help lower cholesterol and help keep blood sugars in check for those with diabetes. Sweet!
If you don’t have any buckwheat flour on hand, you really should go pick some up so you can make these this weekend. If you don’t already have a Pancake Saturday (or Sunday) tradition, this is a perfect time to start.
I was so impressed with how good these tasted and what a great texture they had with just one flour. That doesn’t happen often with gluten-free pancakes or baked goods. They are more dense than a pancake made with all-purpose white flour, but similar to a pancake made with whole wheat flour, and I actually prefer the flavor of buckwheat to wheat. These pancakes do have a cinnamon flavor, which I love, but if you don’t like that you can reduce the amount of cinnamon used.
Recipe Ingredients–What You Need
The ingredient list for these vegan pancakes is similar to many recipes for regular pancakes; however, I have switched all-purpose flour with gluten-free buckwheat flour.
Buckwheat Flour
The main ingredient for this delicious buckwheat pancakes recipe is 1 cup buckwheat flour. It doesn’t matter if you use dark buckwheat flour or light buckwheat flour, as both work just as well. This flour is made of grain-like seeds used to make soba noodles and vegan pancake recipes. It gives your meals a distinct nutty flavor. Therefore, buckwheat four is a good choice if you’re following a gluten-free diet and want to enjoy fluffy pancakes.
Baking Powder
We need 2 tablespoons of baking powder for this recipe to make a batch of buckwheat pancakes. Baking powder acts as a leavening agent and helps make fluffier pancakes.
Maple Syrup
We all love pancakes; however, if you like sweet pancakes, there’s no better way than to drizzle some maple syrup on em’! For this recipe, maple syrup is used in the batter and can be drizzled on top as well!
Maple syrup is a nutrient-rich ingredient high in antioxidants. Just one spoonful of this sweet syrup contains riboflavin, zinc, magnesium, calcium, and potassium. We’re using 2 tablespoons of maple syrup for this recipe.
However, always ensure to get pure maple syrup, as you will find many misleading names in the market that sell sugary syrup in the name of maple syrup!
Cinnamon
We need 1 teaspoon of cinnamon for these gluten-free pancakes. It adds a bit of spice and woodsy flavor to the pancakes and is also suitable for regulating blood sugar levels.
Egg
We need 1 beaten egg for this recipe. Eggs help keep all the ingredients together and make the pancakes fluffy. It is a good source of protein. Plus, egg yolks are nutrient-packed with Vitamin B, Vitamin B6, and Vitamin D.
Milk
We need 1 cup of milk to mix all the dry ingredients and make a vegan buckwheat pancake batter. Here, I’ll give you a choice to use any milk you prefer. However, some healthy options are coconut milk or almond milk.
Avocado Oil
We need 2 tablespoons of avocado oil with the milk to mix the dry ingredients and cook the healthy buckwheat pancakes. Avocado oil is a good source of minerals and contains oleic acid and lutein. It helps the body absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K, reduces cholesterol, improves heart health, and is also beneficial for the eyes.
However, if you can’t find avocado oil at your local grocery store or just don’t have it on hand, you can also use coconut oil, olive oil, or melted butter for cooking a stack of buckwheat pancakes.
Vanilla Extract
Vanilla extract is one of the most important ingredients to make the best pancakes. We will add 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract to the pancake batter as it enhances the taste of all other ingredients and gives the pancakes a sweet and delicious aroma.
Salt
Salt is not pictured above, but it will help bring out the flavors in these Buckwheat Pancakes.
How to Make Buckwheat Pancakes
Here are the east steps to make these healthy buckwheat pancakes:
1. Preheat your pancake griddle or pan. (I prefer a cast iron skillet to a non-stick pan) 
2. Whisk the dry ingredients together until well combined in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the wet ingredients, egg, milk, and oil, and beat well after each addition.
4. Lightly oil or butter your iron skillet or pan.
5. Pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake on the hot griddle. Cook for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes on medium heat, turning when the edges look cooked and bubbles start to form on the surface.
6. Cook an additional 1 1/2 minutes after you flip the pancake until golden brown.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
I get a lot of queries regarding buckwheat pancakes, so today, I have shortlisted some common questions to help you make this buckwheat recipe perfectly.
Q. What can we pair buckwheat pancakes with?
Buckwheat pancakes are just like regular pancakes but gluten-free; therefore, you can pair them with everything that goes with white flour pancakes.
For instance, fresh fruit, including fresh blueberries, strawberries, bananas, and maple syrup. You can also throw in a handful of dairy-free chocolate chips or a pat of butter, almond butter, or peanut butter. If you’re not a fan of sweet toppings, you can also eat them with cottage cheese. In the end, it all comes down to your preference.
Q. How to store the cooked pancakes?
You can store the leftover pancakes in an airtight container or wrap them tightly in foil to have for breakfast the following day.
Q. How to reheat the pancakes?
You can reheat the pancakes in a microwave or a toaster for the best results.
Q. When are the pancakes ready to flip?
When you notice small bubbles beginning to rise at the center of the pancakes, it’s time to flip them.
If you liked these gluten-free buckwheat pancakes, try some of my other gluten-free pancakes. You’ll love these Banana Pancakes, Sweet Potato Pancakes, or these High Protein Pancakes.
For more traditional pancakes, try these pancakes from scratch!
Eat healthy, and stay healthy!
If you try this recipe, or any of my other healthy recipes, please let me know! I’d love to see a photo–share it on Instagram and I’ll feature you. Please leave a comment and star rating below. It really helps other readers know which recipes are tried and true! I appreciate you.
Buckwheat pancakes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 9 pancakes 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
These Buckwheat Pancakes are easy to prepare and have a nutty, cinnamon flavor!
Ingredients
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cinammon
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 cup milk (any dairy or non-dairy milk will work here)
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- for the pancakes: Preheat your griddle or pan.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together well. Add the egg, milk, oil or butter, beating well after each addition.
- Lightly oil your griddle or pan. Pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto the hot griddle. Cook for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, turning when edges look cooked and bubbles begin to break on the surface. Continue to cook 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until golden brown.
- Serve immediately with desired toppings.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 pancake
- Calories: 105
- Sugar: 4.5 grams
- Fat: 4.5 grams
- Trans Fat: 0 grams
- Carbohydrates: 15.2g
- Fiber: 1.5 grams
- Protein: 3.3 grams
Keywords: Buckwheat pancakes
Have a great weekend and I hope you add these Buckwheat Pancakes to your regular rotation!
Had the best buckwheat pancakes many years ago in Madison, WI. Happy to see your recipe. Just happened to see it in store and bought buckwheat flour yesterday!
Noticed discrepancy, is it 2 teaspoons or 2 tablespoons of baking powder?
Have you tried adding raisins or anything else to batter? Or cooked buckwheat, or flax…?
Can oil be substituted with apple sauce?
Thank you.
It’s teaspoons! Sorry about that!
I haven’t tried adding anything to the batter but what a great idea. Let me know if you decide to try it! Yes, you can use apple sauce in place of the oil, but the texture will change.
throughout my childhood in the 80s my grandmother always made buckwheat pancakes when we visited. I think they were from a mix and likely actually a blend of buckwheat and regular flour. she would fry them in a cast iron skillet with some oil so the edges would get crispy. my husband prefers fluffy pancakes but I have some nostalgia thr buckwheat ones. I will have to give these a try but I’m afraid I may be the only one in our house who would eat them.
I hope you love them (any maybe even more of your family!) if you give them a go!
So delicious!
★★★★★
My cousin shared a recipe with me that are wheat-free, sugar-free peanut butter banana pancakes. We absolutely love them, and they keep us really full 🙂 I usually use 1/2 almond butter and 1/2 peanut butter and I mix everything with my immersion blender. I hope this helps with your wheat-free goals.
Makes 3 large or 6 small pancakes.
Ingredients:
* 2 ripe bananas (I used two smallish ones)
* 2 eggs
* 3 tablespoons natural peanut butter (not actually “paleo,” but whatevs)
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (once again, I doubt the cavepeeps had this in their pantries)
* 1 tablespoon psyllium husk (same comment as above)
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Mix together the ingredients, mashing the bananas. Make it nice and smooth.
4. Pour the batter into little cakes on the parchment paper.
5. Bake for 15 minutes.
6. Use a spatula to get the cakes up.
We top them with greek yogurt, goji berries, mulberries, hemp hearts, chia, cinnamon and fresh fruit. My cousin does greek yogurt and maple syrup.
Enjoy!
That sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing. My PB-loving Meghan would adore those. I’m not trying to eat a Paleo diet, so I’m fine with the non-Paleo ingredients. 🙂
These pancakes look fabulous! 🙂 Has anyone tried making these without using the egg? What substitute would you recommend? Thanks!
You could try a flax “egg” (1 tablespoon ground flax seed mixed with 3 tablespoons water= 1 egg). I haven’t tried it in this recipes, but most of the time when I try to substitute one or two eggs with flax “eggs” it works. Let me know if you try it!
Those pancakes look so fluffy! Yum! And I totally agree with you about roasted fruit. So good!
Peaches and blueberries, oh my! What a perfect topping for a heap of summer pancakes – or waffles. I’ve been on a big waffle kick lately and love topping them with a variety of fresh, fiber-licious fruits.
I will have to pick up some buckwheat!
I think I would prefer the magic that comes from roasted peaches and blueberries, as opposed to maple syrup 🙂
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It is kind of misleading that buckwheat has “wheat” in it, although it is gluten and grain free! I love buckwheat .. I think it acts a little more like regular flour than some of the other gluten free flours. I don’t like the packaged buckwheat flour though, so I buy the raw groats and grind them myself 🙂 The peaches and blueberries look so good! I love all the fresh fruit available this time of year!
I’m so excited to have a new flour to use! I wish I’d known about it sooner. 🙂 I’ll have to try grinding my own groats. Although I didn’t have a problem with the packaged flour.
Wow, these look amazing. I’m definitely going to try them. Hopefully substituting applesauce for the egg will work.
Since you’re avoiding dairy and gluten like we are, do you have any suggestions for great sandwich bread? Any gluten free sandwich bread recipes I find have all those “gums” in it also. I am trying not to use xantham gum although so many gluten free recipes include it!
I wish I did! Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything, so I mostly just don’t have bread. 🙁 When I am really craving a sandwich, I get some Undi’s brand bread, but I don’t really like it and don’t like the ingredient list, either. I will definitely let you know if I find a good recipe!
Just found your blog and love it! My daughter is a pancake lov~ah…. So I’m always looking for new recipes to keep them healthy AND delish! This looks so good! Looking forward to reading regularly….
Thanks, Kim! I think pancakes are an easy way to get kids eating healthy ingredients. 🙂
These are so unique and interesting! I try to regular cut gluten and dairy out of my diet so these will be perfect for my “off” weeks.
I just made these for dinner tonight … and OH MY GOD are they amazing.
Seriously. I’m really shocked. I seriously failed at another pancake recipe … and when you’re hungry, have a baby that only gives you a little precious time to actually prep, make the recipe, eat and than clean up … that’s just awful!
My husband and 2 of his friends were asking what the wonderful smell is! Nobody would guess just how healthy and gluten free these are!!!
I was out of sugar … usually I have coconut sugar, but I added the suggested amt of agave instead 2 tsp? and I thought I would use less liquid (coconut milk) but I actually probably added a little more b/c I like the batter thinner … (I didn’t measure the liquid) and I added extra vanilla and they were outstanding. Who knew?
I love the “cispyness” of the outside and the fluffy inside. Not dense. Very perfect.
Thank you so much for this recipe!
Oh and my almost 1 year old son sat at dinner and was making loving noises the whole time he was eating his own pancake! Mmmmm… he always sings when he loves his food 🙂
Thanks for coming back and letting me know you tried them! Glad they were enjoyed. 🙂
What?!? Buckwheat isn’t even wheat at all! This is news to me! ….How sweet of Tim to make pancakes for Saturday morning gymnastics; that is awesome!
I want to just sit down with a whole pan of the roasted fruit. That looks phenomenal. Then again, pancakes are never a bad thing so I’ll take some of those too.
Does Meghan love gymnastics? Makenzie just started some this past week and has fallen in love! It’s so cute!
Meghan loves gymnastics so much. It’s by far her favorite activity. 🙂
I’m back to say that these really are perfect pancakes!!! Getting some oil – coconut oil or Grapeseed oil, really hot and browning them makes the best pancakes ever. I made them with coconut sugar just now! Yum!
Thanks for letting me know. I’m glad you liked them!