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I’m not crazy on sweet breakfasts, but every once in a while, the hankering for yummy pancakes will strike. I’m only human. And this vegan spelt pancakes recipe is not only satisfying as heck, but it’s also made with wholemeal spelt flour and is low in sugar. Unless you go to add a drizzle of maple syrup and a whole buttload “accidentally” falls out… oops, oh well. 😉

You may have heard that making the perfect vegan pancakes is a kitchen nightmare. I have not found this to be true at all, it’s just about ensuring you have a few ingredients that act as…

The Egg Replacer

There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution when it comes to replacing eggs to create vegan or egg-free recipes. An egg, when used in cooking, has a number of properties including raising, binding, emulsifying and thickening. In vegan recipes, you may need to use a combination of ingredients to replicate the desired properties.

For this pancake recipe, primarily we need a binding agent substitute – say hi to psyllium powder. As you’ll see in the recipe notes, this is interchangeable for chia powder or flaxseed/linseed meal. Just one thing you should note about flax meal, as well as flaxseeds and flax oil, is that when they are heated, they quickly become rancid and most (if not, all) of the nutritional value is lost. For this reason, I save my flax products for things like smoothies and sprinkling on salads or breakfast bowls.

Psyllium, which you may be more familiar with in its husk form, is a super-rich source of soluble fibre. Plus, it’s a prebiotic, is great for your digestive health and can help keep you regular. Just like flax and chia powder, it turns to a gel when mixed with a little water, giving us our psyllium egg!

An important thing to note when making a psyllium ‘egg’ – unlike a flax ‘egg’, which needs around 10 minutes to form into a gel, psyllium will turn to a gel almost instantly when mixed with water. So there’s no need to make it in advance. In fact, it’s better to mix it with the water only just before mixing it in with the other ingredients – otherwise, it will continue to thicken as it sits and will become difficult to incorporate.

This vegan spelt pancakes recipe is somewhere in between light and fluffy and super thin. I’m not a fan of pancakes that are wafer-thin, but if they’re too thick they can be dry and stodgy. 

These ones are not too thick, not too thin, soft and super absorbent to whatever deliciousness you want to add on top. I had this batch with fresh strawberries and maple syrup, but lemon juice and a sprinkle of coconut sugar is also a fave.

More vegan breakfast recipes coming this way soon!