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These chickpea pancakes are fluffy, golden, and lightly sweet, made in a blender from one can of chickpeas, rolled oats, and eggs, no flour required. With added protein and fiber, thanks to chickpeas (but no chickpea flavor), they’re about to become your new favorite way of using a can of chickpeas!
save this recipe!I’ve been called the Chickpea Queen of the internet, and honestly…I’ve earned it. After years of developing chickpea blondies, chickpea cookie dough, and chickpea muffins, I’ve learned exactly how to make a can of chickpeas disappear into a recipe while leaving behind only protein, fiber, and structure.
This is that same concept applied to your Saturday morning stack!
Key ingredients
- Chickpeas: They blend completely smooth and contribute protein, fiber, and structure without any detectable flavor. Rinse them well to remove any canning liquid.
- Rolled oats: Blend into a fine flour that gives the pancake its body and a slightly nutty flavor.
- Eggs: Provide lift and binding. Two eggs for eight pancakes is the right ratio for a batter that holds together without being too eggy.
- Milk: Thins the batter to the right pourable consistency. Any dairy-free milk works as a direct substitute. Oat milk produces the closest texture to whole milk.
- Maple & Vanilla: The flavor details that makes these taste like a proper breakfast pancake rather than a protein experiment.
Can you taste the chickpeas?
No. They blend completely smooth and disappear entirely behind the vanilla, maple syrup, and oat flavor. The finished pancake tastes like a slightly nuttier version of a regular pancake. First-time testers consistently have no idea what’s in them!
Topping ideas
These work with anything you’d put on a regular stack.
Classic: butter and maple syrup, which lets the vanilla and oat flavor come through clearly.
Fresh fruit: sliced strawberries, blueberries, or banana with a drizzle of honey.
Nut butter: almond or peanut butter melted into the warm pancakes with a drizzle of maple syrup adds protein and makes the stack more substantial.
Savory: skip the maple syrup and vanilla and top with a fried egg and avocado for a completely different direction that works surprisingly well.
For something quick on a weekday morning, high-protein microwave pancakes are the two-minute version!
Fluffy Chickpea Pancakes (No Flour!)
Ingredients
- 1 15-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ⅔ cup rolled oats, 60 g
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup milk, can use dairy-free, 120 g
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup, 45 g
- 1 tsp vanilla extract, 7 g
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted, 45 g
- neutral oil or butter, for cooking
Instructions
- Preheat: Heat a nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, reduce heat to medium-low and lightly coat with neutral oil or butter.
- Blend Batter: In a high-speed blender, combine 1 15-oz can chickpeas (drained and rinsed), ⅔ cup rolled oats, 2 large eggs, ½ cup milk, 2 Tbsp maple syrup, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, and ½ tsp salt. Blend until completely smooth.Add melted 3 Tbsp unsalted butter and blend again until fully incorporated.
- Cook Pancakes: Pour batter into the pan to form pancakes (I usually spoon them out using a ¼-cup measuring cup). Cook for about 4 minutes, or until bubbles form on the surface and edges begin to set. Flip and cook another 4 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
- Repeat: Continue with remaining batter, adding more oil or butter as needed.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is calculated by Sarah Bond, degreed nutritionist, and should be taken as an estimate. For the most accurate nutritional information, calculate it using the actual ingredients in your recipe.
did you make this?Leave a comment below and tag @liveeatlearn on social media! I love seeing what you’ve made!
I have been looking for recipes to use up cans of chick peas and tried the pancakes. I forgot the vanilla, but they were still great…didn’t tell my husband what the ingredients were and he enjoyed them as well. I usually have a hard time swallowing pancakes because they are too dry, but these were perfect. Will definitely make these again.
Big smiles over here, thanks for trying it Maria!
After the batter was sitting overnight in the fridge it was super thick so I added another egg and 1/3cup of room temperature water then blended it again.
I made a few pancakes out of this and they were OK but not a cake like pancake is
I made waffles out of the rest.
I have a small waffle maker so I just added enough batter so it was just under level. When it was a bit heaped in the middle it ran over the edges. That one cooked about 5 1/2 mins. When just under level I cooked the for 4 mins . The light came on about the 3.15 sec. Mark . Cooked for full 4 mins made sure they were cooked through.
They are flexible in structure.
I reheated in the toaster for waffles and icecream and they were really good.
I think it would make about 15 waffles .
These are fantastic! I made them this morning and they are very fluffy and delicious. I used 1 1/2 cups of chickpeas that I cooked rather than a can and I used almond milk. I’m going to make a double batch next time and freeze the leftovers to reheat in the toaster. Thanks for the lovely recipes
I’m so happy to hear they were a hit, Lindsay!
These were excellent! I subbed with unsweet soymilk and plant butter to make it dairy free and they did not dissappoint!!!! It is hard to find a good GF DF recipe that works well! They kept structure true to a good pancake and rose up- cooked thru and were not dense or gummy- perfect with fresh fruit, maple syrup and cocojune coconut yogurt. Thank you!!!
Yay, so glad they were a hit Lexa!
Can you waffle these?
We haven’t tested this one in the waffle iron, so I really can’t say for sure! Would love to hear how it goes if you try it out.
Holy moley, these are delicious! They are a fluffy, creamy and nutty pancake. You actually feel full after eating a few which is just lovely. Pancakes are huge in my home, my toddler asks for them regularly, so these will be on our rotation from now on! 5 stars!!
Thrilled you loved them Rachael, thanks for the review!
Can you use just oat flour instead of oats?
Yes, that should work!
I was so excited about this recipe, but unfortunately it did not work for me. I followed the ingredients exactly and when it came time to use the batter, my batter was really thick. I sought to make smaller pancakes to help with the batter, but found that due to the amount of time to cook on each side that my pancake was burning on the outside. I then added a bit more almond milk to thin out the batter and adjusted my cooking temp, to no avail. I found it hard to tell if the pancakes were completely done, and the ones I made had a weird texture on the inside, easily broke apart on the outside and did taste like chickpea. Bummed that this did not work and that I couldn’t figure out what the issue was to save the batter.
I’m so sorry to hear that, Alee! It sounds like next time you might just need to turn the heat down. Sometimes, if they cook too quickly, the inside is underdone while the outside burns.