Sweet Potato Pancakes that are delicious and healthy! An Easy Sweet Potato Pancake Recipe anyone can make and enjoy for breakfast!
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Pancakes are such a classic comfort food, but your traditional recipe isn’t exactly a health food, LOL!
However, these sweet potato pancakes are fluffy, soft, and surprisingly healthy! Perfect for when that pancake craving hits.
Made with sweet potato puree and oat flour, these pancakes are the perfect balance of sweet and nutty flavors.
Make them for a feel-good weekend breakfast or meal prep and freeze them for a quick and wholesome weekday morning meal.
Why we love these Sweet Potatoes Pancakes:
- Gluten free & dairy free: These pancakes use no refined flour or dairy; you would never know!
- Superfood ingredients: The avocado oil and sweet potatoes in this recipe are full of vitamins, and the apple cider vinegar helps improve your digestion.
- SO moist: Adding sweet potatoes to these pancakes gives them a light, moist, and sweet flavor and texture
Sweet Potato Pancake Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make these delicious pancakes!
- oat flour, tapioca starch
- baking soda, baking powder
- cinnamon, salt
- sweet potato puree
- non-dairy milk
- eggs
- avocado oil
- maple syrup
- vanilla extract
- apple cider vinegar
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded box.
How to make Sweet Potato Pancakes:
- Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl and stir together until there are no lumps.
- Whisk together the wet ingredients in another bowl until smooth.
- Pour flour mixture into the bowl and stir until there are no lumps or streaks.
- Heat a medium-sized skillet over low-medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, spray with a little cooking spray or lightly oil the pan. Depending on the size of pancakes you wish to make, pour ¼ to ½ cups of pancake batter into the skillet. Flip the pancake once the edges become firm, after about 1 minute. Cook the other side until golden brown and the pancake is no longer doughy in the middle. Serve warm.
SUBSTITUTIONS FOR SWEET POTATO PANCAKES
Oat flour – I prefer to use store-bought oat flour in this recipe because it tends to make a smoother pancake batter. If making oat flour at home, be sure to process the oats thoroughly so that they become a fine powder. Keep in mind that you will need about 1 ¼ cups of oats for every cup of oat flour. For 1 ½ cups of oat flour, you will need a little less than 2 cups. Measure this ingredient as oat flour, not oats. Here’s a tutorial on how to make Oat Flour
Tapioca starch – Tapioca starch is added to this recipe to help make these pancakes light and fluffy. Oat flour alone in recipes can be relatively dense, so a little bit of starch goes a long way to give these pancakes a perfectly light, airy texture. Cornstarch is an easy substitute if that is what you have on hand.
Sweet potato puree – You can use fresh or canned puree in this recipe. Making sweet potato puree at home is very easy and there are instructions below. You can also make it with leftover sweet potatoes. One medium sweet potato will yield about 1 cup of puree; however, it is important to measure this ingredient as puree because too much or too little will affect the quality of this recipe. There are instructions on how to make homemade puree below!
Non-dairy milk – You can use almost any type of milk for this recipe. I would steer clear of canned coconut milk which will add a significant amount of fat to the recipe and may alter the chemistry. Soy, oat, hemp, cashew, almond milk, or even cow’s milk will work. If using cow’s milk, lower-fat options are the best choice. Although whole milk will likely work, I have not tested this and 1% or 2% are more comparable to non-dairy milk alternatives.
Eggs – I tested ground flax seed as an alternative to eggs in this recipe. The pancakes were a little more doughy and took a little longer to cook, but a flax egg is still a great option for people with egg allergies or who follow a vegan diet. For this recipe, you will need 2 ‘flax eggs’. For 2 ‘flax eggs’, combine 2 tbsp of flaxseed and 5 tbsp (1/4 cup + 1 tbsp) of hot water in a small bowl and stir together. Set aside for about 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens into a viscous egg-like substance.
Avocado oil – Any neutral-flavored cooking oil will work in this recipe. If using coconut oil, melt it before adding it to the recipe.
Maple syrup – Maple syrup pairs so well with sweet potatoes, but if you want to swap out this ingredient, consider trying another liquid sweetener like honey or agave.
Apple cider vinegar – Apple cider vinegar is used in this recipe to react with the leavening agents creating tiny air bubbles, and making light and fluffy sweet potato pancakes. Regular white vinegar can be used as a substitute.
Gluten Free – This recipe can easily be gluten free if the oats or oat flour used is certified gluten free. While oats themselves do not contain gluten, they are generally processed on the same equipment as wheat and other cereal grains and can be a common source of cross-contamination.
How to make sweet potato puree in the oven:
My favorite way to make sweet potato puree is by baking the sweet potatoes first. This method tends to create the smoothest puree and the best flavor even though it takes a little longer. To do this:
- Preheat your oven to 375°. Wash the sweet potatoes and poke a few small holes in them using a knife or fork.
- Line a baking sheet with tin foil and place the sweet potatoes on top of the foil. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 1-1.5 hours, or until the sweet potatoes are SUPER soft and the sugars are oozing out.
- Once the sweet potatoes are soft, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool. Peel the skin off (this will be very easy if they are cooked thoroughly) and place the flesh in a blender or food processor and puree until silky smooth.
How to make sweet potato puree in the microwave:
You can also make sweet potatoes in the microwave!
- Wash the potatoes, poke a few small holes in them and place them on a ceramic plate.
- Microwave the sweet potatoes for 5 minutes on high.
- Remove them from the microwave and flip them over.
- Return them to the microwave and cook for another 2 minutes. Repeat until they are soft and the skin is easily removed.
In my experience, the oven method is less fuss and the puree comes out smoother and sweeter tasting.
Pro Tip:
Allowing the batter to sit for 5-10 minutes before cooking is important if your batter seems a little runny!
Variations in the consistency of the batter will depend largely on how finely processed the oats are in order to make the oat flour and how much moisture is in the sweet potato puree.
If the oats are not processed finely enough, they will have a harder time absorbing the liquid in the batter and thickening. The apple cider vinegar and the leavening agents will create tiny air bubbles and help to thicken the batter and create fluffy (not flat) pancakes.
How to serve this Sweet Potato Pancake Recipe
Here are some topping ideas for a wholesome and satisfying breakfast:
- Vanilla Greek yogurt and cinnamon
- Healthy Cream Cheese Frosting
- Classic maple syrup and butter
- Coconut oil, a pinch of salt, and a drizzle of honey
- Powdered sugar
- Homemade whipped cream or whipped coconut cream and crushed pecans
- Cooked apples with cinnamon and coconut sugar
- Fresh berries or other fresh fruit (They would make delicious sweet potato and sliced bananas pancakes)
- Nut butter (peanut butter, our Strawberry Pecan Butter, or Gingerbread Cashew Butter would be amazing!)
- Hemp seeds, chopped nuts, toasted pecans, or chocolate chips
Sweet Potato Pancakes Recipe FAQs
These pancakes shouldn’t fall apart, but if they are, add a little extra tapioca starch, or try adding an extra egg to your batter
The amount of moisture in potatoes can make your pancakes mushy. Try letting your batter sit and thicken for 5-10 minutes.
Our sweet potato pancakes have 20g of carbs per serving!
How to store a Sweet Potato Pancake
Storing: This will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container
Freezing: To freeze, allow the leftover pancakes to first cool slightly. Stack the cooled pancakes using parchment paper to separate them. Place a stack of pancakes in a freezer Ziploc bag and seal. Store in the freezer for up to 1 month. To enjoy, simply remove a pancake from the freezer and reheat it in the microwave, no need to thaw. You can also try reheating them in the toaster oven for a crispier pancake.
Reheating: You can reheat any leftover pancakes this recipe in the microwave or toaster oven.
Other healthy breakfast recipes:
Looking for other breakfast ideas? check out these easy, healthy recipes:
Sweet Potato Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup oat flour
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 cup sweet potato puree canned or fresh
- ¾ cup non-dairy milk
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup avocado oil
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Combine dry ingredients (oat flour, tapioca starch, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and sea salt) in a small bowl and stir together until there are no lumps.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (sweet potato puree, non-dairy milk, eggs, avocado oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and apple cider vinegar) until smooth.
- Pour dry ingredients into the bowl with wet ingredients and stir until there are no lumps or streaks.
- For the fluffiest pancakes, allow the batter to sit before cooking for about 5-10 minutes so that the apple cider vinegar and leavening agents can react.
- Heat a medium-sized skillet over low-medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, spray with a little cooking spray or lightly oil the pan. Depending on the size of pancakes you wish to make, pour ¼ to ½ cup of batter into the skillet. Flip the pancake once the edges become firm, after about 1 minute. Cook the other side until the pancake is no longer doughy in the middle.
- Serve warm with your favorite toppings.
Debra Sellstedt says
Hello,
These are so good, however I’m often confused with how many pancakes are considered a “serving” according to the nutrition facts??? This is on several muffin recipes also. They state how many they make and what the nutrition is per serving but not how many a serving is??????
Please reply as I make many of your recipes
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi – the nutrition facts are just an estimate, so if you need to calculate exactly I’d recommend using your own app. It says in the nutrition facts that the serving size is one pancake. For the muffins, it is one muffin as well, but it also says that in the recipe in the nutrition facts next to ‘amount per serving’
colleen R Decker says
Made these this morning, were really good! I didn’t have maple syrup, so added honey; will get some maple syrup for next time.