Oatmeal Protein Pancakes are full of complex carbohydrates, fiber, and protein for a balanced breakfast. Delicious enough for weekend breakfasts and healthy enough for enjoying daily.
If you follow me on Instagram, you already know pancakes are a household staple.
Both my husband and I will make a big batch of pancakes every week and enjoy them for meals throughout the week.
We tailor them to be a good ratio of carbs, fats, and protein, because what can I say? We’re biohacking junkies.
These simple Oatmeal Protein Pancakes are everything I look for in a meal.
They are full of slow-burning complex carbohydrates from the whole grains (from the whole oats), contain a decent amount of dietary fiber, and we’re infusing them with protein from egg whites and protein powder for a balanced meal.
Plus, slathering the pancakes with delicious toppings like butter (or nut butter), pure maple syrup (or honey), and fruit is a guaranteed great time.
The way I see it, these pancakes are tasty enough for a delicious family breakfast on Sunday mornings, yet mindful enough for everyday eating.
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients needed to make these delicious oatmeal pancakes!
Ingredients for Oatmeal Protein Pancakes:
Rolled Oats: Old fashioned rolled oats get blended up in a blender to take the place of all purpose flour for these oatmeal pancakes. Quick oats or instant oats work too, but steel cut oats won’t have the right texture or consistency.
I use sprouted gluten free oats, which are also glyphosate-free to get the most out of the pancakes.
Protein Powder: In order to give the pancakes a boost of protein, we add protein powder. I use Goat Whey Protein Powder, which is unsweetened and unflavored, but a delicious vanilla protein powder would work great.
My top recommendations for plant-based protein powder are hemp protein or pea protein.
If you don’t have protein powder on hand, replace it with ¼ cup of additional oats.
Eggs and Egg Whites: Both whole eggs and egg whites are used to make fluffy pancakes that are higher in protein. I always have a carton of egg whites on hand for these types of recipes so that I don’t have to waste the yolks. The fluffy texture is due to the egg whites.
If you’d like to use plain Greek yogurt instead of egg whites, feel free to make the swap.
Milk of Choice: Use any dairy or non-dairy milk you like. I use oat milk, but almond milk, soy milk, cashew milk and coconut milk all work. Use whole milk if you do dairy, as the fat content will make for tender pancakes.
Pure Maple Syrup: To sweeten the batter a bit, add a little pure maple syrup or regular cane sugar or brown sugar.
Baking Powder: Used as the leavening agent to ensure these pancakes have plenty of rise and hold together nicely, we use baking powder.
Cinnamon: Adding a one teaspoon ground cinnamon brings warm flavor to these healthy pancakes.
Sea Salt: A pinch of kosher salt enhances the flavors of the pancakes.
Optional Additions:
- Make chocolate chip oatmeal pancakes by sprinkling chocolate chips on the pancake batter as soon as it hits the skillet.
- Sprinkle chopped raw walnuts or pecans on the pancake batter while it’s cooking in the skillet for nutty oatmeal pancakes.
Recipe Adaptations:
- Replace the egg whites with Greek yogurt if you’d like.
- For tender pancakes, add 2 tablespoons of avocado oil or olive oil to the pancake batter for moist pancakes. If you aren’t trying to make these low-fat, I recommend adding the oil because it will add moisture to the pancakes to make them taste like regular pancakes.
- Because I haven’t tested the recipe using a flax egg replacement, I can’t be sure how they would turn out without the eggs. If you’ve made a recipe similar to this in the past using flax eggs and it worked out for you, replace the egg whites with yogurt and replace the eggs with two flax eggs.
- If you have vanilla extract on hand, add 1 teaspoon to the batter.
Now that we’re familiar with the ingredients list for this oatmeal pancake recipe, let’s make some delicious pancakes!
How to Make Oatmeal Pancakes:
Transfer the rolled oats to a high-powered blender or a food processor and blend on high speed for 30 seconds, or until a flour forms.
Add the protein powder, baking powder, ground cinnamon and sea salt and blend to combine (dry ingredients).
Transfer the rest of the wet ingredients (eggs, egg whites and milk of choice) to the blender and blend until everything is combined.
Allow the batter to sit for 10 minutes. It will thicken substantially during this time.
Heat a large nonstick skillet (or electric griddle) over medium heat and add enough avocado oil (or melted butter or coconut oil) to generously coat the surface. Once the skillet has heated up for a few minutes, pour batter onto the hot surface, making any size pancakes you like.
If you’d like, sprinkle chocolate chips, blueberries and/or chopped nuts on top of the batter.
Cook the pancakes until it appears as though the sides have firmed up, about 2-3 minutes, then flip and continue cooking another 1 to 3 minutes or until the pancakes are cooked through.
The pancakes should be slightly golden brown on each side. If they are too light in color, increase the heat to medium-high heat. If you find the pancakes are getting too dark too quickly, decrease to medium-low heat.
Repeat for the remaining batter. If you’d like, you can keep the finished pancakes on a baking sheet in the oven (set it to its lowest temperature setting) until you’re ready to serve the whole family.
Serve pancakes with your favorite toppings such as butter, pure maple syrup, almond butter (or nut or seed butter of choice), fresh fruit such as bananas, fresh berries, etc. My favorite way of eating these is spreading both butter and Nuttzo on the pancakes and adding a small drizzle of maple syrup or honey.
Store leftover pancakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in a freezer bag in the freezer for up to 2 months.
There we have it, folks! A tasty balanced breakfast complete with complex carbohydrates, protein and fiber.
Nutrition Facts:
If you make 14 small pancakes, each pancake contains 82 calories, 2 grams of fat, 12 grams of total carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, and 5 grams of protein.
In this sense, these pancakes are a surprisingly good source of protein, as I would say 4 pancakes would be a standard serving, giving you 20 grams of protein.
For me, 4 pancakes plus another source of protein like a veggies scramble or sauteed vegetables and sardines is a normal meal.
So long as you aren’t adding a tremendous amount of syrup or high sugar toppings to these pancakes, they are a great source of carbohydrates without spiking blood sugar.
Make them to share with the whole family for any weekend breakfast, or enjoy them for a great post workout meal or snack.
Whip these oatmeal pancakes up for meal prep for an easy meal throughout the week!
If you love these oat pancakes and healthy pancake recipes, also try my Sweet Potato Rolled Oat Protein Pancakes and my Flourless Oatmeal Banana Pancakes.
Try out my other healthy pancake recipes!
More Healthy Pancake Recipes:
- Keto Pancakes (Made with Coconut Flour)
- Almond Flour Pancakes
- Flourless Protein Pumpkin Pancakes
- Grain-Free Almond Butter Protein Pancakes
- Fluffy Gluten-Free Sourdough Pancakes
Healthy breakfast of champions, here we go!
Oatmeal Protein Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 4 Tbsp protein powder of choice optional*
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon optional
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 egg whites ⅓ cup**
- 1 cup milk of choice***
- 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup****
Optional Additions:
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Instructions
- Transfer the rolled oats to a high-powered blender or a food processor and blend on high speed for 30 seconds, or until a flour forms.
- Add the protein powder, baking powder, ground cinnamon and sea salt and blend to combine (dry ingredients).
- Transfer the rest of the wet ingredients (eggs, egg whites and milk of choice) to the blender and blend on medium speed until everything is combined.
- Allow the batter to sit for 10 minutes. It will thicken substantially during this time.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet (or electric griddle) over medium heat and add enough avocado oil (or melted butter or coconut oil) to generously coat the surface. Once the skillet has heated up for a few minutes, pour batter onto the hot surface, making any size pancakes you like.
- If desired, sprinkle the batter with chocolate chips, blueberries or chopped nuts.
- Cook the pancakes until it appears as though the sides have firmed up, about 2-3 minutes, then flip and continue cooking another 1 to 3 minutes or until the pancakes are cooked through. The pancakes should be slightly golden brown on each side. If they are too light in color, increase the heat to medium-high heat. If you find the pancakes are getting too dark too quickly, decrease to medium-low heat.
- Repeat for the remaining batter. If you'd like, you can keep the finished pancakes on a baking sheet in the oven (set it to its lowest temperature setting) until you're ready to serve the whole family.
- Serve pancakes with your favorite toppings such as butter, pure maple syrup, almond butter (or nut or seed butter of choice), fresh fruit such as bananas, fresh berries, etc. My favorite way of eating these is spreading both butter and Nuttzo on the pancakes and adding a small drizzle of maple syrup or honey.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Can you pre-make the dry part of the pancake mix the day before ?
Hi Cris! I don’t see why not! I think that’s a great idea 🙂 Hope you enjoy the pancakes!
Wait. Does the maple syrup go in the batter/blender? It’s not listed in the instructions with the wet ingredients. I’m confused.
Hi Megan! If you’d like to add the pure maple syrup to the pancake batter, you can do so at the same time as the rest of the wet ingredients (eggs, milk, etc). The pure maple syrup is optional so it’s up to you whether or not you’d like to add it. Hope this makes sense! xo
Have tried so many oat pancake recipes and finally found “the one”. This recipe made pancakes that were light and not doughy/gummy. I used oat flour as I had some and no protein powder. Delicious! Thank you.
I’m so happy to hear you enjoy the recipe! Thanks so much for swinging back around to share your experience 🙂
Can I use all egg whites? If so how much egg white would replace the 2 whole eggs?
Hi Emily! You can use all egg whites, but just know that the texture will be a little dry. Two eggs equals half a cup, so use half a cup of additional egg whites to replace the full eggs 🙂 Hope you enjoy! xo
Oh wow! The pancakes tasted GREAT!! This will be my go-to pancake recipe from now on!
I added walnuts too. I used 3 eggs in this recipe and it turned out perfect! Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Wahoo! I’m so thrilled to hear that! They’re my current favorite too 🙂
Hi Julia!
You noted we can substitute some of the milk for more egg whites. Should we substitute 1:1 in volume (e.g. 1/3 cup egg whites for 1/3 cup of milk)? Thanks!
Leslie
Hi Leslie! Yes, that’s what I do! I leave the liquid volume the same and simply swap in more egg whites 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
Sounds great can I just use the whole egg instead if just egg whites?
Hi Leanne! You can replace the egg whites with another full egg or with 1/3 cup of Greek yogurt 🙂 Hope that helps!
Could you make waffles from this pancake batter? They freeze and reheat better.
Hi Matthew! Oh that’s such a great question! I’ve never tested it myself so I can’t be sure a waffle version will turn out. I would definitely add 3 tablespoons (or more) of oil to the batter to ensure there is enough fat to not have the batter stick to the waffle iron. Let me know if you try it! xo
Hello! Thank you for this recipe. I would like to try it. Just one question….how much Greek yogurt is required if I replaced it with the egg white.
I don’t like the idea of wasting the egg white. Thank you for your reply! Best regards, Diana
@Diana, use 1/3 cup of Greek yogurt to replace the egg whites 🙂 hope you enjoy! Xoxo
I do a similar recipe that is 1. Sweeter, 2. Has more protein, and 3. Has less sodium and more potassium for better heart health. It is 2 (100g for a big batch) parts oat flour to 1 part corn starch, 1 part vanilla casein protein powder, 1 part vanilla whey protein, then 2.5g cream of tartar, 1.25g baking soda, 300g egg whites, 375g non-fat Greek yogurt, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 175-200g (175-200ml) water. Works for waffles and pancakes. 1 4” waffle or pancake equivalent has 9g protein and ~70 calories. They’re sweet enough not to need syrup… but made into waffles and drizzled with melted cookie butter or chocolate almond butter is fantastic.
@Bryan,
My own reply… but you *must* use both casein and whey protein. The casein protein absorbs liquids better and your resulting pancakes or waffles will be fluffy and have a satisfying texture. Also, I recommend adding some mini chocolate chips for a bittersweet chocolatey counterbalance to the vanilla pancake.
@Bryan, All of that sounds great! I’m always up for a sweet tasting fluffy pancake that is full of protein! I’ll try your method the next time I make pancakes. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Great recipe! I make something similar, but bake the batter on a parchment-lined cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 12-15 mins. It’s so much quicker, simpler, and easier to clean up.
Thanks for inspiring so many fabulous recipes!
@Molly, I love sheet pan pancakes too! I do the same thing when I want to multi-task and don’t want to hover over the stove. Thank you for sharing!!