Almond Flour Pancakes
These almond flour pancakes are tender, hearty and so delicious. Plus, they're gluten-free and lower in carbohydrates than most. Enjoy!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 28, 2024
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These almond flour pancakes offer fantastic flavor. Truly, I’d pick these over buttermilk pancakes at a diner. They’re golden, tender and so flavorful that I often enjoy them with just a spread of almond butter on top. Our two-year-old is a fan, too.
Since these pancakes are made entirely with almond flour, they’re gluten free. Of all the wholesome pancake recipes on this blog, these win the “lowest in carbohydrates” award, so they don’t spike my blood sugar. This pancake recipe is a real winner.
If you’re new to almond flour, this recipe is worth buying a bag. I’ve fallen in love with baking with almond flour and have several more recipes coming soon. I’ve realized that regular flour, whether it’s all-purpose or whole wheat, tends to dull other flavors within the recipe, whereas almond flour lets them shine. It’s magical!
Almond Flour Pancake Tips
These pancakes are more delicate and prone to burning than most. These tips will help as you make your first batch.
Make sure your batter is the right consistency. When I switched brands and types (plain cow’s milk vs. almond milk, etc.), I found that I needed different amounts of milk. You may need to stir in more milk to achieve the desired consistency (see photos). The batter should not be runny or so thick that it’s difficult to stir. It’s just right when you can pour some batter into a pan to make a nice round shape without helping it spread out.
Lightly coat your griddle or skillet with butter or coconut oil in between batches. Be sure to wipe off the excess butter or oil with a paper towel so it doesn’t burn.
The pancakes are ready to flip when about 1/2-inch of the perimeter has turned from glossy to matte. If you’re uncertain, it’s best to wait a little longer than end up with a doughy mess.
As time goes on, dial down the heat. The skillet gets hotter with time, so turn the heat down a smidge after every four pancakes or so. If your pancakes are burning on the outside before they are cooked through on the inside, your skillet is too hot.
Watch How to Make Almond Flour Pancakes
Almond Flour Pancake Ingredient Notes
Blanched fine almond flour is the way to go. Unblanched almond flour (or almond meal) will yield pancakes that are not as tender, tasty or pretty. I don’t recommend it. I tested this recipe with Bob’s Red Mill and Whole Foods 365 brands.
Maple syrup is optional or can be reduced if you’re watching your sugar intake. Otherwise, it offers a lovely, low level of sweetness—I often don’t drizzle more on top. Maple syrup also helps prevent the pancakes from burning on the skillet.
Vanilla extract is key. Don’t skip it or your pancakes won’t taste nearly as nice.
Almond extract is optional. Add it if you want to play up the almond flavor in your pancakes and make them taste reminiscent of almond cookies.
Pancake Serving Suggestions
These pancakes taste terrific with traditional pancake toppings and healthier options. Here’s a list of options you might enjoy with your pancakes.
- Almond butter or peanut butter
- Bananas
- Butter
- Fresh berries or The Easiest Berry Chia Jam
- Greek yogurt
- Maple syrup
- Scrambled eggs
- Whipped cream
More Gluten-Free Breakfasts
- 3-Ingredient Banana Pancakes with oat or buckwheat flour
- Blender Oatmeal Pancakes
- Buckwheat Pancakes
- Crêpes with buckwheat flour
- Gluten-Free Banana Bread (Made with Almond Flour)
Please let me know how your pancakes turn out in the comments! These take some practice, but I hope they become your new favorite pancakes.
Almond Flour Pancakes
These almond flour pancakes are tender, hearty and delicious. Plus, they’re gluten-free and lower in carbohydrates than most. The recipe yields about 12 pancakes (it can be easily halved, but extra pancakes freeze well, so I suggest making the full batch).
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 2 cups (185 grams) fine blanched almond flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
Wet ingredients
- 3 eggs, ideally at room temperature
- ½ cup milk (any milk will do), more as needed
- 2 tablespoons melted butter or melted coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- Avocado oil, butter, or coconut oil, for greasing the pan
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients and gently whisk until combined.
- In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs. Add the remaining wet ingredients and whisk until combined. If the butter solidifies upon contact with cold ingredients, let it warm for a few minutes at room temperature or microwave it in 10-second increments.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir until combined. Warm a large skillet over medium-low heat (or heat an electric skillet to 325 degrees Fahrenheit). It’s warm enough when a few drops of water immediately sizzle upon contact and promptly evaporate.
- Check the batter’s consistency; you may need to stir in more milk (2 tablespoons at a time) to achieve the desired consistency (see photos). The batter should not be runny or so thick that it’s difficult to stir. It’s just right when you can pour some batter into a pan to make a nice round shape without helping it spread out.
- Lightly oil the skillet and wipe out any excess with a paper towel (or evenly distribute about ½ teaspoon oil with a silicone brush). Scoop a scant ¼ cup batter into the skillet. Wait until the perimeter is turning matte and you see bubbles forming all over, then gently flip the pancake and cook until the other side is lightly browned.
- Repeat with the remaining batter, lightly oiling between each round. Reduce the heat as necessary if the pancakes are becoming too dark before cooking through (almond flour pancakes brown more quickly than regular pancakes, and I am constantly turning down the heat as I cook these pancakes in a skillet).
- Transfer the cooked pancakes to a plate or keep them warm in a 200-degree oven. Serve warm. Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or up to 4 months in the freezer.
Notes
Make it dairy free: Choose dairy-free milk, such as almond milk, and use coconut oil instead of butter.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Has anyone tried making these using an egg replacement?
I haven’t, and the eggs are important for structure. Maybe someone else will report back!
I haven’t tried it, but an egg replacement that adds structure is aquafaba. Shake your can of chickpeas before opening and draining to get all the starchy goodness. Then it should whip into a foam that provides lightness and structure for your pancakes.
Hello C&K:
Can we add protein powder to these? If so how much.
Thanks Jenn
Hi Jenn, I don’t have experience with adding protein powder to pancake batter. You could try adding one scoop—please report back!
Hi there C and K: Happy to report added big scoop of protein powder and it turned out great.. could have probably added even more..
So, they were much more filling.
Excellent! Thanks for letting me know! I’ll try that next time I make these.
We are trying to eat low carbs and this sounds wonderful but am I missing the nutritional values somewhere?
Thank you, Suzan! You can click on “nutrition information” underneath the recipe for a full breakdown.
Hi Kate! Happy to receive a new C&K recipe! Do you really mean almond flour (= almond oil removed) or almond meal? I happen to have hazzlenut flour and pistachio flour in my cupboard (I know! I AM lucky!) and would like to try (the second one has a mild flavor compared to the powerful hazzlenut flavor)…
Hi Nathalie! I tested this recipe with Bob’s Red Mill super-fine almond flour and Whole Foods 365 almond flour. I have not heard of the oil being removed from almond flour. Almond meal is more coarse and contains the almond skins, while almond flour is more finely ground with no skins. That’s my understanding, at least! These would taste lovely with hazelnut or pistachio flavor. If you try one of those, please report back! I suspect those flours might have slightly different fat percentages than almond, but I think they’d work well enough.
That IS interesting! I searched on the internet and it seems you are perfectly right about the difference between a nut meal and a nut flour – in the US at least.
I live in France, and we can find either « poudre d’amande » (available in every supermarket – the exact same as your almond flour) or « farine d’amande », which is a by-product in the production of almond oil (= what remains once you’ve extracted the oil, highly rich in proteins. You can find this in small family business websites or small oil factory shops).
Anyway: I still have to try this recipe!
Bye, Kate
Nathalie, that is so interesting! Thank you for your reply. I wonder if we’ll ever see farine d’amande here in the U.S.—that sounds like a fun ingredient to play with.
These GF pancakes have a great flavor, but reminded me that I’m not the biggest fan of pancakes made with all almond flour – just a bit too grainy of a texture for me. Maybe if 1/2 of the flour was almond, and the other half with AP GF flour – the consistency would be good? They cooked up very well though!
If the flour is gritty, it needs to be ground finer. IMO you’ll still notice it in a 50/50 blend. I find a spice grinder works perfectly for this purpose but it is a pain having to do small batches at a time. Secondly, I can eat gluten, so know 50/50 spelt flour and almond flour (actually roasted whole almonds ground in a spice grinder until clumpy flour/no bits formed) instead of 100% AP wheat flour. I added milk slowly, probably less than before with 100% wheat flour because both spelt and almond are less absorbent. Hope that helps :)
I’m so glad they cooked up nicely for you, Meri! Which brand of almond flour did you use? The super-fine varieties yield a nicer texture, but they are a bit different texturally than regular pancakes. If you want to substitute half of another flour, you’ll want to measure it by weight rather than volume for best results. Try 1 cup (92 grams) fine blanched almond flour and 92 grams of another flour.
Thanks for the tip on the measurement. I can’t remember the name of the brand as I put it in a container to store. I do purchase at Costco though.
Yay! I’ve become pre-diabetic now that I’m middle-aged (runs in my mom’s family even for those who are actually underweight) so I’m very excited to see this carb count!
Hi Kate, Do you think I could use oat flour instead of almond flour?
Hi Lorraine! That would probably require quite a bit of tweaking. I would recommend one of these recipes instead, which both use oats/oat flour—3-Ingredient Banana Pancakes or Blender Oatmeal Pancakes.
Could this be easily converted for waffles?
Hi Teresa, you could try. I hadn’t though to try that yet. Typically, waffles need to have a higher fat percentage than pancakes to achieve a nice, crisp texture—but these already have a higher fat due to the almond flour. Please let me know if you try it!
Hi Kate,
Question – could these be made with buttermilk instead of regular milk? Would it require the addition of baking soda?
Thank you,
Ellen
Hi Ellen! I think you could substitute buttermilk with no other changes. It will offer a slight tang, which would be nice! If you were working in the opposite direction—trying to make a buttermilk recipe with baking soda without buttermilk—you’d need to offset the baking soda with a different acid or change to baking powder.
Hi Ellen! Yes, I believe you could make these with buttermilk instead of regular milk, no other substitutions required. The buttermilk will contribute a lightly tangy flavor. If you were working in the opposite direction—substituting milk for buttermilk in a recipe containing baking soda—you would need to add something acidic to counteract the baking soda.
These were delicious, and I will definitely be making them again regularly. I decided to use the almond extract this time, which was very tasty, and I shall need to try it with cinnamon the next.
Awesome! I’m so glad to hear it, Katy. Thank you for letting me know.
Hi Kate! Do you think I could sub flaxseed meal & water for the eggs?
Hi Abigail! You could try, but I’m afraid it is unlikely to work. When I tried substituting flax eggs in an almond flour-based cake, it turned into a big mess!
So excited to try to make these! You make it sound so easy!
can you use egg alternatives such as flax seed/water?
Almond flour tends to be delicate so an egg substitute won’t work very well.
These were great! I like them better than gluten pancakes! Nice nutty flavor. I made as written!
Hi Kate,
Can I substitute avocado oil for the butter?
Hi Sally, yes!
I find this turns out best as written. I hope you try it!
I thought these were delicious. Definitely delicate to cook but they taste lovely. I ran out of maple syrup so used golden syrup and we ate them with strawberry jam.
Happy to hear it! Thank you, Sara!
Sadly my family and I did not like these. Weird texture.
I’m sorry to hear that, Chase. I appreciate your feedback.
These have to be thoroughly cooked to taste good otherwise they taste very grainy ( they were probably slightly undercooked) even though I used the fine blanched almond flour. They do tend to burn easily so I didLower the heat like you recommended and cooked them longer which helped a lot, second batch was much better.
There was no picture to look at , I don’t know why it didn’t come through, so I had to guess about the consistency of the batter. I got it to a slow pour.
Delicious! Perfect change from salads for dinner during this hot weather. I sub in olive oil and only 1 T maple syrup and 1/4 t salt.
These are fantastic pancakes. The texture is quite different from a standard pancake but absolutely delicious. I didn’t use the cinnamon or almond essence, just the vanilla. I served them with sliced peaches and plain yogurt. They were quite sweet enough without needing any additional maple syrup. I’ll definitely make them again
That’s great to hear, Sheila!