Chickpea flour pancakes (gluten-free, oil-free, sugar-free, vegan)

These vegan chickpea flour pancakes are extremely fluffy, and it is so easy to make them! Only 6 ingredients are required and about 20 minutes of your time. These pancakes are perfect to enjoy on a slow morning, with a cup of tea, or coffee!

The chickpea flour pancakes might be the healthiest pancakes that you have ever tried. They are delicious, I must say, especially if using the right toppings for them.

How are these chickpea flour pancakes?

• Gluten-free, because we are using chickpea flour instead of all-purpose flour.
• Oil-free. We’ll cooking them on a non-stick pan, so no oil required.
• Refined sugar-free. Instead of using sugar, we’ll use dates, which are super healthy because they are high in fiber.
• Vegan. No dairy involved. Only plant-based, dairy free ingredients.
• Super fluffy.
• High in protein, due to chickpea flour. Perfect to enjoy them before or after a workout!
• Perfect for meal-prep. I can make chickpea flour pancakes for the next morning as well. It’s nice because I don’t have to spend time thinking what I will have for breakfast the next day. Also, the next morning is always free of washing dishes!
• Easy to make. They don’t require a lot of ingredients or too much of your time.
• Allergy friendly. No nuts, dairy, eggs, or soy in them!

Let’s talk about chickpea flour

Chickpea flour is also known as garbanzo bean flour. Practically, chickpeas are also called garbanzo beans.

The flour has a light yellow color. It is often confused with another similar flour – gram flour. This one is made out of halved lentils.

It is quite easy to make the chickpea flour yourself at home if you have a high-speed blender. You simply have to add the dried chickpeas into the blender/food processor and blend until flour is obtained. Then, use a sieve to remove any hard parts of the flour.

If you don’t want to make the chickpea flour yourself, you can simply buy it in most supermarkets or online.

Chickpea flour is also very healthy. Check out this article to find out more about the benefits of chickpea and chickpea flour.

Ingredients needed to make the chickpea flour pancakes

• Chickpea flour, obviously. It is the perfect flour to make the pancakes, since it helps the pancakes to hold together, and it gets very fluffy when cooking.  In case you don’t have enough chickpea flour, you could substitute it with some oat flour or buckwheat flour potentially, although I haven’t tried it.
• Baking powder. You can also use baking soda in this recipe, but baking powder is better since it doesn’t increase the bitterness of the chickpea flour.
• Dates. Dates are the sweetener of the recipe. Actually, you can add more dates if you wish. Or you can just omit this ingredient if you want savory pancakes.
• Plant-based milk. For this recipe, I used oat milk, but any plant-based milks will work just as fine. If you don’t have any plant milk in your fridge today, just add water instead!
• Apple cider vinegar. In case you don’t have any apple cider vinegar, you can substitute it for the same amount of lemon juice.
• Vanilla extract. Chickpea flour has a strong flavor, but vanilla extract helps the pancakes to neutralize the taste of the chickpea flour. Eventually, use cinnamon, cardamom, or almond extract instead of vanilla extract.

What kitchen equipment do you need to make the chickpea pancakes?

• A blender/food processor. This is required because we use the dates as a sweetener, and it is easier to blend them than to mash. However, you can easily make this recipe in a bowl and replace the dates with about 2 tbsp of liquid sweetener, such as maple syrup.
• A non-stick pan. If you don’t have one, then use some oil to grease the pan before adding the pancake batter.

How to make the chickpea flour pancakes?

1. Combine the ingredients into a blender or food processor: the chickpea flour, baking powder, dates, plant-based milk, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla extract. Blend until the batter is smooth. Alternatively, mix everything into a mixing bowl instead of the blender, but instead of dates, add 2-3 tbsp of maple syrup.
2. Into a heated nonstick pan on medium-low heat, add around 2-3 tbsp of the chickpea flour batter. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes, then flip. Remove the pancakes from the heat after another 1-2 minutes.
3. Add your favorite topping on the pancakes and enjoy!

What topping can I add on the chickpea flour pancakes?

I mentioned above that toppings are the best part of pancakes. If I don’t have peanut butter and maple syrup in my pantry, it means that I don’t have all the ingredients for the pancakes!

Here are some nice toppings that you can add to your pancakes:

• Maple syrup or another liquid sweetener, such as rice syrup, date syrup, agave syrup.
• Peanut butter, or another nut butter, like cashew butter, almond butter.
• Fresh or frozen fruits. My favorites are bananas, strawberries, frozen raspberries.
• Soy yogurt or coconut yogurt.
• You can also add chopped nuts, seeds, or dried fruits.

How to store the chickpea flour pancakes?

Store the pancakes into an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. When ready to serve, you can eat them directly from the fridge, warm them up on a pan, or in a toaster.

If you wish to freeze them, put them into an airtight container or into a zipper bag and store them for up to 2 months. Thaw them 1 night before serving them in the fridge.

How these chickpea flour pancakes taste?

What I can say, is that they are quite different from the classic pancakes, because the chickpea flour has a stronger, nuttier flavor than all-purpose flour.

The pancakes are slightly sweet, very fluffy, and light. You can adjust the sweetness of them by adding more/fewer dates. Also, the toppings make the difference. So, make sure to add a generous amount of maple syrup on top!

How to make the pancakes taste even better?

You can add and fold into the batter, after it is smooth and creamy, one of the following ingredients:

• Frozen/fresh blueberries.
• Frozen/fresh raspberries.
• Chocolate chips.

Make sure not to add too much, otherwise, the chickpea batter won’t stick together. For 2 servings (8 pancakes), do not add more than 1/3 cups of any of these ingredients.

Also, keep in mind to make the pancakes immediately after you have folded in one of the ingredients mentioned above. Otherwise, the batter will change its consistency.

Want more delicious recipes with chickpeas?
–vegan chickpea cookies
–chickpea brownies

*Please note that I may earn a small commission from Amazon and iHerb in case you decide to buy products from these sites. 
**If you liked the recipe, share the result in the comment section below, I would be glad to see the result and you may help others as well doing so.