Incredible Vegan Pancakes

The best vegan pancakes made from scratch in just 10 minutes! These easy pancakes are soft and buttery, perfectly golden brown, and extra fluffy too. You’re going to want to sink your teeth into a big stack dripping with butter and syrup!

Whether you’re whipping up a batch of light and buttery, plant based pancakes on a busy weekday morning or for a leisurely weekend brunch, I’ve kept the recipe very simple and straightforward so anyone can make them from beginners to kids and pros alike.

I mean look how gorgeous and fluffy that stack of pancakes is! No one will believe there’s no eggs or dairy in these pancakes. But there isn’t, and you don’t even need a vegan egg substitute like flax egg or aquafaba. That’s because the baking powder and apple cider vinegar are doing the heavy lifting (so to speak!).

I’d stack these fluffy vegan buttermilk pancakes up against any pancake recipe – vegan or not!

Vegan Pancake Ingredients

These vegan pancakes are made with just 8 basic pantry ingredients that you probably have in the kitchen right now! Here’s what you’ll need:

• Flour: All purpose, spelt or gluten-free (1:1) flour.
• Dairy free milk: I like protein-rich, unsweetened plain soy milk best for making vegan buttermilk (it has the best curdle response). But almond milk or another plant based milk will work too.
• Apple cider vinegar, vinegar or lemon juice: The acid curdles the milk plus it adds tanginess and helps the pancakes rise up and get fluffy.
• Baking powder: The leavening agent to make the pancakes fluffy.
• Salt: Makes all the flavors pop.
• Maple syrup: Adds a kiss of sweetness and aids in a gorgeous golden brown pancake. Sub sugar or coconut sugar if preferred.
• Vanilla extract: For depth of flavor and sweetness.
• Vegan butter/margarine (melted): Optional for added richness and texture. Could sub for a neutral oil or coconut oil (unscented) in a pinch.

How to Make Fluffy Vegan Pancakes

These homemade vegan pancakes come together in 4 easy steps. The first batch is ready to devour in under 10 minutes – perfect for satisfying your pancake craving! Let’s get started:

1. Vegan Buttermilk: Mix the non dairy milk and apple cider vinegar together in a large measuring cup. Let it sit for a couple minutes to curdle. Then stir in the melted butter, maple syrup and vanilla.
2. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl.
3. Stir the wet ingredients and dry ingredients together just until incorporated.

4. Preheat your skillet/griddle over medium heat. Use a non-stick pan and/or add a drizzle of oil to the pan to prevent the pancakes from sticking.
5. Pour ¼ cup measure of vegan pancake batter onto a greased skillet (or griddle).

5. It’s time to flip the pancakes when the edges start to look dry/cooked and the surface has a few bubbles (see photo). This takes around 2 minutes on medium-low heat then flip and cook the other side for ~2 minutes.
6. To serve: Once cooked, slather with dairy-free butter and maple syrup and get ready for pancake bliss in every bite!

MILLION DOLLAR TIPS: Don’t try to cook the pancakes faster by turning the heat to high – the center of the pancakes will be undercooked. Also DO NOT PUSH THE PANCAKES DOWN with a flipper to help cook the middles. The goal is light, fluffy, golden pancakes not flat, heavy pancakes. The answer to perfectly cooked, fluffy pancakes is: turn the heat down which gives the pancakes time to cook through.

Expert Pancake Cooking Tips

When it comes to making no fail, weekend vegan pancakes, I have a few tips:

• Let the pancake batter sit: Once stirred together let the batter sit for ~5 minutes before you begin cooking. This gives the baking powder time to active so you get nice light fluffy pancakes. And don’t stir the pancake batter after it sits, just scoop and fry.
• Pancake Flipping 101: If you’re new to flipping pancakes, don’t make them too big and don’t put too many in the pan – both things make pancakes more difficult to handle. For example if you crowd the pan, you’ll have to pick the pancake straight up and flip it over and straight down – that takes some serious practice!! Give yourself a little elbow room (and some grace) while practicing your pancake flipping skills! Start with just 2 in the pan or a few mini pancakes at first.
• Don’t touch it!: Once you’ve flipped the pancake, don’t touch it! It starts to rise and get fluffy immediately upon hitting the hot pan, and you don’t want to interrupt that food science from happening! Plus things get messy when you try to adjust a raw pancake (trust me!).
• Wipe the pan: I wipe the pan between batches to get rid of any crumbs so they don’t burn and stick to the next batch of pancakes. I also like to remove any oil and add new oil for each new batch.

Pancake Variations and Topping Ideas

There’s more than one way to top a pancake. Go old school with dairy-free butter and maple syrup OR here’s some fun variations and topping ideas to try:

• Vegan Chocolate Chip Pancakes: Add 1 cup of vegan chocolate chips like Enjoy Life to the pancake batter. The kids love mini vegan pancakes with mini chocolate chips!
• Easy Vegan Blueberry Pancakes: Add 1 cup (or more) of fresh or frozen* blueberries to the pancake batter. You’ll get bursts of blueberry in every bite! *Frozen blueberries may bleed color into the batter.
• Fancy Topping Ideas: For a fancy Mother’s Day or Easter brunch or birthday breakfast, drizzle the pancakes with vegan chocolate ganache or mixed berry compote and top with fresh berries. Both vegan sauces can be made a week in advance and stored in the fridge
• Fresh Fruit: Top with vegan whipped cream and sliced bananas, raspberries, strawberries or blueberries. Yum!

Storing and Reheating

These vegan pancakes are best hot and fresh out of the pan, but if you have leftovers, they store well in the fridge or freezer:

• Store leftover pancakes in the fridge for 4 or 5 days. Reheat them in a hot skillet, the microwave or toaster oven.
• Vegan pancakes can be frozen for up to several months in a freezer bag or container. Reheat as above.

More Vegan Breakfast Recipes

If you love this vegan buttermilk pancake recipe, try one of these tasty vegan breakfast ideas next:

• Vegan Tofu Scramble
• Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
• Small Batch Vegan Banana Muffins
• Epic Vegan Banana Bread
• Darn Delicious Vegan Granola
• Vegan Breakfast Burrito (with tofu scrambled eggs)