How to Make Banana Pancakes

If you’ve ever wondered how to make banana pancakes, look no further. Our son Corban may only be two and a half, but he loves to cook and today he’s here to show how to make banana pancakes that are gluten free, grain free, protein pancakes with just three ingredients!

Our little man loves to cook so much, that we decided to be part of creating a new link party called Mini Chef Mondays. It’s all about getting kids in the kitchen and teaching them to love food and cooking.

Every Monday there will be post here of Corban (and soon Larkin!) learning to cook and explore food. We’ll have tips for cooking with kids and ideas on helping them try new foods.
You can also share links to your posts if you have a mini chef, so be sure to check it out at the end of this post!
Now back to the pancakes…

THREE INGREDIENT PROTEIN PANCAKES (GLUTEN FREE AND GRAIN FREE!)

Our family loves pancakes, but I’m always on the lookout for healthier versions. While our
fluffy whole wheat pancakes are delicious, sometimes I want an option that doesn’t contain any flour, because I forgot to grind some when I emptied the tub in the freezer.
This banana pancakes recipe is great because it’s not only dairy free, gluten free, and grain free (for those with dietary restrictions), but they’re surprisingly filling protein pancakes because of the eggs.

Corban giggled when I called them “Paleo Pancakes”,, although not all Paleos eat bananas, and decided that he would call them “Dinosaur Pancakes”.
Be forewarned, these are not going to taste exactly like pancakes made with flour. The texture is a little different (more crepe like) and they taste like bananas, which is the only sweetener. But they are so good, we didn’t even add syrup, and chose instead to top them with fresh kiwi and strawberries.

Ok, enough intro. Here’s Corban demonstrating how to make banana pancakes!

HOW TO MAKE BANANA PANCAKES

If you’ve never had your child cook with you before, these pancakes are a great place to start, especially for toddlers. We use a stand mixer and blender (because what kid doesn’t love power tools?), but you could simply mix them with a bowl and fork.

This first step is cracking the eggs into your bowl.

This is the egg cracking dance. Our cooking almost always involves dancing.

Because there are two eggs in this recipe, I helped Corban crack the first one, and then let him do the second on his own. We say, “hold it gentle and hit it hard”. So he holds it gently in his hand, but hits it pretty hard on the edge of the bowl. Then he carefully pulls the shell apart to let the yolk and white slide out.
Or he smushes it in his hand. He is two after all. But eggs are cheap and easy to clean up, especially if you have a dog.

Eggs in the bowl!

Now he slowly starts the mixer, turning it up a little at a time until it’s at the highest speed.

After a few minutes of mixing, they’re nice and frothy.

Next it’s time for the cinnamon. I like to teach kids to smell and taste ingredients before putting them into your food. One of Corban’s favorite afternoon activities is going through the kitchen cupboards and asking to taste things.

We’ve taught him he has to ask before tasting ingredients after a cayenne pepper incident.

In goes 1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon.

The next step is banana smushing. Our bananas were just barely ripe, and needed a lot of squishing. Mushy bananas like you’d use for banana bread would be great for this recipe.

Look at that concentration! This is a great opportunity to praise your mini chef for how strong they are.

We mixed the banana into the eggs, but there will still some chunks because our bananas we so firm.

So we poured it into a blender and blended it on high until everything was liquefied. I’d always made these in the mixer with mushy bananas, but I think I will make them in the blender from now on. You can just blend the eggs first to froth them up, then blend in the cinnamon and bananas.
But the best part is that the blender makes a great pouring vessel for cooking the pancakes!

Pour the batter into a skillet on medium heat. I used a little coconut oil to grease the skillet, but you can use a non stick pan or a cooking spray as well.
Make sure to keep them small, no more than three inches in diameter, or they won’t flip very well.

Cook on the first side for 30 seconds to a minute, until you can just get a spatula under it to flip it.

The second side cooks faster, 10-30 seconds.

As you can see, Corban just watches during the cooking process. When he’s a little older I will let him use the stove with help, but right now it is safer for him to stand on a stool and watch from a distance.

We skipped the syrup, and topped these with some chopped strawberries and kiwi. Three pancakes was the perfect serving for our toddler, but Eric and I could easily eat all six ourselves, so you will want to increase this recipe if you’re making it for multiple people.

Notice that beautiful fork he has to eat with?

So unnecessary, pancakes are finger food!

Don’t forget the orange juice. Wow, he’s getting four different fruits with this breakfast!

Also, if you’re interested in food photography, come back tomorrow for a behind the scenes look at how I photographed these pancakes. We’ll look at the lighting and share some secrets for using silverware in photos.

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