These secretly vegan and healthy brownie batter pancakes taste like eating dessert for breakfast!
This is the pancake recipe for chocolate lovers.
Dark, rich and fudgy, yet healthy enough for breakfast at the same time!
The delicious homemade chocolate pancakes are magically made without any eggs at all and can be completely dairy free and vegan.
You may also like these Overnight Oats – 15 new flavors
Pancake Topping Ideas
Chocolate Syrup
Sliced Strawberries
Mini Chocolate Chips + Banana
For the past few days, one of my friends has been staying with me while she waits to move into a new apartment, so basically, it’s been an ongoing slumber party.
We’ve had movie nights, spa nights, and every night is chocolate night.
On the menu last night: Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Yet both of us woke up craving chocolate again this morning, and the only way to remedy this was to make a chocolate pancake feast.
Brownie Batter Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup spelt, white, or oat flour (for flourless, try these Keto Pancakes)
- 1 tbsp dutch cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp sweetener of choice
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/16 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp oil, or applesauce or mashed banana for fat free
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 4 – 5 tbsp milk of choice
Instructions
- Stir dry ingredients well, then add wet. Add more milk of choice as needed to form a batter consistency. Grease a nonstick pan well and heat on medium. When skillet is hot (add a drop of water to test – the pan is ready if it sizzles), drop small ladles of the batter. Use a spatula to flip when edges begin to look dry. Re-grease the pan after each set of pancakes.*I personally much prefer the oil version but some readers really like the fat-free one so I'm including that too. I haven't tried subbing regular cocoa powder for the dutch, so be sure to report back if you experiment with that. View Nutrition Facts
Notes
More Dessert-For-Breakfast Ideas
(Or this Vegan Banana Bread)
Bless your soul, Katie. I made a batch of these TWICE today for lunch and a snack (guilty c: ) and they are unbelievable. A few things I added/ substituted- I didn’t have any applesauce, so i added a tbsp of banana using your melted banana trick, plus about a tsp of canola oil. also, I used ap flour and they turned out great! to top it all off, i spread a little bit of PB&Co. dark chocolate dreams (all natural, vegan) peanut butter on top – it was heaven on earth. Plus, I couldn’t help but sprinkle some semisweet choco chips over them, either! thank you so much for the recipe- i WILL use it again
These were absolutely delicious! My husband had been moaning about feeling all unhealthy, so I decided to make him these with some fruit for breakfast instead of a normal large Saturday brunch. He LOVED them. It was a great introduction for him to your recipes- I suggested your shamrock shake, and he turned his nose up at the idea of spinach, so I’ve still got some work to do, but these were sure a great way to start! Thank you!
Hi Katie! I found your site a few months ago while wandering around on Pinterest. I now make your cake batter shake most nights of the week! 🙂 I just wanted to share that I just got done making this recipe for probably the 10th time, at the request of my 5 year old daughter. They are her favorite and I’m more than happy to indulge something so healthy! Thank you!!! 🙂
Aw thank YOU, Kim :).
I tried this gluten free (with almond and brown rice flour) and came out too thin….Any suggestions? Thanks!
I just made these pancakes… and they really are delicious! I am a chocolate & peanut butter addict.
So what I did was melt a tablespoon of PB in the microwave for roughly 45 seconds and then drizzled it over the pancakes. I also added 1/2 a teaspoon of mini choc. chips which made the pancakes decadent!
Thanks so much for this recipe. It hit the spot!
Hey Katie!! So I made these delicious pancakes this morning, but I used oat flour instead (that’s all I had)..BUT…they were amazing!!!! Definitely making these again!!!
I made these again last we only this time I tried the recipe with sugar and oil instead of applesauce. Couldn’t believe the difference! The low fat version is good, but using oil definitely brings this recipe to a whole other level of chocolate heaveness!
Hi Katie! Just found your website via Gina @ skinnytaste.com. You did your guest post on my birthday last year so clearly I am meant to make this amazing-looking pancakes. I am sitting here at working watching the clock slowly tick to 7am so I can go home and make these. I can’t wait! I am a baker so any way I can make things healthier, I am all for it. I can’t wait to explore more of your recipes!
I made this this morning. Holy Moly! SO GOOD! I’m going to make them tomorrow morning too! Instead of flour, I pureed some dry oatmeal in my food processor to make “flour”. I wanted to get some of my grains in this morning. I only had regular hershey cocoa powder on hand but it was just as good. I actually made a “double” batch. My changes: 1/2 C dry oatmeal, blended to powder. 2 tbsp applesauce, 1 tbsp oil, 5 tsp sugar. Everything else I kept the same. It made 5 medium sized pancakes. I had one plain, 2 with peanut butter, 1 with light hershey syrup and one with regular syrup. Just a small amount of each topping to keep the calories down. I liked all of the variations. Thanks for a fantastic recipe!
I love the pancakes! have a few left to try and I’m always checking for new recipes on your site to share with my co-workers 🙂
Made these for breakfast this morning, and they were delicious! I used regular cocoa and topped them with the whipped topping from a can! It was like having dessert for breakfast! Thanks for the recipe!
I absolutely adore this recipe! I’ve done it about 5 times in the last two weeks. I was wondering though…. I have an awful sweet tooth for cream horns… do you have any ideas on a healthy recipe for those?? thanks!
I just made these and they were so good! I used reg cocoa because that was all we had. They tasted just like brownies! Thank you so much you have saved my sanity whilest I am on the road to lose 40 more lbs!
What do you use for the topping? Is that chocolate syrup being drizzled over the top ??
I made these for the second time today.
I thought it was odd that the recipe didn’t call for eggs or a vegan egg substitute to help the pancakes hold together but I followed the recipe exactly anyway. They looked exactly like the ones in the picture and tasted great! However, the pancakes in the picture(and the ones I made) are a bit thin in my opinion since I am used to really fluffy non vegan pancakes.
This time I added a flax egg which helped the pancakes fluff up a bit without adding a weird texture or flavor. Next time I may add up to 2 flax eggs. Hope this helps anyone who says their pancakes came out thinner than they would have liked.
soul mates! this recipe will definitely go in my chocolate arsenal. Thank you for a great and healthy way to curb (or feed) my chocolate cravings!!!
Hi,
These look delicious! Is the applesauce like the apple sauce you buy in ajar and serve with pork?! Or s it a special ingredient?
Thanks
Yes, regular jarred applesauce. Unsweetened or sweetened. 🙂