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These gingerbread pancakes are full of cozy spices and molasses! They’re made with oatmeal, so they’re hearty and filling.
A few years ago, my sister and I were brainstorming fun things to do while we had some coveted time together over the holidays. “Gingerbread pancakes!” I remember exclaiming. I could just picture it: our house in the snow, and my sister and I in our PJs eating gingerbread pancakes. So Alex and I created a spiced, hearty gingerbread pancakes recipe for the occasion, and they truly are everything that I imagined.
Gingerbread pancakes…with a hearty oatmeal flair!
Alex and I are rather particular about our pancakes. The standard pancake recipe is full of all purpose flour and sugar, which leaves us hungry literally 1 hour later. Honestly, I feel hungrier in the morning when I eat an all purpose flour pancake than if I ate nothing at all! So Alex and I started adding lots of oat flour (ground oats) to our pancakes. The result is a delicious pancake that’s full of nutrients and keeps you full for hours! We used this trick in our gingerbread pancakes, and it makes for a hearty and healthy breakfast or brunch.
How to make oat flour at home? If you can find it, you can buy oat flour for this recipe — it’s become a lot easier to find at the grocery. But since we always have rolled oats on hand, we find it easier to make our own oat flour! Place the oats into a high speed blender or food processor and blend until it becomes the consistency of flour. The quantities are 1 to 1: so 1 cup oats equals 1 cup oat flour. It’s easy as that!
Tips for making gingerbread pancakes!
These oatmeal pancakes feature gingerbread spice ingredients to make them taste just like gingerbread cake or cookies, using cinnamon, ginger, and allspice. For a bit of that authentic flavor, there’s a hint of molasses! The dark depth of the molasses is what makes these gingerbread pancakes really shine. Here are a few tips for whipping up a batch:
- Add a splash of milk before cooking each batch. The batter for these pancakes is thick because the oats soak up more of the liquid than an all-flour pancake would. Before you cook each batch on the griddle, add a splash of milk to get it to a pourable consistency.
- Top with a little maple syrup. Top these pancakes a bit of pure maple syrup, and they taste like gingerbread dough! Using a hint of maple really helps to bring out the flavors.
Holiday tip: use a pancake shaper!
To amp up the fun around the holidays, use a pancake shaper for these gingerbread pancakes! Alex and I made these pancakes using a gingerbread man pancake shaper, and was a fun activity to do with our toddler! Kids (and adults) love it. Here’s the gingerbread pancake shaper we used. Of course, they taste just as good in circular form, so it’s just a fun bonus: not required!
Can you make them gluten-free?
Yes! These gingerbread pancakes are perfect for a holiday breakfast; we make them on Christmas Day for brunch! They’re easy to make into gluten free pancakes: because they’re mostly made of oat flour, all you’ll need to do is substitute 1-for-1 gluten-free flour for the ¾ cup all purpose flour. It’s possible that you could use some other alternate flours to stand in here (like almond flour or others), but we haven’t tested it. Let us know if you try!
This gingerbread pancakes recipe is…
Vegetarian. To make gluten free, substitute 1-for-1 gluten free flour for the all purpose flour.
Gingerbread Pancakes
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 10 to 12 pancakes 1x
Description
These gingerbread pancakes are full of cozy spices and molasses! They’re made with oatmeal, so they’re hearty and filling.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups old-fashioned oats or oat flour
- ¾ cup all purpose flour (or 1 for 1 gluten free flour)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, plus more for serving
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Instructions
- If making homemade oat flour: place the oats in a high speed blender or food processor and blend until finely ground. If using oat flour, skip this step and just use 1 ½ cups oat flour.
- In a medium bowl, combine the oat flour, all purpose flour (or gluten free flour), baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and kosher salt.
- In another medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, then whisk in the maple syrup, molasses, milk and vegetable oil. Pour in the dry ingredients and mix until a batter forms. Allow the batter to sit for 3 minutes, which will allow it to thicken.
- Lightly grease a skillet with butter and wipe off any extra grease with a paper towel. Heat the skillet to medium heat.
- Add a splash of milk to the batter so that it comes to a pour-able consistency. Pour the batter into small circles and fry the pancakes until the bubbles pop on the top. Then flip and heat until cooked through and lightly browned. For each subsequent batch, add a splash of milk before pouring onto the griddle until the consistency is pourable and not too thick (the oats continue to soak up moisture, so this is the most reliable method for oatmeal pancakes).
- Serve immediately with a drizzle of pure maple syrup. The pancakes will taste lightly sweet without syrup, but adding syrup really brings out the gingerbread flavor!
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Looking for more breakfast ideas?
Outside of these gingerbread pancakes, we have dozens of vegan breakfast ideas and healthy breakfast recipes on our website. Here are a few of our favorites:
- Gingerbread Waffles
- Apple Cinnamon Pressure Cooker Steel Cut Oats
- Banana Oatmeal Pancakes
- Acai Bowl Recipe
- Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pancakes
- Toasted Pecan Homemade Muesli
- Healthy Banana Bread Muffins
- Healthy Banana Bread
- The Best Cup of Coffee or Cold Brew Coffee
- Best Zucchini Bread
- Turmeric Vegan Blueberry Muffins
- DIY Instant Oatmeal
- Lemon Poppy Seed Oatmeal Pancakes
- Vegetarian Spinach Quiche
Last updated: December 2019
I chose these for our Christmas morning breakfast and I’m so glad I did! They were delicious and a big hit. I used gluten free flour and almond milk. Thank you for this!!
You’re welcome! So glad you enjoyed.
I just reviewed the ingredients 4 times and don’t see cornstarch that people mention in the comments. What am I missing?
Hi there, we actually updated the recipe to remove cornstarch so there is no cornstarch in them! Those comments are regarding the previous recipe. Thanks!
Just made these! They are delicious, but a bit too dense. I noticed the previous comment about cornstarch. How much cornstarch is needed for a fluffier pancake?
Good question! Cornstarch was in the original recipe, but we removed it due to reader feedback. These are oatmeal pancakes, so they’re a bit denser than the traditional — comes with the territory! We have another version of oatmeal pancakes coming out soon that you could try as well — will keep you posted. Thanks!
Hi there! Here’s our new version of oatmeal pancakes to try! https://www.acouplecooks.com/oatmeal-pancakes/
Interesting! I appreciate the info. I’ll be making them this weekend! Happy Holidays!
These sound and look delicious! I see cornstarch in the recipe. Can you explain how that impacts the recipe? I’m not familiar with that in pancakes. Thank you.
Because these are oatmeal pancakes and mostly made of oats, they are very dense without a little flour and cornstarch! The cornstarch helps to keep them light and fluffy!
I hate whole wheat flour and I’m not gluten-free so how much all purpose flour would I use?
You can use the same amount! I’ll update the recipe to state that!