Create fluffy, airy Vegan Sourdough Pancakes in just minutes with fed sourdough starter and only 5 other pantry staple ingredients! These will quickly become a staple in your family for breakfast!
Now that I'm a mom of a healthy sourdough starter, I've been experimenting non-stop with vegan sourdough recipes. I recently posted this vegan sourdough waffle recipe and today I'm sharing an incredibly simple recipe for vegan sourdough pancakes! My family never gets sick of these sourdough pancakes, especially when we serve them with homemade peanut butter, berry compote and a drizzle of maple syrup.
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Why This Recipe Works!
- Thanks to this vegan sourdough pancake recipe, I never waste any of my sourdough starter! You can use freshly fed sourdough starter or starter that has been chilling in the fridge for a few days. Both work and are a great way to use up a bunch of sourdough starter.
- Adding baking soda to the batter is what makes these vegan pancakes super fluffy. Sourdough starter is naturally acidic, so when the baking soda hits the starter, it creates a light and fluffy batter.
- Adding sourdough starter to your vegan sourdough pancakes gives you the benefits of fermented grains first thing in the morning. It's a win-win situation!
- These vegan sourdough pancakes reheat beautifully and can also be frozen. I often make way more than we need so that we can enjoy them for a few days in a row.
Ingredients
- Sourdough Starter (Fed) - Your sourdough starter can be warm or chilled when you go to make these sourdough pancakes. The most important thing is that it has been fed and has had a few hours at room temperature to grow and ferment.
- Flax Eggs - Obviously, vegan sourdough pancakes won't have any eggs. Instead of chicken eggs, you'll be making two flax eggs. To make two flax eggs, all you have to do is whisk 2 tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 6 tablespoons of water. Allow this mixture to sit and thicken for about 5 minutes before using it in this recipe.
- Coconut Oil - I love baking with coconut oil. It adds a natural sweetness to this recipe. See below for substitutions!
- Maple Syrup - For a touch of sweetness, I like to add a couple tablespoons of maple syrup. You can omit this ingredient if you want a less-sweet pancake or if you plan to add chocolate chips or blueberries into the batter.
- Baking Soda - This is one of the most important ingredients in this recipe! I've forgotten to add it once before and my pancakes did not turn out well. After you've mixed together the other batter ingredients, you'll sprinkle some baking soda overtop and stir it into the batter. The baking soda will react with the acidic sourdough starter and create a light and fluffy batter.
See recipe card for full list of ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- Coconut Oil - Any oil should work in this recipe. I've used vegetable oil and lite olive oil and they both work great. The more neutral the flavor, however, the better!
- Maple Syrup - If you don't have maple syrup on hand, you can try another liquid sweetener, such as agave, brown rice syrup or honey, if you're not vegan. I haven't tried this recipe with a dry sweetener.
- Mix-ins - We love to put blueberries or chocolate chips into our pancakes as they cook! After I've ladled some batter onto my skillet, I'll sprinkle whatever mix-in we're using onto the un-cooked dough and press the mix-ins into the batter. If you're able to cover each chocolate chip or blueberry with a little batter, that will keep the pancakes from sticking after you flip them over.
How to Make Vegan Sourdough Pancakes
Step 1: Feed your sourdough starter about 8 hours before you want to make these pancakes. However, the time it takes for your starter to become bubbly and active really depends on the temperature of your house. Here in Malaysia, my starter is ready to use after only 4 hours!
Step 2: Make your flax eggs. Set them aside while you get the rest of your batter ready. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the fed sourdough starter, oil, maple syrup, salt and cinnamon. Stir in the thickened flax eggs.
Step 3: Lastly stir in the baking soda, making sure to break up any clumps.
Step 4: Allow the baking soda and sourdough starter to react for a few minutes. While the batter sits, preheat your skillet. After 5 minutes, your batter should be nice and fluffy and even have some bubbles!
Step 5: Pour ⅓-1/2 cup of your batter onto your preheated skillet and use your finger or your measuring cup to spread the batter out into a nice circle. Allow the pancakes to cook until lots of bubbles pop on top and the underneath is golden. Flip and cook the other side for another minute or two.
Step 6: Place the cooked pancakes onto a wire rack to cool or enjoy immediately!
Hint: You only want to flip the pancakes once! So before you flip them the first time, make sure there are lots of bubbles on top and that the bottom is nice and golden brown.
Expert Tips
👉🏻 Did you know you should replace your baking soda every 30 days?! I used to keep mine for years! Now, when I purchase a box of baking soda, I write the date I purchased it on the box. After 30 days I throw it out and replace it with a fresh box. Using fresh, active baking soda will ensure these vegan sourdough pancakes are nice and fluffy!
👉🏻 Like I mentioned above, make sure you only flip your vegan sourdough pancakes one time. Allow the pancakes to get nice and bubbly on top and golden brown on the bottom before you flip them over.
👉🏻 If you're adding in some mix-ins, add them on top of the pancakes right after you've poured the batter onto the skillet. Then press each blueberry or chocolate chip down into the batter with your finger and cover them slightly with the raw batter. This will help your pancakes not to stick to the skillet when you flip them over.
Storage
If you have any leftover sourdough pancakes, you can cool them completely on a wire rack before storing them in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. Alternatively, you can cool them completely and then flash freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet before transferring them to a freezer-safe zip-lock bag.
Recipe FAQs
Sourdough starter and sourdough discard are the same thing, but with different purposes. When you're first making your sourdough starter, you will have to discard some of the starter so that you don't end up with a massive amount of sourdough starter. Once you're sourdough starter is well established, you can use that sourdough discard in recipes such as pancakes and waffles so that you don't waste anymore flour.
100% hydration sourdough starter should have the consistency of thick pancake batter. If your starter is too runny, you probably fed it too much water or let it sit out too long, aka over ferment. If it's too thick, you probably fed it too much flour or need to let it ferment at room temperature for a longer period of time.
Once you have a well established sourdough starter, there is no need to throw any of it away! You can make so many amazing bread products with sourdough discard including pancakes, waffles, flatbread, muffins, quick breads and more!
In this vegan sourdough pancake recipe, I use two flax eggs instead of chicken eggs. To make a flax egg, you simply whisk together 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed with 6 tablespoons of water. Allow this mixture to thicken for about 5 minutes before adding them to your pancake batter.
If your sourdough pancakes aren't fluffy, then you may have let your sourdough starter ferment too long or not enough. You want to make sure you use well fed starter and that, additionally, you add baking soda to the batter. The baking soda reacts with the sour starter to create super fluffy pancakes!
More Vegan Pancake Recipes!
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Sourdough Pancakes
Equipment
- 1 skillet or griddle
Ingredients
- 2 cups sourdough starter, fed
- 2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons ground flaxseed + 6 tablespoons water)
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- dash cinnamon optional
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Prepare your flax eggs by whisking together 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed and 6 tablespoons of water. Allow this mixture to thicken for about 5 minutes while you prepare the rest of the batter.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the fed sourdough starter, coconut oil, maple syrup, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in the thickened flax eggs.
- Sprinkle over the baking soda and stir it into the batter, making sure no big clumps of baking soda remain. Allow the batter to sit for 5 minutes while you preheat your skillet or griddle. It should become nice and fluffy as the baking soda reacts with the starter!
- Onto a preheated skillet, pour ⅓-1/2 cup of the batter, spreading it out into a nice circle. Allow the pancakes to cook for a few minutes until bubbles start to pop on top and the bottom is golden brown. Flip and cook for another minute or two on the other side. Be sure to only flip once!
- Continue this process until all the batter has been cooked. Enjoy!
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