Chickpea Flour Banana Pancakes

As a foodie and a scientist, I love experimenting with different cooking and baking ingredients and methods. Innovative ingredients that food companies produce in response to consumer demands such as gluten-free, vegan, organic, etc. are some of my favorite food purchases — they give me more options for my experimentation. 🙂

Some of these innovative ingredients include grain-free flours. While I’ve used almond and coconut flours quite a bit in baking, I just recently got around to experimenting with chickpea flour. Made from ground up chickpeas, this flour provides protein and fiber (both help to keep you full longer!) and vitamins and minerals such as folate, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc.

During my experiments with this flour, I quickly realized that the chickpea flavor comes through a lot. I had to play around with the ingredients quite a bit to achieve the desired flavor. Banana, cinnamon, and vanilla extract help to sweeten these pancakes well and keep the chickpea flavor to a minimum.

Chickpea flour can usually be found in the baking section of the grocery store near the wheat flour. If you can’t find it where you shop, it can also be ordered online.


Ingredients

  • 1 cup chickpea flour
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 T baking powder
  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1/4 cup + 2 T almond milk (or milk of your choice)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Optional toppings: sliced fruit, chopped nuts, nut butter, maple syrup

Directions

  1. Place the chickpea flour, cinnamon, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Mix together with a fork.
  2. Peel the banana and add it to the flour mixture. Mash it well with the fork.
  3. Add the milk, egg, and vanilla extract. Mix all ingredients together until well-incorporated.
  4. Heat a skillet on the stove over medium heat. Grease with cooking spray or a tablespoon of butter or oil. Drop the batter by ¼ cup onto the skillet. Cook for 5-8 minutes on each side.
  5. Serve with favorite toppings and enjoy!

pancakes chickpea banana

Notes:

Make sure you use a ripe banana – it’s much sweeter in flavor! As the banana ripens, it becomes sweeter because enzymes break down the starch molecules into smaller sugar molecules.

The egg can be substituted with an egg white or with a flax egg (1 T flaxseed meal + 3 T water).

Nutritional benefits:

  • Chickpea flour: fiber, protein, folate, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc
  • Banana: fiber, potassium, copper, magnesium, vitamin B6, vitamin C
  • Almond milk: calcium, vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, copper, magnesium
  • Egg: protein, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B12, phosphorus, selenium, riboflavin, choline

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