These cornbread pancakes are the ultimate Southern comfort food and are seriously tasty without relying on complex ingredients. Theyโ€™re golden, crisp, and get a slight tang from a generous helping of buttermilk. Enjoy corn flour pancakes alone or top away to your heartโ€™s content! Breakfast, anyone?

Gluten Free Cornbread Pancakes made with corn flour and brown rice flour - a delicious comforting pancake recipe | TheRoastedRoot.net

I love a breakfast recipe thatโ€™s easy to prepare and doesnโ€™t disappoint on the flavor front.

But sometimes, Iโ€™m just not in the mood for a healthy Green Smoothie or protein-packed Overnight Oats. Nope,  I need straight-off-the-griddle cornbread pancakes!

These perfectly round beauties are crispy, nutty, and just dense enough to keep you full for hours.

And if youโ€™re not having them for breakfast, these versatile pancakes work with hearty stews, greens, chili, and even soup! Thatโ€™s right, theyโ€™re the ultimate overachievers.

To make things even sweeter, theyโ€™re made with pantry staples, are gluten-free, and can be made vegan. 

Whatโ€™s not to like?

Ingredients for Cornbread Pancakes

Corn flour: Forms the base of your delicious cornbread pancakes. It brings the classic corn flavor, but also helps you achieve a nice, crispy exterior with a perfectly soft interior. Try to find fine or medium ground cornmeal for pancakes that arenโ€™t too dense.

Brown rice flour: Keeps this recipe entirely gluten-free. This whole grain flour is light and lends your pancakes a rich, nutty flavor.

Salt: Enhances the flavor of your recipe and helps eliminate any bitterness from the flours.

Baking powder: This leavening agent counteracts the denser flours. It works with the heat of the skillet to help you achieve a fluffy texture on your pancakes!

Baking soda: Creates a chemical reaction in your pancake batter to add air (and extra fluffiness!) to the final product.

Egg: To bind the ingredients and help everything rise.

Almond milk or buttermilk: Buttermilk gives these pancakes their classic, American diner-style flavor and texture. It essentially inflates the dough with carbon dioxide and helps your dough retain more air. Almond milk has a neutral flavor and works in a similar way to keep your pancakes creamy.

Oil or melted butter: I usually use vegetable oil for pancakes as it has a neutral flavor and brings moisture to the batter. For a richer flavor and a better crumb, try butter. Whichever ingredient you use, the fat will produce a lighter, more flavorful pancake that doesnโ€™t taste dry!

Pure vanilla extract: Adds a slight vanilla flavor to your pancakes without being overly sweet (thatโ€™s what toppings are for!).

Pure maple syrup or brown sugar: A sweetener is key to avoiding an overly โ€œcorn-likeโ€ flavor.

Avocado oil: To fry with. You can crank up the heat without your oil burning as avocado oil has a high smoke point. Plus, itโ€™s a neutral-tasting oil, which means the flavor of it wonโ€™t leach into your pancakes!

Cornbread Pancakes

Recipe Customizations

  • You can make this recipe totally vegan by using a flax egg mixture. Simply blend flaxseed meal (AKA: ground flaxseeds!) with water until you get a gelatinous texture. Itโ€™ll bind the ingredients in a similar way to egg, but youโ€™ll want to rest it for around five minutes to thicken before you use it.
  • If youโ€™re using almond milk, I recommend adding just one tablespoon of white vinegar to this ingredient. It acts as an acid that activates the baking soda in this recipe, giving your pancakes a slight tang that I love.
  • If you appreciate a hint of spice, try adding a sprinkle of cinnamon to your corn bread pancake batter. You can also add in nuts, chocolate chips, and any other mix-ins you like!

Tips for the Best Cornbread Pancakes

  • Pick the right temperature and keep an eye on the oil. I find that setting your stove to just above medium heat is the optimal temperature for perfect, fluffy pancakes (or around 375ยฐF). If your oil is too hot, youโ€™ll have burnt edges. If itโ€™s too cold, the cornbread pancakes will go soggy and take forever to cook. No bueno.
  • Double-check the consistency of your batter before using it. It should be thick enough not to spread when it hits the griddle. If itโ€™s not holding its shape when you pour it, a small amount of cornmeal should whip it into shape.
  • Let your batter rest before using it. Although youโ€™ll be stirring to combine the ingredients, giving your batter five minutes to rest will help everything bind.
  • Be patient with the cooking process. I totally get it – you want your pancakes ASAP. But youโ€™ll want to cook your cornbread pancakes in small batches to avoid overcrowding the pan.

What Does It Taste Like?

These cornbread pancakes taste a lot like typical cornbread. Theyโ€™re tangy and get a subtle acidity and creaminess from the buttermilk.

Theyโ€™re slightly sweeter than your average piece of cornbread, as this recipe includes brown sugar (or maple syrup!).

Theyโ€™re also delightfully fluffy and almost have a jammy texture from the baking soda, baking powder, and cornflour combo.

So, theyโ€™re the perfect breakfast bite!

How to Make Cornbread Pancakes

In a mixing bowl, start mixing the wet ingredients together until well combined.

In a separate bowl, add the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet mix, and ensure everything is completely smooth. If you need to, pull out a hand mixer to avoid any lumps. Youโ€™re unlikely to lose fluffiness, but this will save you a chunk of time.

Heat a skillet to just above medium heat and grease it with oil or butter.

Measure ยผ cupโ€™s worth of batter and pour it directly onto the hot skillet. You may be able to add more pancake rounds depending on the size of your pan.

Allow the pancake to cook until bubbles rise to the top. Then, flip it and cook for around 45 seconds on the other side. Look for light browning and crispness around the edges to avoid burning your pancakes.

Repeat this process with all the batter.

Serve your pancakes with butter and honey (or whatever toppings youโ€™d usually enjoy with cornbread!).

Corn Flour Pancakes on a plate with butter on top and honey dripping down. Ready to eat

Need to store your pancakes?

These pancakes store well, and you can keep them in the fridge for around a week. Simply let your corn flour pancakes cool, wrap them super tightly with plastic wrap, and place them in an airtight container. 

You can skip the plastic wrap, but it prevents your pancakes from sticking and keeps any pesky excess moisture at bay.

If youโ€™d rather freeze your pancakes, wrap them in plastic wrap and then into freezer bags. Theyโ€™ll stay delicious for up to two months. 

Youโ€™ll want to take them out of the freezer and defrost overnight before breakfast time.

I recommend reheating your cornbread pancakes in a skillet over medium heat for a couple of minutes. I tend to find microwaving makes them go a tad limp.

Cornbread Pancakes

Love pancakes and just canโ€™t get enough of bumper brekkies? Try out these fan-favorite recipes when you want to start the day off right!

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Enjoy these easy corn flour pancakes for weekend breakfast!

Stack of cornbread pancakes on a plate with honey drizzling on top with a fork to the side.

Cornbread Pancakes

5 from 35 votes
Gluten-Free Cornbread Pancakes are magically flavorful! Why wait until dinner to get your cornbread fix? ๐Ÿ˜‰ These corn flour pancakes make the best comfort food to enjoy for weekend breakfasts or brunch!
Prep Time 8 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 28 minutes
Servings: 10 small pancakes

Ingredients

Instructions

  • In a mixing bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together.
  • In a separate bowl, add the dry ingredients and stir/whisk to combine.
  • Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet and mix until completely smooth.
  • Heat a skillet just above medium heat and add enough oil/butter to grease it.
  • Measure ยผ cup worth of batter and pour onto hot skillet.
  • Allow the pancake to cook until bubbles rise to the top, 1 to 2 minutes, then flip and cook another 45 seconds on the other side.
  • Repeat with all the batter
  • Serve with butter and honey the way you would cornbread!

Notes

*Replace the brown rice flour with regular all-purpose flour, gluten-free all-purpose flour, or tapioca flour.

Nutrition

Serving: 1pancake (of 10) ยท Calories: 125kcal ยท Carbohydrates: 8g ยท Protein: 4g ยท Fat: 4g ยท Sugar: 1g
Author: Julia
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Keyword: dairy free, easy healthy recipes, gluten free, gluten free recipes, healthy low carb recipes, healthy recipes
Did You Make This Recipe?I want to see it! Tag @the.roasted.root on social media!

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Julia Mueller
Meet the Author

Julia Mueller

Julia Mueller is a recipe developer, cookbook author, and founder of The Roasted Root. She has authored three bestselling cookbooks, – Paleo Power Powers, Delicious Probiotic Drinks, and The Quintessential Kale Cookbook. Her recipes have been featured in several national publications such as BuzzFeed, Self, Tasty, Country Living, Brit.co, etc.

Read More About Julia

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5 from 35 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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Questions and Reviews

  1. Would love to try the corn flour and use it to make some wonderful pancakes!
    I make my husband waffles on his days off and I am the pancake girl!

  2. Well, I tried being a special snowflake and used only medium cornmeal because that’s what I have on hand. I also substituted the egg with 1/4c applesauce. The batter turned out very thin, but with the oil and a nonstick pan, I didn’t need to actually grease the pan. Still, after three attempts, I wound up with more of a corn cake scramble. (Tasty, tasty corn cake scramble.) I’m saving the rest of the batter to try and doctor it tomorrow morning.

    1. I added some whole wheat flour, and now they’re perfect! Definitely going to take a few into work to have with my leftover chilli.

    2. Hi Sara,

      Oh no, I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you! I’ve never tried subbing an egg for applesauce, so I’m not positive that’s the culprit, but my knee-jerk reaction would be the lack of egg. If you’re vegan, you can make a vegan egg by whisking together 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed and 3 tablespoons of water. Allow this to sit for 10 minutes and it creates an egg-like consistency and works amaaaaazing in pancakes! The medium-grind corn meal does have something to do with it as well, since it doesn’t absorb liquid the way corn flour does. If you want to stick with corn meal, I would say scale back on the corn meal and add more brown rice flour. Let me know if you give ‘er a whirl again, and thanks for trying!! ๐Ÿ˜€ xoxo

  3. These pancakes were delicious! The batter has a tendency to be thin, so it’s important to make sure the heat is just past medium on the stove before you pour the batter. The first couple of pancakes I made were super thin and runny, but as soon as the heat caught up on my stove, the pancakes started thickening up. I sliced fresh strawberries on mine ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Thanks for the feedback, Erin! I’m glad you enjoyed the pancakes! I like the let my batter sit for 10 minutes or so before I make the pancakes because it tends to thicken up after resting. So happy you made them and the strawberries sound amazing!

  4. Very excited to try these! Have you tried making them without eggs? What could I use to substitute for eggs if I were to try?

    1. Hey Camille, I’m glad you’re going to try them, they’re awesome! I have never made the recipe without eggs, but I know people who make vegan recipes all the time, and here’s what they do: Take 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed and mix it in a bowl with 3 tablespoons of water. Let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes until the mixture has thickened and is the consistency of an egg. Then just add this flax/water mixture to the batter, just as you would an egg ๐Ÿ™‚ Let me know if it works out for you and thanks a bunch for your interest! ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. These look fantastic! And I love BRM flours! what a terrific idea to do with them ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. The supermarket I shopped at had a wide variety of Bob’s Red Mill products, but was unable to find corn flour. The store carried a variety of cornmeal, from fine, medium, coarse, but not corn four. I decided to try the fine cornmeal. I used coconut oil and unsweetened fresh coconut milk. Batter was quite thin, but I decided to be bold and try making waffles instead of pancakes. Four mins. later, I got waffles. They tasted good, but was gritty from the cornmeal. My husband had 4 waffles and ate it with 100% pure maple syrup. I will try this again, but may use less milk to make the batter thicker for making waffles. What is the difference in consistency with the fine cornmeal and corn flour? I was able to make six 4-inch waffles at about 172 calories pen waffles (excluding maple syrup).

    1. I read your description above, and now know the difference between corn flour and fine corn meal. I will look for corn flour now and try this recipe again. Overall, we liked it as a waffle. i wish Bob can send me some samples of corn flour.

    2. Another great waffle idea! Even the finest grind cornmeal, I find is a bit too gritty for things like pancakes or cookies which is why I love the corn flour. I have a variety of corn grinds for corn bread but the corn flour works wonders for fluffy treats. Let me know if you find corn flour. I know you can order it off of the BRM website and it comes pretty quickly to your house. Thanks again for being such a lovely pancake/waffle experimenter and for the feedback! ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. Stop itttttttt. Thanks to you, I’m going to have to go buy every dang BRM product in the world soon and have a pancake marathon. Kid you not.

  8. YUM – always looking for truly good GF recipes for my friend who is having a hard time adjusting to her new dietary requirements.

  9. I work at a nonprofit kitchen feeding mostly high school students. I am ALWAYS looking for better, tastier ways to take care of the Gluten Free folks that come in. Excited to try this!

  10. Mmmm! Mmmm! This momma loves her cornmeal-type breads! I like the idea of them being fluffy like pancakes, though. I haven’t tried this, though, but I’m thinking it needs to change. ๐Ÿ™‚