Flourless Protein Pumpkin Pancakes made with rolled oats are warmly-spiced fluffy stacks of breakfast bliss! Low-fat, high in protein and complex carbohydrate, these healthy pumpkin pancakes are an amazing pre or post-workout meal and are just amazing any time the craving strikes!
If you’re a pumpkin lover or a pancake lover, these healthy pumpkin pancakes are the absolute best pancakes to enjoy during the fall season!
Plus, they come with health benefits, as they include a hefty boost of protein and whole grains for a balanced breakfast.
The texture of these pancakes is supreme – very light and very fluffy! Making you feel like you’re consuming something incredibly decadent when really they’re just nothing but healthful!
These homemade pumpkin pancakes are easy peasy to make, yet mimic a sensational restaurant experience in the comfort of your own home.
If you gave my Sweet Potato Rolled Oat Protein Pancakes a whirl, you’re already familiar with how these pumpkin protein pancakes work!
Rather than using flour, we grind up whole oats in the blender, then blend in the rest of the ingredients, creating an easy low-fuss pancake batter from pantry ingredients.
What Makes These Protein Pancakes Amazing?:
Aside from the lovely pumpkin spice flavor packed into these fluffy, moist beauties, they also have a pretty decent macro profile!
Each pancake contains 7 grams of protein. This means eating a stack of 3-4 small pancakes will nail your protein goal for the meal! You can view the full nutrition information in the recipe card below.
Egg whites and protein protein powder give these pancakes a nice protein infusion to go alongside the complex carbohydrates for a balanced breakfast.
Because we use so many egg whites, there’s no need for additional milk or oil in the recipe, as all of the liquid comes in the form of eggs and egg whites.
All in all, you’re left with an amazing breakfast experience to keep you feeling full and to give your taste buds and dopamine a major boost.
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients!
Ingredients for Pumpkin Protein Pancakes:
Rolled Oats: Used in place of flour, rolled oats generate an amazing fluffy texture, that tasty oat flavor, and also bring complex slow-burning carbs to the mix.
I haven’t tested the recipe using quick oats, but I imagine they will work just fine in place of rolled oats.
If you’re celiac or have a gluten sensitivity, be sure to use gluten-free oats. Oats on their own are gluten-free but they are often grown next to wheat fields and processed in facilities that also process wheat, which can cause cross-contamination.
I’ve been using gluten-free sprouted oats and gluten-free glyphosate-free oats to ensure proper digestion, but pick your favorite oats!
Protein Powder: Pick your favorite protein powder! I use either hemp protein or collagen peptides (note: collagen peptides aren’t a complete protein so bare that in mind when making your selection).
Whey protein or casein protein powders generally contain the most protein so if you do dairy or eggs, whey or casein will give you the biggest protein infusion.
Canned Pumpkin Puree: Pumpkin purée brings moisture, volume and deliciousness to these pumpkin protein pancakes.
Pumpkin is also a great source of complex carbohydrate, fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Potassium, and more! Plus, it is very low in fat, which is great for athletes that carb cycle or pay attention to their macros around exercise.
Pumpkin Pie Spice: The all-star ingredient that must be added to all things pumpkin to signal to the brain that we’re enjoying a pumpkin treat.
Pumpkin pie spice is a blend of ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, all spice, cloves, and sometimes cardamom to produce warm flavor. It’s what leads us to believe we are eating pumpkin flavor.
Eggs & Egg Whites: Used to make incredible fluffy pumpkin pancakes, keep them held together, and add moisture and protein, whole eggs and egg whites serve a grand purpose in this recipe!
We often buy cartons of egg whites from the store rather than separating the whites from the yolks, as we typically don’t have another use for the yolks.
If possible, bring the eggs and egg white to room temperature prior to making pumpkin batter if possible.
I love that the addition of more protein from the egg whites makes super fluffy pancakes.
Baking Powder & Sea Salt: Baking powder leavens the pancakes and sea salt enhances all of the fall flavors.
If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice on hand, you can use just ground cinnamon or a combination of ground cinnamon, nutmeg and ground cloves. Just be sure to go light on the ground cloves because a little bit goes a long way!
Recipe Adaptations:
- If you aren’t concerned with the protein content of the pancakes, replace some or all of the egg whites with your milk of choice. Almond milk, whole milk, oat milk, and coconut milk or any non-dairy milk are all great options.
- If you have vanilla extract on hand, add 2 teaspoons to the pancake batter.
- Make a chocolate chip pumpkin pancake recipe by sprinkling chocolate chips on top of the pancake batter while it’s cooking in to skillet.
- For sweet pancakes, add 3 tablespoons of regular cane sugar or brown sugar to the pumpkin pancake recipe.
- You can make pumpkin waffles instead of pumpkin spice pancakes if you’d like. Simply spray a waffle iron with nonstick cooking spray and cook according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Use fresh pumpkin instead of canned pumpkin puree.
Can I Use Oat Flour Instead of Oats?:
Can you use oat flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour in place of oats? Yes, absolutely! Simply swap the oats for 1 ½ cups of oat flour, or Gluten-Free all-purpose flour, or whole wheat flour if you don’t need the pancakes to be gluten-free.
How to Make Pumpkin Pancakes:
Add the oats to a blender and blend on low speed until a flour forms, about 30 seconds. It’s okay if the flour appears slightly grainy and isn’t completely smooth, but you do want to go for a flour-like texture.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender and blend until completely smooth. Note: If you’re using flour instead of oats, prepare the pancake batter in a large bowl.
There’s no need to use a separate bowl for the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients.
Heat a large skillet (or an electric griddle) over medium-high heat and add enough avocado oil (or melted butter, coconut oil, or cooking oil of choice) to generously coat the surface, about 1 to 2 tablespoons. Wait for a few minutes as the skillet heats up.
Once the skillet is hot, pour ¼ to ½ cup of batter onto the hot skillet (depending on the pancake size you’re going for. I do ⅓ cup per pancake).
Allow pancake batter to cook until the sides firm up, about 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges. Flip and continue cooking until the pancake has cooked through, about another 1 to 2 minutes.
Repeat for the remaining pumpkin mixture. Note: I typically cook 3 pancakes at a time on a 12-inch skillet.
If the pancakes begin cooking too quickly at any point, turn down the heat to medium heat. You may need to adjust the heat several times.
If you need to add more oil or spray the skillet with cooking spray between rounds of pancakes, do so liberally and with gusto.
Serve pancakes with your favorite toppings, and enjoy! I find these to be incredible with butter and honey or pure maple syrup and/or pumpkin butter or Nuttzo. Sliced banana is also amazing!
Store leftover pancakes in an airtight container or zip lock bag in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Freeze pancakes for up to 3 months.
And that’s it! The best pumpkin pancakes for pumpkin season or any time of year!
You don’t need a special occasion to enjoy these delicious pumpkin pancakes, as the easy recipe is so simple to prepare.
Make a big batch to enjoy leftovers for meal prep!
With the health benefits of these perfect pumpkin pancakes, you can now delight in a fantastic pancake experience no matter the occasion!
Enjoy this family favorite on a crisp fall morning!
More Healthy Pancake Recipes:
- Flourless Oatmeal Banana Pancakes
- Keto Pancakes
- Grain-Free Almond Butter Protein Pancakes
- Paleo Sheet Pan Pancakes
- Paleo Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
Enjoy this fluffy stack of pumpkin-infused fall bliss!
Flourless Protein Pumpkin Pancakes (Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats*
- 3 Tbsp protein powder or collagen peptides**
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 (15-oz) can pumpkin puree (about 1 ⅔ cups)
- 4 whole eggs
- 6 egg whites 1 cup + 1 Tbsp
Instructions
- Add the oats to a blender and blend on high speed until a flour forms. It’s okay if the flour appears slightly grainy and isn’t completely smooth, but you do want to go for a flour-like texture.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender and blend until completely smooth.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add enough avocado oil (or cooking oil of choice) to generously coat the surface, about 1 to 2 tablespoons.
- Once the skillet is hot, pour ¼ to ½ cup of batter onto the hot skillet (depending on the pancake size you’re going for. I do ⅓ cup per pancake). Allow it to cook until the sides firm up, about 2 to 3 minutes. Flip and continue cooking until the pancake has cooked through, about another 1 to 2 minutes. Repeat for the remaining batter. Note: I typically cook 3 pancakes at a time on a 12-inch skillet.
- Serve pancakes with your favorite toppings, and enjoy! I find these to be incredible with butter and honey and/or Nuttzo. Sliced banana is also amazing!
Notes
Nutrition
This is SO freaking easy and delicious!! Thank you for sharing. I had to alter slightly due not not having many eggs but it is fantastic!! This is a keeper and will be on repeat!
Yaaaay! I’m so happy to hear you enjoy the pancakes, Lisa! Also glad you were able to make it work without having as many eggs – this is super helpful to others who run into the same issue. xo
Ok. This is long review because I really fiddled with the recipe but wanted to let others know about a great substitute, kefir! I made these because we have a family of 7 and I didn’t start dinner till 7:15. I wanted breakfast for dinner to be more nutrient-dense. I doubled it so it was too big for my vitamix. I blended dry first, then wet and mixed together in a bowl. I followed the recipe until the egg whites. A double recipe would have been 20 expensive neighbor’s eggs. So instead of egg whites, I used my own homemade fermented kefir, which is a lot like buttermilk (thank you for giving the measuments in cups BTW). 2 cups+2T for a double recipe. The batter was pretty loose. I added one extra teaspoon of baking powder and about 1/3 C of whole grain gluten-free flour to compensate. Mostly because I was too lazy to grind more oats. This worked great. Made them less dense and really good. I topped with my own maple syrup we made from our Big Leaf maples in WA state. This is the first batch of pancakes I’ve ever made and not felt too guilty or heavy from. Thanks!
Wow, all of that is genius! Now I must try the pancakes using kefir – I bet that created such an amazing flavor and light texture! Thank you for sharing, Rosie!! xo
How would you suggest making them vegan? Flax?
Hi Kate! In my experience, vegan pancakes are tricky without using all-purpose flour or a gluten-free flour blend that contains a lot of starch and emulsifiers. Oat flour isn’t very starchy/glutinous and this particular recipe contains a great deal of egg, which could be a challenge to replace. For this reason, I wouldn’t try going egg-free with this particular recipe, but you can try the Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes I posted several years ago that use a GF blend: https://www.theroastedroot.net/vegan-pumpkin-pancakes/ Hope this helps!
Is it important to use egg whites? Can I just use 7 whole eggs?
Hi Wanda,
The egg whites are just to add more protein without adding fat. If you want to use whole eggs, I would start with 6 and make sure the batter looks right…if it seems like it’s too thick, add the seventh egg 🙂 Hope you enjoy! xo
Would this recipe work for waffles as well?
Hi Michelle!
Ooh, waffles sound great! In my experience, waffle batter and pancake batter are interchangeable, but I’m really not sure since I haven’t tried it myself with this particular recipe. May be worth a test run to try it on one waffle and if it doesn’t work out, just make pancakes out of the rest of the batter? Let me know if you give it a go 🙂 xo
@Julia,
I tried them out today in my Cuisanart waffle maker and Dash waffle maker. The recipe worked great for both! Thanks.
I’m so happy to hear it! Thanks for letting me know, Michelle! xoxoxo
This sound amazing for the fall season. Before making I was hoping you could recommend a specific brand of plant based or collagen protein powder. I have yet to find a good brand. I saw you mentioned hemp or collagen. Thank you
Hi Lynne! They’re definitely so perfect for fall! I use Nutiva or Bob’s Red Mill hemp protein for plant based. Hope you enjoy!! xo
I was wondering what to make for a breakfast up at camp this weekend. We should have a larger than normal crew. These look perfect, a nice Fall treat!
They’re just so great! I could see these being so traffic to enjoy next to a campfire 🙂 xoxoxo