Vegan banana protein pancakes: recipe with 29 g protein

Egg-free, dairy-free banana pancakes with exact quantities, 25 minutes from bowl to plate and an estimated 29 g of protein per serving.

Pancakes made without eggs or milk tend to go one of two ways: rubbery, or falling apart the moment you try to flip them. It isn't the vegan part that causes it — it's that the batter has nothing holding it together once the egg is gone. Ripe banana, ground flaxseed and oat flour fix that, and 40 g of plant protein takes each serving to roughly 29 g of protein.

Prep time and servings

Prep: 10 minutes. Cooking: 15 minutes. Total: 25 minutes. The recipe makes 2 servings — around 8 pancakes of 10–12 cm across, four per plate.

Doubling the batch adds about 10 minutes, since the pan still only holds the same number at a time.

Ingredients

240 g ripe bananas (2 medium, peeled)
120 g rolled oats, blitzed into flour
40 g plant protein powder (pea, soy or a blend, around 80 % protein)
200 ml unsweetened soya milk
10 g ground flaxseed
5 g baking powder
2 g ground cinnamon
1 g salt
10 ml oil for the pan (rapeseed or sunflower)

Method

Mash the bananas with a fork in a large bowl until only a few small lumps remain. The darker and riper the banana, the sweeter the batter — you won't need added sugar.
Stir the 10 g of ground flaxseed into 30 ml of the soya milk and leave it for 5 minutes to thicken. That gel is the egg replacement and the main reason the pancakes hold together.
In a second bowl, combine the dry ingredients: oat flour, protein powder, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Break up the protein powder while it's still dry, as lumps are much harder to shift later.
Tip the dry mix into the bananas, add the flax gel and the remaining 170 ml of milk. Stir for 20–30 seconds, just until no dry pockets are left.
Rest the batter for 5 minutes. Oats and protein powder both absorb liquid, so the thickness settles; if it's too stiff to spread in the pan, loosen it with another 20–30 ml of milk.
Heat the pan over medium and brush it with a thin film of oil. Spoon in two tablespoons of batter per pancake and resist spreading it — thicker rounds hold their shape better.
Cook for 2–3 minutes, until bubbles break across the surface and the edges lose their shine. Flip and give them another 1–2 minutes.
Stack the finished pancakes on a plate as you go. The trapped steam keeps them soft while the rest cook.

The usual mistake is too much heat. Protein powder scorches before the middle sets, leaving a dark crust over raw batter.

Nutrition per serving

An estimate per serving (of two), calculated from the quantities listed above:

Calories: around 520 kcal
Protein: 29 g
Carbohydrates: 67 g
Fat: 15 g

The figures shift with the protein powder you use and how big your bananas are. Pea and soya protein have a slightly weaker amino acid profile than whey, so it helps to get pulses in elsewhere in the day — a bowl of lentil goulash covers that easily.

Variations and swaps

No protein powder: leave it out and add 60 g of ground walnuts or almonds instead. A serving drops to roughly 20 g of protein and gains about 10 g of fat.

Gluten-free: buy oats labelled gluten-free. Standard oats often pick up wheat traces during milling, which only matters if you have coeliac disease or a confirmed sensitivity.

Thicker or thinner: add 60–80 ml more milk and use a wider pan for crêpe-style pancakes. For tall American ones, push the baking powder up to 7 g.

Toppings: 100 g of raspberries adds about 25 kcal and a useful amount of fibre for very little sugar — there's more in the piece on raspberry calories and protein. Syrups and chocolate spreads can add 150–200 kcal in a couple of spoonfuls, so count them.

These keep in the fridge for 3 days and reheat in 30 seconds in a dry pan, which makes them a reasonable batch-cook option. The same thinking applies to no-bake protein bars and lower-sugar granola for mornings when 25 minutes isn't available.

In short

Ripe banana and flax do the job of the egg, oat flour gives structure, and 40 g of plant protein lifts a serving to roughly 29 g of protein and 520 kcal. Medium heat and a five-minute rest for the batter solve most of what goes wrong with vegan pancakes. The rest comes down to what you put on top and how many calories you have left for the day.