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Pancake Fridays: Oat and Yogurt Pancakes

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If you google “best restaurant pancake recipe” like I do periodically (every other day or so—you know, whenever the pancake cravings become overwhelming) you’ll undoubtedly have come across several links touting one key ingredient to get restaurant-quality pancakes.

Oat and Yogurt Pancakes

Malted milk powder. According to Wikipedia, malted milk powder is a “powdered gruel made from malted barley, wheat flour and whole milk, which is evaporated until it forms a powder.” Appetizing! Essentially, it seems as though it’s basically Ovaltine minus the chocolate. It lends that malty, toasty flavor to milk and anything else you add it to.

Oat and Yogurt Pancakes

I bought some months ago (intending to use it in pancakes) and then got distracted by these cookies. It’s been waiting patiently ever since to make its debut in pancake form on the blog. But since a rather lifeless pancake test with the stuff turned me off the stuff, it’s only taken me about six months to try again.

Oat and Yogurt Pancakes

Luckily, King Arthur hasn’t steered me wrong yet. I’ve been eying their oat and yogurt pancakes with malted milk powder for months and am so glad I finally went for it. They cook up in a perfect, thick puff—some of the most even-cooking, picturesque pancakes I’ve ever fried.

Oat and Yogurt Pancakes

Oat and Yogurt Pancakes

The malted milk powder serves as a mild sweetener and helps sop up some of the moisture from the yogurt, leading to an incredibly thick batter (thick batter = thick, fluffy pancakes. Runny batter = thinner pancakes). However, if you don’t feel like buying a special powder just for pancakes, sugar or an alternative sweetener also works (and would make these officially gluten-free).

I made these gluten-free by switching up the flours (buckwheat instead of whole wheat), but I’ve had a chat with these pancakes and they embrace flexibility. They liked being gluten-free, but gluten is okay too. A vegan almond milk or soy yogurt and vegan flax/chia egg would also be acceptable.

Oat and Yogurt Pancakes

For some reason, although these pancakes are already seriously tangy from the generous amount of yogurt in the batter (there’s 4.4 grams of protein in each pancake!!), they seem perfectly balanced by more yogurt on top, along with a drizzle of maple syrup. I was eating these last night sandwiched with peanut butter and jelly while telling myself to go to the gym. Then went to sleep. And then woke up and realized: why am I not eating these with more yogurt?

Oat and Yogurt Pancakes

So I did. And they were glorious.

*lately, I’ve been on a huge Greek yogurt kick. I finally realized the importance of protein in your diet (very.important. Epiphany #347: protein really does keep you fuller than carbs!) and realized that I am pretty consistently severely under my recommended protein intake. So I’ve been eating tons of yogurt for breakfast, lentils for lunch, and sometimes yogurt for/after dinner. These pancakes were a natural evolution in my severely non-vegan diet lately.

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Oat and Yogurt Pancakes

With 4.4 grams of protein per pancake, these incredibly fluffy and tangy pancakes are far from your typical carb-fest pancake. This version, packed with yogurt and oats, is gluten-free, but you can also make them vegan!
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Calories 100kcal

Ingredients

  • ½ cup regular or Greek yogurt regular will make for flatter pancakes. I used a nonfat Greek yogurt on the runny side. Any fat will work (nonfat, 2%, full-fat, etc.
  • 1 large egg
  • 1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons buckwheat flour
  • ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons oat flour
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1-2 tablespoons sugar 1/4 cup malted milk powder (NOT gluten-free), or other sweetener

Instructions

  • Whisk the yogurt, egg and oil together until combined (I do this in my glass measuring cup). In another bowl, combine the flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder and malted milk powder. Fold the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients until combined. Mixture should be thick, more like a muffin batter. If you prefer thinner pancakes, thin out the mixture with a few tablespoons of milk.
  • Begin heating a large skillet over medium heat. When a drop of water sizzles on the surface, grease the pan with cooking spray or a drop of oil. I used a scant quarter cup of batter per pancake to get 7 pancakes, cooked in three batches. Each pancake should need between 1-2 minutes before the top will begin to look dry and bubble will start to form. Flip and cook for another 30 seconds to 1 minute before removing from pan.
  • Serve with additional yogurt, maple syrup, berries, PB&J, etc.

Notes

Use certified gluten-free oats if you are strictly gluten-free. For a non gluten-free option, use whole wheat flour instead of buckwheat flour.
For a vegan option, use vegan yogurt and substitute 1 tablespoon of flaxseed or chia seeds for the egg. Add an additional few tablespoons of milk if batter is too thick.
Adapted from King Arthur

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Alessandra

    the Pancake Princess strikes again! I just did this recipe as I was feeling a little healthier than usual (the last batch I made was of your classic buttermilk) and they were amazing! I just added a few drops of vanilla extract and used whole wheat instead of buckwheat, but they were great – fluffy and golden brown! Congrats on your website!

  2. Lianna

    YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY!!! your photos are gorgeous. haha you really are the pancake princess considering the things you spend your time searching on google 😛 but it looks like its worth it because these pancakes look dreamy, i’m going to need to try PB&J with pancakes

  3. Melissa

    These look so yummy! I love using greek yogurt in my baking recipes but never thought to use it for pancakes. Thanks for the recipe! You rock!

    • erika

      Thanks Becca! That makes a lot of sense and that’s definitely my fault for overlooking that! In fact, your link also mentioned baking powder as an item that may contain gluten, which never crossed my mind either. Thanks for the tip! I’ll make sure to watch out for this in the future.

  7. Alex @ Brain, Body, Because

    That puff! These look so light and cakey and delicious. Is it crazy that I’m not really interested in cake, but looooove pancakes. Love love love. Are you still accepting roommate applications?

    Also, these photos are gorgeous! The styling and colors are so pretty.

    • erika

      Um, YAH. Can you start in August? 🙂

      No, not at all!!! I mean it’s a little crazy that cake doesn’t capture your interest (WHAT?! Give me your tastebuds. That would be an instant 10 lb drop, I think.) but um pancakes yes not weird at all.

      Thank you lady!! 🙂

  9. afracooking

    I love pancakes (and that is an understatement) and I particularly enjoy those that are tasty and especially those that are healthy. This recipe looks PERFECT! Only thing that is wrong with it is that I stumbled across it after I had my lunch today 😉 will be making these soon!

  11. The Wimpy Vegetarian

    These look wonderful Erika! I’m totally making them. I love buckwheat flour in crepes, it makes them sooo tender, and i love the idea of making pancakes with it too. And YES on the yogurt addition. I add ricotta a lot to mine, but yogurt is next. Pinning this one to make soon ! Hope you’re having a great holiday weekend. Our weather is so fabulous!!

    • erika

      Aw yay! So good to hear 🙂 And interesting–I use yogurt all the time in my pancakes now, but I’ve never tried ricotta! Lemon ricotta is such a popular combo–I really need to jump on that bandwagon. Hope you had a fabulous holiday weekend! I definitely enjoyed getting out in the sun, packing in some pool and grilling action. Ah. Love summer!

  13. Nancy @ gottagetbaked

    I have no idea what malted milk powder is! Is it like Ovaltine? I guess i could look it up but figured I’d just ask you instead 😉 You always make picturesque pancakes and these are no different – damn, every time I see your pancakes I’m blown away by how thick, fluffy and perfect they are! You’re killing it on the photography too – absolutely gorgeous! I need to learn how to take action shots so that I can capture a droolworthy cascade of syrup.

    • erika

      Yes! Ovaltine is a chocolate malted milk powder 🙂 So this is like the albino vanilla version. Thank you SO much–you’re always so complimentary about my pancakes 🙂 Haha…for those action shots–make sure to shield your camera from any wayward syrup! Or have someone else pour it for you. That’s probably the better option 🙂

  16. Kaylie @ Skinny Muffin

    Your pictures are fabulous. So much perfect light and color and blur:focus ratio. These sound yummy! Except I have no idea what malted milk powder is. Is that that stuff you put in malted shakes?

    • erika

      Thanks Kaylie!! Yes, it is–like Ovaltine minus the chocolate. Thanks for the question–I edited the post to put in a little more info about what it actually is!

  17. Bam's Kitchen

    Can you send over a huge stack to HK this morning? It is breakfast time and these look stupendous. I love the how these pancakes are hearty with the buckwheat flour and oats. Your photography makes me feel like I’m sitting at breakfast with you. Take care, BAM

    • erika

      Yes, be there in a minute! 😉 Thanks for your lovely words about the photography–still definitely a work in progress but I always love to hear your opinion! 🙂

  18. CCU

    I don’t remember trying malted milk powder in pancakes, but coming from the queen, I think I can give them a try 😀
    These pancakes look perfect!

    Cheers
    CCU

  19. Brandi

    Those look super yum and beautifully fluffy!! I love that you made them gluten free!! I saw that picture and it makes me want to go bike riding…after eating a whole stack of these pancakes first of course!! Your pancakes are always perfect looking.

  20. Megan

    I love the drizzling syrup photo! Whenever I make pancakes (which isn’t very often at all – I usually go out for them), they are too thin and they look like a hot mess. I will give this recipe a try. I needed the help! Thanks!!