Cornbread Pancakes

These fluffy cornbread pancakes have an amazing texture and can be made with regular flour, gluten-free flour, or for a healthy choice – white whole wheat flour! They can also easily be made dairy-free.

Like I mentioned in my last post, this Slow Cooker Hoppin’ John, cornbread is a traditional Southern New Year’s dish.

Its yellow color is said to represent gold, and apparently, eating it will bring you spending money for the coming year.

If that’s true, I’m going to be loaded next year. 😂 I do love my cornbread! I generally avoid corn, but as a Texan, cornbread is hard to quit.

One thing that Food Doodles is seriously lacking is pancakes. I’m going to work on changing that.

So I thought I’d start things off by posting these super fluffy, flavorful and truly delicious cornbread pancakes.

These Whole Grain Savory Cheddar Cornmeal Waffles are another cornbread-inspired breakfast recipe. And I’ve got these Light and Fluffy 100% Whole Wheat Waffles, should cornbread not be your thing.

Today’s recipe uses a lower proportion of cornmeal than other cornbread pancake recipes (which all seem to be pretty much the same, by the way).

This one is different. They’re not bready but so fluffy!

They’re best when fresh from the skillet, like all pancakes, but even at room temperature, they’re great. Zapping them in the microwave for a few seconds fluffs them back up.

What type of cornmeal to use

I used Quaker Oatmeal in these and also tried them with a coarser type labeled as polenta here in Germany. That’s what you’ll probably find in many different countries outside of the US and Canada. At least it’s what you’ll find in most of Europe.

With polenta or coarsely ground cornmeal, you’ll have crunchy bits in your pancakes. But we loved them! 

If that doesn’t sound good to you, make sure to buy something finer. But not corn flour! That’s a totally different product.

How to serve them

They’re just slightly sweet. I have quite a sweet tooth, so I used maple syrup on mine. A little bit of honey is also nice!

I also like to snack on them throughout the day with nothing on them. A bad habit, I know.

A great make-ahead breakfast

These cornmeal pancakes last for days in the fridge, and they also freeze great. You’ll definitely want to let them cool completely, and then put a layer of parchment paper between the pancakes so that they don’t stick together in the freezer.

A healthy whole wheat option

You can use regular all-purpose flour, gluten-free flour (more on that below), or for a healthy, whole grain choice – white whole wheat flour!

I don’t recommend using regular whole wheat flour instead of white whole wheat flour, which has a more neutral and less whole grain taste. The pancakes would be more bready and less fluffy if you used regular whole wheat flour.

Gluten-free option

I was pleasantly surprised by how easy these were to make gluten-free. Just use Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-free Baking Flour.

The result is incredible! We couldn’t tell the difference between the regular all-purpose version and the gluten-free version.

And there definitely wasn’t any funny taste or grittiness to them.

Also, make sure to use gluten-free cornmeal. Cornmeal is naturally gluten-free but can be contaminated during production.

Dairy-free option

To make these pancakes dairy-free, all you need to do is use oil instead of butter and make dairy-free buttermilk. To do that, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, regular vinegar or apple cider vinegar to a 2-cup measuring cup.

Fill it with the dairy-free milk of your choice. I don’t recommend canned coconut milk as it’s so much thicker than normal milk and has a strong taste.

Then add 1 1/2 teaspoons of whatever acid you chose to a 1/2-cup measuring cup and fill that with milk.

Let it sit for 5 minutes. There you’ve got your dairy-free buttermilk! It may curdle or it might not. It doesn’t really matter. It’ll work in the recipe.

The recipe also calls for butter. If there’s some kind of dairy-free butter that you like, you can use that. If you avoid dairy-free butter, then any kind of neutral-tasting oil would work. I probably wouldn’t want to use olive oil, but rather something like refined coconut oil or canola oil.

So. See y’all next year! Eat some of these cornmeal pancakes in the next day or two, and earn yourself some cash for 2021. 😉

Print

Cornbread Pancakes (gluten-free, dairy-free options)

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

 

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Servings: 16 pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (187 grams) all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour or for a gluten-free version, use 1 1/2 cups (207 grams) Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free 1-to-1 Gluten-free Baking Flour
• 1 cup (156 grams) cornmeal (use GF cornmeal if GF)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large (50 grams each, out of shell) eggs
• 2 1/2 cups (590 ml) buttermilk (see notes for dairy-free)
• 6 tablespoons (84 grams) melted butter or for dairy-free, use neutral-tasting oil like canola or refined coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour through salt.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients.

3. Mix the wet mixture into the dry, until just combined.

4. Heat a large non-stick skillet / pan or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat (I used 5 out of 9). If you usually need a bit of butter in the pan to flip pancakes without issue (these pancakes were super easy to flip for me), add some butter to the pan.

5. Pour 1/3 cup (80 ml) of the batter onto the hot skillet for each pancake.

6. When bubbles start forming after about 2 minutes, lift the pancake up halfway with a spatula to see if it's golden brown.

7. If it is, flip the pancake and cook another 1-3 minutes or until golden brown.

8. Serve immediately or keep warm on a heatproof plate placed in the oven (on the lowest setting) while you cook the remaining pancakes.

9. Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days or freeze (with parchment paper between the pancakes, so that they don't stick together), for up to 3 months.

Recipe Notes

To make the dairy-free buttermilk, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, regular vinegar or apple cider vinegar to a 2-cup measuring cup.

Fill it with the dairy-free milk of your choice. I don’t recommend canned coconut milk as it’s so much thicker than normal milk and has a strong taste.

Add 1/2 tablespoon of whatever acid you chose to a 1/2-cup measuring cup and fill that with milk.

Let it sit for 5 minutes. There you’ve got your 2 1/2 cups dairy-free buttermilk! It may curdle or it might not. It doesn’t really matter. It’ll work in the recipe.

Tagged as: cornmeal