Banana Buttermilk Pancakes (with pecans and vanilla bean) ~ it’s banana bread meets pancakes for the ultimate weekend breakfast treat….make up a stack of these fluffy banana pancakes and wait for the sleepyheads to appear!
Pancakes get a bad rap. People think of them as frivolous, fattening, and unhealthy. But when you use naturally low fat buttermilk, some whole grain, mashed banana and nuts, I think they make a great breakfast. It’s a really nice change from my usual morning English muffin which fuels me for, oh, two hours max before I start rummaging around the kitchen like a wild animal. These keep me civilized till mid afternoon, at least.
It’s back to school in California this week. I’m not a big fan of the shift to an earlier start date. It screws with my internal biorhythms. Nature hasn’t given the back to school signal yet.
Maybe these pancakes will help set the mood. My daughter goes back East to college at the end of the month. Maybe I subconsciously made these for her. But she slept right through breakfast. And lunch, for that matter. My husband opted for his regular English muffin.
So I guess I won the breakfast lottery in our house today!
Notes: You could use regular whole wheat, or oat flour in place of the white whole wheat flour in these.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
- 1 cup mashed banana (about 2 small or 1 large)
- seeds from I vanilla bean, or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- about 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together the dry ingredients and nuts.
- Whisk together the banana, vanilla, nutmeg, buttermilk, egg and oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing just until it's all combined. Don't beat the batter too much, lumps are fine.
- Cook on a hot griddle using a 1/3 cup measure to scoop out even amounts of batter. If your batter gets too thick just add more buttermilk.
Other banana recipes to try ~
- Better than Starbucks Banana Walnut Bread
- My Favorite Banana Blondies
- One Banana Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips
21 Comments
Neshmia
November 19, 2016 at 11:57 pmHii I just made these for our Sunday breakfast and omg everyone’s in love…followed the recipe and made these amazing fat fluffy pancakes :) I drizzled mine with honey and melted butter. LOVED the taste of banana with nuts !!
Sue
November 20, 2016 at 8:13 amI’m so glad you loved these Neshmia ~ it’s almost like dessert for breakfast isn’t it??
grace
August 17, 2012 at 7:08 pmi was feeling really crummy a couple days ago (ah, the pleasures of being a woman), and then i had a stack of buttermilk pancakes and felt infinitely better. they’re powerful comfort food for me, and these look great!
Averie @ Averie Cooks
August 16, 2012 at 3:41 pmWOW – banana pancakes that are sooooo fluffy! Love these and that glorious maple that’s just oozing off. Mmmm, so good. And a vanilla bean. Swoon.
From Beyond My Kitchen Window
August 15, 2012 at 11:59 amI love pancakes and always enjoy a new recipe. These look so good. Pecans and bananas go together well.
gigiofca
August 15, 2012 at 5:28 amSue, these look sooooo good! Your revised site here is great. :)
Sue/the view from great island
August 15, 2012 at 4:53 pmThanks gigi!
Ellen B Cookery
August 14, 2012 at 9:05 pmThese pancakes look amazing! I love your photos!
Sue/the view from great island
August 15, 2012 at 4:56 pmThanks, Ellen, I didn’t get too many photos because I couldn’t wait to devour them.
Victoria
August 14, 2012 at 4:15 pmgorgeous
Linda A. Thompson Ditch
August 14, 2012 at 10:04 pmThose pancakes look wonderful! I created a multi-grain pancake mix that I keep in the freezer for when I’m in a pancake mood. Now I’ll have to see how they come out mixed with banana and nuts! Or I could just make yours! Lovely!
Sue/the view from great island
August 15, 2012 at 4:55 pmI like to make the dry mix ahead, when I think of it. Do you freeze the batter, Linda?
Stephanie
August 14, 2012 at 8:55 pmI agree-pancakes can definitely be a healthy breakfast. I love using buttermilk in pancakes when I have it too. Beautiful looking breakfast!
Tricia @ saving room for dessert
August 14, 2012 at 8:02 pmThat’s a beautiful breakfast Sue! I can even smell the syrup and melted butter. Goodness :)
Heather Schmitt-Gonzalez
August 14, 2012 at 5:22 pmMmmm…perfect combination. You were definitely the winner (and I’d love to join you)!
Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake
August 14, 2012 at 3:55 pmWow your pancakes look so fluffy and delicious, I can almost taste it! :D
Tabitha
August 14, 2012 at 3:40 pmOh they look incredible, I don’t really like pancakes, but then I haven’t tasted many. I’ll give these a go, I love pecans.
Mary
August 14, 2012 at 3:37 pmThe texture of these pancakes looks absolutely perfect, Sue! Beautiful photos.
Sue/the view from great island
August 15, 2012 at 4:59 pmThe texture was a little different from most pancakes that I’ve made, they rose really high and had a cakey but not dry texture.
Mary
August 16, 2012 at 5:02 pmWe like our pancakes very light and fluffy most of the time, so I know we would love these!
Gerlinde in Dallas
August 14, 2012 at 3:24 pmI love the idea of adding mashed banana to the batter.. yum!