Healthy Banana Pancakes – Whole Wheat
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
These easy and healthy banana pancakes taste just like banana bread in a whole wheat pancake form! They freeze well and will make mornings delicious!
Weekday mornings are hectic at my house. We live more than 20 minutes from school, so we have to get an early start in the morning to make it there on time (or to the bus, depending on the day). I get the kids up, dressed, fed, and out the door in 30 minutes flat. No exceptions, ’cause I’m not the type to be late. Seriously. N threw up in the car on the way to school today (the day I’m writing this…) and we still got E to school on time. Thank you, Ziploc bag in my purse and baby wipes. And coffee. THANK YOU COFFEE.
We put clothes out the night before, and the kids are dressed, with clean teeth and combed hair, before we even come downstairs for breakfast.
Healthy banana pancakes get pulled outta the freezer and put into the toaster oven before I go upstairs to pull the kids outta bed. Backpacks and lunches ready to go the night before. Coffee ready — all ya gotta do is hit the “on” button in the morning.
For me, workout clothes out and ready so I can knock that out at 5am when I’d really rather be sleeping. Protein powder is sitting next to a clean shaker cup ready to go. I have a short Rachel Cooks to-do list to knock out in the morning between working out/showering and waking them up.
We’re a well-oiled machine and it works for us. I wake them up between 6:30 and 6:45 (depending on the day and the school schedule), and I refuse to make them get up any earlier than that. Or maybe I should rephrase that: I refuse to make myself wake them up any earlier than that…because, UGH.
Truth be told, life is all-around pretty hectic and it’s not just limited to mornings. As a high school principal, Ben works at minimum 12 hours a day. That doesn’t include evening events (at least two nights a week until 9 or sometimes later) or weekends. So, this momma has a lot to do at home between running my business, raising my kids, and maintaining our household (not necessarily in that order). It works for us and we figure out ways to get most everything done. When I heard about Shipt coming to our neighborhood (we live in farm country – we don’t ever get stuff like this!), I couldn’t have been any happier. Okay, I got even a little happier when they asked me to partner with them to try out the service and share my experience with you guys.
I’ve used the service a couple times now (and actually had the same shopper working on my order both times, which was really nice!). Want the short version? VERDICT: LOVE IT.
In a nutshell, you make your order online or on the app and it gets delivered to your house. We’re living the dream here in the 21st century, aren’t we?
In more detail, you find your local store and start making your list. I usually start with the sale section, just like I would if I were making a list to go to the store myself. Then you can go through your meal plan or recipes and get all the ingredients you need. I made a list for these healthy banana bread pancakes so I could have all the ingredients ready to go the next morning.
As you can see, you can type in your item (in this case eggs), and all the selections come up. You can then select the brand you like and adjust the quantity. You can also make notes. For eggs, I might write, “Please open the package to check for any cracked eggs.” This could very well be something they are doing already because you rate your shoppers just like you would rate a driver on Uber. So, my guess is they might be checking for cracked eggs anyways so that they get a good rating….but I don’t like cracked eggs, so I’m playing it safe.
You can also adjust quantities and add notes in your cart before you place your order.
It’s very user-friendly and self-explanatory once you navigate around the website for a minute or two. If they don’t have the item you’re looking for, you can make a special request. I needed queso fresco one day and it didn’t come up in a search so I made a special request for it. While my shopper was shopping, she texted me this:
You can also see that they didn’t have the kind of tomatoes I requested in my list so she asked about a substitution. The communication is great and extremely professional.
Once you get your order made, you get to schedule your delivery! You guys, this makes me oddly giddy.
Oh yes. Please do deliver my healthy banana pancake ingredients tonight so I can make them in the morning. Or any other pancake recipe for that matter. This is a game changer for recipe development too – because goodness knows I’m always forgetting something for my Saturday cooking days. We don’t live super close to the store so having the ability to get these ingredients delivered WHILE I DO SOMETHING ELSE is making a world of difference in the level of hectictivity (I made that word up!) in my house. For Shipt members, delivery is free on orders over $35, and let’s be honest, it’s not hard to spend 35 bucks on groceries.
An annual membership is $99 and I honestly think I’ll easily save that because I won’t be tempted by random items in the aisles as I’m wandering the store. I do also tip my shopper, because she’s great and it’s deserved…I make her thoroughly examine all the strawberries and pick out the prettiest produce, so she’s earning her tip. You can head to their website and see if it’s available in your area — for your sake, I hope it is!
If Shipt is available in your area, you could be making and eating these healthy banana pancakes without leaving your home…and really, how great is that?
A couple of notes about these healthy banana pancakes:
- They’re based off my popular healthy banana bread recipe (those photos need updating!). If you like the sounds of that recipe, I also have a chocolate banana bread recipe and a whole wheat caramel banana bread recipe that you might love. Oh and skinny banana bread muffins! The kids love those.
- This recipe makes fairly dense, super moist pancakes. If you like a lighter pancake, try using whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour.
- If you’re freezing these healthy banana pancakes, I put them on a cooling rack with parchment paper between each layer. I freeze them until frozen and then remove from rack and put them into a freezer safe bag or container. This method prevents them from sticking to each other.
PS: Love pancakes? Don’t miss these buckwheat pancakes.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups mashed ripe bananas (3 to 4 bananas)
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (regular yogurt is fine, too)
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (or another mild tasting oil)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups whole wheat flour (can use all-purpose flour, or a combination)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together mashed bananas, milk, eggs, yogurt, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
- On top of wet ingredients, add dry ingredients. Toss them together a bit before stirring them into the wet ingredients. Stir until combined, do not overmix.
- Heat a griddle over medium heat (oil lightly if your griddle needs it). Pour about ¼ cup of pancake batter onto hot pan and cook until bubbles form and stay on surface of batter (2 to 3 minutes). Flip and cook until golden brown. Continue until all batter is used up (makes about 28, depending on size).
Notes
- This recipe makes fairly dense pancakes. If you like a lighter pancake, try using whole wheat pastry flour, white whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour. A combination of flour works well, too.
- Freezing Instructions: Cool pancakes completely on a wire rack before placing into a freezer-safe container or bag. Place parchment paper between layers to avoid sticking together. Do not thaw before reheating.
- Reheating Instructions: For best results, heat pancakes in toaster, toaster oven, or air fryer.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.