Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day—or any day—with a batch of these green pancakes that use spinach as their secret ingredient.
Since tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, which just so happens to be a Saturday, I’d say it’s the PERFECT time to make a festive-ish breakfast. I posted this recipe back in the day but wanted to share new pictures that did the dish more justice.
The first time I made these, I knew I wanted to make a green breakfast of some sort to start St. Patrick’s Day with a bit of color. After considering various healthy ingredients that would turn food green, like avocado or broccoli, I finally landed on spinach. I figured…I love green smoothies, so why not add spinach to pancake batter to make them green? So I whipped up a batch of pancakes with the addition of spinach, and they somehow turned out really well!
The vivid green color might weird some people out, but you barely even taste the spinach. I was pleasantly surprised with the flavor, actually, despite adding a generous handful of fresh spinach. If you’re nervous about the spinach being too noticeable, you can definitely put less in the recipe – it just won’t be as green.
When you cook these, I highly recommend not letting them brown too much—only because it takes away from the bright green color.
I like to top these with bananas and maple syrup, but I’ve also added almond butter and coconut butter in the past. Since the flavor of these pancakes isn’t TOO different from traditional pancakes (these definitely are more sweet than savory), you can pretty much top them however you like pancakes normally.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup milk*
- 1 Tbs lemon juice**
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 ripe banana
- 1 cup packed fresh spinach
- 1 Tbs salted butter
- 1/2 cup quick-cook oats
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbs sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions:
- Add milk and lemon juice to a blender. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Add the egg, banana, spinach, butter, and oats to theblender; puree until smooth.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Coat skillet with non-stick spray, and cook about 1/2 cup of the batter at a time over medium heat. Cook until the batter is covered in bubbles, then flip. Cook about a minute more, until cooked through.
- Repeat with the remainder of the batter. Then serve with desired toppings.
Notes:
*For thinner pancakes, add 1/4 cup extra milk. **Can use white distilled vinegar as an alternative to the lemon juice.
These have a nice fluffy texture and, as you can see, are thoroughly green. They’re a fun a little thing to do every St. Patrick’s Day if you’re looking for an easy dish that feels festive. Hope you enjoy it!
Are you doing anything for St. Patrick’s Day?
Those pancakes look beautifully green! Happy Monday!
Happy Monday to you as well! I couldn’t tell if the pancakes looked gross or festive, so I’m glad you appreciate them. haha 🙂
So fun – love this! I’ll definitely have to make these soon :).
Awesome! Hope they’re too your liking 🙂
Those do look interesting! Very creative
This is pretty cool! I have a kid’s bday party this weekend, and his favorite color is green. This might be great to try it that day. Would using green tea achieve the same color shade?