These cute and fun gluten free pumpkin pancakes will revolutionize your fall breakfasts! The addition of pumpkin purée makes these gluten free pancakes rich not only in color and flavor, but also in nutrition! Pumpkin puree offers loads of vitamins like A, C, B12 and E, plus potassium, fiber and antioxidants. Adding pumpkin allows us to skip the eggs, too.
Perhaps you have half a can of pumpkin purée in your refrigerator left over from another recipe like gluten free pumpkin chocolate chip muffins or gluten free pumpkin pie donuts? That’s what happened to me today, so I whipped up a batch of these jack-o-lantern flapjacks, cleaned out the fridge and made the whole family happy. It’s a win-win-win!
You may be tempted to think pumpkin would make a dense and heavy pancake but you would be wrong in this case. Even without eggs, these flapjacks are fluffy, especially if you use my gfJules Gluten Free Pancake and Waffle Mix, which is designed to make the absolute best gluten free pancakes every time.
Feast your eyes on these autumn beauties and celebrate the passing of pumpkin season in delicious style!
Feel free to add berries or chocolate chips to these pumpkin pancakes, as you would with any gluten free pancake batter — my daughter particularly likes the chocolate chip option. Just watch to be sure the chips don’t burn when you flip them, or integrate into the batter before adding to the pan.
Another option: put mini chocolate chips in for eyes and a mouth, and these suddenly become Jack-O-Lantern Pancakes and your kids will beg for more!
Jack-O-Lantern pumpkin pancakes are so fun! Use food coloring to make extra batter into stems, and feel free to add orange food coloring to enhance the pumpkin effect, if you like!
In fact, this was all I had left of our pumpkin pancakes, as my kids were snatching them off the plate before I could photograph them, even eating them without syrup! My son said, mouth full of pancake, “These taste just like pumpkin pie for breakfast!” I like that.
Gluten Free Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe
Healthy pumpkin purée added to these yummy pancakes makes them rich in color, flavor and nutrition! Gluten free and vegan so everyone can enjoy!
Ingredients
Pumpkin Pancakes FROM MIX
- 1/2 one gfJules® Gluten Free Pancake & Waffle Mix ( = 1 2/3 cup mix)*
- 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 cup pumpkin purée
- 3 Tbs. mild oil (like safflower, sunflower, olive or avocado)
- 1 1/4 -1 1/2 cups apple cider OR apple juice OR orange juice
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)
- high heat oil for frying (unless using non-stick pan)
- chocolate chips (optional) (like Enjoy Life® allergen-free mini chocolate chips)
Pumpkin Pancakes FROM SCRATCH
- 1 cup gfJules® All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour
- 3 Tbs. dairy or non-dairy milk powder (Coconut Milk Powder) OR almond meal
- 1 Tbs. granulated cane sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 3/4 -1 cup apple cider OR apple juice OR orange juice
- 6 Tbs. pumpkin purée
- 2 Tbs. vegetable oil or melted coconut oil
- 1 egg (or 2 more Tbs. pumpkin purée as egg replacer)
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)
- high heat oil for frying (unless using non-stick pan)
- chocolate chips (optional) (like Enjoy Life® allergen-free mini chocolate chips)
Instructions
Whisk flour, milk powder, sugar, baking powder, salt (or gfJules Pancake and Waffle Mix) and spice (plus pecans, if using) together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together remaining ingredients. Gradually stir the liquid mixture into the dry ingredient bowl.
Heat a griddle or skillet to medium heat and pour just enough oil into your pan to barely cover the entire surface (note: if using a non-stick pan, oil is not necessary).
Spoon batter onto the hot oil in the size and shape you desire. Cook until the batter begins to bubble, then flip; cook the second side until lightly browned.
If making Jack-O-Lantern Pancakes, feel free to add food coloring if you like them looking very orange. Also be sure to cook slowly at a lower temperature so that the faces do not get too darkened and the chips don’t get too melty … or they’ll look like scary Jacks!
Serve with powdered sugar and cinnamon on top, or just with pure maple syrup.
Notes
*Feel free to use an entire gfJules® Gluten Free Pancake & Waffle Mix and simply double the remaining ingredients to make a full batch:
- 1 gfJules® Gluten Free Pancake & Waffle Mix
- 1 Tbs. pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup pumpkin purée
- 6 Tbs. oil
- 2 1/2 - 3 cups apple cider
Today’s breakfast pumpkin pancakes
Jules recipe and flour. Soooo DELICIOUS!!
1 Banking with real pumpkin
2 Pumpkin pancakes
I made with the same pancakes recipe
Pumpkin waffle. SUPER!
These look great, Miriam!!! YUMMY!!!!!!!!!
~jules
Baking with real pumpkin is such a treat! These pancakes look wonderful!!!!!!!!
~jules
I made these just as printed… Perfect pancakes!
Wonderful!!!! SO glad you didn’t wait for fall to make them – pumpkin is great year-round (in my opinion)!
~jules
I don’t have any apple cider or juice of any kind (because I eat low FODMAP as well as GF) what can I sub for this instead? Or can I just leave it out? Thank you for all your wonderful recipes!!
Hi Karen, if there is a kind of milk you can use (almond or coconut, perhaps?), you can use that in place of the cider here.
Sorry! I just saw that someone else asked my question.
What if I cheated, took a short cut and used Jules GF Pancake Mix? Can you tell me what to add to the mix for pumpkin pancakes? Love to try!
No problem, Judy! Obviously it was a great question!
Can I make pumpkin pancakes using your pancake mix? How would that chane the directions?
Hi Deb-great question! You absolutely can. To the mix, add:
1 cup apple cider or apple juice or orange juice;
6 Tbs. pumpkin purée;
2 Tbs. vegetable oil;
1 egg (or favorite egg replacer)
If it still seems too thick though, add more apple cider, one tablespoon at a time until the consistency is right for pancake batter. I would also suggest adding cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice (1-2 tsp) for extra yummy pumpkin flavor! Enjoy!
Found your blog in looking for some healthier Halloween recipes to post on a future post (tomorrow).
I am recently diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and have been on a constant quest to find yummy foods that are Gluten Free (per doctors orders)!
This one certainly takes the cake in pumpkin pancakes! Thanks!
Take a look at my blog to see your link featured!
Those look awesome! I’m wondering if maybe I can sub apple juice concentrate and milk for the apple juice and milk powder….. might be worth a try
Elise, I admire your sense of adventure in trying new things with recipes! The milk powder here serves a very distinct purpose though, helping to give the pancakes a lighter, fluffier texture. The apple juice concentrate might be too strong if it wasn’t diluted, as well. I’d suggest using apple juice reconstituted and then using almond flour or certified GF oat flour in place of the milk powder if you don’t have any. Let me know how it goes!
I was also thinking I had apple cider, but really it was that sneaky “apple vinegar.” What else could I add in place of the cider, especially when it is out of season?
Hi Jules, I made the Creamcheese Pumpkin Pie & Cornbread Stuffing for Thanksgiving. Both were wonderful! I didn’t think I’d ever have stuffing again! I made cornbread muffins again last night with beef stew…………it was soooooooo good. Thanks for all your hard work……….it’s good to know I can eat again!
Just wanted to share a funny story. My husband tried to surprise me and make these for me, EXCEPT he used Apple cider vinegar!! A whole cup just like your directions….LOL!!
oops! It’s the thought that counts, though, right!? : ) You’ve got a good guy!
Hi, Jules,
I tried to make waffles with this recipe and they came out very soft and did not form a crispy exterior at all. Is there some kind of modification I can make to do waffles?
Thanks for all you do and bring to our tables (literally!) with your wonderful recipes and delicious products!
Hi Lynn,
You are so sweet – thank you so much!
To make this recipe into waffles will be somewhat more difficult than a typical pancake recipe, since the pumpkin is there to keep it moist. You could try adding another egg and subbing some of the cider for milk, which might help it to crisp up a bit, but don’t expect it to be just like a regular waffle since the pumpkin really will keep the finished product soft.
I totally admire your eagerness to modify and try new things – it’s that kind of creativity that helps us all find new ways of baking better. Be sure to let us know if you create a great new recipe!
This sounded so good, I coulnd’t wait for a response and gave this a try. I put 3 Tbs. of the milk in the measuring cup, then added enough apple cider to it to make 1 cup of the liquid. I didn’t change anything else in the recipe and this tastes great! Yum! Jules, if you think I should do this differently, please let me know.
Wow – sounds like a great substitution! So glad to hear that it worked for you! I love getting creative with recipe changes and this one sounds like it would be a fantastic flavor addition. Thanks for sharing!
This sounds great! Can’t wait to try it. Instead of using milk powder, though, can I use my liquid almond milk?
Great question! Actually, subbing liquid milk for powdered milk in a recipe won’t work unless the recipe specifically directs you to reconstitute the powder to liquid. You can either reduce the liquid in the recipe by an equal amount or use a powdered milk like DariFree which is actually a potato-based (not dairy-based) or a powdered soy milk substitute. Almond milk will work in any of my recipes calling for regular milk, but not as an exchange for powdered milk, unfortunately.