Many Saturday mornings throughout my early childhood, Mom would slip into the kitchen while my brother and I watched our favorite 6 am TV shows, Gulla Gulla Island and Blue’s Clues. She poured out our “crazy drink” in plastic cups—a mixture of orange juice, apple juice, and carbonated water for a fun fizz—for us to sip on while she cooked breakfast.
Because we requested them so often, Mom almost always went with pancakes. She knew the recipe by heart, and she rarely pulled out the cookbook or measuring cups, opting to go by instinct and feel instead. Mom must have had the magic pancake touch because they turned out perfectly every time!
Since our family’s favorite breakfast restaurant always shaped their kids’ pancakes to look like Mickey Mouse, complete with whipped cream eyes and a fresh fruit smile, my brother and I begged Mom to make us Mickey Mouse pancakes too. It was the only way we would eat pancakes for the majority of our childhood years!
Mom, you’re a saint for indulging us. And putting up with us. And letting us douse those pancakes in so much syrup.
Once we each sat down with a plate, Mom would start cooking “adult” pancakes for her and Dad—aka ones with blueberries. We didn’t like any extra stuff in ours! (Well, except for chocolate chips… But those were only for very special birthday occasions.)
Dad never requested his pancakes to come with mouse ears like we did, so Mom shaped their blueberry ones into regular rounds. Although I later learned that some people drop the berries into the batter on the skillet, Mom mixed the fruit directly into the bowl, and the juices would bubble out as the pancakes cooked, staining the tops a deep indigo.
After growing up, I eventually realized just how much I was missing by refusing to eat those blueberry pancakes, and I started making up for lost time. I set out to create the perfect recipe—the best of the best, the cream of the crop—which finally resulted in these thick and fluffy Ultimate Healthy Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes!
Nerd alert!
Because I was a chemist before a food blogger, I love talking about the science behind the ingredients and what makes recipes work. However, if you’d rather skip straight to the recipe, keep scrolling!
Buttermilk. Buttermilk provides the cozy, comforting, most iconic pancake flavor. It’s more acidic than regular milk, and that acidity reacts with the baking soda to give the pancakes their light, fluffy texture.
Because buttermilk isn’t a staple in most of my baking, I mainly use this powdered buttermilk substitute. It still has the same iconic flavor and keeps for ages when stored in the refrigerator. Simply mix the powder into the dry ingredients and water into the wet.
The other option is to use your own soured milk. Add 1 ½ teaspoons of vinegar to a measuring cup, and add your preferred type of milk until you reach the ½-cup mark. Just remember that this substitute won’t yield the same familiar buttermilk taste!
Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt helps achieve a more tender texture. It adds the same moisture to the pancake batter than extra butter, oil, or heavy cream would for a fraction of the calories. Greek yogurt also provides a little protein boost!
Butter and vanilla. Butter enhances the flavor of the buttermilk and helps with the tender texture as well. Vanilla actually brings out the flavor of the butter, making the pancakes taste much more indulgent than they really are! Using vanilla to enhance butter’s flavor is one of my favorite tricks in healthier baking, and I use it in my cookie recipes all of the time.
Because of my mom, I added the fresh blueberries directly into the bowl of batter before cooking the pancakes. (That’s the batter in the picture above right before adding in the berries! It’s pretty thick, which yields thick and fluffy pancakes.) You’re free to add them after dolloping the batter into the skillet instead! I prefer fresh over frozen here because the frozen ones bleed and turn the batter gray, but if you aren’t photographing your pancakes, either work just fine.
Bonus: I share my tips on how to cook the best pancakes here!
Now drizzle on the pure maple syrup and dig in! And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your ultimate healthy blueberry buttermilk pancakes!
| The Ultimate Healthy Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes | Print |
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp (135g) whole wheat pastry flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tbsp (7g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120mL) low-fat buttermilk, room temperature (see Notes!)
- 1 tsp pure maple syrup (see Notes!)
- ¼ cup (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ¾ cup (105g) blueberries (fresh preferred, frozen will work)
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg, and vanilla. Whisk in the buttermilk and maple syrup. Stir in the yogurt until no large lumps remain. Add in the flour mixture, and stir until just incorporated. Gently fold in the blueberries.
- Lightly coat a large pan or griddle with nonstick cooking spray, and preheat over low heat.
- Using a generous 2 tablespoons of batter for each pancake, dollop onto the hot pan, and spread into a circular shape. Let the pancakes cook for 2-3 minutes, or until a slight skin starts to form around the edges and the bottom is light golden brown. Slide a spatula underneath, and flip. Continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes or until light golden brown on both sides. Serve hot.
This recipe is easily doubled to make more. If you have any leftovers, they freeze really well too!
OTHER FLOUR OPTIONS: White whole wheat flour, regular whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the whole wheat pastry flour. However, regular whole wheat flour's heartier taste may overpower the delicate flavor of the buttermilk, so the pancakes can sometimes taste like plain whole wheat pancakes instead.
GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: For the gluten-free flour, I recommend the following blend: ½ cup (60g) millet flour, ½ cup (60g) tapioca flour, 2 tbsp (15g) brown rice flour, and ½ teaspoon xanthan gum. Many store-bought gluten-free flour blends (like this one!) will work as well, if measured like this.
BUTTER SUBSTITUTES: Stick-style vegan butter, coconut oil (melted!), or any oil may be substituted for the unsalted butter.
IMPORTANT BUTTERMILK NOTES: You must use buttermilk in this recipe. It’s more acidic than regular milk, which is required to react with the baking soda and baking powder.
As a buttermilk substitute, I highly recommend this powdered buttermilk. It’s shelf-stable and keeps for ages. Simply mix 2 tablespoons with ½ cup of water to yield the buttermilk required by this recipe.
Alternatively, measure out 1 ½ teaspoons of vinegar into a measuring cup, and pour in regular milk (just about any should work — nonfat, 1%, 2%, or your preferred dairy-free milk!) until you reach the ½-cup mark. However, this second method will not yield the same iconic buttermilk flavor.
PURE MAPLE SYRUP NOTES: My family usually drizzles more maple syrup over their cooked pancakes, which is why the amount is so small! If you prefer sweeter pancakes, you can easily add more to the batter.
Honey or agave may be substituted for the pure maple syrup.
IF YOUR BATTER IS TOO THICK: This recipe yields a thick batter to create the thickest, fluffiest pancakes. If the batter is too thick for your liking or will not pour and spread in the pan, add up to ¼ cup of additional buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it reaches your desired consistency.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
I remember Blue’s Clues, that was literally the programme of my childhood! These pancakes look heavenly; so fluffy and full of blueberries, pinned!
Thanks Eve! Blue’s Clues was so fun to watch as a kid. I always sang along with the theme song! 😉
Those blueberries held up so perfectly in these. The cakes look extremely fluffy.
Thanks Brittany! Now if only I could make you a vegan version… 🙂
Hi!! I always enjoy looking at your recipes and love the fact that they super healthy and I can eat them guilt-free 🙂 However, I would like to know if not adding butter would change the batter’s texture, and if it does, what could I substitute it with (I’m currently on a sugar-free/butter-free diet) so the texture keeps just as fluffy.
Thank you and I hope to see more recipes soon 🙂
Thanks for your kind comment Isabella! You could substitute any sort of oil (coconut, canola, etc.) instead of the butter, and the pancakes should still have a very similar texture and will just taste slightly less buttery. I’d love to hear what you think and what modifications you make if you try the pancakes!
Do you know if you can freeze buttermilk in little ice cube trays and have them give you a nice result or not?
I haven’t tried that before Angie, but I’d be hesitant to do so. If you’re concerned about having leftover buttermilk go to waste, I recommend the powdered version that I linked to in the Notes section! That’s what I use whenever I make buttermilk pancakes, and it tastes just like the kind sold in cartons in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these pancakes!
Can this batter be made in advance (i.e. The night before) and stores in the fridge overnight? If not, any other suggestions for how we can prep in advance to make our mornings easier? Thanks!
These pancakes freeze really well, so that’s probably the best option if you’d like to make your mornings easier! To thaw, I use the microwave on 30% power until they’re warmed through. I haven’t tried making the batter in advance, but you could easily mix together just the dry ingredients the night before to make prep the morning of go faster as well. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these pancakes Alice!
Hello,
I tried this recipe this morning, it’s amazing! I have a question, is there 199 calories in each pancake? Or it’s for the whole 4 pancakes?
Thanks.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these pancakes Alaa! The nutrition information is for 4 pancakes. 🙂
As a non american I have absolutely no idea how big ‘silver dollar pancake’ should be? Silver dollar to me is like the size of a macaroon! As I’m on a macro diet I need to know how big they are so that I know how many i can eat – help anyone? 🙁
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Maddie! In Step 3, the instructions tell you how much batter to use per pancake. That amount of batter will yield a silver dollar pancake. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these pancakes!