A fun recipe to use up some of that proliferation many of us experience in the summer months: zucchini!! I figured gluten free zucchini pancakes were a great way to get some additional produce into my kids…and I bet you will too!
Nothing better than a recipe you can compile all within the convenience of your blender or food processor! At least in MY world!!
These pancakes were born of a desire to use up more my garden’s zucchini. And since my kids are OBSESSED with pancakes and waffles for breakfast, getting a serving of vegetable into these breakfast staples is a nice bonus.
You won’t notice the zucchini, it blends right in and lends a lovely moist crumb to the pancakes.
Using zucchinis in recipes note:
Zucchinis are all over the map in their size and moisture content…which can great effect the success of recipes.
In general, small zucchinis with little to no seeds formed yield the best results. If you have a large zucchini on your hand, always scrape out the watery spongy pulp and seed in the center core first.
If the batter seems thin, it’s OK to add a couple tablespoons of any of the flours to thicken the batter to a typical pancake batter!
I do NOT recommend the ginormous zucchinis that have loads of large seeds and watery pulp in the center…so be sure to scrape that part out if that is what you are using!
Can I sub flours for these gluten free zucchini pancakes?
Have you checked out my GF flour tips page? Although I have some updating to do, there is lots of helpful information there for newcomers.
I think these pancakes will do well LOTS of gluten free flours!
- When subbing out flours, keep a rough balance of 1/3 starch and 2/3 wholegrain, and the pancakes should perform well. I know some people do not keep teff around (but you should!), so sub if you need to and share your tweaks with us! I think brown rice, sorghum, or gluten free oat flour would all make good subs.
- If you use an all purpose gluten free mix, if there is a gum in there, omit the gum in the recipe.
Additional gluten free zucchini recipes:
I know I can’t be the only one who has inordinate amounts of zucchini to use up in the summer! Here are a few more recipes to help YOU too!
- My gluten free vegan zucchini bread is popular for a reason!
- Paleo Chocolate zucchini bread whips up quickly and easily in your food processor or blender!
- A perfect traveling casserole or potluck contribution, this zucchini casserole is wholesome and delish!
- My daughter makes this gluten free chocolate zucchini cake ALL the time!
- This low carb zucchini lasagna looks tasty!
Gluten Free Zucchini Pancakes Recipe:
If you try these yummy pancakes, be sure to come back and leave a comment below!
Blender Zucchini Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup favorite milk I use So Delicious Coconut Milk
- 3/4 cup zucchini shredded, chunked, whatever
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil or any fat
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup or stevia equivalent
- 2 teaspoons chia meal or one egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup teff flour
- 2/3 cup millet flour or brown rice, sorghum, oat
- 2/3 cup tapioca flour split with half potato starch for less chewy/guminess as you prefer
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
- Chocolate chips to taste I use 4-5 per pancake. Optional.
Instructions
- Preheat your pan to about medium heat. I like to use cast iron.
- Place all the ingredients in your blender or food processor, in the order listed and blend until smooth.
- Add some coconut oil to your preheated pan, and swirl the fat around.
- Add apx 1/4 cup of batter to pan, fitting as many as you can without them touching. Add the chocolate chips here if you are using them, to taste.
- Cook pancakes until little bubble form around the edges and middle. Flip, and cook for another 1-2 minutes until golden and cooked through.
Nutrition
Oh yum, these are such a perfect weekend treat! My mom always used to do chocolate chip pancakes when I was little so I’m loving your hidden veggie version!
What a lovely recipe ! So simple, healthy, and gorgeous delicious too !
Cannot wait to try these!
I don’t have teff but I do have cassava flour.
Do you think that the recipe needs 3 kinds of flour or can I just make with cassava?
Excited — they look so good!
Cassava flour is one of the few flours that should work well all by it’s self Carol!! Let me know!
Ha ha, i was just thinking of how much summer zucchini we have. It’s always handy to have a delicious recipe to use them up.
These look SO good! I want them right now! 😉 I love the combo of zucchini and chocolate, but pancakes is such a yummy place to put them!
Such a great way to sneak in veggies into a sweet breakfast! This looks perfect for a weekend brunch.
Oh yum! I haven’t used teff flour in so long and this has inspired me to get some. I love how it tastes in pancakes! Such a fun way to use that summer zucchini too.
I love this recipe! Great way to hide those veggies for kids and picky eaters!
These look so absolutely delicious! I love putting zucchini into my breakfast in some form, usually a smoothie but this is way more fun 🙂 The chocolate chips make them even better!
These look incredible! Is there any way to make these without all of the different types of flour though?
Hi Jess! What flours do you have?
Delicious pancake with chocolate chip and zucchini. thanks for sharing with Hearth and Soul bloghop. pinning.
When this recipe calls for teff, millet, and tapioca are you referring to flour or the cooked grains?
wow, how bovious Stephanie, I can’t believe I totally missed that when I wrote it, so sorry! Flours! Off to fix it!
Hi Tessa, I absolutely love your blog because it is such an encouragement to me. We have MANY different needs in our family and as it looks like I need to avoid most if not all grains now I am kind of struggling to feed my family with HEALTHY food but no: gluten, eggs, nuts (the dangerous one here), legumes, and now grains?!? I’ve noticed some of your awesome recipes do have nuts or nut flours in them. Can you recommend some recipes (perhaps already posted but I missed) for meals, not so much dessert, that meet the above avoidance criteria? The combo of no nuts/eggs/grains is really hard for me. Any suggestion you have at all would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks so much for your time.
Hi Rebekah! I know that feeling of being overwhelmed to well. Good for you for being proactive about your health! Grain free/egg free/nut free baked goods do exist, but they are a dime a dozen…eggs are almost always necessary. The majority of my grain free/Paleo meals however fit your criteria. Click on the tag “grain/free Paleo and scroll through. If there is a couple of ingredients you need to swap out and need help, let me know. Also, look into Auto Immune Paleo protocol recipes online, those should fit your criteria too. Practical Paleo has a whole chapter on auto-immune protocol and a 30 day meal plan to go with it, worth checking out. The Phoenix Helix blog is another area, she has done this way of eating too. Hang in there, you are not alone!
ps Rebekah, another good key word search would be paleo + vegan recipes. Some will have nuts obviously, but it will narrow the pool. Chowstalker/desertstalker will also let you search recipes based on dietary needs, and autoimmune is among those!
These look AMAZING Tessa! 🙂 You are featured this week on Simple Meals Friday! Thanks for sharing.
http://nourishingsimplicity.org/2013/08/simple-meals-friday-45-2.html
Hey – these look great, but I don’t see choc chips in the ingredients. How many do you use?
I love blender pancakes, and what genius to add zucchini to them! Thanks for linking to Healthy 2Day Wednesdays!
I don’t have kids, but my husband loves chocolate pancakes, so we will definitely have to try these! Thanks so much for sharing it on Waste Not Want Not Wednesday, I’ve pinned it : )
Chocolate and zucchini= perfect combo!
Thanks for sharing on Wildcrafting Wednesday.
Love this deliciously wholesome recipe! Your Zucchini Chocolate Chip Pancakes look really moist and delicious. It’s wonderful they are gluten free and suitable for vegans too. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us at Hearth and Soul, Tessa 🙂
Truly stunning recipe! A MUST TRY! 😀
Those look wonderful. Any recipe that sneaks in veggies is a winner with me. Thank you for the suggested ratios for flour to starch. That will make it easier for me to make the substitutions since I don’t have teff (my bad). Looking forward to trying this out this weekend.
How much chocolate chips?
To taste kim, I use 4-5 chocolate chips per pancake,
Looks like a great recipe! Can’t wait to try it. My 6 year old loves pancakes. I’m always looking for ways to sneak veggies into her food. :->
Oh Tessa, these look fabulous!!! Love, love.
Always looking for healthy breakfast recipes.
xo,
–Amber
These look great! Thank you for linking up with us for Tips and Tricks Tuesday!
I love the fact that you keep a variety of “types” of recipes on this site. We don’t subscribe to one type of diet, whether that be pale, GAPS, SCD….we have many food allergies and try to work with those as well as eat as balanced and healthfully as possible. Lots of eggs and nuts won’t work here, neither will too many sulphur foods. But rotating nutrient dense foods that will work for our allergies is important, and using grains like teff and millet fit right into that idea. Thank you, I have a GIANT zucchini that was hidden all these weeks that needs attention!
Thanks Jean…we are operating on the same premise in this family!! Everyone has different needs and different bodies, so it is important to do what works on an individual basis!