Do you want to make green pancakes without artificial colorings? You’re in the right place!
We first got the idea for using spinach last year when we were experimenting with extracting plant juices and making natural green dyes.
But the first time we tried to use chlorophyll, or green pigment from spinach, to color our pancakes green, it didn’t work. Even though the pancakes were green inside, the outside of the pancake was the regular pancake color, you know, the usual sort of yellowish-honey brown.
The second time we tried to make green pancakes without artificial colorings, I accidentally turned the heat to low with my tummy without even realizing it. Low heat over a longer time produced pancakes that were green all around. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense!
My kids were unequivocal not only green pancakes are “cool” but delicious. If you try to avoid food colorings, sprinkles or any other unnatural dyes in your diet, as we do, then this recipe is perfect for you.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through my link, I will get a small commission without any additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog!
Green Pancakes Without Artificial Colorings
What you need
5oz bag of spinach
2 eggs
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 Tbsp honey
5.3oz container of yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cup flour (or your favorite gluten-free mix)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
What to do
1. Heat the pancake griddle. Set it on low. (We have a multi-use griddle with a separate pancake setting, if you do too, do not use the pancake setting or your pancakes will come out brown).
2. Beat the spinach with all the liquid ingredients (eggs, oil, vanilla, honey, yogurt, milk) in a food processor until nice and smooth like on a photo below.
3. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt).
4. Add the dry ingredients to the blender and process until even consistency.
5. Cook the pancakes on low on both sides. It will take a bit longer than usual, but your pancakes will turn out beautifully green.
6. Heat until dry around the edges. (To speed up the process I tried bumping the heat up to medium just to see what will happen), and the pancakes got an annoying brownish tint to them. So be patient! Stick to LOW!)
THICKER VERSION
I grew up on Russian crepes, so the thinner pancakes (the pic above) are my preference, but if you like your pancakes a bit thicker (the pic below), add an additional tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of honey to the above recipe.
My favorite way to eat pancakes is with melted Irish butter or with something creamy like mascarpone or sour cream. My kids love maple syrup.
How many pancakes does this recipe make? And approximately what size are they? Did you use 1/4 cup measurement to make around the same size pancakes?
Hi! Thank you for your question. The recipe makes 8 pancakes. And I used a soup spoon to pour the batter on the griddle. Let me know how it goes! Best, Eva
Yay for spinach! I love throwing it into recipes, and pancakes are so delicious! <3 Can't wait to try this out! :]
Green pancakes!!!! How cool is this. I bet you could come up with purple, orange, and red pancakes as well without using artificial flavors. I can totally see a rainbow plate of pancakes. You are always so creative.
Now all that you need is to add some ham, so you can have green pancakes and ham haha. That would be fun for kids, and a festive way to have St. Pattys day breakfast!
It’s amazing how many recipes you can add spinach to. Your pancakes are a very pretty color.
This is great! I have so many friends that are vegans or simple food conscious. They are all worried about the kind of dyes that are going into their foods and the foods they are feeding their kids.
When I was thinking of making something for St. Patricks Day without the artificial coloring, a very good friend of mine recommended using spinach as well. I didn’t get to do it but I see that it turned out great!