Pancakes are a quintessential breakfast dish. Unfortunately, despite being delicious and versatile with plenty of ways to upgrade them, the traditional and basic recipe isn’t necessarily the fastest to make. Of course, some innovations have emerged, like simplified “pancake” recipes that use minimal ingredients to mimic the idea of their traditional brethren. Commonly, these use eggs as the emulsifier, along with other ingredients like a banana or cottage cheese to help provide moisture and bind the ingredients. However, these technically lack something with carbs to make them more pancake-like, rather than the first steps of a frittata or open-faced omelet. To help in this way, adding oatmeal to the recipe is an easy fix.
It should be noted that simply adding oatmeal as-is isn’t going to do the trick. You’ll want to break down the oats beforehand; otherwise, it can make the pancakes chewy or at least have an unpleasant texture. If possible, the best way to do this is to blend or process the oatmeal until it becomes a sort of flour consistency. You’ll then add it to the emulsifier mixture to create the pancake batter, allowing it to rest and the oatmeal to rehydrate for a couple of minutes. While it’s best to use rolled oats as they’re heartier by nature, the quick-cooking variety may serve you better since they tend to be softer and easier to blend. With that in mind, going the quick-cooking route may require additional oats to be added before pouring the batter into the pan. This would provide a better base around the batter to cook, creating that solid exterior while maintaining the fluffy interior that resembles traditional pancakes.
Simple and easy pancake recipes are incredibly versatile and can be teamed with many things
As minimal as these simple pancake recipes can be, their ingredients are also incredibly versatile. Many use a mashed banana as one of the binding, moisturizing ingredients, but so long as eggs are present, this can be easily swapped out if desired. Bearing in mind, as well as stating the obvious, that doing so may alter the texture and flavor, cottage cheese is also popular for simple pancakes. Those that do will not only get the benefit of cottage cheese’s punch of protein, but also a fluffy body. Although it may not necessarily provide a full body to the pancake, Greek yogurt would provide similar benefits when it comes to protein, along with probiotics and other nutrients. You just might want to add something sweet into the mix, like sugar or berries to round out the yogurt’s tanginess.
As a pro-tip for fluffier pancakes, add in baking soda to your blended oatmeal, as this ingredient is key to helping pancakes and waffles rise. Additionally, while these recipes are meant to be fast and easy, that doesn’t mean you’re limited to what you can top them with or mix in. Peanut butter is a popular choice for these pancake recipes, as are whipped cream and berries. Swapping the eggs out for pumpkin puree and a dash of cinnamon will maintain the pancakes’ body while incorporating some sweet and earthy flavors for the fall season. As always, a little butter and your favorite syrup is always welcomed.
