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These Spinach Pancakes are kid-friendly and so delicious! They’re made healthier with hidden spinach, and using gluten-free flours (but nobody will know it)! They’re fluffy and cook up perfectly!
Healthy Spinach Pancakes
St Patrick’s Day is around the corner and whether you have Irish roots or not, it’s all about all things green. I love celebrating holidays, big and small, and adding these healthy spinach pancakes into the breakfast rotation this time of year is a fun way to celebrate!
A riff on my Crazy Popular Pancakes, these festive spinach pancakes are the best fluffy paleo and gluten-free pancakes, made green with a hidden veggie! Spinach is blended into my classic pancake batter, and I promise you, or your kids, will not be able to tell.
They’re so delicious! Now let’s nourish your family with a festive breakfast packed with good-for-you ingredients!
Ingredients Needed:
Ingredients Needed:Scroll for the full ingredient list and the recipe in the recipe card below!
- Gluten-Free Flour Blend: It’s a blend of almond flour and tapioca flour for the perfect combination that gets you the fluffy factor that tastes like the real deal!
- Eggs
- Unsweetened Applesauce
- Fresh Baby Spinach: What makes them green… shhh!
- Baking Powder
- Chocolate Chips: my addition of choice, but you can omit these, of course!
I make batches of the mix and then just add the wet ingredients and spinach when ready to cook! Great for postpartum, too.
FAQ’s
Can You Use Almond Meal Instead of Almond Flour?
Yes. Almond flour is made from blanched almonds which have had the skins removed, and is ground more finely than almond meal, which typically still contains the skins and has a more coarse grind.
Can You Swap the Almond Flour with Anything?
We know many people are allergic to almonds. Unfortunately, the almond flour isn’t easily substituted with something else.
If you tolerate oats, we’ve had success swapping oat flour with almond flour in some recipes, so you could give this a try here, though we haven’t tried it ourselves.
Can I Sub The Tapioca For Anything?
Arrowroot flour can work, but tapioca flour is inexpensive and my preference.
Can I Use This Mix For Waffles?
Absolutely! It’s completely interchangeable for both paleo pancakes and paleo waffles.
How to Make Green Pancakes
- It couldn’t be easier to make these pancakes: add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth!
- Then cook in your favorite skillet, making sure add in chocolate chips to the batter while cooking.
- Serve pancakes hot with maple syrup, if desired!
Can I Make These Ahead For Busy Mornings?
Because of the spinach in the batter, the pancakes do need to be cooked immediately. However, these pancakes freeze wonderfully!
Let them cool completely at room temperature, then freeze on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Once frozen, you can place in a bag or storage container for longer storage, about 1-2 months. You can heat up in a toaster or microwave until warmed through.
Storing in the Freezer
They also freeze wonderfully!
- Let them cool completely at room temperature, then freeze on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Once frozen, you can place in a bag or storage container for longer storage, about 1-2 months.
- You can heat up in a toaster or microwave until warmed through.
St. Patrick’s Day Festive Recipes:
Watch The Video:
Kid-Friendly Spinach Pancakes
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1-2 cupS fresh spinach
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 cup tapioca flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips or add-ins of choice
- butter or ghee or oil for cooking
Instructions
- Add eggs, applesauce and fresh spinach to a blender. Blend until spinach is mostly pureed. Add in the almond flour, tapioca, baking powder and pinch of salt. Blend until the mixture comes together, about 1 minute.
- Heat butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Once hot add 1/4 cup batter and drop in add-ins if using on to pancake batter.
- Let cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes, then flip and continue to cook for about 2 minutes until pancake is fully cooked.
- Continue with remaining batter.
- Serve pancakes with desired toppings and serve immediately.
Notes
- In a large storage container, mix together 4 cups almond flour, 4 cups tapioca flour, 2 tablespoons baking powder, and a large pinch of salt.
- When ready to use, scoop 1 cup of the mixture into a mixing bowl, then add 2 eggs, vanilla, and and 1/4 cup of apple sauce.
- Cook and enjoy!
- Let them cool completely at room temperature, then freeze on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Once frozen, you can place in a bag or storage container for longer storage, about 1-2 months.
- You can heat up in a toaster or microwave until warmed through.
I am a big fan of your paleo pancakes (we love making them on Saturday mornings!) so tried this adaptation for the first time. They came out delicious– just wondering if vanilla was left out of the recipe? (it’s included in the original recipe). Thanks for always making family-friendly recipes!
Can you use regular or whole wheat flour? My husband is allergic to almonds so can’t use the almond flour!
I haven’t tested this with regular flour but let me know if you try!!
These were super easy to make and came out amazing! My two year old son loved them. I’m excited to make them again!
SO HAPPY.
We LOVED this recipe. It was super easy to make, a fun activity to do as a family and delicious. We added chocolate chips which really sent them over the top! Thank you for this recipe Lexi. Indulgent while limiting the junky stuff.
So happy everyone loved!
I am so excited about this recipe. I made it this morning for St. Patrick’s day. It was a winner with everyone. Even my 10 year old son who is picky. These pancakes tasted delicious and I’m so excited that they have a vegetable in them.
Makes my entire day!
I don’t need to ‘hide’ vegetables any longer, I just needed a fresh breakfast idea and also to use extra spinach I had in the fridge. I also liked that this recipe used apple sauce (which I had around) instead of buttermilk most other ones use (which I didn’t have on hand). I needed to scale up the recipe and made several substitutions, so I used this recipe mostly as an inspiration than an exact instruction to follow. I didn’t have almond flour and tapioca starch on hand, but I had ground walnut, corn starch, potato starch, and unbleached wheat flower, so I used a combination of those. I also skipped the chocolate chips. My family liked the result, and since they were not sweet, everybody had different topping to taste: sour cream, maple syrup, even hot sriracha sauce.
This looks so fun! Our homeschool group is having a St. Patrick’s Day celebration and it would be cute to make these. Some have egg and almond allergies…do you know of any substitutes?
Love this recipe! How can I convert to waffles- just add a bit of oil?
Oh my gosh! Can’t wait to make these!! Thank you.
I’ve been trying to incorporate more vegetables into our diet, and this was a great recipe that even my husband enjoyed. Thank you for sharing!
AH! Any way to ‘sneak veggies’ gets a gold star from me! I have a little, who is allergic to nuts. What else could I use besides the almond flour? Arrowroot? I know I lose the the paleo aspect, but that isn’t a dealbreaker. My kids eat their weight in pancakes and this looks like a good way to be both festive and sneaky with veggies!
I have to say, I hide veggies in things all the time–however, I am so against disguising them into sugary creations. This recipe is perfect. Just a bit of chocolate chips to sweeten the deal–not 2 cups of sugar!