Easy and Tasty Low Carb Protein Pancakes (Wholesome Too)

Up until now, low carb protein pancakes have seemed like a bit of an oxymoron.  Pancakes are akin to carb bombs and gut aches! 

You love a good pancake, but you don’t love the sugar spike and drop that happens with most pancake recipes.  

When it comes to ingredients, maybe you are pretty choosy too.  

You want: 

• Buttery and savory pancakes
• Low-carb pancakes that are gluten-free
• Just a dab of butter or maybe a small amount of maple syrup or honey on top, nothing crazy 
• A protein pancake that doesn’t require whey protein powder
• To feel full and energized for hours
• Your belly to feel great
• Sugar-free
• Perhaps low-carb keto cakes are what you are after

What you don’t want:

• The cloying sweetness from artificial sweeteners (also unhealthy)
• Chalky taste (aka some protein powders)
• Blood sugar spikes and crashes
• Processed grains
• High fructose corn syrup

Does this sound like you?  It describes me too.  

I grew up eating a lot of pancakes for breakfast and even dinner, so I know a good one when I taste one.  Every time I eat a standard pancake, however, my belly bloats and I feel STARVING again in about 2 hours.  Obviously, I’m not the only one.  

If you go to the effort of making a homemade breakfast, you should also make it so it is nourishing and doesn’t mess up your glucose levels all day. 

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Who should make low carb protein pancakes?

These pancakes are suitable for people following a keto diet because coconut flour is the perfect keto flour.  If you have diabetes and want a low-carb breakfast, you won’t be disappointed either. 

Maybe you are an athlete and you want protein pancakes in the morning without the lunk protein shake factor. 

Both keto-friendly and gut-friendly,  you won’t get the gut-bomb pancake feeling with these tasty cakes. 

If you want low carb, coconut flour is a good go-to flour.   Synonymous with keto, coconut products are super useful. 

Just keep in mind, because these cakes have real butter, you may want to have these only on the weekend, not every single day. 

What you need:

• A griddle or pan. I like to use a cast-iron skillet to give it a more golden and crispy outside.
• Spatula
• Simple, wholesome ingredients

This low carb protein pancakes recipe contains just 5 ingredients: coconut flour, butter (try to get grass-fed butter), eggs, salt,  and a half and half. These make fluffy pancakes without any added baking powder or baking soda too! 

Coconut flour pancake recipe options

You can use egg whites instead of whole eggs if you prefer, but why would you want to do that?  A lot of the nutrition is in the yolk! You can use almond flour instead of coconut flour if you prefer. 

You definitely can add some grass-fed whey chocolate protein powder here if you are looking for an even bigger protein boost.  I recommend skipping protein powders unless they are grass-fed.

For the healthiest protein pancakes, skip the additives and artificial sweeteners too.  If they have stevia as a sweetener, that is better because it is natural. Read about the best grass-fed whey protein here. 

If you decide to add a scoop of protein powder, make sure to add an extra 2 tablespoons or so of half and half or coconut milk as it will be chalky if you don’t.

As the pancake batter sits for a minute or two, you will notice it thickens up as the coconut flour absorbs up the liquid. 

Why use Coconut Flour?

Using coconut flour is a great keto flour and it is easy and inexpensive.  You only need 2 tablespoons to make a filling meal.  This is about half the amount of flour you might use if you were using wheat flour. 

Coconut flour. It is a versatile keto flour that has a mild coconut flavor and serves as a great flour replacement in recipes.  

Remember how you want a nutritious pancake that doesn’t weigh you down or cause brain fog?  

If you are new to low-carb pancakes and don’t like the texture of coconut as much,  feel free to add in a 1:1 gluten-free baking mix. This will increase the carb amount slightly, but you will still be at a fraction of the carbs of standard pancakes. 

Coconut flour is more nutritious

Low-carb coconut flour is not only WAY more nutritious than all-purpose flour, but it is also going to give you so much more sustained energy because of its fiber content and unique fat profile.  It is also a great base for any low-carb protein pancake recipe or baked treats.

Coconut flour is rich in potassium, iron, fiber, and antioxidants, and is super low carb.

If you still want a little bit more carb in your pancake before exercising, I suggest adding in some low-carb oatmeal that is gluten-free and substituting it for coconut flour.

Why use grass-fed butter?

Two main reasons you should use grass-fed butter over standard butter: flavor and nutrition. Grass-fed butter is going to give you omega-3 fats, more vitamin A, vitamin E, more CLA, and more antioxidants too. 

This recipe gives you over 100% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) for vitamin A for women. 

If you are dairy intolerant, see below for tips.

Nutrition advantages

These coconut flour pancakes have 5 times more fiber than typical pancakes,  Per serving, this recipe has 3 mg iron (comparable to a steak), 220 mg of potassium, and only 3 net carbs.  Rich in calcium, this recipe has 107 mg, around 10% of your daily needs. 

Coconut flour also contains MCT oil, which is good for a gut-healing diet and a good fuel for brain cells. 

Satisfying and filling

Personally, I find this recipe so filling that it serves two people, but for a person with a big appetite, 2 pancakes is a good serving size. 

Gluten-free

So many people have gluten sensitivities these days, so this recipe is an easy and delicious substitute for wheat-containing flour. 

No need for baking powder

Baking powder is fraught with health issues because it either has aluminum or is chock-full of added phosphates.

These pancakes are fluffy on their own with a combination of eggs and a small amount of coconut flour. 

High-quality protein

So many low-carb protein pancake recipes use protein powders with artificial flavors, artificial coloring, and artificial sweeteners.  These ingredients defeat the purpose of making a healthy pancake, no? 

Using eggs as a protein source provides a great source of choline, and vitamin A. I recommend pasture-raised eggs or cage-free eggs if you can find them.

A sure sign that a chicken egg is more nutritious is by looking at the color of the yolk.  You want a bright yellow yolk. 

Easy protein pancakes

With just 5  ingredients, you can mix these up in less than a minute and be ready to get on with your day.  The only specialty ingredient that you want to keep on hand is a bag of coconut flour. 

These days, you can find coconut flour just about anywhere you go. 

Toppings

Feel free to buy a sugar-free keto syrup like this one to keep this low carb. 

I prefer to put just a teeny bit of organic maple syrup like this one (1 teaspoon or so) on the top and still keep this low carb.

I recommend skipping most sugar-free syrup brands due to the fact that they almost always have fillers and additives that are undesirable for your health. 

You don’t want your cakes to be fake sweet or taste like they are trying to hide something (like artificial sweeteners). 

Dairy-free adaptation

This recipe is easy to make dairy-free. 

Simply substitute a sustainable red palm oil, grass-fed ghee, coconut oil, or avocado oil instead of the butter, and use coconut milk or almond milk instead of the half and half cream.