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These hearty cornmeal pancakes, made with medium-ground yellow cornmeal and cornstarch instead of flour, have a satisfying texture and tons of flavor. The simple batter is made smooth in a blender, quickly and easily.
I've been making “regular” pancakes for as long as I can remember, and these unique pancakes satisfy in a way that they don't. All the chew of cornbread in a naturally gluten free cornmeal pancake.
nicole's notes
My take on this recipe
There's nothing like a traditional light and fluffy gluten free pancake, and there are so many ways to make them. But these cornmeal pancakes are a little different.
The recipe is made mostly with medium-ground yellow cornmeal and a touch of cornstarch to lighten things up a bit, but you blend the batter so there's only the slightest chew in each sweet-and-savory bite.
Making the batter in a blender has the added benefit of making these pancakes incredibly easy to make. I've spelled it all out in the recipe below (and the how-to video, too!), but really? I could have just written the instructions like this:
Put all of the ingredients in the order listed in a blender, blend, then pour on a hot buttered skillet, cook, flip, cook and eat. Of course, there's a bit more to it than that. But not a whole lot!
Recipe ingredients
There are only 9 total ingredients in the recipe below, but that's including salt and an optional ingredient. Here are a few things to know about each of them:
- Medium ground yellow cornmeal – Blending the cornmeal with other ingredients helps it combine fully and make for pancakes with just the right amount of hearty texture
- Cornstarch – Adding some cornstarch to the mix lightens the weight of the pancakes a bit
- Xanthan gum – Because we aren't using any flour, a touch of xanthan gum helps thicken the batter and makes it hold together a bit better, but it's optional. Without xanthan gum, you'll have thinner pancakes, so cook them further apart on the griddle
- Granulated sugar – For sweetness and some extra tenderness; you can use an equal amount, by weight, of honey if you prefer
- Baking powder & baking soda– Help the pancakes rise and brown
- Milk – Adds moisture and richness; avoid using fat free milk because fat is a tenderizer
- Butter – Some melted butter adds richness and buttery flavor to your pancakes. You can use vegetable oil to grease the griddle, or more butter.
- Eggs – The eggs help bind the pancakes together and add some lift
Ingredient substitutions
Dairy free
These pancakes are super easy to make dairy-free. Just use non-dairy milk (I like unsweetened almond milk best), and you can even use extra virgin olive oil in place of melted butter. Any nondairy butter, even Earth Balance buttery sticks, should work if you melt it, too.
Egg free
Eggs are almost always a bit trickier than dairy to replace. Here, since the recipe is right at my 2-egg threshold for successful egg replacement.
Two “chia eggs” (a chia egg is simply 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds mixed with 1 tablespoon lukewarm water and allowed to gel) should work, but you'll have to experiment.
Cornmeal Pancakes Recipe
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (99 g) medium ground yellow cornmeal, gluten free if necessary
- ¼ cup (36 g) cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum, (optional; helps thicken the pancakes)
- 3 tablespoons (36 g) granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup (6 fluid ounces) milk, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons (42 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for greasing
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs, at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat a large cast iron or nonstick skillet over medium heat, or heat a griddle according to the manufacturer’s directions to 350°F.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, cornstarch, xanthan gum, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a blender, place the milk, melted butter, and eggs. Add the dry ingredients on top.
- Close the blender canister and give it a quick shake to begin to mix the ingredients so there is liquid and dry ingredients next to the blades.
- Blend on high speed until smooth, about 1 minute.
- The batter should be thickly pourable. If you omitted the xanthan gum, it will be relatively thin. Allow the batter to sit for 5 minutes to thicken, and whisk until smooth.
- Grease the hot skillet or pan with a light brushing of unsalted butter.
- Pour or ladle the pancake batter on the hot skillet surface in 1/4-cup portions, taking care not to crowd the skillet or pan.
- Allow the pancakes to cook until lots of bubbles appear and the surface appears dry around the edges (about 3 minutes).
- Flip the pancakes and continue cooking for another minute, or until the underside is lightly browned. Flip the pancakes again to make sure the underside is cooked and the pancakes are cooked all the way through.
- Transfer the cooked pancakes to a baking sheet or serving plate (in a stack to keep them warm), and repeat with the remaining batter.
- If you’d like, while you finish the batch, you can keep the cooked pancakes warm in a 200°F oven on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Serve immediately with your favorite pancake toppings.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Expert tips
Know when to flip your pancakes
You'll know when the pancakes are ready to flip when the underside has set and begun to brown, and the edges on top are set. You should see lots of bubbles forming on the top when the first side is cooking. When you slide your spatula underneath the pancake, the batter shouldn't leak off the edges back onto the cooking surface.
A quick tip for testing whether a pancake (really any pancake) is ready to flip is to slide your spatula only a couple of centimeters under the very edge of the pancake. If the batter on the top of the pancake starts to run at all, it's not ready to flip. If you flip it then, you'll end up with “feet” on your pancakes as the batter will slide around during transit.
Use room temperature ingredients
If your wet ingredients, especially, are cold, your pancake batter won't blend fully and it will have lumps. Make sure everything is at room temperature before you blend.
If your milk is cold, try microwaving it for about 20 seconds. If your eggs are cold, place them in a bowl of very warm (not hot) water for about 10 minutes and they should become close to room temperature.
FAQs
Yes, you can make the pancake batter with a food processor or a stick blender. If you don't have any of those, you can make the batter by whisking together the dry ingredients, then adding in the wet ingredients and whisking until smooth. The batter won't be as smooth, and the pancakes will be lumpier and have more chew from the cornmeal, similar to our gluten free banana pancakes, but they'll still taste great.
Yes, these cornmeal pancakes are naturally gluten free when they're made with gluten free cornmeal and cornstarch.
Yes. For sweeter pancakes, try increasing the granulated sugar to anything up to 100 grams or one half cup. You can also just add an additional 3 tablespoons (63 g) of honey to the batter.
Yes. You can blend the batter ahead of time and store it in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Just let it warm to close to room temperature before cooking the pancakes. If you've chosen to omit the xanthan gum, the cornmeal may settle out of the batter. If that happens, just blend the batter again before using it.
No. If you don't want to use xanthan gum and you aren't gluten free, try replacing half of the cornstarch (by weight) with conventional all purpose wheat flour. The wheat gluten in the flour should help bind the pancakes together.
Once cool, wrap leftovers tightly in plastic wrap (I really like Glad Press ‘n' Seal) in stacks of 2 or 3 and refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 weeks. To refresh refrigerated or frozen pancakes, sprinkle with warm water and microwave for 30 or 40 seconds for refrigerated or about 1 minute for frozen. You can also refresh them in a warm toaster oven.
Excellent, they came out better than I dared hope! Will be my go-to pancake recipe from now on.
So great to hear, Jennifer. Hope is good, and I wouldn’t lead you astray! 😉
Just wondering if finely ground cornmeal would also work, given it’s going in a blender anyway? Thank you!
Hi, Shar, definitely that would work fine. Just be sure to measure by weight, not volume, since finely ground cornmeal will be heavier by volume.
These look wonderful! I was wondering if you thought that I could use applesauce in place of the butter because my husband is trying to watch his cholesterol and saturated fat intake.
I’m afraid that applesauce will not work as a butter replacement. Only another fat could possibly substitute for butter. You could maybe try a plant-based butter alternative, as those are typically lower in saturated fat than butter.
that was good. The only thing I did was leave out the sugar Thanks for the recipe
Although I haven’t made this recipe, I do make plenty of gluten free pancakes made with my own mixture of buckwheat flour and yucca flour, I also make Arepas but I add in Psyllium husk, just wondering if adding Psyllium Husk to this recipe would be better than the Xantham Gum. Thank you
Hi, Alicat, I haven’t tried adding psyllium husk to these pancakes, and I don’t really like it very much as a baking ingredient but if you’d like to experiment and you don’t mind the taste, it might be worth a shot.