These Carrot Cake Pancakes are a delicious and fun breakfast version of the classic cake that you love! Loaded with freshly grated carrots, walnuts, carrot cake spices and topped with maple syrup. Say hello to your new favorite breakfast!
This recipe was originally published in February 2019 – I’ve since updated the photos!
It’s no secret here on Our Balanced Bowl that I have a serious sweet tooth. I mean, from the to the Fudgy Brownie Cookies, Chai Snickerdoodles and of course, German Chocolate Brownies. In fact, most days I have to scale back all of the dessert recipe ideas I have as to not make my blog a full on dessert extravaganza.
As much as I love cookies and brownies and anything oreo, my all time favorite dessert is carrot cake! I love the spiciness of the cake, how it’s packed full of delicious ingredients and of course the decadent cream cheese frosting.
For my last birthday, my mom bought me a carrot cake and I think I ate it for breakfast for like, a week after my birthday. #noregrets
Why You’ll Love These Pancakes:
But speaaaaaking of breakfast and carrot cake, let’s talk these Carrot Cake Pancakes! Oh em gee you guys. They’re wonderful. They’re fluffy and not overly sweet. When you fry these in butter, they get the best crispy outside ring and the most delicious moist and fluffy insides.
I love all of the cozy spices inside like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. It really makes these pancakes wonderfully spicy. The freshly grated carrot not only gives these pancakes their wonderful orange color – but they also yield a certain texture and sweetness.
However, if you don’t like nuts/carrots or anything similar in your pancakes – these might not be for you. You can definitely taste the chopped walnuts and the finely grated carrot and I LOVED that. It embodies my perfect carrot cake – loaded with allll the goods!
I love garnishing them with extra walnuts, shredded coconut and of course BUTTER. When the extra melted salted butter tops the pancakes as well as the delicious maple syrup…..it’s basically the perfect bite.
They’re great for meal prepping too! Make a big batch on Sunday evening and you have breakfast ALL week.
Or, if you’re like me, make a delicious brunch! Serve with scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and maybe a mimosa or two! So let’s get into exactly what you need for them!
Ingredients You Need:
- all purpose flour (can sub whole wheat)
- brown sugar
- baking powder
- cozy spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger
- carrots
- chopped walnuts
- egg
- milk
- butter
- vanilla extract
- maple syrup and coconut flakes (optional for topping)
It’s not like, crazy hard to make once you have the ingredients BUT just in case, here’s a step by step run down.
How to Make Carrot Cake Pancakes:
First of all, either grate the carrots VERY FINELY or go the super-duper easy route and use the food processor to pulse until they’re grated for you! (can you tell that’s the route I went? lol)
I like doing it this way because this makes sure the carrot bits are really small! You could also probably do shredded carrots if you’d like.
Once they’re grated, if you use the food processor – go ahead and add in the egg, vanilla extract, and whole milk to the processor and pulse for a few times until it’s all mixed together.
If you used a grater, add the carrots to a large bowl with the egg, milk and vanilla extract and mix until thoroughly combined.
In another large bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, cozy spices until combined. To the dry ingredients, add in your wet ingredients. Before mixing, add in the chopped walnuts and 2 tbsp of melted butter. Mix together until all the ingredients are combined, making sure to NOT overmix.
Next, grab a non-stick skillet and add about ½ tbsp of salted butter. Melt on low/medium heat. I used a ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop my pancake batter into the pan. Let cook for 2-3 minutes on one side – until you begin to see the bubbles forming.
Once you see those bubbles, flip the pancake and cook for about an additional 1 minute on the other side. It usually doesn’t take the opposite side super long to cook. Continue until the batter is fully gone!
Top with more walnuts, toasted coconut flakes and of course, maple syrup! Don’t forget the coffee 🙂 YUM!
Did you like this recipe? Here are a few more you might enjoy!
Thank you so much for following along here, friends! Want to see more? Be sure to follow ourbalancedbowl on Instagram and tag me with your photo if you end up making a recipe! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the Our Balanced Bowl Facebook page! I always love to see your re-creations! If you do make a recipe, it would make my whole day if you were to rate and comment so I can get your feedback! Lots of love! – Haylie
Carrot Cake Pancakes
These Carrot Cake Pancakes are a delicious and fun breakfast version of the classic cake that you love! Loaded with freshly grated carrots, walnuts, carrot cake spices and topped with maple syrup. Say hello to your new favorite breakfast!
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 4 medium carrots grated (about 2 cups worth)
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- more butter, maple syrup and coconut flakes for garnish (optional)
Instructions
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Either using a grater or a food processor, grate your carrots finely. If you're using a food processor: pulse a few times until grated finely. You can add the egg and milk and vanilla extract directly to the food processor and pulse until combined. If not using a food processor, just add the grated carrots to a large bowl with the egg, milk and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly until combined.
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In another bowl, mix the all purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, brown sugar and salt together. To this bowl, add in the carrot/milk mixture. Don't mix yet! Also add in the chopped walnuts and melted butter. Now, mix until all of the ingredients are combined - careful not to overmix the batter!
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Heat about 1/2 tbsp butter in a non-stick skillet on medium heat. Using a 1/4 measuring cup, add in the pancake batter. (I did one pancake at a time to make it easier and more even.)
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Cook for 2-3 minutes on the first side until you start to see bubbles forming on the top. Once you see the bubbles forming, flip. Cook for an additional 1 minute or so. Place on a plate and continue to cook until the pancakes are done. I recommend adding more butter each time you add in a pancake for extra deliciousness!!
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Serve warm with more butter, chopped walnuts, coconut flakes and of course, maple syrup on top! Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Store cooked pancakes in the fridge in a tupperware container for 3-4 days
Oooooh yes, I need me a big ol’ stack of these. I know this is a very contentious opinion, but I’d love to throw a handful of raisins in here! (Or just eat them, as is, before I even get to the table. Either way.)
Thank you my sweet friend! I bet the raisins would add a delicious texture!
I’m absolutely making these pancakes Haylie! Carrot cake is my all time fave dessert too, and I request a carrot cake for my birthday every year! And since my hubby doesn’t like carrot cake, I get to eat it all myself!
Yay! So glad I found such a fellow carrot cake lover! Cheers to getting the cake all to ourselves!! 🙂
I’ve been thinking about these since I saw your post on IG the other day. They are definitely on my ‘to make’ list. Love carrot cake too, so in pancake form all the better! Extra butter and maple syrup for me please 🙂
You’re so sweet, Dawn!! They’re so good! I love carrot cake so much. And I like your thinking 😉 Extra syrup and butter for me too!
I cannot wait to make these! I may add some dark chocolate chips to them, oh my goodness!!
The chocolate chips sound like an amazing add, Marcella! Let me know how those turn out! 🙂
i am so excited to make these! i think im gonna add like a cream cheese glaze…
that sounds delicious, Analyssa!! Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
I love this recipe. The ingredients don’t list an egg, but the instructions do.
Hi Kristine! Thanks for bringing that to my attention – whoops! Just fixed it 🙂 So glad you love this recipe, it’s one of my favorites too! Thank you so much for the review!
That edit will help my mom brain not to forget the egg 🙂
Lol!! Love that! 🙂
I made these this morning. I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1/4 of all-purpose flour. Cooked for about 5 minutes total on a griddle at 350F. They were fantastic! Just the right amount of sweetness. All I needed was a little squirt of whipped cream on each one. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you so much, Leona!! So glad you enjoyed them 🙂