Banana Oat Pancakes

This easy recipe for Banana Oat Pancakes is healthy, filling, and a major weekend favorite in our house. Fluffy oatmeal pancakes are sweetened with ripe bananas and topped with toasted pecans.

It’s been awhile since we made pancakes, right?

Today is the first day of school over here (where does the time go?!!?) and since I shared my favorite pancake shortcut last year on the first day of school, I thought maybe we should continue the tradition. This year we are going hearty and healthy with Banana Oat Pancakes.

I put all the good morning stuff in here.

We found out last week that Evan, my youngest, will not be eating lunch until 1:00 pm. That is super late for us. If we are being serious here, I’m usually up so early that I’m ready for lunch by 10:30 a.m.

I have no idea how my man is going to hold out until 1. Especially if snacks aren’t an option.

So I’m thinking I may need to up my breakfast ante, and sometimes include things like these pancakes. It’s an effort to fill my dudes up, with the hope that they can make it to math class without gnawing off an arm. Do you guys even know how much food teenage boys can eat in a day? If you aren’t there yet, be prepared to need an extra income.

Anyway.

What makes these oatmeal pancakes amazing?

They are fluffy and heart-healthy and I would not be disappointed if someone made these for me every day. There are a few details that make these oatmeal pancakes amazing.

• The recipe calls for whole wheat flour AND all purpose flour. That gives these pancakes an earthy flavor that I love while still being fluffy. You CAN sub in all all-purpose flour if you don’t have any handy.
• The oats are mixed with the bananas and milk first, while you assemble everything else. That lets them soften before adding them to the rest of the batter.
• Just 2 tablespoons of brown sugar in the mix. Bananas do a great job of acting as a natural sweetener, so you can skip the additional sugar if you are keeping track. I like to add it because sugar in the batter adds some depth to the sweet.
• The nuts (walnuts OR pecans!) add the perfect amount of crunch and protein.

Tips to make the best Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

• Pecans are optional. Walnuts are also delicious! Or you can leave out nuts all together.
• The batter can hold an extra medium banana (making it a total of 3) if you have more over ripe bananas hanging around, or if you just want more banana flavor.
• For a shortcut, you can use my Homemade Fluffy Pancake Mix and add 1 banana + 1/4 cup oats when you are mixing the batter up. you may want to add just a splash more of milk (not more than 1/4 cup)

School year routines are hard. Let’s have pancakes.