Super quick and easy 5 ingredient Corn Flour Pancakes. They are golden, and fluffy, and can be mixed up & on your plate in under 15 minutes!
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Oh my, these Corn Flour Pancakes are so good! Golden, super light, fluffy, and slightly crispy on the outside.
They have a delicious, mellow sweet taste from the corn flour, (a bit like cornbread), and are so much lighter than pancakes made with regular all-purpose flour. They also happen to be dairy-free, egg-free, naturally gluten-free (like my vegan banana oatmeal pancakes), and so quick and easy to make.
Add a pat of vegan butter and a drizzle of maple syrup and it's like all your perfect vegan breakfasts have come at once!
Ingredients
This is an incredibly simple recipe that is made with just a handful of pantry staple ingredients and no eggs are required! Here is exactly what you need:
And a couple of ingredient notes:
- Corn flour - You must use regular fine yellow corn flour, not one that is made from cooked corn and not one that is limed/nixtamalized (it will say on the bag if it is). It must be fine. Cornmeal is too coarse. I use Bob's Red Mill Corn Flour. No other type of flour, (even white corn flour) will work in this recipe.
- Sugar - This is optional in this recipe. It does bring out the flavour of the corn flour and helps to make the pancakes golden though so I do recommend using it if you can.
- Dairy-free milk - Any variety such as cashew milk, soy milk, almond milk, plain or vanilla flavoured, sweetened or unsweetened. It doesn't matteer.
IMPORTANT (this note has been added post-publication - Unfortunately, a common theme since this recipe has been published is people not using the correct flour. It will not work with all-purpose flour, white corn flour, masa harina, corn flour that is limed/nixtamalized, UK cornflour, or cornstarch. You must follow the recipe as written using the correct ingredients if you want it to work well, which means using regular fine yellow corn flour with just yellow corn as an ingredient.
How To Make Corn Flour Pancakes
This has got to be one of the easiest and quickest pancake recipes to make EVER. Unlike most pancake recipes, there is no resting time for the batter and you don't even need to worry about over-mixing because it is naturally gluten-free.
Here's a quick summary of how it's done:
- Add all of the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix them together.
- Pour in the plant milk and vanilla.
- Whisk together to form a smooth batter.
- Cook the pancakes in batches on a skillet or griddle over medium-low heat.
The whole process takes less than 15 minutes from start to finish!
Success tip - Treat the pancakes gently when cooking/flipping. Because they don't contain any gluten they are quite delicate.
Serving Suggestions
The very best way to eat Corn Flour Pancakes is with vegan butter and maple syrup. Maybe with some vegan sausages or vegan bacon on the side? They are also great with frozen berry compote, fresh berries, roasted strawberries or blueberry lavender sauce.
Recipe
Corn Flour Pancakes
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- 2 cups (247 grams) yellow corn flour , In the UK it is sometimes labelled as maize flour. No other type of flour or corn flour will work.
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1⅓ cup (320 mls) milk of choice
INSTRUCTIONS
- To a medium bowl, add the corn flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Whisk them together.
- Add the milk and vanilla to the dry ingredients and mix them together well.
- Heat a griddle, skillet or frying pan over a medium low heat. Add a drizzle of mildly flavoured oil or some vegan butter and allow to melt/spread around the pan. If you have a good non stick pan/griddle you can cook them oil-free.
- Once hot add the batter about ⅓ cup (80 mls) at a time. Allow them to cook undisturbed, until bubbles start forming around the edges and they start to look slightly set around the edges. Don't wait for bubbles to appear all over the top.
- Flip gently and cook on the other side until lightly golden. This won't take long. 30 seconds or so. Don't overcook them or they will become dry.
- Remove from the pan and serve immediately.
NOTES
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Jamy Coady says
Why is mine doughy and not batter?
Melanie McDonald says
If you have a dough and not a batter and have used corn flour as per the recipe then something has been mis-measured.
Heidi says
I rarely comment but I have been using your recipes and I'm on your newsletter. Thank you for all the amazing plant-based recipes, they're all good!
I ran out of fresh foods but I have a freezer with my homemade soya mild unfiltered I keep for when I want a heartier type pancake. I only had medium ground cornmeal so I used half and half with tapioca floor. I also added 5 tbsp baking powder instead as the cornmeal is heavier. It came out heavenly!
And, my dog likes it too! :)
Cris says
These were yummy! Me and my dog devoured them as a midnight snack😂
Melanie McDonald says
Ha ha, my dogs love these pancakes too! So pleased you enjoyed them, Cris!
Sara says
These turned out sweet and fluffy. I measured the sweet yellow corn flour using my kitchen scale. The baking powder flavour came through a bit much for me, so next time I'll add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to make sure it all reacts. The batter was a bit thick, so I'll add up to 20ml more of almond milk next time to thin it out. That might also help the baking powder react so I don't taste it in the cooked pancakes.
Melanie McDonald says
Glad you enjoyed them! Baking powder doesn't need an acid like vinegar or lemon juice added to react. Baking soda is the one that does and this recipe doesn't use it. I think it's likely that the taste issue is related to your specific baking powder. Because this is a simple, mild tasting recipe the taste of the aluminum in your baking powder is coming through. Buy a better quality aluminum-free baking powder and you won't have any issues. As for the thickness of the batter...It's like that for a reason. Thick batters create nice fluffy pancakes. If you add more milk the pancakes will be thinner and less fluffy. Hope that helps!
Michael Madrid says
Not worth it. If I wanted gorritas it would have been great . But this recipe doesn't produce corn pancakes . 2nd attempt trying to make "corn pancake" I'm better off buying regular pancake mix .
Melanie McDonald says
Gorditas are made with masa harina. If that's what you used to make these pancakes then that's where you went wrong.
The recipe makes perfect fluffy pancakes if you follow it exactly ;O)
Carol says
Made these for brunch today with vegan bacon and real maple syrup and they were really good. Light, fluffy and tasted great. They will be a new regular weekend recipe for us.
Cynnamons@gmail.com says
It was horrible. Runny and tasted super weird. Why is this the first recipe that comes up? Gross!
Filipa says
Initially I was a bit skeptical it would work, but hey, they turned out super tasty and fluffy! Love it! Thanks for this amazing recipe!
Alex says
These are like little light n fluffy cornbread pillows. Thanks for another banger Mel!
Maile K Epperson says
Followed the instructions, including how to measure the corn flour, and had a completely unusable paste. Do not recommend.
Marc says
Same. This "batter" came out like instant mashed potatos.
Left it on the griddle several minutes per side, still doughy inside. (Instruction was 20 seconds !)
I you use recipe as is and shape it into a disk (like a cookie) and cook it MUCH longer, it tastes ok.
I also tried adding much more milk to the remaining batter. In this case it still doesn't pour like pancake batter but you can let a pile of it cook and then mash it flatter when you flip it. Mashed it very thin , cooked for four minutes per side and still too doughy to eat.
Made a waffle with the batter. Outside was hard. Inside was slightly undercooked.
Also the vanilla is overpowering.
I think partly there is a ton of confusion about corn meal, corn flour, masa harina and then countries use the terms differently too - so it's hard to know what is intended. Unfortunately the author seems irritated by questions and only repeats herself more forcefully.
I used "corn flour" and the package ingredient list is white cooked corn, lime.
FYI the web page is also frustrating. Seems to freeze up a lot esp the keyboard. Not sure if it's the ads trying to refresh or what.
So although in some aspect it tastes ok, the rating takes into account the original recipe, website and author
Melanie McDonald says
You mention you used corn flour that was made from white cooked corn and lime. That’s masa harina. Standard corn flour just has corn as an ingredient. It’s also not made with cooked corn and it is not limed.
The post and recipe clearly state to use yellow corn flour (in multiple places) and I stress that it won’t work with anything else including masa harina.
Sorry you had a bad result, but if you use the wrong ingredients you can’t blame the recipe or “the author”.
All of my recipes are tested very thoroughly by myself and a team of recipe testers and I am confident in saying that if made as written with the correct ingredients the recipe will give great results.
Hope that helps!
Theresa Freeman says
I made this pan cake and my family love it.
Lisa M Jensen says
I tried to make these but the batter turned out like cookie dough and looked like pucks in the frying pan. What did I do wrong?
Melanie McDonald says
If the batter was like cookie dough, and you used yellow corn flour (and not any other type) as per the recipe, then you didn't weigh or measure your ingredients properly. You can see the texture the batter should be in my instructional video.
Desiree says
Making this in the USA, using masa harina which is Hispanic corn flour. I added the ingredients in the amounts stated and it turned out like wet sand, not like a batter at all. I added more milk and I’m going to try cooking them anyways, but I don’t have high hopes. Any idea on what went differently for me?
Melanie McDonald says
This recipe works perfectly with yellow corn flour. Masa harina is very different and will not work in this recipe. Also, because you mention the texture of the batter it's worth checking that you measured the flour correctly? By weighing it, or by spooning it into the cup and then levelling the top without shaking or compacting it down? If you scoop it into the cup you can easily end up with 30-40% more flour than intended which can make the batter too thick.
All of this will affect how well the recipe turns out.
Hope that helps!
marie says
that should read Vitamix!!!
marie says
if I blitz cornmeal in the vitamin will that be cornflour?
Melanie McDonald says
I'd blitz it then sieve it so it's superfine then it will be fine!
Paula says
Is polenta the same as corn flour?
Melanie McDonald says
Polenta is made from corn but it is usually coarser than flour. More like our cornmeal in consistency. You need a corn flour that is really fine, like regular wheat/plain flour consistency. If you can find a bag of polenta that is like that in texture then it will work, but I think most will be too coarse/grainy. You'll need to examine the bags and check before you buy. Some have a window so you can see it. You might also fine it labeled as maize flour.
I just checked Tesco and Sainsbury's online and they have Natco fine corn meal and from reading reviews of it it looks like it might be flour-like in consistency, but I've never used it myself so can't guarantee how fine it will be. It looks like Amazon Uk might also sell corn flour and maize flour too but it's hard for me to see for sure as it keeps defaulting to the Canadian Amazon when I search.
Unfortunately, it's not as easy to find as it is in North America, but I hope that helps a bit!
Julie R says
Is the corn flour you use known as maize flour here in UK?
Melanie McDonald says
Yes, it is. I'll make a note of that in the recipe.
Dianne says
They taste amazing. Like cornbread and are so soft and fluffy. Our new favorite. Kids loved them!
Melanie McDonald says
Thank you Dianne. I'm really pleased you all enjoyed them!
Mary says
Love them!
Prue says
OMG just made them. So good!! I can’t believe how simple they are either!
A Virtual Vegan says
Yay! I'm so pleased you enjoyed them Prue. Thanks for stopping by to leave feedback. It's much appreciated!