Banana Oat Pancakes
from overripe bananas and pantry oats

This is the recipe for those two black-spotted bananas sitting on the counter that are past the point of eating but before the point of throwing away. Mash them with eggs, blend them with oats until smooth, and you have a pancake batter with no flour, no sugar added, and nothing unusual required. Twenty minutes, one pan, and a use for what most people compost.

The riper the banana, the better this works. A firm, barely-yellow banana has limited natural sweetness and will produce pancakes that taste vaguely of cardboard. A deeply spotted, almost-black banana is essentially a bag of natural sugars and banana flavor concentrate — that is what makes the batter sweet enough to eat with just a drizzle of maple syrup. Do not use under-ripe bananas for this recipe.

The oats work as a flour substitute because a blender processes them into a coarse flour that absorbs moisture and provides structure. Rolled oats (old-fashioned oats) work better than quick oats for this because they have more surface area and blend into a coarser, more textured flour. The batter should be thicker than crepe batter but thinner than muffin batter — if yours seems too thick after resting, add a tablespoon of milk or water.

What you need

• 2 ripe bananas — the more spotted and soft, the better
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (90g) rolled oats (old-fashioned oats, not instant)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional but very good)
• 1–2 tablespoons butter or neutral oil for the pan
• To serve: maple syrup, honey, plain yogurt, sliced banana or berries

How to make it

Step 1: Blend the batter. Add the rolled oats to a blender and pulse for about thirty seconds until they are ground to a coarse flour — not a fine powder, but no whole oat pieces remaining. Add the bananas (broken into chunks), the eggs, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Blend until completely smooth, about thirty to forty-five seconds. Scrape down the sides if needed. No blender? Mash the bananas very thoroughly with a fork, mix in the eggs, then stir in oat flour that you have made by grinding oats in a food processor. The batter will be slightly less smooth but still works.

Step 2: Rest the batter. Let the batter sit for three minutes. This is not optional — the oat flour absorbs the moisture from the banana and eggs during this time and the batter thickens to the right consistency. Fresh from the blender, it will seem thin. After three minutes, it should have the consistency of thick yogurt — thick enough that it pours slowly rather than running freely. If it still seems thin, add another tablespoon of oats and blend briefly.

Step 3: Heat the pan. Set a non-stick skillet or griddle over medium-low heat. Let it warm for about two minutes. Add a small knob of butter and let it melt and foam, then subside. The pan is ready when a drop of water flicked onto it sizzles and evaporates within a second. Medium-low is the right temperature for these pancakes — they are denser than flour pancakes and need more time at the center to cook through. Too high a heat browns the outside before the inside is set.

Step 4: Cook the pancakes. Pour about three tablespoons of batter into the pan for each pancake — this makes a pancake roughly 8–9 cm (3 inches) across, which is a manageable size for flipping. Cook for two to three minutes. Watch the surface: when bubbles start forming and a few burst, and the edges of the pancake look set and matte rather than wet and shiny, it is time to flip. Use a thin, wide spatula and flip in one confident motion. These pancakes are more fragile than standard flour pancakes — hesitation and partial flips tend to end badly. Cook the second side for one to two minutes until done. Keep cooked pancakes warm in a low oven while you finish the batch.

Step 5: Serve. Stack and serve immediately with maple syrup, a spoonful of yogurt, and sliced fruit if available. They are best eaten fresh from the pan, as the texture changes as they cool.

How to tell when they are ready to flip

The visual cue is slightly different from flour pancakes. Look for the surface to change from wet and glossy to mostly matte, with small bubbles forming across the top. The edges should look fully set, not wet. If you lift the edge of a pancake and the bottom is dark golden, flip it. If it looks pale, wait another thirty seconds.

Chef notes

If you want a thinner, crispier pancake, add two tablespoons of milk to the batter to loosen it slightly. The extra moisture spreads the batter thinner in the pan and produces a lacier, crispier edge. If you prefer a thicker, more substantial pancake, go with the recipe as written and keep the pour size small.

Variations

• With chocolate chips: A tablespoon of dark chocolate chips per pancake, pressed in just after pouring — a straightforward improvement for weekends.
• With nut butter: Swirl a teaspoon of peanut or almond butter into each pancake batter circle before it sets. Adds richness and keeps you full longer.
• Savory version: Skip the cinnamon, use a less-ripe banana, and add a pinch of black pepper and some spring onion. Unusual but genuinely interesting with a fried egg alongside.

See also: Cinnamon French toast from stale bread · The 5-minute fancy eggs upgrade · Sweet potato hash · Kitchen journal · Pricing