My Mama makes terrific Oatmeal Pancakes! These are the most stick-to-your-ribs ones we've ever had. Plus by mixing the batter before bed, morning is made easy.
I love making things easy. We often have morning chores to get done before eating breakfast, so I like things to be nice and quick so we can get right to the table when we're done working. These require an overnight soak, making them ideal for super busy mornings, whether that's farm chores or catching the school bus.
I love too that this recipe doesn't have any added sugar. There's no need! I like to add my own toppings whether that's real maple syrup, jam, apple butter - the sky's the limit. These are super filling but you can also serve with bacon or sausage for some extra protein.
Why You Need This Recipe
- A quick mix before bed and pop the bowl in the fridge - then mornings is simply frying up griddle cakes!
- Kids can help with both the mixing AND the cooking. Pancakes are a great simple recipe to help them gain kitchen confidence.
- Easily adaptable to gluten-free or vegetarian diets.
Key Ingredients
Oats - Make sure and use old-fashioned/rolled oats here, not "quick." You need the structure and chew of these for the long soaking time.
Buttermilk - Cultured buttermilk is perfect here, the thick stuff from the store.
Eggs - Eggs add a lightness to the pancakes, which they need since the oats can get pretty heavy.
Oil - Use a neutral oil like canola. You can also use melted butter.
How to Make Oatmeal Pancakes
Step 1: About 12-36 hours before you want to cook and serve these pancakes, mix up the batter.
Step 2: Add the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Step 3: Mix the wet ingredients until well combined.
Step 4: Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until just combined.
Step 5: Cover the bowl and store in the fridge overnight.
Step 6: When ready to cook and serve, heat up a griddle, grease it and go!
Tips and Tricks
- Make sure not to mix the batter a ton. This develops gluten and makes the pancakes tough. The batter will be thick and lumpy which is just fine!
- Cook low and slow. Because these are so thick, they take a bit longer to cook through than your usual pancakes and you don't want them to burn.
- These freeze beautifully. Either freeze in packs that your family will eat at once, or set wax or parchment paper in between to make individual servings.
Substitutions
Use any sort of milk here - BUT - the key is to have some acidity to it. This is what will help "pre-digest" the oats and start breaking them down. This makes it easier to digest the final pancakes. So if you don't have cultured buttermilk, you can thin out yogurt with milk or water.
Use any flour you have on hand - I reach for regular wheat flour mostly, because it's only a small amount and is soaked. But a gluten-free 1-to-1 mix will work great. I've also done these with buckwheat, which, even though it has "wheat" in the name is actually gluten-free!
I haven't used any egg substitutes myself, but I don't see why they wouldn't work. If you have a favorite substitute using flax or chia, feel free to give it a try here!
FAQs
You can use a non-dairy milk if you'd like, just add acid like lemon juice, to make a faux buttermilk. Oats are naturally gluten-free, but you have to watch for cross contamination if that is a concern. And as stated above, gluten-free flours will work super well!
You'll need a flat surface. If you have a small family, then a griddle pan works fine. Treat yourself to a ceramic-coated electric griddle to cook more at once for meal prep. I just got a Blackstone so I'm looking forward to making almost the entire batch at once! Keep in mind that these pancakes need to cook lower and slower than what you're used to.
Yup - the oats will be far too dry and chewy if you try and make pancakes right away. I find they need at least 12 hours to be ready to cook. The benefit here too is helping to break down the oats, making them gentler on tummies. I especially love that there's only a small bit of flour in the entire recipe, which just seems to do really well for my family.
More Kid-Approved Breakfast Ideas
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Karen's Oatmeal Pancakes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups old fashioned oats
- 2 cups buttermilk or 1 cup yogurt thinned with 1 cup water
- 2 eggs
- ½ cups oil
- ½ cups flour of choice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼-1/2 cup hemp hearts optional
Instructions
- About 12-36 hours before you want to cook and serve these pancakes, mix up the batter.
- Add the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
- Mix the wet ingredients until well combined. I like to use a large measuring cup (like 4-cups) to measure and mix all at once.
- Add wet ingredients to dry and stir to combine. Remember that pancakes should not be overmixed! The batter will be thick.
- Cover the bowl and store in the fridge overnight.
- In the morning, heat up a griddle pan, electric griddle, or a Blackstone flattop.
- Cook as you would any other pancakes, the only difference being these cook a little lower and a little longer than usual.
Sally
These are delightful!
Deniz
I was inspired by this recipe and created my own by replacing hemp hearts and flour with buckwheat and banana.
I’ve since never used white flour for pancakes??
Lorena A Cortese
An all time favorite in our home!! Thank you
Lynette Vandergaag
These are so delicious and filling! My kids loved them and so did I.
Maria K
Love this recipe and so do my kids.
Hope
These are the BEST pancakes! I remember having oatmeal pancakes as a kid but as an adult had never been able to find a recipe I liked until this one. My whole family loves them, they are our go to pancakes. I love that it’s prepped the night before and healthy! We make them at least every other week.
Sarah
I make these with buckwheat for the flour. So good! And they are very filling and keep us filled till lunch. These are my favorite pancakes!
justbrooke
Friday my Gramma gave me a Gem Dandy butter churn.
Saturday I ordered a gallon of heavy cream from a local dairy.
Tuesday I picked up the heavy cream.
Wednesday I made butter and mixed up these pancakes (quick oats from the amish store, Jovial all purpose einkorn as my flour, no hemp hearts) using the buttermilk.
Thursday- right now, as I type- morning I cooked pancakes and I am drooling. I know what I am doing with the other 3 cups of buttermilk: a 1.5 batch of these pancakes is happening! And apparently making butter and then pancakes is going to be a regular thing because these are incredible *star-eyed emoji*. At first when they were cooking I was not sure about them but I made sure to adjust the temp lower and cook longer as suggested and they turned out so perfectly!
Jessica
These are so good and actually filling enough to tide you over until lunch. What kind of oil do you use?
Dee Porter
Whatever we have available!
Naomi
Could you use melted lard in place of the oil?
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I don't see why not. I use melted coconut oil. Just a slight flavour difference.
Naomi
Would it work to use melted pig lard in place of the oil?
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Yes it would still work just a slight flavour difference.
Naomi
Thank you!! Sorry for the multiple comments!! Pregnancy brain! 🙂