This Mixed Berry Pancakes recipe is perfect for baby led weaning (BLW). New eaters, toddlers, kids, and adults will love this easy pancake recipe. They’re amazing first foods, great for on the go snacks, and packed with great nutrition you will feel good about serving your family.
We love protein pancakes in this house, and when my protein sheet pan pancakes went off REALLY well, I knew I had to adapt them to be ideal for baby led weaning and new eaters.
Table of contents
Why This Recipe Works
As I discuss in my starting solids beginners guides and meal plan, I always recommend starting with finger-shaped foods so baby can easily pick it up even without having pincer grasp. These mixed berry pancakes are also:
- Nutrient packed
- Good source of iron
- Protein packed
- Easy to make
- Make ahead friendly
- No flipping needed!
Key Ingredients
Oat flour– Oats are not a major allergen so this is an ideal option if you haven’t yet tested wheat for allergies. You can make your own oat flour by pureeing rolled or quick cooking oats in the food processor. You can also make these gluten free if you choose gluten free oats.
Flaxmeal – Love the added omega 3s, fibre and protein in flax!
Cottage cheese – When pureed in the food processor, cottage cheese gets super smooth and thick like whipped cream. Look for a low sodium option if you can, but also just know that in the context of this whole recipe and how much baby is going to eat, it’s not a huge deal in my opinion.
Eggs – I like using omega 3 eggs if you can find them just as an added source of these important fats.
Bananas – This is your chance to use really nice super ripe bananas to add natural sweetness without any added sugar! I always keep ripe bananas in the freezer for making recipes like this (or these baby led weaning muffins that everyone loves).
Berries – This is to add some extra nutrition, colour and flavour. Change things up by using different berries for these mixed berry pancakes.
How to Make This Recipe
Step 1: Preheat oven to 425 F and spray a 19”x 12” baking sheet with cooking spray. To a large bowl, mix together the oat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, flax and salt.
Step 2: To a food processor, puree the cottage cheese until very smooth.
Step 3: Add that to the dry ingredients, along with the vanilla, eggs, and banana.
Step 4: Spread into the prepared baking sheet and top with berries and hemp hearts.
Step 5: Bake at 425 for 12 minutes, turning the pan around half way through the cooking period to ensure it cooks evenly. Cut the mixed berry pancakes into strips so it’s easy for baby to pick up and eat.
Expert Tips
The sky is the limit so add in whatever fruit or flavours your kids like. If you want to throw in some extra baking spices (ginger, nutmeg, star anise etc.) – go for it! Or you can add some cooked apple or pear for a nice fall option. You can also go tropical and throw in mango, pineapple and coconut!
Everyone has different favourites? You can make half of the the pancakes a different flavour or even in quarters. Now you can have multiple flavours in a single sheet pan.
The best part about these mixed berry pancakes is that you don’t have to flip them like on the stovetop! Do not skip the sheet pan with cooking spray or it’ll stick to the pan and you won’t be able to flip them even if you wanted to! They should be able to slide right out of your sheet pan.
Recipe FAQs
Absolutely, and I suggest that you do! I always cut these into strips, then transfer them to a baking sheet to freeze individually before transferring to a freezer bag for up to 3 months in the freezer. When you’re ready to eat, you can pull one out and thaw in the microwave for just 20 seconds or so, or fridge overnight.
Yes! I have had fans and followers make these with full fat Greek yogurt instead of cottage cheese, so that is an option as well. I do find the cottage cheese is thicker, so the batter is less wet, so you may need an extra 1-2 tablespoons of flour and a few minutes extra in the oven.
You can use frozen berries in place of fresh berries for these mixed berry pancakes. No need to thaw them before using, simply add them to the batter, straight from frozen.
More Recipes You Might Like
Want more protein packed pancakes like my mixed berry pancakes? Try these ones!
- Sheet Pan Protein Pancakes with PB, Chocolate and Banana
- Baby Cereal Pancakes
- Baby Spinach and Avocado Green Pancakes
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Protein Pancakes
- Nutella Protein Pancakes
What are your favourite pancake recipes? Have you tried making pancakes in a sheet pan yet? Leave me a comment below with your thoughts!
Mixed Berry Pancakes for BLW (Sheet Pan Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup oat flour gluten free if needed
- ¼ cup ground flaxmeal
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 ½ cup high fat cottage cheese ideally low sodium
- 4 tsp vanilla
- 4 eggs beaten
- 2 large mashed very ripe bananas
- 1 cup berries halved if large
- 2 tbsp hemp hearts
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 F and spray a 19”x 12” baking sheet with cooking spray.
- To a large bowl, mix together the oat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, flax and salt.
- To a food processor, puree the cottage cheese until very smooth. Add that to the dry ingredients, along with the vanilla, eggs, and banana.
- Spread into the prepared baking sheet and top with berries and hemp hearts.
- Bake at 425 for 12 minutes, turning the pan around half way through the cooking period to ensure it cooks evenly.
- Cut into strips so it’s easy for baby to pick up and eat.
Video
Notes
- The sky is the limit so add in whatever fruit or flavours your kids like. If you want to throw in some extra baking spices (ginger, nutmeg, star anise etc.) – go for it! Or you can add some cooked apple or pear for a nice fall option. You can also go tropical and throw in mango, pineapple and coconut!
- Everyone has different favourites? You can make half of the the pancakes a different flavour or even in quarters. Now you can have multiple flavours in a single sheet pan.
- The best part about these pancakes is that you don’t have to flip them like on the stovetop! Do not skip the sheet pan with cooking spray or it’ll stick to the pan and you won’t be able to flip them even if you wanted to! They should be able to slide right out of your sheet pan.
Nutrition
Updated on June 9th, 2021
Abbey Sharp is a Registered Dietitian (RD), regulated by the Ontario College of Dietitians. She is a mom, YouTuber, Blogger, award winning cookbook author, media coach specializing in food and nutrition influencers, and a frequent contributor to national publications like Healthline and on national broadcast TV shows.
Anna says
My twins loved this recipe. I used greek yogurt instead of cottage cheese, turned out great.
Amanda says
My family loves them. Great to cut up and have as a snack or meal base for my toddler!
Meryl Joan Lee says
tastes so good. i used greek yogurt in place of cottage cheese & chia seeds in place of hemp hearts. baby loves it. thank you so much!
Emily says
I also just made it with Greek yoghurt in place of the cottage cheese and it worked beautifully! My 1 yr old and i both loved it! Hugely recommend this recipe!
Verenise says
Absolutely loved making this! Makes great meal prep and it’s extra delicious!!!
Stephanie says
It’s awesome. I’m totally in love with this recipe. I pre made this recipe Sunday night and I’m super excited that now I’ll have pancakes for my breakfast all week long even my parents and brother like them and they gave me the “wtf recipe u doing” but the pancakes look so appealing that they could refuse to try them.
Amber says
This recipe is amazing!
If you have a older oven I’d probably take it down to 350 because at 425 it’s cooking slow and it’s been in for 20 mins and the edges are browning before the center is done lol 😅
Emily says
What is the serving size 1/32 of the pan?
Molly says
Do you have any suggestions for an egg replacement?
Abbey Sharp says
You can try using a flax egg instead by combining 1 tbsp of flax with 2 tbsp of water (or milk) and let sit in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Julia says
Can I do full-fat Greek yogurt instead of cottage cheese? I don’t keep cottage cheese in my fridge typically.
Abbey Sharp says
Yes definitely!
imogen says
for working out the calories on this, the whole pan is 32 fingers, and it says a serving is 63 kcal, is that 63 calories per finger or how many fingers is a serving?
thanks! this recipe looks lush and I’m excited to make it this weekend,.
Abbey Sharp says
Its per finger
Cindy says
I accidentally used grinded oats instead of oat flour and I baked the mixture as instructed. It seemed cooked on top and edges but the inside remained somewhat gooey and sticky although very hot. I baked a bit longer but nothing changed. Although the texture was definitely a miss, do you think the content was still cooked to offer to my baby?
Abbey Sharp says
Hi Cindy, making your oat flour is fine but you might not have grinded enough oats to get exactly 1 1/2 cups of oat flour. Often when you blend your own oats into flour, you need to add 1-2 tbsp extra. This would be why the texture was a little off! Hope this helps
Dorothea says
What about ricotta cheese in place of cottage? Seems like it would go nicely here, and still provide the protein boost.
Abbey Sharp says
Should work !
Sarah says
Can you use regular flour instead of oat flour?
Abbey Sharp says
Yes definitely!
Shawnna says
Can I use almond flour or coconut flour instead of oat flour?
Abbey Sharp says
Hi Shawnna, I haven’t tried it personally, but almond flour might work. I wouldn’t recommend coconut flour as it’s much more absorbent!
Batter says
Is there a dairy-free alternative we can use in place of the cottage cheese?
Abbey Sharp says
You can try using a dairy-free yogurt.
N says
Can I make it wothout bananas?