Red Velvet Pancakes | Vegan, Gluten Free, Valentine’s Day Breakfast Idea!

Medically reviewed by Abbey Sharp, Registered Dietitian (RD), BASc.

These Red Velvet Pancakes are the perfect healthy Valentines Day brunch recipe to share with your sweetheart or family! They are also vegan, gluten free and use no artificial food dye.

If you haven’t noticed, I’m totally obsessed with protein pancakes! I have made Black Forest protein pancakes, Strawberry Cheesecake protein pancakes, Peanut Butter and Chocolate protein pancakes. And this isn’t even an exhaustive list! So yeah, I guess you can say the obsession is real.

But with Valentines Day around the corner, I knew I had to do something festive and these red velvet pancakes instantly came to mind. I mean, is there a better way to say “I love you” then with a tall stack of the good stuff drizzled in maple syrup? Definitely not. Plus, there is something universally satisfying about red velvet flavoured ANYTHING, so you absolutely know you are in for a treat with this recipe.

Why This Recipe Works

Red velvet cupcakes are one of my favourite Valentines Day treats. I mean considering they are red and chocolate flavoured, they basically scream Valentines Day! So we are transforming all of the yummy goodness of our favourite cupcakes into pancake form with these healthy red velvet pancakes. Here are a few reasons why you’re going to LOVE this recipe.

• Protein packed (19 grams per serving)
• High fibre (13 grams per serving)
• Vegan
• Gluten free
• Uses natural food colouring
• Has a delicious cream cheese filling!

Key Ingredients

Flax egg – To make this recipe vegan, we are swapping out the egg for something a little more vegan friendly by using a flax egg. We simply combine 1 part ground flax seed and 2 parts almond milk and let it sit in the fridge until it thickens. I love making flax eggs because they add a ton of omega 3s, fibre and protein to these red velvet pancakes.

Banana – To help cut back on added sugar, we like to sweeten the pancake batter with a mashed banana.

Oat Flour – Making oat flour from scratch is super easy to prepare (see Recipe FAQ below). But if you’re in a pinch, you can also pay the premium and buy gluten free oat flour as well.

Cream Cheese Filling – Real talk, a cream cheese filling is absolutely essential to making this red velvet pancakes as authentic as possible. So we combine vegan cream cheese with non-dairy yogurt and sweetening to taste.

Protein Powder – To up the protein factor we add a healthy dose of chocolate vegan protein powder. This helps to not only add more chocolate flavour to the pancakes but also makes them more satiating and balanced.

Food colouring – To make these red velvet pancakes red in colour without using artificial food dye, we have two options. You can either use pureed beets or natural food colouring. If you are going the natural food colouring route, I like using Color Garden or this beet root one.

How to Make This Recipe

Step 1: In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients including protein powder, oat flour, cinnamon, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Step 2: Add wet ingredients to the mixing bowl including mashed banana, yogurt, almond milk, vanilla, flax egg, and maple syrup.

Step 3: Add pureed beets or natural food colouring to the pancake mix and combine and mix until it reaches your desired colour.

Step 4-5: Heat coconut oil over a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add 1/4 cup of batter to form one pancake. Cook until golden brown on both sides.

Step 6: Meanwhile, mix together the cream cheese, yogurt, lemon, maple and vanilla until well incorporated and transfer to a piping bag.

Expert Tips

Since we are using oat four in this recipe, it tends to yield a thicker batter. For this reason, you won’t get the same bubbling effect to indicate when the pancake is ready to be flipped. So instead, look for browning around the edges of the pancakes before flipping.

If you don’t have a piping bag on hand, one of my favourite hacks is to simply use a Ziploc bag or sandwich bag instead. You can do this by adding the cream cheese filling to the inside of a sandwich bag and cutting the tip of one of the bottom corners to create a small opening. You can then treat it exactly as you would a piping bag by squeezing the bag until the filling comes out of the opening.

Recipe FAQs

More Recipes You Might Like

Here are some more great Vegan Valentine’s Day recipes that I know you would love.

• VEGAN BEET SOUP WITH APPLES & GINGER 
• STRAWBERRY CUCUMBER SALAD 
• VEGAN RED VELVET FONDUE 
• NUTELLA PROTEIN PANCAKES 

What will you be making for Valentines Day for your sweetie or family?

Red Velvet Pancakes (Vegan, Gluten Free, Food Dye Free)

These Red Velvet Pancakes are the perfect healthy plant-based Valentines Day brunch recipe to share with your sweetheart or family! They are also gluten free and use no artificial food dye.

4.75 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 5

Calories: 489kcal

Author: Abbey Sharp

Ingredients

Flax egg:

• ▢ 1 tbsp flax
• ▢ 2 tbsp unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Pancakes:

• ▢ 1 1/2  cups  gluten free oats pureed into a flour
• ▢ 1  tsp  cinnamon
• ▢ 1/4  cup vegan chocolate protein powder
• ▢ 1  tbsp  unsweetened cocoa powder
• ▢ 1/2  tsp  baking powder
• ▢ Pinch  salt
• ▢ 1  tsp  pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 1  cup  plain coconut or almond yogurt
• ▢ 2/3  cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• ▢ 1 prepared flax egg
• ▢ 1 medium ripe banana mashed
• ▢ 3  tbsp  maple syrup
• ▢ 1/4 cup pureed beets or natural red food colouring
• ▢ Coconut oil for cooking

Cream cheese drizzle:

• ▢ 4 oz vegan cream cheese
• ▢ 1/4 cup plain coconut or almond yogurt
• ▢ 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• ▢ Juice of 1 lemon wedge
• ▢ 2 tsp maple syrup or to taste

To garnish:

• ▢ Vegan chocolate shavings
• ▢ Pomegranate arils
• ▢ Maple syrup if desired

Instructions

Directions:

• In a small ramekin, mix together the flax with the almond milk and sit in the fridge to set up for an hour.
• Once it reaches a gloopy egg like consistency, mix together the dry ingredients of the pancakes. Then add in all of the wet ingredients including the beets. If you’re using food coloring, you can omit this until everything is incorporated, then add your food coloring and mix until it reaches your desired colour.
• Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add in a little coconut oil. Add 1/4 cup of batter in a circle and cook until golden brown on both sides.
• Meanwhile, mix together the cream cheese, yogurt, lemon, maple and vanilla until well incorporated and transfer to a piping bag.
• Stack the pancakes with a generous layer of the cream cheese yogurt and top with chocolate, pomegranate arils and maple syrup, if desired. Enjoy!

Video

Notes

Since we are using oat four in this recipe, it tends to yield a thicker batter. For this reason, you won’t get the same bubbling effect when heating to indicate that the pancake is ready to be flipped. So instead, look for browning around the outside corners of the pancakes to flip.

If you don’t have a piping bag on hand, one of my favourite hacks is to simply use a ziploc bag or sandwich bag instead. You can do this by adding the cream cheese filling to the inside of a sandwich bag and cutting the tip of one of the bottom corners to create a small opening. You can then treat it exactly as you would a piping bag by squeezing the bag until the filling comes out of the opening.

Nutrition

Calories: 489kcal | Carbohydrates: 75g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Sodium: 214mg | Potassium: 511mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 15IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 244mg | Iron: 5mg

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Have you tried making these red velvet pancakes? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!

Abbey Sharp

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.