These Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes are light, fluffy, and so easy to make! They taste just like banana bread with pockets of melted chocolate. You can make them for breakfast, brunch, or even dessert! They're also freezer-friendly, so you can make a double batch; they're perfect for busy mornings!
Jump to:
Why This Recipe Works
Banana bread in a pancake form - The pancakes taste like soft banana bread with pockets of melty chocolate in each bite. They're extra light and fluffy and truly one of the best pancake recipes I've made! You can add any toppings you like but they're so flavorful you could totally eat them on their own!
Easy to make - You only need one bowl, a skillet, a whisk, and a few simple ingredients to make these pancakes. The recipe is super straightforward and totally foolproof.
Freezer-friendly - You can make these during meal prep or you can just double the recipe and freeze the leftovers. They can be easily defrosted and warmed up in the oven or a toaster. This makes these pancakes an easy breakfast for busy mornings!
Ingredients
- Bananas - You want extra ripe bananas with brown spots for the best results, the same ones you'd use for banana bread. They're sweeter and much easier to mash. If you have a lot of ripe bananas to use up, you should also check out my Banana Blueberry Waffles!
- Eggs - Eggs help bind everything together, so they're essential in this batter. I haven't tried any vegan replacements.
- Almond milk - This recipe calls for almond milk to keep the recipe dairy-free, but you can use whole milk or any other dairy-free milk you prefer. I don't recommend using canned coconut milk because it's too thick.
- Flour - I used a gluten-free flour blend (my favorite is Bob's Red Mill 1:1 flour blend), but all-purpose flour works great here too.
- Chocolate chips - I like using dark chocolate chips, but semi-sweet chocolate chips or any other kind you prefer work great! I find mini chocolate chips spread out in the batter better than bigger chocolate chips, so you can use less of them to get the same amount of sweetness.
- Maple syrup - The batter is lightly sweetened with maple syrup, but you can omit this if you'd like, or you can replace it with the same amount of brown sugar instead.
Variations and Substitutions
- Apple sauce - If you don't have bananas or don't have enough, you can use pure apple puree instead.
- Butter or oil - Instead of oil in the batter and for cooking, you can use butter. I usually use oil in the batter because it's easier, but I always use butter for greasing the pan. My go-to oil here would be either avocado oil, coconut oil, or a cooking oil in a spray.
- Different chocolate chips - You can use a mix of dark chocolate chips and white chocolate chips to change things up. Alternatively, you can also use sugar-free chocolate chips like 100% cacao ones or ones made with stevia or other sugar substitutes.
- Blueberries - To change things up, you can add only half of the chocolate chips and add ½ cup of fresh blueberries.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, avocado oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and sea salt.
- Mix in mashed bananas and almond milk.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Whisk until just mixed.
- Lastly, fold in your chocolate chips and set the batter aside while you prep your pan.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 tsp-1 tablespoon butter. You can use less if you're using a non-stick pan.
- Lower the heat to medium and add pancake batter to make 2-3 pancakes. The batter should make 12-13 pancakes.
- Cook for 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. The pancakes should be easy to flip once bubbles start to form on top and the edges set slightly.
- Repeat until all pancakes are cooked. Add more butter as needed and clean the pan carefully with a paper towel if any of it burns.
Tips & Tricks!
- A pan or a griddle - I always cook pancakes on a large pan but an electric griddle also works great if you have one. The lower the edge of your pan is, the easier the pancakes will be to flip. Always make sure not to overcrowd your pan.
- Use a non-stick pan - The pancakes are so much easier to flip on a non-stick pan! I like using either ceramic pans or stainless steel. To make a stainless steel pan non-stick, heat it up over high heat until water forms little balls when you add a few drops. Lower the heat, wait for it to cool down, and then start cooking your pancakes. I find it takes longer to cool down on an electric stove, be careful not to burn the butter.
- Keep pancakes warm - Preheat your oven to 200F, lay your finished pancakes on a baking sheet in a single layer, and keep them in the oven until you finish cooking the rest of the batter. If you stack them, they might steam and become softer.
What to Serve the Pancakes With
These pancakes are so light, fluffy, and sweet from the bananas that you could probably eat them on their own, but toppings are always fun. Below are a few ideas of what could be delicious.
- Maple syrup - The classic! Always make sure you're using real maple syrup without any additives or added sugar for the best flavor. If there are multiple grades, I always go with the darkest one!
- Fresh fruit - Fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are all delicious. Berry jam is also great. You can also make your own Strawberry Chia Jam ahead of time and use leftovers on toast! Aside from summer berries, you can serve it with other fresh fruits like diced apples, pears, peaches, or plums, depending on what's in season.
- Cooked fruit - If you wanna make the pancakes extra fancy, serve them with these Caramelized Apples or these Caramelized Peaches! Or if you want to double up on the banana flavor, serve them with the caramelized bananas from these Banana Foster Pancakes.
- Nut butter or seed butter- almond butter, peanut butter, hazelnut butter (like this Homemade Healthy Nutella), or sunflower seed butter if you don't eat nuts.
- Whipped cream or ice cream - Serve the pancakes for dessert instead of breakfast with a scoop of chocolate or vanilla ice cream and some whipped cream!
- Yogurt - Greek yogurt, vegan coconut yogurt, or any other kind you like!
Storing
Fridge: Store leftover pancakes in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Freezer: Freeze the pancakes in a freezer-safe container or a freezer bag for up to 3-6 months. To prevent them from sticking together, freeze them laid out in a single layer on a baking sheet for 1-2 hours before transferring them to a container.
Reheating
To reheat your pancakes, you can warm them up in the oven, in a toaster, or in a pan. You can reheat your frozen pancakes in the oven from frozen or defrost them in the fridge overnight for the other two methods.
- Skillet - You can also reheat your pancakes in a pan over medium heat with a little bit of butter to make sure they don't stick. This method is also only for the fridge pancakes.
- Oven or toaster oven - You can warm up your pancakes in a preheated oven at 300F on a baking sheet until warm both from the fridge or the freezer.
- Toaster - This is the quickest method, mainly suitable for pancakes stored in the fridge. Keep a close eye on them to make sure the chocolate isn't burning too much.
FAQs
You can skip the maple syrup in the batter and use sugar-free chocolate chips like Lily's. If you just want to avoid cane sugar, you can use Hu's Kitchen chocolate chips, which are made with coconut sugar.
I haven't tried any vegan substitutes for the eggs, so I can't recommend anything for sure. Eggs are the main ingredient that holds everything together here. You can try using flax egg instead, but the batter is very loose with a cup of banana puree, so I'm not sure flax would be enough to hold it together.
Other Pancake Recipes
Pancakes are one of my favorite breakfasts, so there's lots to choose from on my website. The five below are some of my all-time favorites (especially the apple ones!). If you want to see all the latest ones, head over to Pancakes and Waffles.
- Chocolate Chip Pancakes (my go-to pancakes without banana)
- 3-Ingredient Banana Oat Pancakes (The easiest pancakes out there; try them with chocolate chips!)
- Peach Pancakes (Fluffy and light with peach slices)
- Apple Ring Pancakes (With an apple ring in each pancake, just like apple fritters!)
- Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pancakes (Similar to these but with pumpkin puree instead!)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Have you tried these Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes? Please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below!
Hungry for more? Grab my free Top 10 Best Smoothie Recipes e-book for more breakfast inspiration, and don't forget to follow me on Pinterest and Instagram to always stay in the loop!
Print📖 Recipe
Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 18 mins
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 12-13 pancakes (3-4 servings) 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
These Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes are incredibly fluffy and light while being naturally sweetened from the ripe bananas and the chocolate chips. Make these for breakfast or brunch when you don't know what to do with ripe bananas!
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour (I use Bob's Red Mill 1:1 gluten-free flour blend)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 tbsp maple syrup (plus more for serving)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2-3 bananas)
- ½ cup almond milk
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- Butter or oil for cooking
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, avocado oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and sea salt.
- Mix in mashed bananas and almond milk.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Whisk until just mixed and fold in chocolate chips.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 tsp-1 tablespoon butter, depending on how non-stick your skillet is.
- Lower the heat to medium and spoon batter into the pan to make 2-3 pancakes.
- Cook for 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. The pancakes should be easy to flip once bubbles start to form on top and the edges set slightly.
- Repeat until all pancakes are cooked. Add more butter as needed and clean the pan carefully with a paper towel if any of it burns.
- Serve the pancakes with maple syrup, berries, yogurt, nut butter, or more bananas.
Notes
- Keep the pancakes warm: Preheat your oven to 200F. Lay your finished pancakes on a baking sheet in a single layer and keep them in the preheated oven until you finish cooking the rest of the batter.
- Storing: Store the pancakes in the fridge for 3-4 days or in the freezer for 3-4 months. To avoid them sticking together in the freezer, you can freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet first and then transfer them to a freezer bag or other freezer-safe container.
- Reheating: You can warm up the pancakes in a pan, in a toaster, or in the oven at 300F. If you're heating them up from frozen, I recommend using the oven. Alternatively, you can defrost them in the fridge overnight first.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Nessa says
Bananas and chocolate are my all time favorite dessert and sweet breakfast combo. These were fluffy, soft, and so good!