Start your morning with a tall stack of Greek yogurt lemon poppy seed pancakes. Made with whole wheat flour, these pancakes are incredibly light and fluffyโthanks to a handful of power ingredients. You’ll love the extra crunch the poppy seeds add!
These lemon poppy seed pancakes are the epitome of a sunshine-y spring breakfast. They boast the same wonderful flavor as my lemon poppy seed Bundt cake, but are acceptable at 8am (though cake for breakfast is always a good idea!). While these pancakes are made with healthier ingredients like whole wheat flour and Greek yogurt, they remain soft and fluffyโno dry, dense hockey puck pancakes today!
These Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes Are:
- Light and fluffy
- Easy to prepare
- Made with wholesome ingredients
- Bursting with fresh citrus flavor
- Perfect for lazy weekend mornings
- Delicious served with lemon curd, whipped cream, maple syrup, or fresh berries
Power Ingredients in Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes
These ingredients are the secret behind the delicious flavor and unbeatable texture.
- Whole Wheat Flour: I love to use whole wheat flour whenever I can (like in these whole wheat banana pancakes), but it does weigh down the batter so you have to be very careful when using it. Make sure to keep the batter light with other ingredients, otherwise these fluffy pancakes quickly turn into hockey pucks.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Use both leaveners to create lift and rise because whole wheat flour weighs the pancake batter down otherwise.
- Greek Yogurt: We use a whopping 1 cup of protein-packed Greek yogurt for added moisture and flavor.
- Melted Butter: A little butter adds so much flavor! I don’t recommend leaving it out. Without it, the pancakes taste a little flavorless and rubbery. It’s what makes birthday cake pancakes so delicious, too!
- Lemons: I like to use both lemon juice and lemon zest for lots of lemon flavor, just like we do for lemon poppy seed bread and lemon poppy seed muffins. If you love lemon treats for breakfast, be sure to try my lemon sweet rolls next!
More Healthier Breakfast Recipes
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Blueberry Almond Power Muffins
- Baked Oatmeal (or Baked Oatmeal Cups)
- Breakfast Cookies
- Whole Wheat Pancakes or Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes
- Crustless Veggie Quiche
- Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars
Greek Yogurt Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 pancakes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Start your mornings right with these whole wheat Greek yogurt lemon poppy seed pancakes. The flavor and texture is out of this world!
Ingredients
- 2 cups (246g) whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar*
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons poppy seeds (or chia seeds work too!)
- 1 cup (245g) Greek yogurt (I use nonfat plain)*
- 1 cup (240ml) milk*
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter, melted & slightly cooled
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Microwave butter until melted. Set aside to slightly cool. You do not want it piping hot.
- In a large bowl, preferably with a pour spout,ย toss the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seedsย together until combined. Set aside.
- In anotherย largeย bowl, whisk the yogurt, milk, butter, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanillaย until combined.ย Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently whisk to combine. Make sure there are no patches of dry flour at the bottom of the bowl. The batter is thick and a few lumps are fine.
- Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium heat. Coat generously with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Once it’s hot, drop/pour a heaping 1/4 cup of batter on the griddle. Cook until the edges look set and you notice holes in the pancake’s surface around the border, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook the other side until cooked through, about 1โ2 more minutes. Coat griddle/skillet with butter or nonstick spray again, if needed, for each batch of pancakes.
- Keep pancakes warm in a preheated 200ยฐF (93ยฐC)ย oven until all pancakes are cooked.ย Serve pancakes immediately with toppings of choice.
- Cover and store leftover pancakes in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Pancakes freeze well up to 3 months. Reheat frozen pancakes in the microwave. Or you can reheat frozen pancakes in a 350ยฐF (177ยฐC) oven. Place pancakes on a lined baking sheet and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 6โ8 minutes or until defrosted and warm.
- Can I make the batter the night before? No, I don’t recommend it. Baking powder is activated once wet. You can, however, mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients together and keep them separate and covered in the refrigerator until the morning. (But do not add the melted butter until ready to cook, because that will solidify in the refrigerator.)
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Mixing Bowls (preferably with a pour spout) | Whisk | Electric Griddle, Griddle Pan, or Shallow Skillet/Pan
- Berry Lemon Pancakes:ย Tryย foldingย 1 cup of berries such as chopped strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries into the batter. You can use frozen or fresh.
- Sweetener: I tested these pancakes with a few sweeteners like honey, agave, and granulated sugar. To me, they tasted best with granulated sugar but feel free to use your favorite sweetener.
- Yogurt: Plain or vanilla Greek yogurt both work well here. You can use a flavor that would complement the lemonโmaybe strawberry, honey, or even lemon flavored. Nonfat, low fat, full fat, it’s your choice. I typically use nonfat. You can use regular yogurt or even sour cream too. Lots of options!
- Milk: I usually use low-fat milk, but any milk works, including whole milk, buttermilk, nondairy milk, etc.
I think you’d LOVE these with lemon curd on top. Or you can try my honey butter as an option too. But my favorite of all? A waterfall of pure maple syrup.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Doubled the lemon juiced, but otherwise cooked as instructed. Absolutely amazing! Would make again in a heartbeat.
Very good!
Was on my own with my four kids tonight, so I made these for dinner and they were absolutely delicious! Since I was pressed for time, I took a gamble and baked them as sheet pan pancakes. Used a 10×15 pan, 400 deg for 20 minutes — perfect. Everyone loved them and we ate every crumb. I especially like that these are on the healthy side/low calorie and still so tasty.
These are delicious! Is there a ratio recommendation to make these into waffles?
Hi Emily! You can cook this batter as waffles without any changes. Enjoy!
Very light and fluffy despite the heavy looking batter. Made ours with sauted apples seasoned with apple pie spice and lemon zest. Might sound odd for lemon pancakes but I was going for basically apple cider flavored pancakes and they did quite nicely.
So delicious!! Definitely a must try and try again:)
I had some Greek yogurt that I needed to use before it went out of date. Tried this recipe and it was delicious. I added blueberries for extra flavor. I will definitely be making again. Thanks, love your recipes!
These were perfection. Prepared a drizzle glaze of lemon juice, zest and powdered sugar to up the lemon flavor. Everyone loved them.
I really liked this recipe and got some delicious pancakes when I made them this morning; however, I didnโt get any lemon flavor. I think I accidentally just made buttermilk pancakes by mistake. Any suggestions?
Hi Georgette, you could add some more lemon juice here or even use a lemon flavored Greek yogurt if you try them again!
Iโll try that. Thanks!
Hi, I love these pancakes and I wanted to make my own recipe. Maple Cinnamon Apple pancakes. I made them and they were so good. Now I have a channel. Thank you for inspiring me!
Delicious but I am wondering if you can offer nutritional information on your recipes. Thanks.
Hi Vicki, We donโt usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
How can I make these into waffles?
Really good pancakes. I used white flour, no poppy seeds, added two ripe bananas to liquid bowl. Fluffy and moist. I also like your crepe recipe.
These are fantastic! I used whole wheat pastry flour and they were moist and full of lemon flavour. My griddle unevenly heats and Iโd rather have a larger cooking surface. What griddle do you recommend?
I made these last weekend and WOW, they were absolutely INCREDIBLE! I didnโt have whole wheat flour so I used all-purpose and added fresh blackberries, topped with a little more butter (butter makes everything better!) and real maple syrup. Iโve been craving them all week and am about to make a half batch today. Thank you for such a perfect recipe!
These are so delicious. The lemony flavour with the poppy seeds is a nice change for pancakes.
Thanks for the recipe!