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 fluffy—thanks 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 fluffy—no 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, 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. 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 (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, toss the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds together until combined. Set aside.
- In another large bowl, whisk the yogurt, milk, butter, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla until combined. 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 1–2 more minutes. Coat griddle/skillet with butter or nonstick spray again, if needed, for each batch of pancakes.
- Keep pancakes warm in a preheated 200°F (93°C) oven until all pancakes are cooked. 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 350°F (177°C) oven. Place pancakes on a lined baking sheet and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 6–8 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 | Whisk | Electric Griddle, Griddle Pan, or Shallow Skillet/Pan
- Berry Lemon Pancakes: Try folding 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 compliment the lemon—maybe 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 skim milk, but any milk works like whole milk, buttermilk, 1%, almond, soy, rice, coconut, etc.
Keywords: lemon poppy seed pancakes, greek yogurt pancakes
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.
Yum! I had poppyseeds but didn’t feel like going through the trouble of making scones or muffins.
I cut the recipe in half and used half wheat flour, half white flour (just personal preference). Other than that, followed the recipe and they are delicious! They are a lovely texture, a little crisp on the edges and super tender. I topped them with real maple syrup.
Thanks for the recipe!
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Love all of you recipes so far!
Instead of whole wheat flour, can I use all-purpose flour? Is there anything I should change will make this swap? Thx!
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Hi Chang, you can certainly use all-purpose flour! Same amount (2 cups). No other changes necessary!
Really fabulous pancakes. Very decadent without being too sweet! Just be careful when adding the melted butter. Mine solidified on my as soon as I added it to the cold milk.
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Mine too! But I went with it and they turned out fine 🙂
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Hi there. I tried this recipe and loved it. Wondering if anyone has tried this same batter for donuts and it turned out fine?
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AMAZING!!!! I worked with what I had at home…regular all purpose flour, buttermilk, chia seeds were the only changes I made. I halved the recipe. SOOOO good! Now I need to triple the recipe next time
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Do you think the recipe would work subbing almond flour for wheat flour? Thank you, Sally!
Hi Sarah, the pancakes will be quite wet, dense, and heavy. You may need to adjust the wet ingredients. Here are all my gluten free recipes if you are interested.
If I don’t have poppy seeds will it matter if I leave them out?
You can leave them out with no changes necessary.
One of my favorites! I do recommend adding and extra tbsp or 2 of lemon juice for a more noticeably lemon flavor, it was great as is especially with blueberries! A crowd pleaser in my home 🙂
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These were amazing! We used spelt flour instead of whole wheat. We served with berries and yogurt with maple syrup. We made tons of little pancakes.
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These are some of the best pancakes I’ve ever had/made. A lemon lover’s dream!
For reference – I used oat milk and plain skyr yogurt and they turned out perfect!
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OH WOW!! I am sitting here on pancake day feeling like a pro… Easily the best pancakes I have ever made! The flavour is miles above anything I’ve tasted before and I believe its the lemon in it that gives it that superior flavour profile (I mean- YUM!)
I made mine with chia seeds and served topped with slices of banana, strawberries and syrup. Not only do I LOVE these but the kids feel the same way so I will absolutely be making these on a regular basis 🙂
Another amazing recipe Sally!!
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I make Sally’s pancakes almost every weekend and these ones are our favourite! The lemon provides wonderful flavour.
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These were fabulous! Who would ever know that whole wheat could taste so good. Almost velvety. Poppy Seeds gave the pancakes a Great Crunch.
As Always, thank you Sally.
Cheryl
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Another huge hit with my Airbnb guests!! I made these twice this weekend as we had two different sets of guests. I added a little bit extra lemon juice to really amp up the lemon flavor. So delicious! May I use your photo of the pancakes on my FB page as I forgot to take a picture.
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Thank you, Sally, for this recipe! My infant asks me to make them three days in a row. They are just marvellous! I’ve also made your zuccini cake twice and a carrot cake – all in a fortnight:) so quick and easy. Seems like I’m turning into your faithful fan)) let your newborn baby be healthy and happy!
Just made these after seeing them on your IG several times over the last couple years but I was always missing an ingredient! Went to Bulk Barn and got poppy seeds and omg they were fantastic. That lemon flavour and the poppy seed crunch was delicious. Sliced some strawberries up to go on top and drizzled some honey. They also turned out perfect even with a gluten free flour blend substitute.
Made this with oat flour and coconut sugar and it was amazing! We have a few left over in the freezer and have them with peanut butter as a post workout snack!
I made these pancakes tonight and holy smokes were they good! I ate them with your lemon curd, fresh strawberries and a lemon cream cheese glaze. Totally cured my lemon craving!
Tried this recipe today and loved it! Yummy (and fairly healthy) pancakes! I used an equal amount of coconut sugar instead of granulated sugar and found they held the perfect amount of sweetness. To save on even more calories next time, I might try coconut oil in place of butter.
I didn’t have poppy seeds so I used anise seeds and they tasted delicious! They didn’t have the same crunch, of course, but still satisfying!
I just made these for breakfast for myself and my little one- I only had organic greek blueberry yogurt so I used that and took out the lemon. They were fantastic! Thank you!
Hi Sally! These look SO good! I just have a question, would all purpose flour work in these? I know that slightly defeats the healthiness haha, but I don’t have whole weat flour and dont want to buy any cuz it will just sit in the pantry then!
It sure would! Same amount.
I had too many lemons in my fridge and this pancake recipe was pèrfect. Just made them this afternoon and they lasted 5 seconds. I thought the banada ones were good, but these are lemon heaven! Also made your orange lemon poppy seeds muffins but sans orange, only had too many lemons and they were just as good.
I don’t know how you do it Sally, but I have tried so many of your recipes and they all come out great, even when I mess up lol. You make baking so easy!
Hi Sally! These look absolutely delicious and I am absolutely going to be making them this long Memorial Day weekend! I usually prefer waffles over pancakes (I have this absolutely amazing waffle iron and I don’t get to use it near often enough). Is there an easy way to convert this pancake mix into a waffle batter?
Hey Emily! I wouldn’t make any changes to the batter, just make it as waffles. I actually had a reader email me that she did this– great success!
Made these this morning and they were a big hit! Though my batter was very thick so they didn’t spread into circles, next time I will add a little more milk maybe. We also made your Funfetti cake for the 8th birthday party (it is the tradition) it was awesome and the kids went crazy when they saw it. You can check it out in my post for “in my kitchen may 2016” I also put a link in there to your blog.
I have never left a comment before, but just had to tell you how much my hubby and I loved these pancakes! Didn’t have poppy seeds, so used lightly toasted black quinoa.
I made the dry ingredients up ahead of time and we cooked these on our coleman griddle while camping. OMG! Delish! The lemon is so good.
This is now my go-to for pancakes.
Made these for breakfast yesterday morning and let me just say “mmmmmmmm Yummmmm!” Delicious!
Such a delicious recipe! Used whole spelt flour, which I find more suitable for baking than whole wheat (and it’s more nutritious, too) and drizzled the fluffy pancakes with white chocolate ganache – so good.
I just can’t get enough of this site! Thank you so much, Sally, for your heart lifting great writing and recipes.
I’ve made a dozen or so things from your blog and these are the best so far. I did add a handful of chocolate chips but I’m cooking for a 2 and 4 year old so sometimes you have to sneak a new flavor. Really good and I’m not even into pancakes all that much.
I saw that you posted this when I was at school and knew I had to make them tonight. I just did- they were FANTASTIC, a total winner! The perfect celebration for two and a half more weeks until summer vacation! Thanks Sally!