Fluffy and light whole wheat blueberry pancakes are a delicious way to start your day. Positively packed with wholesome ingredients like whole wheat flour, Greek yogurt, and juicy blueberries, a stack of these is an excellent motivator for getting up in the morning. 😉
Originally published in 2015.
Pancakes. One of the quintessential breakfast foods, with endless flavors, toppings, and variations like whole wheat oatmeal pancakes, birthday pancakes, strawberry buttermilk pancakes, and pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes.
It’s so much fun to play around with flavors, and today’s whole wheat blueberry pancakes rank the highest on my list. I originally published this recipe in 2015, and it’s been a favorite ever since. I even published the plain whole wheat pancakes, too! They’re fluffy and light, yet filling and chock-full of juicy blueberries. And they just happen to also be packed with wholesome, nourishing ingredients.
One reader, Kristen, says: “Easily the best pancakes I’ve made or had, hands down. Cannot WAIT to make them again! I used regular yogurt, since that’s what I had, and they turned out great. ★★★★★“
One reader, Niki, says: “Made these the other night for dinner (who doesn’t love breakfast for dinner?), and they were a hit! I’ve never used yogurt in a pancake recipe before, and I was not disappointed! I also love that the batch was big enough for me to have some leftovers to freeze! ★★★★★“
You’ll Love These Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes, Too
- Made with healthful whole wheat flour, but still light and fluffy
- Greek yogurt and milk add protein
- No refined sugar—we’re using maple syrup, yum!
- Quick and easy to make
- Like the plain whole wheat pancakes, but loaded with sweet blueberries (fresh or frozen)
Making the swap from all-purpose flour to whole wheat flour sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it? Just a simple, 1-to-1 replacement. Well, it’s not always that simple. More often than not, your whole wheat baked goods will taste overly heavy, dense, or tough. Not at all the fluffy, rich, soft recipe you were expecting. I wouldn’t use it to make cinnamon rolls, for example.
But in the right recipe with the right supporting ingredients, whole wheat flour can be absolutely delicious. Take my whole wheat pizza dough, for example. It took me 2 weeks of tweaking ingredients to get that perfectly soft and flavorful whole wheat pizza recipe just right. But back to breakfast!
Because whole wheat flour is capable of making pancakes taste like dry hockey pucks, let’s avoid that nonsense by loading the batter with just enough moisture.
Grab These Ingredients:
- Whole Wheat Flour: I usually use King Arthur Baking whole wheat flour, but any brand is fine. You can also use white whole wheat flour.
- Baking Powder + Baking Soda: These are what give the pancakes some lift and make them puff up in the pan. Because whole wheat flour tends to weigh things down, we need to add just enough leavener to aerate the cooking batter without leaving any chemical aftertaste.
- Salt + Cinnamon: For flavor.
- Yogurt: I typically use plain Greek yogurt, but you can use any kind: dairy or nondairy; full-fat, low-fat, or nonfat; plain, vanilla, or honey flavored. You could even use sour cream.
- Milk: Again, these pancakes are great with any type of milk, dairy or nondairy.
- Maple Syrup: Not just for topping! We’re sweetening the batter with it. Make sure you use the pure stuff, not the one labeled “pancake syrup.”
- Eggs: To bind the ingredients together (and for extra protein).
- Vanilla Extract: A kiss of vanilla is the perfect flavor enhancer for these pancakes.
- Coconut Oil: The recipe calls for melted coconut oil, but you could substitute vegetable oil or melted butter if you prefer.
- Blueberries: Obviously! Fresh or frozen both taste great in these pancakes.
Whisk together the dry ingredients in 1 bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients in another, then pour wet into dry and whisk together before you gently fold in the blueberries with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Especially if you are using frozen blueberries, you want to use a light hand to incorporate them, because they tend to bleed their juices and, therefore, some color. (But purple pancakes are fun too.)
The results? Fluff city. (The actual technical term.)
Favorite Toppings for Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes
A drizzle of maple syrup tastes wonderful on these, of course! As does whipped cream and honey butter. You could also try topping them with some melted peanut butter or almond butter, strawberry topping, raspberry sauce, or lemon curd.
If serving these pancakes for a big brunch, they nestle nicely alongside platters of fresh fruit, eggs, bacon or sausage, mini quiche, frittata, or ham and potato casserole. Enjoy!
Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 pancakes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These are 100% whole wheat pancakes that are positively packed with juicy blueberries, protein-rich Greek yogurt, and whole grain goodness. They’re light and fluffy, taste wonderful with maple syrup and/or other pancake toppings, and best of all, the batter comes together in a snap!
Ingredients
- 2 cups (260g) whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup (248g) plain Greek yogurt, at room temperature*
- 1 and 1/4 cups (300ml) milk, at room temperature*
- 1/4 cup (60ml) pure maple syrup, at room temperature*
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 Tablespoons (42g) coconut oil, melted (or vegetable oil, or melted butter)
- 1 and 3/4 cups (315g) frozen or fresh blueberries*
- for cooking: nonstick cooking spray or butter
Instructions
- In a large bowl preferably with a pour spout, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Set aside.
- In another large bowl, whisk the yogurt, milk, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla together until combined. Whisk in the oil. 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. Gently fold in the blueberries. If you are using frozen blueberries, you want to use a light hand when folding because they will bleed some juices and, therefore, some color.
- Let the batter sit for 5 minutes as you heat the stove in the next step. This gives the batter a chance to thicken.
- Meanwhile, 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 coconut oil 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
- Yogurt: You can use regular or Greek yogurt; plain, vanilla, blueberry, and honey-flavored yogurts work well. Nonfat, low fat, full fat—it’s your choice. I usually use 0% (nonfat) plain Greek yogurt. You could also use sour cream.
- Milk: You can use any type of milk, dairy or nondairy, and any fat percentage.
- Sweetener: Honey, coconut sugar, or brown sugar may be substituted for maple syrup in the batter with no other changes.
- Blueberries: If using frozen blueberries, no need to thaw. If you want even more blueberry goodness, increase blueberries up to 2 cups.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 pancakes
- Calories: 266
- Sugar: 11.5 g
- Sodium: 323.3 mg
- Fat: 8.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 40.5 g
- Fiber: 4.8 g
- Protein: 9.4 g
Keywords: whole wheat blueberry pancakes
These were great! This is the first time I’ve ever made blueberry pancakes (and could probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve even made pancakes). YUM. Halved the recipe and still have plenty of batter left for tomorrow and probably the next day.
While we’re all stuck at home, I will be checking out your other recipes and trying my hand at baking! Thanks.
★★★★★
My whole family dubbed these “the best pancakes they’ve ever had.”
So. Good!
★★★★★
These are the best whole wheat pancakes I’ve ever made/eaten! My son loved and I will definitely be making again!
★★★★★
Yummy! We sometimes like breakfast for dinner. I used sour cream in place of the yogurt. Delicious!
★★★★★
Hi Sally! I love this recipe but have been concerned with the articles I’ve read about coconut oil being too high in saturated fat. For the pancake batter, do you think 3 tablespoons of olive oil would work in place of the coconut oil?
Thanks in advance!!
Olive oil has a distinct flavor. Instead of coconut oil I recommend canola oil, vegetable oil, or melted butter.
Hey Sally! Not sure if you will respond in time (or at all, since it’s an older recipe!) I make these literally all the time and am going to be making them for breakfast (currently mixing up the dry ingredients so I don’t have to in the AM) but I am out of yogurt! Do you have a sub for it? And is there a nondairy sub for the yogurt? I always follow the recipe as is with almond milk since my hubby is lactose intolerant but have been meaning to ask you for a while if there’s a non dairy sub I could use in place of the yogurt!
Hi Stephanie, You can try using a non-dairy yogurt such as coconut or soy yogurt!
Hi Sally,
This is the second pancake recipe I’ve tried of yours and they have now both become a family favourite. Fluffy, moist and full of flavour. I’ve tried other recipes and nothing compares. I will definetly be trying more of your recipes as they all look amazing. Thank you for sharing you’re mouth watering recipes and inspiring all of us moms that baking can be fun and tasty!
Maria T (from Toronto, Canada)
These pancakes were perfect! Love the fact they have whole-wheat flour, yogurt and blueberries! Makes for a healthier pancake!! I love your recipes because of all the wonderful directions and you leave nothing to chance! Thanks!
I was looking for an alternative to my classic pancake recipe and this was perfect. The kids gobbled it up and now ask for this more than my original pancakes!!!
A-MAZ-ING
My 3 year old rarely eats more than a tiny bit at a meal and she ate 3 2″ pancakes!! Definitely a keeper recipe! We used unsweetened plain coconut yogurt and unsweetened vanilla almond milk and they were absolutely delicious and perfect! I did have to use extra non-stick spray to keep them from sticking to the griddle, but thats it! Will definitely make these again!
Made these the other night for dinner (who doesn’t love breakfast for dinner?), and they were a hit! I’ve never used yogurt in a pancake recipe before, and I was not disappointed! I also love that the batch was big enough for me to have some leftovers to freeze! Perfect for the morning were running behind 🙂
My family absolutely loves these pancakes!!! I usually triple or quadruple the recipe, then cook them all morning and freeze the extras so we have a quick breakfast available anytime we want for weeks. Sometimes I add a little more maple syrup or honey (much less messy than adding syrup on top) but they are delicious just the way the recipe makes them! We literally always have a supply of these on hand. My 2 year old adores them. Thank you so much for the recipe!!!!
SALLY!!!!!!! (I think I am going to start leaving all of my comments like this! I feel like it conveys my true happiness!) I made these pancakes last night for my family and they were so good that I had 3… or 4… or maybe 4.5… I lost count. I guess this is what happens when you combine your delicious, sweet, fluffy pancakes with a hungry 15-year-old girl who has little self-restraint when it comes to your AMAZING recipes!!!! Ohhhhh these were sooooo good that I ate some more of them this morning for breakfast. Thank you for all of your awesome recipes Sally… I LOVE THEM!!! 🙂
I just discovered this recipe just last week (which is shocking in itself), and I have made them twice already and need to make them again. They are amazing! I love all of your desserts and “Sally” is pretty much a housebold name in our home. But these pancakes are awesome. My kids love them! My husband loves them! And of course I do too…They are super healthy which is a huge plus when your kids are eating them like cookies. They get crisp, which is surpisingly great. And they freeze well and are great with some peanut butter before school everyday. I just wanted to take the time to thank you for this recipe!
These were AWESOME! Whole wheat pancakes are usually too dense, but these were perfect! No one would know these were whole wheat if I didn’t tell them. My husband loved them, and he doesn’t like “healthy” pancakes. Great recipe! Thanks!!!
Any idea how almond flour may work( or not work) in this recipe? I LOVED it otherwise!!
That would require some recipe testing– let me know if you try anything!
My family loves these pancakes! I make them several times a week as my 2 year old asks for them every day. They are amazing, with or without the blueberries. Maple syrup is an optional bonus for us- they’re perfectly sweet as is. Thank you for the recipe!
Super yummy! I usually eat really healthy and especially like to have a healthy breakfast to start my day positively, but this morning I was really craving blueberry pancakes & found this recipe. So good and fluffy! I like to keep my pancakes simple with just some syrup on top and these did not disappoint!
Well, I have never taken time to write a comment about a recipe. But these were so, so perfect that I had to. I run a bed and breakfast, and try constantly to find the balance between healthy and yummy. I used white whole wheat, and plain Greek yogurt and fresh Willamette Valley blues (and put in a few extra). Thought it was a big recipe, but the three guests gobbled every bite.
Yum. This will be a keeper.
jean
Just made these without the blueberries because I didn’t have any on hand and they were soo fluffy and weren’t dense at ALL considering the fact that they are whole wheat! You can’t even taste the wheat and they taste just like regular pancakes except that they’re much healthier! Couldn’t be more pleased with this recipe
Hi Sally, your pancakes looks amazing! I tried the recipe yesterday but it turned out to be very watery so I had some difficulty flipping the pancakes. The batter would spread out and become very thin, which makes it very hard to flip while keeping the pancake intact. If I waited till the edges were dry, the bottom would be very burnt. Any advice? Would mixing half wholemeal flour and half all purpose flour make the batter thicker?
You can try to add more flour, yes. Are you changing anything about the recipe? I can’t imagine why it would be so thin.
They were so good! I was really impressed. I first browned both sides then put them into the oven to finish cooking. So many good calls on this recipe, coconut oil, maple syrup and whole wheat. Thanks for sharing!!
It’s my son’s first birthday today, and he LOVES blueberries. I wanted him to have a special breakfast that was still healthy since we’ll be eating salted caramel apple cupcakes (from your cookbook!) tonight. These pancakes were perfect. So delicious and fluffy! I loved them and so did my little one year old 🙂 Thanks for helping us celebrate!
I just made these this morning and they were delicious! I have used so many different pancake recipes but these were definitely one of my favorites.I used the white whole wheat flour and almond milk.I will be making these again very soon.Thank you!
Hi Sally,
These are your best pancakes yet. I made these on Saturday morning and they were fluffy and perfect.
Next up is another batch of your apple spice granola – my all time favourite granola recipe. Your recipes never disappoint!
The pancakes are the best! I love your whole wheat oatmeal ones, but I do have to say that these are even better! They’re lighter, fluffier, more blueberry-y (?), but are still 100% whole wheat. Yum. I’m made them multiple times since I found the recipe and they are just so delicious! Seriously, I can’t even tell they’re healthy. I also really love the blueberries in them. I haven’t had blueberry pancakes in a really long time because I’ve always liked chocolate chips better, but I think you’ve converted me:) Thanks, Sally!
These wonderful, filled with flavour (and healthy) pancakes were breakfast for my 9 yr. old grandson and I this morning. I loved the maple/ cinnamon flavour and blueberries are a staple around here. The remainder are warming in the oven waiting for my son and daughter-in-law to arrive. This recipe is definitely a keeper, it will become a favourite at Grandma’s house.
I just whipped up a batch of these for dinner and my blueberry-loving boy declared that they are AWESOME!! Thanks for giving a healthier alternative. I’ll be freezing some for quick breakfasts on school mornings. 🙂
Made these on Saturday and I am in LOVE! I halved the recipe for my husband and I and we only had one leftover! When I make them again I think I will just do a whole batch and freeze as noted. These would be great (even without any toppings) to just grab on your way out the door- my husband actually rolled up our one leftover and ate in our way to church on Sunday. Thanks for another great recipe Sally, and I’m thoroughly enjoying healthy January!