Savoury vegetable pancakes with carrot, spinach and mashed sweet potato in the batter. This vegan pancake recipe is gluten-free, versatile and you can make it with different vegetables.
Half confounded, half amused, for a moment I just stood staring at the three bags of sweet potatoes that had just been delivered to my door. I often order my grocery online when the weather gets a little hostile over here and especially the bulky items like potatoes and non-dairy milk cartons.
Otherwise, we do all our groceries on foot. Although, a 20-minute walk (each way) in freezing sub-zero temperatures or even just above zero with wind chill is not always a pleasant trip.
A few weeks ago, I thought I was ordering three sweet potatoes (amongst other grocery items) but I was quite bemused when I got three bags instead. Very strange, as I had put the same order before and received just three sweet potatoes.
The store must have had a glitch on their system or the staff misunderstood, which really happens every now and then with online grocery shopping.
For the high-carb vegans out there, this would probably have been a normal order but for my case, as much as I love sweet potatoes, I do not consume them in such vast quantities in a short period of time. It is just the two of us here and unless I incorporate the sweet potatoes in recipes, Kevin does not eat a whole lot of them on their own, that is plain baked or steamed.
Creative mode: ON; I knew I had to use them in any way I could! Pre-cooking a few at a time and storing them in the fridge, ready to be used, helped me along the way whenever creativity would strike; it had better struck everyday lest the sweet potatoes would go bad before I’d have a chance to use them up.
Starting with sweet potato bread, I moved on to incorporating a little bit in mashed form in sauces. By the way, I remembered a recipe I wanted to try and adapted it to my taste; it came out brilliant.
I have now adopted the habit of adding a little sweet potato puree in most sauces and it does a fantastic job both for a touch of sweetness and as a thickener. Steadily, I managed to use up two bags pretty quickly.
Well, every cloud has a silver lining and I soon came up with a few new recipes that are worth keeping and re-using. One of them being these vegetable pancakes.
Savoury pancakes are quite a regular brunch at the Lovlie Cocoon, especially on weekends. Adding a couple of dollops of sweet potato mash to the batter made a tasty difference. The pancakes turned out fluffier on the inside with just the right hint of sweetness and slightly caramelised on the outside for satisfying crispiness.
Kevin asked for more and we made these pancakes three days in a row and even had them for dinner; I decided it was time to share the recipe.
Altering the vegetables with what you have on hand, makes this recipe very versatile. In this version, I am using carrots and spinach but feel free to substitute with other vegetables like cabbage, kale, bok choy, any other greens or scallions, anything really.
Watch the video for the step by step process.
Vegetable Pancakes with Carrot, Spinach and Sweet Potato | Vegan + Gluten-free
Scroll down for printable format Ingredients (about 10 pancakes depending on what size you make them)
1 cup [100 g] chickpea flour (also known as gram flour or besan) 1 teaspoon turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (I use Bob’s Red Mill double acting gluten-free aluminium-free baking powder) 3/4 cup [180 ml] water (adjust at the end if you feel the batter is a little stiff) 1/3 cup [65 g] cooked mashed sweet potato 1 cup [50 g] coriander leaves (cilantro), finely chopped 2 cups [180 g] carrots, grated 1 cup cooked spinach (lightly wilted, from 4 cups [100g] fresh spinach) Salt to taste Oil for light brushing when cooking
Instructions
If you are using fresh spinach, start by wilting them in a skillet. Then cut into small pieces.
If you are using fresh spinach, start by wilting them in a skillet. Then cut into small pieces.
In a large mixing bowl, add the chickpea flour, salt, turmeric powder and baking powder. Whisk to combine.
Add the water and whisk well to remove any lumps.
Add the cooked mashed sweet potato and mix well into the batter.
Now add the chopped coriander leaves, cooked spinach and grated carrots. The consistency of the batter is rather thick with all the vegetable well “glued” together. You may adjust the water with a few more tablespoons if you feel the batter is too stiff.
Heat a non-stick frying pan or skillet on medium. Lightly brush the pan with a little oil.
Ladle some of the batter on the hot pan and spread the batter around to make a rather thin pancake.
Cook for 3 minutes on one side then flip and cook for another 3 minutes. Flip again and cook for a final one minute. Then remove from the pan and place into a serving plate. Repeat for the rest of the batter.
Notes: You may make larger pancakes if you want to cook up the batch more quickly. Then you may cut them into quarters or even smaller bite size pieces and serve as finger foods or party nibbles.
Vegetable Pancakes with Carrot, Spinach and Sweet Potato | Vegan + Gluten-free
These savoury vegetable pancakes are very tasty and versatile. You can use other vegetables like cabbage or kale, depending on what you have on hand. If you decide to omit the sweet potato puree in the batter, add 2-3 tablespoons of water.
Course Breakfast/Brunch
Cuisine World
Keyword savoury pancakes, vegan pancakes
Prep Time 7 minutesmins
Cook Time 20 minutesmins
Total Time 27 minutesmins
Servings 4-10 pancakes depending on size
Calories 81kcal
Author Teenuja Dahari
Ingredients
100gchickpea flour, also known as gram flour or besan [1 cup]
1teaspoonturmeric powder
1/2teaspoonbaking powder
180mlwater, [3/4 cup] adjust at the end if you feel the batter is a little stiff
1cupcooked spinach, lightly wilted, from 4 cups [100g] fresh spinach
Salt to taste
Oil for light brushing when cooking
Instructions
If you are using fresh spinach, start by wilting them in a skillet. Then cut into small pieces.
In a large mixing bowl, add the chickpea flour, salt, turmeric powder and baking powder. Whisk to combine.
Add the water and whisk well to remove any lumps.
Add the cooked mashed sweet potato and mix well into the batter.
Now add the chopped coriander leaves, cooked spinach and grated carrots.
The consistency of the batter is rather thick with all the vegetable well “glued” together. You may adjust the water with a few more tablespoons if you feel the batter is too stiff.
Heat a non-stick frying pan or skillet on medium. Lightly brush the pan with a little oil.
Laddle some of the batter on the hot pan and spread the batter around to make a rather thin pancake.
Cook for 3 minutes on one side then flip and cook for another 3 minutes. Flip again and cook for a final one minute. Then remove from the pan and place into a serving plate.
Repeat for the rest of the batter.
Video
Notes
Notes: You may make larger pancakes if you want to cook up the batch more quickly. Then you may cut them into quarters or even smaller bite size pieces and serve as finger foods or party nibbles.Link to original post – Vegetable Pancakes with Carrot, Spinach and Sweet Potato – https://veganlovlie.com/vegetable-pancakes-with-carrot-spinach/
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Thank you. I'm glad you like the recipes. I had a look at your blog. You have some nice Mauritian recipes too. 🙂 I cannot seem to find the comment section on your blog though.
I never know what to do with sweet potatoes. I cannot really get into them. But your recipe looks awesome and I'm gonna try it. It's a good way to broaden my horizon:)
Hi there! I'd like to know if I can cook this same recipe without the cooked potato. Should it be the same or will it change drastically? Thanks! And awesome recipe!
Yes, you can make this without the sweet potato. You may need to add a little more water then. Wait until you've added all the vegetables and see if the batter is a little stiff or test by cooking the first pancake and see if you like the texture (then add a few tablespoons of water to the batter if required).
I know this would be right up my street. I'm a recent convert to the joys of sweet potato for sauces (vegan mac and cheese with a sweet potato sauce was a real revelation for me!) and I love veggie fritters and pancakes in all their forms. I'm not sure I'd be overjoyed if three bags of sweet potatoes landed on my doorstep, but if it was an excuse to make these pancakes, I wouldn't complain too hard.
For a long while, I've been having them just baked or steamed on their own, until I started to incorporate them in a few recipes and thought they work well. So yes, it's definitely an ingredient that can be used in a lot of different ways.
Vegan mac and cheese with sweet potato? Wow, I'd love to try this one. I still got a few to use up. Luckily the bags were not extra big. They were about 2kg each but still 6kg of sweet potatoes is quite a lot for me when it's unexpected.
That looks amazing, they look like 'eggy' pancakes already! What a clever way to use these sweet potatoes…I want to soak them in a saucy chili sauce already!
Rice flour will work I think (although I haven’t tried it), it will not be the same taste though. Oat flour might cause the texture to remain too moist or it will take longer to cook, I am guessing this from the plain oat pancakes I sometimes make, they tend to be more moist.
Hi, does the batter store well? Or best to use it all up? Just cooking for two over here! Maybe cook it all and store the pancakes in the fridge? Newbie chef
Love your recipes!
I don’t really like cooking but your recipes are so tempting that I always give them a try! Turns out yum! 🙂
Thank you for the amazing recipes!
Regards 🙂
You’re welcome and thank you so much Nilisha. It really pleases me to hear this. If you are on social media, you can send me a little snap of the food you’ve made. I’d be so happy to share it on my social pages. 🙂
Hi gdo, you can replace the spinach with other greens like kale, bok choy. Or you can use some grated courgette (zucchini). You don’t need to precook the courgette. Just add it with the carrots but make a thicker batter as it will ooze out some liquid as the pancake cooks.
Can’t wait to try these! I have a question about your pan: It looks like a non-stick pan (is it?) but what is the size and brand? All my cookware is stainless steel but I would like to get one nice non-stick pan like yours. It seems like it would be very useful.
I don’t remember what brand this pan was. The non-stick has worn out now and I don’t have it anymore. I now use a cast iron pan. When well seasoned regularly, it is non-stick and will last a lifetime if not more. It’s the one that you can see on the side bar at the moment. 🙂
Thank you for your comment Ashyb. I’m so glad to hear you like the okra recipe 🙂
Butternut squash should be fine in the pancakes. It think it will be a delicious substitute actually. I hope you enjoy them.
I love this recipe! I make it 3 or 4 times a week, with some tiny tweaks. I can’t eat chickpea flour anymore, so I swapped in cassava flour (avail. at Amazon and any health food store), which is the only one I’ve found that cooks right. (The nut flours I tried all absorb too much water and don’t hold together well enough for pancakes, imo.) I also lightly sautee a handful of chopped shitakes (any mushroom will do, but I love the shitake texture) and a quarter onion for a few minutes before I throw the spinach on top for wilting. No need to overcook — they’ll finish cooking the rest of the way in the pancakes. No need for more water or flour either. Those ingredients blend in just fine.
The other change I make is cooking with coconut oil. You can cook hotter, so the pancakes get crispy on the outside more consistently. As a result of higher temps, though, by the time I get to end of the batch, I’ve reduced the cooking time to 2 minutes per side. Your mileage will vary, but it’s worth taking a batch or two to experiment. I love that “crispy on the outside, moist on the inside” result, so it’s easy to make them exactly perfect every time.
No kidding, I cook this recipe more than any other I’ve ever found, everywhere. It’s made a huge difference for us, and it’s so, so delicious! It also looks gorgeous, so we regularly serve to guests, too, and they’re as amazed as we are!
I saw it on YouTube and I’ve tried it today but without carrots because I forgot to buy. The taste is a bit bland should I add more salt or is because of the lack of carrots and also I used wheat flour instead of chickplea.
I’ll try it again with complete ingredients. Is there an alternative to chickpea flour? I’ll keep on watching for other recipes. ☺️
Hi Carolyn, the carrots and chickpea flour do make a difference to the taste. It should work fine with wheat flour but it will be more like a regular pancake rather than the crispy texture you’ll get with the chickpea flour. You can also use rice flour or spelt flour but you may need more care with the rice flour as the pancake will tend to break unless you add 1-2 teaspoons of cornstarch to the batter. And of course, you can adjust the salt to your taste. 🙂
Found a link today and made them already. Love love love these. My not so vegan son loved them too! Will be taking them for lunch this week. The sweet potatoes really add the best flavour.
I lightly oiled the pan but my pancake stuck to the pan. I think I will have to add more oil next time. Mine also came out very lumpy. Do you think I need to just add more water? I did think they were delicious. Thank you
So tasty!!! My entire family loved these including the 20 year olds. You have inspired me in so many ways! I’m still afraid of rolling out dough..ha! But I’ll get to it. Thank you for your beautiful videos and recipes. Your hard work is much appreciated!
I am a new vegan relatively speaking and my son’s mother who was a vegan gave me some of these pancakes to try. I loved them and after getting ur recipe I have had these for breakfast every weekday at work for the last year. I make 2 batches every weekend, divide them up into sandwich baggies and then the freezer. Convenient and a great, tasting breaky ! Thank you !
Is it possible to make these using a different flour (Rice or Oat)? Also, can you bake these to remove traces of oil? Thank you so much–your recipes are wonderful, your utubes calming.
You can use rice or oat flour, you may need to adjust the amount of flour needed in this case. You should be able to bake it too if you’re avoiding oil, although it might turn out a little dry. You can also cook it without oil on a good quality non-stick pan. Hope this helps.
Awesome recipes.
Hard to find easy, healhy, vegan and gluten free recipes. Gonna try this one. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm glad you like the recipes. I had a look at your blog. You have some nice Mauritian recipes too. 🙂 I cannot seem to find the comment section on your blog though.
I never know what to do with sweet potatoes. I cannot really get into them. But your recipe looks awesome and I'm gonna try it. It's a good way to broaden my horizon:)
Hi there! I'd like to know if I can cook this same recipe without the cooked potato. Should it be the same or will it change drastically? Thanks! And awesome recipe!
Yes, you can make this without the sweet potato. You may need to add a little more water then. Wait until you've added all the vegetables and see if the batter is a little stiff or test by cooking the first pancake and see if you like the texture (then add a few tablespoons of water to the batter if required).
I know this would be right up my street. I'm a recent convert to the joys of sweet potato for sauces (vegan mac and cheese with a sweet potato sauce was a real revelation for me!) and I love veggie fritters and pancakes in all their forms. I'm not sure I'd be overjoyed if three bags of sweet potatoes landed on my doorstep, but if it was an excuse to make these pancakes, I wouldn't complain too hard.
For a long while, I've been having them just baked or steamed on their own, until I started to incorporate them in a few recipes and thought they work well. So yes, it's definitely an ingredient that can be used in a lot of different ways.
Vegan mac and cheese with sweet potato? Wow, I'd love to try this one. I still got a few to use up. Luckily the bags were not extra big. They were about 2kg each but still 6kg of sweet potatoes is quite a lot for me when it's unexpected.
Wow, those are some tasty looking veggie pancakes! Awesome job of using up all the sweet potatoes and in such creative ways. 🙂
Wow, that is one creative dish! I was so surprised when I found you on YouTube, yay! I'm just a lurker, though, since I don't have a YT account. 🙂
It was a good opportunity for me to test out some new recipes too. 🙂
The Youtube Channel is still a rather recent thing. I started a few years ago but then dropped it. But recently I got at it again. Happy lurking! 😀
That looks amazing, they look like 'eggy' pancakes already! What a clever way to use these sweet potatoes…I want to soak them in a saucy chili sauce already!
I can’t wait to try this recipe but can I replace the chickpea flour with rice or oat flour ?
Rice flour will work I think (although I haven’t tried it), it will not be the same taste though. Oat flour might cause the texture to remain too moist or it will take longer to cook, I am guessing this from the plain oat pancakes I sometimes make, they tend to be more moist.
Hi, does the batter store well? Or best to use it all up? Just cooking for two over here! Maybe cook it all and store the pancakes in the fridge? Newbie chef
Lasts for three days safe .
Love your recipes!
I don’t really like cooking but your recipes are so tempting that I always give them a try! Turns out yum! 🙂
Thank you for the amazing recipes!
Regards 🙂
You’re welcome and thank you so much Nilisha. It really pleases me to hear this. If you are on social media, you can send me a little snap of the food you’ve made. I’d be so happy to share it on my social pages. 🙂
Sounds delicious but with what kind of vegetables can we replace the spinach? Thanks for the receipe.
Hi gdo, you can replace the spinach with other greens like kale, bok choy. Or you can use some grated courgette (zucchini). You don’t need to precook the courgette. Just add it with the carrots but make a thicker batter as it will ooze out some liquid as the pancake cooks.
Sounds delicious but with what kind of vegetables can we replace the spinach? Thanks for the recipe.
Looks delicious, do you think a gf flour would work?
It depends on the blend and ratio of starch to flour. I know rice flour with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch works.
Can’t wait to try these! I have a question about your pan: It looks like a non-stick pan (is it?) but what is the size and brand? All my cookware is stainless steel but I would like to get one nice non-stick pan like yours. It seems like it would be very useful.
I don’t remember what brand this pan was. The non-stick has worn out now and I don’t have it anymore. I now use a cast iron pan. When well seasoned regularly, it is non-stick and will last a lifetime if not more. It’s the one that you can see on the side bar at the moment. 🙂
Tried the okra recipe and it was ??? Cant wait to try this one too! Wondering if i can substitute the sweet potato with butternut squash? Thanks!
Thank you for your comment Ashyb. I’m so glad to hear you like the okra recipe 🙂
Butternut squash should be fine in the pancakes. It think it will be a delicious substitute actually. I hope you enjoy them.
Once again, a delicious dish. Thank you so much…..
I love this recipe! I make it 3 or 4 times a week, with some tiny tweaks. I can’t eat chickpea flour anymore, so I swapped in cassava flour (avail. at Amazon and any health food store), which is the only one I’ve found that cooks right. (The nut flours I tried all absorb too much water and don’t hold together well enough for pancakes, imo.) I also lightly sautee a handful of chopped shitakes (any mushroom will do, but I love the shitake texture) and a quarter onion for a few minutes before I throw the spinach on top for wilting. No need to overcook — they’ll finish cooking the rest of the way in the pancakes. No need for more water or flour either. Those ingredients blend in just fine.
The other change I make is cooking with coconut oil. You can cook hotter, so the pancakes get crispy on the outside more consistently. As a result of higher temps, though, by the time I get to end of the batch, I’ve reduced the cooking time to 2 minutes per side. Your mileage will vary, but it’s worth taking a batch or two to experiment. I love that “crispy on the outside, moist on the inside” result, so it’s easy to make them exactly perfect every time.
No kidding, I cook this recipe more than any other I’ve ever found, everywhere. It’s made a huge difference for us, and it’s so, so delicious! It also looks gorgeous, so we regularly serve to guests, too, and they’re as amazed as we are!
I saw it on YouTube and I’ve tried it today but without carrots because I forgot to buy. The taste is a bit bland should I add more salt or is because of the lack of carrots and also I used wheat flour instead of chickplea.
I’ll try it again with complete ingredients. Is there an alternative to chickpea flour? I’ll keep on watching for other recipes. ☺️
Hi Carolyn, the carrots and chickpea flour do make a difference to the taste. It should work fine with wheat flour but it will be more like a regular pancake rather than the crispy texture you’ll get with the chickpea flour. You can also use rice flour or spelt flour but you may need more care with the rice flour as the pancake will tend to break unless you add 1-2 teaspoons of cornstarch to the batter. And of course, you can adjust the salt to your taste. 🙂
Found a link today and made them already. Love love love these. My not so vegan son loved them too! Will be taking them for lunch this week. The sweet potatoes really add the best flavour.
That’s great to hear. Wonderful! 🙂
Wow! These pancakes are really great! I love your recipes! Thank you!
Thank you for the lovely feedback Joshua. 🙂
I lightly oiled the pan but my pancake stuck to the pan. I think I will have to add more oil next time. Mine also came out very lumpy. Do you think I need to just add more water? I did think they were delicious. Thank you
So tasty!!! My entire family loved these including the 20 year olds. You have inspired me in so many ways! I’m still afraid of rolling out dough..ha! But I’ll get to it. Thank you for your beautiful videos and recipes. Your hard work is much appreciated!
I am a new vegan relatively speaking and my son’s mother who was a vegan gave me some of these pancakes to try. I loved them and after getting ur recipe I have had these for breakfast every weekday at work for the last year. I make 2 batches every weekend, divide them up into sandwich baggies and then the freezer. Convenient and a great, tasting breaky ! Thank you !
Is it possible to make these using a different flour (Rice or Oat)? Also, can you bake these to remove traces of oil? Thank you so much–your recipes are wonderful, your utubes calming.
Thank you
You can use rice or oat flour, you may need to adjust the amount of flour needed in this case. You should be able to bake it too if you’re avoiding oil, although it might turn out a little dry. You can also cook it without oil on a good quality non-stick pan. Hope this helps.