Banana Pancakes

Low FODMAP pancakes made with a firm-yellow banana, a gluten-free 1:1 flour blend, egg, lactose-free milk, and maple syrup.

Prep 10 min

Cook 10 min

Serves 2

Gluten-freeLactose-free

Ingredients

• 1 firm-yellow banana (about 100 g), mashed
• 1 cup (140 g) low-FODMAP gluten-free 1:1 flour blend
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) lactose-free milk or unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup, plus up to 1 1/2 teaspoons per serving at the table
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Butter or neutral oil, for the pan

Instructions

Mix the Batter

1. Mash the banana in a medium bowl with a fork until mostly smooth; a few small lumps are fine.
2. Whisk in the egg, milk, maple syrup, and vanilla.
3. Add the flour blend, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir just until the dry streaks disappear. The batter should be thick and pourable; if it feels stiff, splash in another tablespoon of milk.
4. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes while the pan heats. The starches in the GF blend hydrate in that window and the pancakes come out fluffier.

Cook

1. Heat a nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-low heat. Add about 1 teaspoon of butter and swirl to coat.
2. Pour 1/4-cup portions of batter into the pan, leaving room to flip. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles form and set around the edges and the underside is golden.
3. Flip once and cook 1 to 2 minutes more, until the second side is golden and the center springs back when pressed.
4. Transfer to a plate and keep warm in a 200°F (95°C) oven while you cook the rest. Re-butter the pan between batches.

Tips & Substitutions

• Use a firm-yellow banana, not a spotted one. Monash tests a whole firm-yellow banana (100 g) as low-FODMAP, but a ripe spotted banana drops to 1/3 of a medium (~35 g) because fructans rise as bananas ripen. This batch makes 2 servings, so with a spotted banana use up to 2/3 of it (about 70 g) and make up the rest of the volume with an extra splash of milk.
• Milk choices. Lactose-free cow's milk, unsweetened almond milk (up to 1 cup / 250 ml), macadamia, hemp, or rice milk all work. Oat milk works too (the batch's 3/4 cup is about 90 ml per serving, and oat milk is low FODMAP at about 100 ml); cashew milk is not low FODMAP.
• Sweetener. Stick to pure maple syrup. Honey is low FODMAP only at about ½ teaspoon and agave is high FODMAP at recipe amounts, so neither works as a pour-over. A pinch of table sugar in the batter is fine if you want extra sweetness.
• Egg-free. Replace the egg with 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed whisked into 3 tablespoons of water; let it gel for 5 minutes before using. The pancakes will be slightly denser.
• Commercial flour blends. Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 (blue bag) and King Arthur Measure for Measure both work here. Skip the red-bag Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose; it contains garbanzo and fava bean flour.
• Keep the heat low. GF pancakes brown faster than wheat ones. Medium-low gives the insides time to cook through before the outsides go dark.

Why This Works

Firm-yellow is the low-FODMAP serve. Bananas develop fructans as they ripen. A firm, pale-yellow banana at 100 g tests low; a spotted banana at the same weight tests high. Use a firm-yellow banana and the whole one fits in a single serving. More on ripe vs. unripe bananas and the FODMAP difference.

GF blend holds it together. Rice flour plus tapioca and potato starch (with a little xanthan) gives a texture close to wheat flour and is low FODMAP at the amount used. That's why a blend beats single-flour swaps like almond or coconut, which carry their own serve-size limits.

Lactose-free milk works here. Regular cow's milk brings lactose. Lactose-free milk and almond milk are low FODMAP at 1 cup, and this batch uses 3/4 cup in total.

Maple over honey. Pure maple syrup is low-FODMAP at 1 tablespoon; honey is low only at about ½ teaspoon, with excess fructose and fructans above that. Maple is the easier pour.

Storage

Cooked pancakes keep in the fridge for up to 3 days at 40°F (4°C) or below. To freeze, cool completely, stack with parchment between pancakes, and bag for up to 2 months. Reheat straight from the freezer in a toaster or a 350°F (175°C) oven for 5 minutes. The batter is best cooked fresh; once the baking powder activates, leftover batter deflates overnight.