Easy Vegan Pancakes to Fuel your Workouts

These vegan pancakes are delicious and easy to make! Check out the recipe below!

Vegan Pancakes are one of my favorite workout fuel recommendations. Why?

If you’re planning on doing a long, moderate-intensity workout like: a long bike ride, a long run, or spending the day rock climbing at the crag, these pancakes are the perfect snack to fuel your workout.

I like to stuff these pancakes with seasonal fruit like peaches to give them a more juicy bite, which can be helpful during exercise.

Let’s talk about workout intensity and duration:

For long, endurance style workouts, your body will likely be utilizing primarily fat to fuel the workout (which thankfully is stored on our body and does not need to be replenished in the moment – hello fat loss!). However, we are typically burning both carbohydrate and fat during our workouts, so it’s important to incorporate some carbohydrate every hour to meet your energy demands and feel strong during your workout. Keep in mind, the higher-intensity the workout (read: harder), the more carbohydrate you’ll need to eat to support exercise performance.

If you’ve seen my Fueling for Metabolic Efficiency and Fat Loss Webinar, you learned about improving fat-burning and metabolic efficiency during endurance workouts. However, even if you want to train “low-carb” to maximize fat loss, you will still have to eat a bit of carbohydrate every hour (about 20g CHO per hour) to sustain the effort in a low-glycogen state.

This is part of why I love these pancakes as endurance workout fuel! They have about 25g of carbohydrate per pancake and support your overall health as a whole-food source of nutrition.

So, Why do I recommend vegan pancakes instead of bars or chews during long workouts or training days?

• When the workout intensity is relatively low, I always recommend a whole-foods first approach
• Eating whole foods, rather than processed foods, is much better for your overall health and supports a healthy gut
• Pancakes will provide you with the carbohydrates your body needs during exercise
• These include a healthy mix of sugar types to support performance (glucose and fructose)
• Includes a little protein to add a bit of caloric density, plus a small amount of protein will help keep energy levels steady throughout the workout
• Vegan means these are low in saturated fat – which is optimal for workout fuel. (Avoid high fat/saturated fat as it will slow the release of glucose in your fuel and can cause gastric distress)
• Affordable. Making your whole-food workout fuel is much more cost-effective than buying bars
• Appetizing! Sometimes we won’t feel “hungry” during exercise, so appetizing food is a must
• The fruit-filling in these pancakes adds a bit of liquid to the snack, which will be easier to swallow during exercise

Let’s take a look at the recipe!

Easy Vegan (fruit-filled) Pancakes Recipe

Ingredients
▢ 1.5 Cups flour (3/4C all-purpose flour, 3/4C buckwheat or oat flour)
▢ 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
▢ 1 Tablespoon baking powder
▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
▢ 1 Cup soy or pea milk (higher protein) or other plant-milk
▢ 1/2 Cup water
▢ 2 Tablespoons canola or olive oil
▢ 1C chopped fruit (peach, apple, etc.)

Instructions:

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flours, baking powder, sugar, baking powder, salt.

Next, add wet ingredients to your large bowl: Pour in the milk, water, and oil and stir GENTLY until just combined. Add in the chopped fruit. If the batter is too dry, add a tablespoon of milk.

Don’t worry too much about lumps. Avoid the temptation to over-mix, as this will create a less fluffy, rubbery pancake.

Heat a large pan or griddle over medium-heat. Grease the pan with a little canola oil or vegan butter. Use a 1/3 Cup to scoop the batter and drop it onto the pan.

Cook the pancakes until bubbles form, then flip and cook until golden brown on the other side, about 1-2 minutes. Repeat until you’re done!

Best part – you can make a triple batch and freeze half the pancakes for your future workouts!