Get a Frosty-sized dose of cheer with these healthy Christmas pancakes! Make them into all of your favorite holiday characters and have a holly jolly breakfast! They are gluten-free, vegan, and even free of refined sugar but filled with delicious pancake flavor that everyone loves.
Are you ready to have some fun at the breakfast table? I created Christmas Pancakes in the shape of everyone's favorite holiday friends, and they're filled with sweet details that make every bite merry. You may be thinking, "Wait, doesn't your family celebrate Hanukkah?" And YES! We do! But I still enjoy getting into the holiday spirit, listening to seasonal tunes, and making food for all to enjoy.
All About Oatmeal
The base for these pancakes is made of oats, making them totally gluten-free! Measure your oats into your blender and pulse them until a fine flour forms. Using oat flour for these pancakes creates a meal filled with soluble fiber and grains that are high in fiber and healthful fats. They give you a sustainable boost of energy (no crash!) and keep your fuller longer than other grains.
Dairy-Free Christmas Pancakes
It isn't a holiday breakfast without whipped cream! You can find vegan whipped cream in cans at your local grocery or health food store, or you can make your own! My Coconut Whipped Cream recipe that turns out fluffy and delicious every time. My recipe for homemade Coconut Whipped Cream is vegan, paleo-friendly, nut-free, gluten-free and refined sugar-free.
Whipped cream is the "glue" on these pancakes to hold all of the accents in place, but if you'd rather omit it altogether, you could use a dab of maple syrup, nut or seed butter or even just place the fruit on the pancakes.
I also use a dairy-free milk as the liquid in this healthy Christmas pancake batter! Oat milk is delicious (and nut-free!), but you could also use any of your favorite nut milks as well. Coconut milk, rice milk, almond milk, hemp seed milk, etc. would all work here.
Garnishes for Christmas Pancakes
I used fresh fruit, coconut, almonds, and coconut whipped cream to add the finishing touches to each one of these jolly characters! Get creative with the foods you already have in your refrigerator and pantry. Pretzels would work well for reindeer antlers or snowman arms, you could use strawberries instead of raspberries, and blackberries or even pieces of Medjool dates could work instead of blueberries! I sprinkled coconut on each plate to look like scattered snow. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
- Santa is made out of raspberries and a slice of banana for the hat, a rosy raspberry nose, blueberry eyes, and banana and coconut whipped cream beard. Ho ho ho!
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has pancake antlers, blueberry eyes, and a raspberry for his very shiny nose (you might even say it glows!).
- Our snowman has a berry hat, chocolate chip eyes, and bananas/slivered almonds for his scarf and nose. What a jolly happy soul!
I used our large griddle to pour pancakes, making sure I had both bigger and smaller circles (as well as some straight lines) to make each character. My trick for flipping pancakes at the perfect time: look for bubbles in the batter that pop and then don't fill back up with batter. Flip them once those little bubble holes form! Perfectly golden pancakes every time!
This recipe is gluten-free, vegan, and made without refined sugar. It can also be made nut-free! If you make festive holiday pancakes, I hope you'll post them and tag me on Instagram so I can see your holiday pancake creations. Happy holidays!
More Vegan and Gluten-Free Christmas Recipes
Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad (this salad is red and green and beautiful on a holiday table)
Cranberry Pomegranate Spritzer
More Vegan and Gluten-Free Breakfast Favorites (they are all refined sugar-free too!):
Blender Apple Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel Topping
Baked Chocolate Donuts with Chocolate Ganache Glaze
Foods Perfect for Gifting
Best Holiday Cookie Recipes
Print
Christmas Holiday Pancakes: Santa, Rudolph and Frosty he Snowman
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 15 medium circle pancakes 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Get a Frosty-sized dose of cheer with these healthy Christmas pancakes! Make them into all of your favorite holiday characters and have a holly jolly breakfast! They are gluten-free, vegan, and even free of refined sugar but filled with delicious pancake flavor that everyone loves.
Santa's hat is made out of raspberries and a slice of banana, a rosy raspberry nose, blueberry eyes, and a banana / coconut whipped cream beard. Ho ho ho!
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has pancake antlers, blueberry eyes, and a raspberry for his very shiny nose (you might even say it glows!).
Our snowman has a berry hat, chocolate chip eyes, and bananas/slivered almonds for his scarf and nose. What a jolly happy soul!
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten-free old fashion oats
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot starch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- 2 cups unsweetened, plain plant-milk of choice (I use oat milk)
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- avocado oil or vegan, soy-free butter for greasing the griddle
Santa Garnishes
- use one large round pancake (about ¼ cup or more of the batter)
- banana slices and/or coconut whipped cream (for beard, hair, mustache)
- raspberries or strawberry slices (for the hat - and one raspberry for the nose)
- blueberries (for the eyes)
- unsweetened shredded coconut flakes (for snow on plate)
Reindeer Garnishes
- Use one medium and one small round pancake
- Make antlers out of the pancake batter (or use long banana slices, broken pretzel twists or coconut whipped cream)
- blueberries (for the eyes)
- raspberries (for the red nose)
- coconut whipped cream or banana slices (for behind the nose and eyes)
- unsweetened shredded coconut flakes (for snow around the pancake)
Snowman Garnishes
- one medium pancake and one small pancake for the snowman body
- make arms with pancake batter (or use pretzel sticks)
- non-dairy refined sugar-free dark chocolate chips (for eyes)
- homemade coconut whipped cream or banana slices (for behind the eyes)
- unsweetened shredded coconut flakes (for snow on body and plate)
- blanched slivered almonds or banana (for nose and scarf)
- raspberries or strawberry slices (for the hat - use the end of a banana for the top of the hat)
- blueberries (for buttons)
- strawberry slice (for mouth)
Instructions
- Heat a large griddle over medium heat. While it heats up, make the pancake batter.
- In a blender, process the oats until a fine flour forms. I prefer homemade oat flour over store bought in terms of texture so I highly recommend this step.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients (homemade oat flour, arrowroot starch, baking powder, salt and cinnamon). Whisk in the liquid ingredients (milk, maple syrup, vanilla) until no clumps remain. If you want to thin out the batter a bit, add 1-2 tablespoons more of milk and stir.
- Once the griddle is hot, use avocado oil or vegan butter to coat the griddle. Then, place 2-4 tablespoons (depending on what shape you are making) of the batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Cook 4-5 minutes per side. To tell when it is ready to flip, look for bubbles throughout the entire pancake and golden brown edges all around. If the pancake releases easily from the griddle with a metal spatula then you know it is ready. Once both sides are golden brown gently remove from the griddle to a serving tray. Re-grease the griddle between each batch. Serve the pancakes while hot.
- Decorate with garnishes (or let your kids do the decorating and put out the garnishes for them). Have fun with it! Get creative and use what you have on hand. Use my pictures as guides.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stovetop
Keywords: christmas pancakes
Amy says
Hi Elaine,
These pancakes look absolutely adorable....I'm very impressed! But, since it's no longer Christmas time I decided to forego the creativity and just make plain 'ol round pancakes. I was thrilled to find a recipe with homemade oat flour since it's so healthy and I often use it in my baking. When making my oat flour I usually use the quick cooking oats. Is it alright to use the quick version for this recipe or do you think it could change the texture of the pancakes? I did make them with traditional rolled oats the first time and my family loved them! Thanks for another winning recipe!
Elaine Gordon says
Hi, Amy! Thank you so much! I agree with you, these oat pancakes deserve their own spot on the blog year-round! I make them all the time too! As for rolled oats versus quick cooking oats... because you are grinding them up into oat flour it shouldn't make a huge difference in this particular recipe. But, they could measure slightly differently (the quick cooking may be more by volume than the rolled oats). So, if you use quick cooking you might need to increase the liquid just slightly (like 1 tablespoon). But even if you don't it should honestly be fine... this pancake recipe is pretty forgiving. I find the longer the batter sits before cooking it the thicker the batter becomes as the oats naturally absorb liquid once everything is combined. Please let me know if you have any further questions - I'm happy to help! And enjoy! Best, Elaine