100% Whole Wheat Chocolate Carrot Pancakes (Dairy-Free)

Serve your family whole grains and veggies for breakfast with these sneaky, dairy-free, 100% whole wheat chocolate carrot pancakes!

These 100% whole wheat chocolate carrot pancakes check off a lot of Mama’s boxes. Many whole wheat pancake recipes you see these days have merely added a portion of whole wheat flour into the all-purpose flour mix. But not these! You’re looking at a fully whole wheat product.

Second, these pancakes are loaded full of raw carrot puree! This is for those mamas who desperately want to get more veggies into your kids’ diet! The best part is that you can barely taste the carrot, if at all!

Finally, the third win in this recipe is the chocolate component. Most kids love having chocolate for breakfast! You can have your cake and eat it, too!

100% Whole Wheat Chocolate Carrot Pancakes Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

Whole wheat flour: See note on “baking” with whole wheat below.

Baking powder: Aim to keep aluminum-free baking powder on hand. Be sure to carefully check the ingredients in this when purchasing it.

Baking soda: Pure baking soda that hasn’t been produced with the use of chemicals would be ideal! Baking soda tends to get clumpy. You can put it in your hand first and use the fingers from your other hand to push it down and break up the little clumps before adding it into your recipe.

Salt: Sea salt or pink Himalayan salt (I use pink Himalayan salt) would be the healthiest options, as well as go well with this recipe. If you use regular table salt, you may have to use less salt in this recipe.

Ground cinnamon

Cocoa powder: Make sure your cocoa powder doesn’t have any extra sneaky additives!

Wet Ingredients

Raw carrot puree: Make a super easy puree without having to cook your carrots!

Coconut oil: Extra virgin would be a great choice.

Honey: Be sure to grab this from a reputable source, as adulteration can happen!

Apple cider vinegar: Make sure you get raw, unpasteurized ACV with “the mother.”

Vanilla Extract: Did you know this is extremely easy to make at home? All you need to do is soak some vanilla beans in 80 proof vodka for a few weeks. It’s that simple!

Egg

Water: See note on “baking” with whole wheat and how you might need a different amount of water for your recipe.

A Note on “Baking” with Whole Wheat

All-purpose flour is the baker’s best friend. Beautiful, tasty baked goods whipped up in a snap.

Though this man-made flour is all the rage, it’s not by any means filled with much nutrition.

A whole wheat berry is made up of three parts: the bran, germ, and endosperm. Although all three parts have some type of nutrition, most of the berry’s nutrition is found in the smaller parts of the berry–the bran and germ. When both all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour are made, manufacturers strip the flour of its bran and germ. All-purpose flour is then never reunited with these nutrient dense parts of the wheat berry, while the bran and germ (many times a portion of the original amount) are added back into whole wheat flour.

Without the bran and germ, all-purpose flour now becomes a long-term, shelf-stable food that is fairly predictable in its baking performance. On the other hand, the bran and germ in whole wheat flour change the whole scheme of things, now impacting the amount of liquid that is absorbed while preparing baked goods, or quasi-baked goods like pancakes.

The bran and germ tend to soak up more liquid and do so much more slowly than the endosperm. This is what makes things so tricky! To make matters more complicated, no two wheat flours are the same. First of all, there are different varieties of wheat (such as hard, red wheat; soft, white wheat; einkorn; emmer; etc.), and they all like to do their own thing.

Second, even the same wheat grain variety can be affected by varying environments. If your flour has been stored in a humid environment, the flour may be a bit moist, depending on how it’s been stored. On the other hand, a dry environment would result in a drier flour. But again, it all depends on how it’s been stored.

Third, take the milling process into consideration. There are many different types of mills, wheat is ground at different settings, and different amounts of bran and germ may be added back into these flours.

I’m sure there are more factors to consider, but these three are enough to help us understand that it is almost impossible to make a “recipe” that yields the same result in every kitchen. This is why I encourage you to be an observer in your own kitchen, adding the amount of liquid that works well with the whole wheat you have purchased and stored in your home environment.

Kitchen Supplies You May Need

• bowls/sauce pan
• skillet or griddle
• turner/flipping spatula
• scraping spatula
• measuring cups and spoons
• pot holder or towel
• fork or whisk

How to Make 100% Whole Wheat Chocolate Carrot Pancakes

First, combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl, except the cocoa powder. That would be your whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon. You could use a whisk for this or simply your hand. Move your hand in a circular motion, pressing the ingredients in between your thumb and your other four fingers.

Second, measure out your carrot puree, cocoa powder, coconut oil, and honey into a sauce pan or microwave-safe bowl and whisk the mixture together.

Next, warm the mixture on the stove or in the microwave. You want it lukewarm, not hot. If it gets hot, let it cool down to lukewarm before mixing it with the other ingredients.

After you’ve warmed the mixture, add your apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, egg, and 1/4 cup water to the wet mixture. Whisk together well.

Now heat a skillet or griddle over very low heat.

While the skillet is heating up, add the wet ingredients into your dry ingredient bowl. As you are gently and slowly bringing the two together (with a spoon or scraping spatula), take note of the thickness of the pancake batter. Slowly add more water until you have the consistency you want. Do not overmix. To get a thick, fluffy pancake, keep it thick but pourable. The more water you add, the thinner, less fluffy, and wetter your pancakes will become. I used about 1/2 cup of water for my flour. If your pancake comes out super dry, rubbery, or “wheaty,” you may have overmixed the batter, or you might need to add a little more water next time. You also could try letting your pancake batter rest for 10-15 minutes before cooking to ensure the wheat has fully absorbed the liquids.

Once your skillet or griddle is warmed up, add a small amount of coconut oil. Make sure it’s not too hot. If your oil is steaming, your skillet is most likely too hot.

Then, take a 1/2 cup measuring cup and scoop out 1/2 cup of pancake batter, and pour it onto the hot skillet. If your batter is on the super thick side, you can use the measuring cup to make a circular motion on the batter to spread the pancake out.

Now look for bubbles on top of your pancake and flipping capability. Flip the pancakes as soon as they are “flippable,” as the cocoa powder makes these tend to burn easily.  Simply take a flipping spatula and gently slide it under a side of the pancake. If the spatula slid under easily, you should be able to flip it. If your pancake bunches up and leaves a good bit of wet batter on your spatula, you will need to wait a little longer and check again for the chance to flip it. After you do one or two pancakes, you’ll get the feel for how long you need to leave your pancake cooking (all depending on the thickness of your batter, the type of skillet you’re using, and the type of stove you’re cooking on).

If your pancake is really dark or black when you flip it over, that means your skillet is most likely too hot and you need to turn the heat down. (Or it means you let the pancake cook for too long.) If you are having trouble flipping the pancake over, you could try to use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to make smaller baby pancakes.

Once you have flipped over your pancake, wait a minute or two for the other side to cook. Then place on a plate to cool. Just like before, you can carefully put the spatula under the pancake and lift it a bit to see if it is “flippable,” as well as make sure the inside of the pancake is cooked through and it has some color to it.

Allow the pancake to cool down for a couple of minutes to develop better flavor. The carrot flavor (if noticeable) will become less prominent, and the pancake will become sweeter.

And that’s it! Top these with maple syrup, cream, fruit, or other lovely things!

How to Wash Less Dishes with This Recipe

Tired of washing so many dishes? Me, too! With a little extra mind power and math, you can use less dishes! Use the same following dishes, over and over again, in a strategic manner.

Dirty Up These 9 Dishes

• a skillet
• a medium bowl sauce pan
• a medium bowl
• a flipping spatula
• a scraping spatula
• a whisk
• a 1/2 cup measuring cup
• a tablespoon
• a 1/4 teaspoon

How to Use These 9 Dishes

Add in the following order–

In medium bowl:

• Two 1/2 cups for flour
• Six 1/4 teaspoons for baking powder
• Two 1/4 teaspoons for baking soda
• One 1/4 teaspoon for salt
• Two 1/4 teaspoons for ground cinnamon

In a medium, microwave-safe bowl or sauce pan, whisk together:

• One 1/2 cup for raw carrot puree
• Two tablespoons for cocoa powder
• Three tablespoons for coconut oil
• Three tablespoons for honey

Later, add:

• One tablespoon for apple cider vinegar
• Four 1/4 teaspoons for vanilla extract
• Beat egg in with whisk
• For water, start with a little over half of 1/2 cup measuring cup

Use scraping spatula to mix the dry and wet ingredients together and to help you get the last bit of batter out of the bowl at the end.

Use 1/2 cup measuring cup to put batter in skillet.

Use flipping spatula to flip and remove the pancake.

More Whole Wheat Pancake Recipes

100% Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes (Dairy-Free)

100% Whole Wheat Gingerbread Pancakes (Dairy-Free)

100% Whole Wheat Carrot Cake Pancakes (Dairy-Free)