Banana Peanut Butter Chia Super Pancake

Peanut butter and banana are a classic combination. Warm caramelized banana with peanut butter is even better. Add in some rolled oats, chia seeds, vanilla and a dash of cinnamon, and you have a crazy concoction. A crazy, wonderful breakfast concoction. Or dinner, because you love it so much.

Ashley calls this a banana scramble, but I see it as a huge, fluffy pancake. Her description as a melty gooey chewy bananer oat goodness fits much better, actually. The banana becomes soft and caramelized as it is permeated with the peanut butter. The rolled oats and chia seeds add bulkiness and texture. It reminds me of a stovetop version of the Dark Chocolate Banana Coconut Almond Cookies, which are soft from the bananas, but here, you eat it right from the stove, ooey-gooey in its warmness.

I have made this a few times, and the recipe is very flexible.  You can use chia seeds, ground flax or even wheat germ to help keep it together.  Instead of banana, you could use apple sauce, mashed pumpkin or sweet potato. The amount of nondairy milk is up to you and your preference. It should be a bit thick, but not dry. I like to err on the side of wet. Chia seeds definitely make this an easier thing to flip, though, and 2 smaller pancakes would help to flip as well. Wheat germ was nice because it was more fluffy and I added more milk. Especially with wheat germ, it can be a bit finicky to keep it all together, so the name scramble is quite fitting. 😉

This is the wheat germ version. After frying, It may look like this:

So just stick it together and top with bananas (see top photo) and no one would be the wiser.. Personally, in this case, as unphotogenic as it is, I prefer the super fluffy pancake that doesn’t easily keep together then a flippable pancake that is a bit sturdier. I like to eat fluffy goodness. 🙂

This is my submission to Healing Foods featuring bananas and to this month’s Breakfast Club featuring dairy-free breakfasts.

Banana Peanut Butter Chia Super Pancake

3 tbsp rolled oats
1 tbsp chia seeds (or ground flax or wheat germ)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 tbsp soymilk (or other nondairy milk)
1/2 banana, mashed (or 3 tbsp pumpkin puree, sweet potato puree or applesauce)
1 tbsp peanut butter
other options – unsweetened coconut, nuts, dried fruit, etc

1. Add all ingredients together and mash well with a fork. The mixture should be fairly moist, so if it is dry, add another tbsp or so of soymilk.

2. If using chia seeds, let sit for ten minutes for seeds to absorb the liquid. Again, check for moistness of the batter.

3. Heat a non-stick frypan over medium heat (if not non-stick, grease your frypan). Add mixture and shape into 1-2 pancakes, approximately 1/2-3/4-inch thick. A smaller pancake will be easier to flip. If it falls apart, don’t worry, just stick things back together, because it will still taste great! Anyways, brown on each side, approximately 3-4 minutes for each side.

4. Enjoy! I like mine plain, but you can top with fruit (the other half of the banana is great!), slather with more nut butter, jam, serve overtop oatmeal, toast, etc, with a big glass of soymilk on the side. 🙂

Serves 1.