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Red Beet Pancakes came to me courtesy of my husband.
My better half has discovered a passion for cooking. For me, this newfound culinary obsession of his is both a blessing and a curse. While on one hand it’s a huge relief because I don’t have to cook, it can also be a total pain in my tush (and not just because of the potential mess I likely find afterwards) because while he is completely focused on his latest creation, I am left in charge of two cranky, hungry kids.
It’s hard for me to get upset though. Hubby gets so excited about the whole process and the two hour mental voyages he takes while focussed on a new dish are kinda hilarious to watch. It’s like witnessing a 4 year old trying to finish a 50 piece jigsaw puzzle for the first time. Plus, I love watching how jazzed the kids get seeing Daddy work in what they consider to be Mommy’s turf.
One recent Saturday morning, Daddy decided to make a beet pancake recipe he had seen in Good to the Grain, a fabulously gorgeous book by Kim Boyce. As soon as Kenya heard the words “beet” and “pancakes” he said, “no way, that’s gross”. It didn’t take long for Chloe to jump on the “yucky” bandwagon. It seemed like this experiment was going to leave two out of four of us with empty tummies, but as soon as the kids got into helping Daddy stir, mash and measure, they apparently forgot all about their initial aversion. By the time the beautiful ruby discs finally came off of the griddle and onto everyone’s plates, the kids downed about five a piece.
My favorite part of this story though, came later on when my husband asked Kenya why he was so resistant at first to the beet pancakes. Kenya just looked at him and said, completely matter of fact, “who knew they were going to be that good!”
I’ve simplified Boyce’s recipe here, adding some whole wheat flour, more pureed beets to further brighten the color and some Greek yogurt too, making these red beet pancakes a breakfast that will make everyone’s eyes as big as their stomachs when you set them on the table.
He may make a bit of a mess and take a while finding his way around the kitchen, but I have to say it’s unbelievably charming watching hubby take over what I usually think of as my kitchen….and make it more of ours!
If you make these Red Beet Pancakes I would love to see them! Take a picture, post it on Instagram and tag Weelicious. I can’t wait to see your creation!
Red Beet Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 Cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 Cup whole wheat flour
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 medium beets, roasted and pureed (about 3/4 cup)
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1/3 Cup plain greek yogurt
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Sift the first 5 ingredients into a bowl.
- Place the rest of the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk thoroughly to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until just combined (you don’t want to overstir the batter — some lumps are good).
- Drop about 2 tbsp of the pancake mixture onto a greased griddle or pan over medium heat and cook for 3 minutes on each side.
- Serve with desired accompaniments.
Video
Notes
- To freeze: Place the pancakes in labeled zipper bags and freeze for up to 3 months
Nutrition
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I just made these and they are delicious! I don’t like beets but I gobbled this up and they very pretty to look at. I also used beets that i had previously roasted and frozen. So I just thawed the beets in the microwave, peeled and mashed (i thought puree in the food processor would be too noisy in the morning). Thanks for a great recipe!
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This quote is from my daughter Sofia….”THEY ARE SUPER YUMMY AND THEY ARE SCRUMPTIOUS IN MY TUMMY!!” Great recipe!!
Was thrilled with this recipe. My husband mocked me And initially my son tried to tell me he didn’t like them. When I told him he hadn’t tried them he took a bite and 2 pancakes later I was smiling quit happily and gloating to my husband.
Does anyone have tried to make them with gluten free flour?
I am loving the strawberry kefir idea!
I’ve winged red beet pancakes before and added strawberry kefir. Gave a really subtle strawberry favor, helped mask any beet-i-ness and the kids just assumed I had made them strawberry pancakes — not beet pancakes. hehehehe!
Oh, also, I had a really hard time sifting whole wheat flour. At the end I ended up with a bunch of chaff in the seive that I couldn’t force through. I put it into a coffee grinder and got some while flour out of there, but the chaff remained. Was that my flour? Did other people experience that?
I didn’t really like these. Even though our usual pancakes are 1/2 Bisquick and 1/2 whole wheat pancake mix, these were too whole-wheat-y for my husband. Also, the batter was super thick (a dollop in the pan held its non-round shape until I tried to manually form it into a round) and I had to add more milk to make it workable. Overall, they were too dense and took a really long time to cook, which left many burned. What did I do wrong? My 2 year old loved them, and he never eats pancakes, but my 5 year old turned his nose up (although he was mostly put off by the color)
These were fantastic! Everyone loved them and couldn’t believe they were having beets for breakfast 🙂
I substituted sweet potato for beets (not because I don’t like them but just because I didn’t have them) and they came out great.
My kids loved these! I was nervous to try them because I am not a beet lover, but I thought these were great! The color is so pretty.
Thank you, these are great! Only problem I’m having is trying not to eat them while I’m cooking them!! 🙂
I made these this morning and my 5 year old son and 18 month old daughter loved them. So light and fluffy. However, I used exactly 3/4 cup pureed beets and the pancakes didn’t have that bright, bold red/pink color like yours do. Not sure if it is because I used the packaged trader joe’s ready to eat steamed beets? I imagine that farmers market fresh roasted beets are much more lively in color!!! Mine were more of a mauve/lighter pink color. Still delicious! Maybe next time I’ll roast fresh beets and see what happens.
I cannot wait to make these for my little boy and girl. I bought the CARS 2 pancake set from Williams-Sonoma, and I think these red beet pancakes will make awesome Lightning McQueens and Maters. They will be over the moon!
Thanks for the healthy and delicious recipes!