Easy Chocolate Pancakes | Ready in 15 Minutes!

Chocolate for breakfast? With these easy chocolate pancakes, absolutely! Sweet, fluffy, and full of rich chocolate flavor, you’re in for a treat to start your day!

We all have our favorite breakfasts. I like Fried Sweet Potatoes with Runny Eggs. Mr. Crumbs loves Almond Flour Pancakes. And we ALL like Cinnamon Oatmeal Blender Waffles.

But there is something about chocolate pancakes that makes my kids SWARM and SWOON.

As in, they literally run to the breakfast table, pump their fists in the air, and cheer for chocolate pancakes. And then they sit there, savoring every single bite as if it’s their last pancake on earth.

I’m telling you. If you want to kick your pancake game up a notch, make these chocolate pancakes!

CHOCOLATE PANCAKES RECIPE

This chocolate pancakes recipe is unlike any other pancake recipe I’ve shared so far.

If anything, they most closely resemble these Fluffy Strawberry Pancakes or these Oatmeal Pancakes simply because there’s no prep work and you cook them on a griddle.

But there’s one big difference here… CHOCOLATE.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but I LOVE chocolate.

And if you ask me, there’s nothing wrong with having chocolate for breakfast… especially when it’s homemade AND there’s barely any sugar!

Let’s unpack this chocolate pancake recipe, shall we?

CHOCOLATE PANCAKE RECIPE DRY INGREDIENTS

Rolled Oats

We’re going to whiz the rolled oats in the blender first to make oat flour, but you can easily substitute any flour you want here. Whole wheat (best if fresh ground), all purpose flour (choose unbleached and unenriched), einkorn (good for those with gluten sensitivity), or a gluten-free flour blend (I’ve used this one before) would all work well.

I wouldn’t use almond flour or coconut flour for this chocolate pancake recipe because those two flours behave very differently than most other flours.

Cocoa

I’ve mentioned before, but we took a baby step and moved from natural cocoa powder (the kind you find in the grocery store) and now use raw cacao. It has a deeper, richer flavor and retains more nutrients than natural or Dutch-processed cocoa powder.

This is the kind I buy and Walmart has it for the best price locally. You can easily use whatever cocoa you have on hand though.

Sugar

I really hate to include sugar in a pancake recipe, especially when you’re going to top it with butter and pure maple syrup anyway, but we need just a teeny bit to counteract the bitterness of the unsweetened cocoa powder.

I often use honey or maple syrup to sweeten, but Turbinado sugar works really well for this recipe. It’s not as refined as white sugar and still helps us cut back.

Baking Powder + Baking Soda + Salt

Leavening agents, and salt helps to bring out the flavor of chocolate.

Psst…Did you know that many salts contain MICROPLASTICS? It’s a sneaky toxin that may be in your everyday salt, and thus your everyday food (um, gross). I love Ava Jane’s Kitchen because their salt is FREE of microplastics, and it tastes delicious! (PLUS, you can get a free 8oz. bag of sea salt – just pay shipping and handling!)

CHOCOLATE PANCAKE WET INGREDIENTS

Yogurt + Milk

The original version of this chocolate pancake recipe called for buttermilk, but I don’t normally have buttermilk in my fridge. You can easily make buttermilk with any of these methods, but I had a tub of yogurt that I found marked down so I decided to use that instead.

Actually, I liked how using yogurt and whole milk – instead of buttermilk – made the batter thicker and less runny!

Melted Butter + Eggs

Every pancake recipe needs fat from somewhere, and this chocolate pancakes recipe uses melted unsalted butter. Eggs are for binding, but you can make flax eggs (or one of these large egg substitutions) instead if you need to.

Coffee + Vanilla

A hefty splash of coffee really makes the chocolate flavor pop, as does a tiny splash of vanilla. You can make your own vanilla extract or use one of these vanilla substitutes.

I recommend using decaf coffee just to avoid adding unnecessary caffeine to the pancakes. I’m pretty sure our kids can manage bouncing off the walls without any help from us!

I like to keep small packets of instant coffee like these on hand for when recipes call for them. Or you can use the ideas from this post on 10 ways to save on coffee!

You can also replace the coffee with additional milk if you aren’t a coffee drinker.

HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE PANCAKES

Step 1. In a large bowl, melt the butter. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Step 2. Preheat the griddle to 350F.

Step 3. Make sure you also have the remaining wet ingredients pulled out and ready.

Step 4. Measure oats into a blender and process for about 30-45 seconds, or until you have what looks like flour.

Step 5. Add the remaining dry ingredients to the blender and process for about 20 seconds, just to combine everything. (Note: You don’t HAVE to process everything in the blender, but this saves you from dirtying another bowl.)

Step 6. Add the remaining wet ingredients to the large bowl with melted butter and whisk everything together well.

Step 7. When the griddle or skillet is preheated, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until they are just combined. Be careful not to overmix your batter.

Step 8. If needed add a small amount of cooking spray to your skillet. Measure ¼ cup of batter onto the griddle and cook the first side of the pancakes until they bubble and you can see that the edges are cooked, about 2-3 minutes. Flip over and cook for another minute or two.

Step 9. Repeat with the remaining pancake batter, stirring well in between batches.

Chocolate pancakes are best served warm with butter and pure maple syrup.

CHOCOLATE PANCAKE RECIPE TIPS

Oats absorb liquid fairly quickly, so by the last round of pancakes, your batter may be noticeably thicker and hard to pour. If it’s too thick to scoop onto your griddle, whisk in a tablespoon or two of milk to thin it back out. This is especially helpful if you’re making a double or triple batch of pancakes!

Store leftover pancakes in the refrigerator, and they’ll be good for several days. If you want to make a double or triple batch (which I HIGHLY recommend), these pancakes also freeze REALLY well.

To flash freeze pancakes, place a single layer of pancakes on a cooling rack, on top of a cookie sheet, in the freezer for about 45-60 minutes. Then you can remove them and put them in a freezer-safe container for longer-term storage.

This flash freezing method will let you (or the kids) pull out as many pancakes as you want without all of them sticking together in one giant pancake blob!

TO SERVE CHOCOLATE PANCAKES

These cocoa pancakes are yummy on their own, but adding toppings make these a fancy breakfast!

Make it a hearty meal with one of these on the side:

CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE PANCAKES FAQS

MORE DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE RECIPES