Vegan Lemon Cornmeal Blueberry Pancakes
4.13 from 8 votes

These vegan lemon cornmeal blueberry pancakes are the lightest and fluffiest pancakes around! Cornmeal gives them subtle sweetness and a wonderful texture. The pancakes can be made gluten-free or with regular wheat flour.

Vegan Lemon Cornmeal Blueberry Pancakes | The Full Helping

These fluffy, vegan lemon blueberry cornmeal pancakes are a delight. Thanks to the cornmeal, they have the most tender texture. And they’re easy to make gluten-free.

I’ve been staying with my mom for a few days. I’ve wanted to treat her to a nice breakfast, and these pancakes were it. They were my first go at a vegan cornmeal pancake recipe, and I’m a fan. Now that I’ve made them once, I’m eager to try other flavors (raspberry cornmeal, pumpkin cornmeal, and so on).

Why adding cornmeal to pancakes is a great idea

My inspiration for adding cornmeal to these lemon blueberry cornmeal pancakes came from a Dreena Burton recipe. I love what cornmeal does for the texture and taste of this recipe. It adds faint sweetness (but not too much), and it makes the texture of the pancakes especially fluffy and light. I use regular (medium grind) cornmeal in the recipe.

Vegan Lemon Cornmeal Blueberry Pancakes | The Full Helping

Lemon Cornmeal Blueberry Pancake Ingredients

Cornmeal

As I said, medium grind cornmeal is my pick for this recipe. It’s the same cornmeal I use in my simple, whole grain cornbread, my blueberry corn muffins, and my corn & jam muffins. But finely ground cornmeal and corn flour will both work in a pinch.

All-purpose flour

Unbleached, all-purpose flour works with the cornmeal to give the pancakes a light, tender texture. If you don’t have all-purpose, you can try light spelt or white whole wheat flour in its place. If you need to make the recipe gluten-free, you can use a gluten-free, all-purpose flour blend (I like this one).

Blueberries

Fresh or frozen blueberries will both work in the recipe. If you don’t have those, try raspberries, chopped strawberries, or blackberries in their place!

Vegan egg replacer

I replace the traditional egg in these pancakes with a mixture of ground flax meal and warm water. This flax “egg” is one of the simplest, least expensive ways to replace eggs in vegan baking, especially in muffins and quick breads. As an added bonus, it adds fiber and a small amount of healthful, Omega-3 fatty acids.

Vegan Lemon Cornmeal Blueberry Pancakes | The Full Helping
4.13 from 8 votes

Vegan Lemon Cornmeal Blueberry Pancakes

Author – Gena Hamshaw
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon ground flax meal
  • 3 tablespoons warm water
  • 1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour (120g)
  • 1/2 cup medium grind cornmeal (70g)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1 cup unsweetened soy, oat, almond or cashew milk (240mL)
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon avocado oil (or another neutral vegetable oil)
  • 1/2 cup fresh blueberries (70g)

Instructions

  • In a small bowl, combine the ground flax meal and warm water. Whisk and allow it to sit while you proceed with the recipe.
  • Heat an oiled, cast-iron skillet or wide, nonstick frying pan over medium heat. While the skillet warms up, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
  • In another bowl, whisk together the lemon juice and zest, along with the milk. Add the flax meal + water mixture, the maple syrup, and the oil.
  • Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix till just combined evenly.
  • Heat a skillet and add the batter by 1/3 cup amounts. Dot each pancake with a few blueberries. Wait until bubbles form on the pancake top, and then gingerly flip over. Cook another two minutes, or until the pancakes are cooked through. Repeat with remaining batter, spraying or lightly coating the pan with oil as you go. Keep the pancakes warm in an oven on a low setting till all of the pancakes are ready.
  • Serve with fresh berries, vegan butter, maple syrup, or other toppings of choice!
Vegan Lemon Cornmeal Blueberry Pancakes | The Full Helping

Homestyle, comforting pancakes, made just a little brighter with lemon? Winning combination. These pancakes are one of many blueberry themed breakfasts I love to make, including my blueberry banana walnut oat bake, golden oats with gingered blueberry sauce, and my whole wheat blueberry pancakes.

Hope you and yours will enjoy these as much as my mom and I did. And more importantly, hope you’re enjoying a lovely Memorial Day! I’d love to hear what you’re up to. I’m working away at blog stuff before I head back to school, but I definitely plan on clearing away some hours to finally dig into a novel. Have a good one.

xo

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Categories: Pancakes & Waffles
Method: Stovetop
Dietary Preferences: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Tree Nut Free, Vegan

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Recipe Rating




    22 Comments
  1. 3 stars
    the taste was good but the texture was not light and fluffy it was too dense. Maybe it was my cornmeal? I used Indian Head Stone Ground Yellow Cornmeal.

  2. 4 stars
    I just made this recipe – SO good!! But — the consistency was way too thick. I needed to add a lot more vegan milk.

    • Thanks, Lynne! It’s an older recipe, so I’ll try to revisit it with that feedback in mind and see if it needs any adjustments when I test it. I’m glad the flavor was good 🙂

  3. 5 stars
    I went looking for a lemon blueberry cornmeal pancake recipe (vegan of course!) and found your recipe and website. I made them for Sunday breakfast and they were perfect! I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free flour and almond milk. Now I am looking forward to trying them with raspberries next time or maybe orange cranberry. Thanks for posting! I did use my own mixing sequence but otherwise I followed the recipe exactly.

  4. Hello, wanted to eat these…but this recipe has some errors and was rather confusing. Unbleached all-purpose flour is the first ingredient and that of course isn’t gluten-free at all? Then further down it says flax meal…which isn’t in the recipe maybe you can clarify…

    • I’m sorry for the confusion, Mai! I’ve made some edits to the recipe, and those inconsistencies should be taken care of now 🙂

  5. Yummy!! I used to make “journey cakes” when my son was little, but never thought to spiff them up with lemon & bluebs. Certainly going to give these a try. Thanks for posting 🙂

  6. Mmmm just made these and they were so delicious! I didn’t have fresh blueberries, so I used frozen ones and they worked great. Definitely a winner of recipe that I will be making many mornings this summer…and maybe some breakfast dinners 😉

  7. these really look phenomenal. cornmeal/cornbread, etc are definite faves. i went to an el salvadorian restaurant this weekend with some friends and we got corn tamales for an appetizer and i was thinking, oh man, i should make stuff like this way more often. so bring on the cornmeal!! hope you having fun being back in nyc 🙂

  8. Mmmmm! I only had corn meal pancakes once when we accidentally used it in our pancake mix on a camping trip. I loved it, but haven’t made any since. This lovely recipe just looks wonderful and is a great incentive for me to reconnect with my experience. Thanks!

  9. Next weekend is the bank holiday in the UK, spring bank holiday on Monday and then the queen’s jubilee on Tuesday means 5 days off work for me! I’m definitely planning some relaxed meals and new recipes and hope to see some friends too. Isn’t it lovely to get some time to yourself!
    x

  10. I’ve yet to experiment with polenta/cornmeal this recipe may have just swayed me! I adore lemon-blueberry anything.

    On the subject of your mom – I’m curious if the vegan dining experiment for her which you mentioned a while back for her ever panned out? I’m contemplating proposing something similar to my own mother once I’m home for the summer.

  11. Mmm these look good, Gena. You are going back to DC already?! I’m glad you had some time off, though – you deserved it!

    I’m now working at my local health food store and we have raw prepared foods like Vietnamese rolls and raw pastas. It’s sooo good and rather addicting, which isn’t great for my wallet….

  12. Ooh, these look so delicious! I too love lemon in anything, and the addition of blueberry is perfect, I suspect. Thank you, Gena!

    We are laying low today, in fact, we (me, husband, two dogs, cat, and the baby) are all in the bed right now, doing finances, checking blogs, etc. Oh, and eating – a big kale salad and some choco-cado pudding 🙂

    Have a great one!!