Flourless Coconut Pancakes (Gluten Free)

Gluten Free Flourless Coconut Pancakes recipe photo

Gluten Free Flourless Coconut Pancakes
with lemon curd and berries

Photo by Recipe Author

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Servings: 8 medium sized pancakes

2 large eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup finely ground shredded (desiccated) coconut*

1. Combine the eggs, cream, butter, sugar, and salt in a medium sized bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, mix the baking powder and ground coconut.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix gently until completely incorporated.

4. Heat a heavy bottom skillet over medium heat and melt a bit of butter or coconut oil.

5. Spoon batter into skillet, making one or two at a time. Take care to not let pancakes run into each other. Let cook until edges start to frill and brown, then flip gently once and let cook for another minute on other side.

6. Remove to serving dish and enjoy immediately as you would traditional pancakes.

Note: Leftover pancakes will keep in the fridge if covered with plastic wrap but will lose quite a bit of their “fluffiness.” Definitely better if consumed right away.

*To grind coconut simply place in a strong blender and blend until powdery and fine.

Recipe submitted by Alejandra, New York, NY

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Published on October 20, 2009

(14 votes, average: 4.30 out of 5)

17 Comments

anna September 16, 2014 at 3:49 pm - Reply

The recipe does not use coconut flour, but coconut flakes ground up, sorry but those are two very different things…

Jennifer September 13, 2014 at 9:57 am - Reply

Ok, I’m new at all this stuff so still TRYING!!! I tried making these with TJ coconut flour and NO!  Wasted all the ingredients. I’ll keep trying, just wanted the other person to know it didn’t work.

Kristikka February 27, 2012 at 6:36 am - Reply

What about using yoghurt to substitute for the cream? I’ve never tried to bake with yoghurt so don’t know if it works or not.

Christina Weisner January 17, 2012 at 4:55 pm - Reply

I just made these.  I am gluten free and grain free.  They are yummy but the next time I think I will add some cinnamon or nutmeg.  You could also use savory spices and use as a dinner bread.  Very tasty and easy.  I used half and half since I didn’t have heavy cream.  That was the only thing different I did and they turned out great.  Thanks for the great recipe!

Gabriella July 20, 2011 at 2:11 am - Reply

This is the first recipe from the Tropical Traditions blog that I tried. I was impressed by how tasty the pancakes are. The only thing I didn’t like was the texture from the coconut shreds; I think next time I’ll try a recipe using coconut flour. Other than that, they were great!

Ali December 15, 2010 at 11:23 pm - Reply

Not sure if the flax egg worked for me here. They were pretty hard to flip, a little runny texture but tasted good with maple syrup.

Becks September 9, 2010 at 7:47 am - Reply

Thanks to all ya’ll who asked the Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg Free questions!  Love this recipe…can’t wait to try it!

Anna June 16, 2010 at 6:16 pm - Reply

good, I added a 1/4 tsp vanilla, 1/4 tsp cinnamon and stevia as my sweetener. I made it with coconut cream and coconut oil and they turned out just fine :)

Sarah March 22, 2010 at 5:09 pm - Reply

Coconut oil will substitute for butter, and for eggs 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed steeped in 3 tablespoons water for 2-3 minutes = 1 egg. You can look up more egg substitutes if you want, there’s actually quite a few out there! :)

Amanda March 21, 2010 at 1:26 pm - Reply

This may be far reaching, but I would really love to make this for my daughter.  She can’t have gluten, but she also cannot have any dairy or eggs.  I like the coconut milk idea to replace the cream, but what about the eggs and butter? Any suggestions?  Thank you!

Bobbi February 9, 2010 at 4:22 am - Reply

Excellent! I topped these with a home made organic strawbery syrup/xyltil & stevia as sweetners for the syrup. I left the srawberries whole. The pancakes are very moist and light . I recommend a coffee grinder to ground the coconut. In my food processor the coconut behaved like nuts and got very moist, becomes coconut butter–not a bad thing, just not for this recipe. 5 Yummy stars!

Sarah October 29, 2009 at 12:14 am - Reply

Beth: Yes! I’m sure it would be great. I would recommend making your own coconut milk. There’s a recipe here called "Homemade Coconut Milk", and it’s the only recipe I use for coconut milk.

Beth October 28, 2009 at 1:30 pm - Reply

I’m also interested in a substitution for the heavy cream.  Milk or half n half won’t work;  we need something caesin-free since my son has an allergy to dairy/caesin products.  Would coconut milk work?

Sarah October 28, 2009 at 12:08 pm - Reply

You might be able to…maybe. You’d lose the nice texture though and the pancakes might come out pretty dry. You could experiment with it though, but I’d really recommend using the dessicated coconut instead for best results. If you decide to use coconut flour add more cream and another egg or so.

Phyllis October 28, 2009 at 12:02 pm - Reply

I’m wondering if you could use coconut flour instead of the ground coconut?

Sarah October 20, 2009 at 6:03 pm - Reply

You could skim the cream off of whole milk, use half n’ half, or evaporated milk.

christie October 20, 2009 at 4:17 pm - Reply

What can be used in place of heavy cream?  Thanks

Flourless Coconut Pancakes (Gluten Free)