The BEST, super easy, and nutritious sweet potato pancakes – perfect for baby-led weaning, finger food and to take on-the-go.
Banana Chia Pancakes must be one of my son's favorite desserts and snacks. And I must admit, it works for me because they are so easy to make and with mostly the ingredients I always have at home.
But I do get bored making the same stuff over and over again. And I recently got the feeling that he was a little bored of them too.
Seeing how much we love pancakes though, I decided it was time to change things up a bit. With minimal change in difficulty but with a maximum result in tastiness and nutritional benefits.
And what better to choose for my new pancake recipe that my son's current favorite veggie – sweet potato!
It took me a few batches to perfect the recipe, but once I did there was no turning back. Even my dad, who hates sweet potato, loved them!
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Nutrition And Ingredients
Wholewheat Flour
- I tend to choose whole grain spelt flour because it is far more digestable than regular wheat flour, especially for babies and toddlers. Unfortunately it is not always available and not every store sells is so wholewheat flour is a great alternative
- Wholewheat flour contains far more nutrients than regular white flour. These nutrients include minerals such as iron, magnesium and manganese but also complex carbohydrates and fiber.
Eggs
- Choose either organic ones or free-range so you can be sure that the chickens have not been treated with any hormones, antibiotics or preservatives.
- Eggs are a great source of B vitamins, especially choline as well as protein.
Milk
- As this recipe was originally made for my 22-month old, I used whole cow's milk due to its calorie and nutrition content.
- It is high in protein, fat, calcium and calories so a great ingredient to use when needing to boost up the calorie and nutrition content of toddler meals.
Sweet Potato
- You can use either store-bought sweet potato puree that is ready-to-be mixed into the pancake batter or you can bake your own sweet potato.
- I baked my own sweet potato as I couldn't find a puree and needed a bigger batch to test all the different batters and come up with the best one :).
- Sweet potato is a great ingredient to choose in both sweet and savory meals not only because of its great taste but also because it is filled with great nutrients such as vitamin A, copper, manganese and potassium but also plenty of fiber.
How To Make Sweet Potato Pancakes
If you will not be using sweet potato puree for these pancakes, you will first need to bake your sweet potato.
How To Bake Sweet Potato For Pancakes
Prepare the oven. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F.
Prepare the sweet potato. Cut the sweet potato in halves lengthwise and pierce it through the skin with a fork several times (do not peel the skin). Place them on a baking tray on top of some parchment paper. Bake for about 45 minutes (until you can easily pierce it all the way to the other side with a knife).
Cool and prepare for pancakes. Allow to fully cool before scooping the flesh. Takes about half an hour.
How To Make The Pancakes
Prepare the batter. Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until a smooth batter is formed.
Prepare the pan. Heat a pan over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, lightly grease it with a little oil.
Making and baking the pancakes. Using a tablespoon, scoop the batter from the blender and place on the pan. I can usually make 4 pancakes at a time. When you see the batter firming around the edges and lifting a bit off the pan, flip them over. Bake for another minute or two.
Cool and serve. Transfer to a plate to cool before serving.
Serve these with any nut butter, fruit, homemade hazelnut butter or this healthy Nutella.
Tips And Tricks For The Perfect Pancakes
Choose the perfect pan. If possible, make sure you are using a non-sticky (non-toxic) pan. That way you will only need minimal oil to grease the pan and the pancakes will bake more quickly and evenly.
Know your pancake size. You want to make sure to make the pancakes just big enough so that they are baked on the inside but not overly brown on the outside. I've found with this batter that the perfect amount is about one tablespoon.
Don't overuse the oil. If you have a good pan, you will only need a tiny amount of oil to grease it. I've recently switched to using olive oil for baby and toddler pancakes because I only use small amounts and you can't really taste or smell it. And the health benefits are far better than of coconut oil. If you add too much oil the pancakes will be too greasy and sometimes even soggy and there is a large possibility your child won't want to eat them.
How to Serve to Babies & Toddlers?
Babies
- 6-9 month old – cut the pancakes in length and width of your index finger.
- 9 month+ or pincer grasp – you can cut into smaller bite size pieces, the size of your pinky fingernail.
- You can serve these with a thin smear of nut butter (nut butters are a choking hazard for babies, so spread thinly) and fruit mashed or cut up age appropriately.
Toddlers
- You can serve them the same as you would for adults. If you add nut butter then you can fold them and make little pancake "sandwiches" so it is easier for them to grab without getting nut butter all over themselves
Possible Variations
Make them dairy-free. Instead of whole cow's milk, you can substitute with plant-based milk. I would recommend if serving to babies and toddlers to use calcium fortified plant-based milk just to ensure that they are getting enough of that very important micronutrient.
Use another flour. If you don't have (or want to use) wholewheat flour, you can always choose plain wheat flour or rye flour. I wouldn't recommend using fat-based flour such as coconut or almond flour because you'd need a carb-based one for this batter to work well. I also wouldn't recommend substituting with rolled oats or oat flour because it simply isn't as thick and could cause your pancakes to burn more easily from the outside.
Can you freeze them?
Yes. They are great to freeze and then you can defrost them one by one for quick baby or toddler snacks as you need them.
Layer them between greaseproof paper one by one and place them in a freezable container (we use these sustainable glass ones which are great for baking also).
To defrost, I pop them in the toaster on a defrost setting or if I remember to do this sooner, then put them in the fridge and reheat in toaster for a minute (but not toast them). Or you can place them in a warm oven for a few minutes.
Other Pancakes Recipes
Sweet Potato Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 3.5 oz sweet potato puree 100 g
- 4 tablespoon wholewheat flour
- 1.6 fl oz milk 50 ml
- oil for cooking
Instructions
- If you are not using sweet potato puree, bake the sweet potato.
Baking the Sweet Potato
- Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F.
- Cut the sweet potato in halves lengthwise and pierce it through the skin with a fork several times (do not peel the skin).
- Place them on a baking tray on parchment paper.
- Bake for about 45 minutes (until you can easily pierce it all the way to the other side with a knife).
- Allow to fully cool before scooping the flesh. Takes about half an hour.
Making the pancakes
- Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until a smooth batter is formed.
- Heat a pancake pan over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, grease with a little oil.
- Using a tablespoon, scoop the batter from the blender and place over the pan. I can usually make 4 pancakes at a time.
- When you see the batter firming around the edges and lifting a bit of the pan, flip them over.
- Bake for another minute or two.
- Transfer to a plate to cool before serving.
Notes
- Choose the perfect pan. If possible, make sure you are using a non-sticky pan. This way you will need minimal oil to grease the pan and the pancakes will bake more quickly and evenly.
- Know your pancake size. You want to make the pancakes big enough so that they are baked on the inside but not over-brown on the outside. I've found with this batter that the perfect amount is about one tablespoon.
- Don't overuse the oil. If you have a good pan, you will only need a small amount of oil to grease it. I've recently switched to using olive oil for baby and toddler pancakes because I only use small amounts and you can't really taste or smell it. And the health benefits are far better than that of coconut oil. Just don't add too much or your pancakes will be too greasy and sometimes even soggy.
- How to serve to babies? 6-9 month old – cut the pancakes in length and width of your index finger. 9 month+ or pincer grasp – you can cut into smaller bite size pieces, the size of your pinky fingernail. You can serve these with a thin smear of nut butter (nut butters are choking hazards for babies so spread thinly) and fruit mashed or cut up age appropriately
- How to serve to toddlers? You can basically serve them the same as you would for adults. If you add nut butter then you can fold them and make little pancake "sandwiches" so it is easier for them to grab without getting nut butter all over themselves
- Freeze them by layering them between greaseproof paper one by one and place them in a freezable container up to 3 months. Defrost in fridge or toaster with defrost setting until defrosted but not toasted.
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