These vegan pumpkin pancakes are just divine! They are topped with maple stewed pears and a creamy, homemade cinnamon caramel sauce! Mouthwatering. Indulging. Full of autumn/fall flavours!
Ideal for all those Pancake Sundays, for autumn brunches, for the “I treat myself” brekkies, and for those of you who simply looove spices!
These vegan pumpkin pancakes are fairly easy to make—you don’t need any expertise, nor do you need any fancy kitchen machine to make them. All you need is juuust a little time on your hands.
You also won’t need any special ingredients, just basics and foods you probably store in your pantry!
Pumpkin pie spice is probably one of my favourite spice blend! If you have it on hand, use it! Otherwise, you make it up yourself. Simply blend cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves (or allspice) and that’s it (see notes for exact amounts in recipe below). Don’t have all those spices? You could also use cinnamon only. Won’t be as nice but still delicious!
How to time these vegan pumpkin pancakes?
I know, it looks like a lot of work (and it kinda is lol… still, sooo worth it). However, with a little bit of organisation, it’s not that hard. To get the timing right, here’s what I do:
First, I make the sauce. While it’s heating, I cut the pears and put them on as well. After that I start on the pancakes.
Your sauce will be done first, which is what we want. Allow it to cool down. It’ll make a thicker, not so runny, sauce.
You can leave the pears in the saucepan as well with the heat turned off and the lid on. They’ll keep warm until you’re done with the pancakes.
Cover cooked pumpkin pancakes with a lid, to keep warm. Or if making a bigger batch, use your oven (on low temperature) to prevent them from cooling down.
Also, if you don’t have access to canned pumpkin puree, or want to make it from scratch, I recommend making it the day before. It’ll make it easier in the morning and saves you from starving or getting up too early ;).
How to make pumpkin puree from scratch
Here in Australia, we don’t have access to canned pumpkin puree, like people do in the US. So, I have to make it anyway.
But making it from scratch might be a good idea, even if you can buy it in the supermarkets. In that way, you know what’s in it and can add much more flavour to your pumpkin as well. Plus, it saves you money and packaging!!
I recommend making up a big batch, using one whole big pumpkin. You can freeze the pumpkin puree in small amounts. I freeze mine in jars and it works perfectly fine. One batch keeps me going for quite a while and I can simply whip up many different recipes without having to cook and mash the pumpkin first!
The Method:
- Peel pumpkin and cut into smaller pieces.
- The Stove Top Method: put the pieces into a saucepan and cover with water. Bring water to a boil and cook until pumpkin is soft and tender (approx. 20 minutes).
- The Oven Method: use the oven and roast the pumpkin at 180°C/350°F for about 20-30 minutes until tender! Roasting them adds a bit more flavour. I usually toss the pieces in a bit of olive oil and add a good pinch of salt to enhance the sweetness of the pumpkin.
- Mash pumpkin with a fork or a potato masher. Or for a finer puree, use a stick/immersion blender or food processor.
- The pumpkin puree keeps in the fridge for at least a week, and a few months in the freezer.
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📖 Recipe
Equipment
- may need a blender
Ingredients
for the sauce
- 180ml / ¾ cup coconut milk
- 10 small dates or 2 tablespoon maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of salt
for the pears
- 3 pears
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon oil
for the pancakes
- 140g / 1 cup flour of choice for gf see notes
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoon sugar of choice
- ¾ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice see notes
- pinch of salt
- 250ml / 1 cup milk of choice
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 130g / ½ cup pumpkin puree
Instructions
For the sauce
- Blender (dates) Method: blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth. Pour sauce into a small saucepan. Heat over medium to low heat and bring to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes until it starts to thicken slightly. Turn off the heat and let it sit to cool down.
- No blender (syrup) Method: add all ingredients to a saucepan and heat over medium to low heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes until it starts to thicken slightly. Turn off the heat and let it sit to cool down.
for the pears
- Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat. Once the liquids start boiling reduce heat to the lowest setting.
- Cover with lid and simmer for about 10 minutes or until pears are soft.
for the pancakes
- Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then add all the wet ingredients and mix well. The batter should be smooth, not runny or crumbly. You may need to adjust the flour or milk a bit, depending on what kind you’re using.
- Heat a little bit of oil in a non-stick frying pan. Pour 3 tablespoons of batter per pancakes into the hot pan.
- Fry pancakes for about 4 minutes until the edges are slightly cooked and you see bubbles coming up. Flip and cook for further 2-3 minutes.
- Serve pancakes with maple pears and drizzle cinnamon caramel sauce on top.
Notes
- Gluten-free: oat flour, buckwheat flour or any gluten-free flour blend will work with this recipe.
- DIY Pumpkin Spice Blend: ¼ teaspoon each cinnamon and ginger, and about ⅛ teaspoon each nutmeg and ground cloves = ¾ tsp. If you looove spices, use 1 teaspoon! Or even 1 ½ tsp!!
- You can use apples instead of pears, too.
- The pancakes will taste best when freshly made but you can keep leftovers in the fridge.
Love these autumn flavours or pancakes?
- you may also like my basic fluffy vegan pancakes
- or my pumpkin pie spiced sweet potato cake (vegan & gluten-free)
