Pumpkin Oat Pancakes
These pumpkin oatmeal pancakes are made with oat flour, so they're gluten free. They're simple to make with basic ingredients, including real pumpkin!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on October 3, 2025
These pumpkin oatmeal pancakes make a lovely fall breakfast. They’re flavored with real pumpkin purée and warming spices, so they taste like a treat. This recipe calls for oat flour, which yields perfectly tender yet hearty pancakes that are gluten-free and whole-grain.
If you’re new to oat flour (I’m a big fan), you can easily make it yourself by blending old-fashioned oats in a food processor or blender. Or, go ahead and buy a bag so you can try my Banana Oat Pancakes next. Those pancakes inspired this recipe over ten years ago.
Readers have enjoyed these pumpkin pancakes so much that I’m sharing them again today with updated photos and an instructional video! I hope you’ll make them this weekend.
Pancake Tips for Success
You’ll find the full recipe below. Here are a few tips before you get started.
This recipe is designed specifically for oat flour. If you’d like to make pumpkin pancakes with all-purpose or whole wheat flour, follow my Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe instead.
Let the batter rest for 10 minutes. This is an important step for oat flour-based pancakes—it gives the flour time to soak up some moisture, which thickens the batter to the desired consistency. It also gives you time to preheat the skillet.
Lightly coat your griddle or skillet with oil. I cook my pancakes with avocado oil because it offers a high smoke point and neutral flavor (butter burns quickly). Whichever you use, be sure to wipe off the excess with a paper towel so it doesn’t start smoking.
Start by cooking just one pancake. Cook this recipe low and slow to give the pancakes time to turn golden on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Once you’ve practiced with one pancake and ensured that your skillet is adequately preheated, you can make more at once. Leave a couple of inches between each pancake to allow for easy flipping.
The pancakes are ready to flip when bubbles are forming along their edges. The undersides should be nicely golden at this point. If you’re uncertain, it’s best to wait a little longer than end up with a doughy mess.
As time goes on, dial down the heat. The skillet gets hotter the longer it’s on the stove. If your pancakes are burning on the outside before they are cooked through on the inside, your skillet is too hot. Turn down the heat a bit after every few pancakes.
Watch How to Make Pumpkin Pancakes
Pancake Serving Suggestions
These pumpkin-infused pancakes are lovely with a drizzle of maple syrup like you see here, but even better with something more. Here’s a list of toppings or sides to consider:
- Whipped cream
- Almond butter, pecan butter (my top pick) or peanut butter
- Butter
- Pumpkin butter
- Greek yogurt
- Maple syrup
- Scrambled eggs
More Pumpkin Treats to Enjoy
If you can’t get enough pumpkin and spice this fall, be sure to check out these delicious pumpkin recipes.
- Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups: See gluten-free recipe note.
- Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins
- Gluten-Free Pumpkin Waffles: You’ll have enough leftover pumpkin from this recipe to make a batch!
- Healthy Pumpkin Bread: See gluten-free recipe note.
- Homemade Pumpkin Chai Latte: Another great way to use leftover pumpkin.
Please let me know how your pancakes turn out in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oat Pancakes
These healthy pumpkin oatmeal pancakes are made with hearty oats and warming spices. Since they’re made with oat flour, they’re gluten free! Note that these pancakes should be cooked low and slow—use a lower temperature than you would with other pancakes so that the insides of the thick batter get nice and fluffy, but the outsides don’t get overdone. Recipe yields 8 to 10 medium-sized pancakes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup milk of choice
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup oat flour (see notes for how to make your own from old-fashioned oats)
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice blend (or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon ground allspice or cloves)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- Avocado oil or vegetable oil, for greasing the pan
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl, stir together the pumpkin puree, milk, butter, maple syrup, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs. (If your butter or oil goes back to its solid state like mine did at this point, warm the mixture for short 20-second bursts in the microwave, stirring between each, until it is melted again.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oat flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, and salt. Form a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. With a big spoon, stir just until the dry ingredients are thoroughly moistened. Do not overmix, or your pancakes will become too dense!
- Let the batter rest for 10 minutes. If you’re using an electric griddle, heat it to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Otherwise, you can wait a few minutes before heating your skillet.
- Warm a large skillet (stainless steel or nonstick) over medium-low heat. You’re ready to start cooking pancakes once a drop of water sizzles on contact with the hot surface. If necessary, lightly oil the cooking surface and wipe off the excess with a paper towel (nonstick surfaces likely won’t require any oil).
- Scoop ¼ cup batter onto the hot skillet, leaving a couple of inches around the pancake for expansion. Cook until small bubbles form on the surface of the pancake and the underside is golden, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Flip the pancake, then cook until lightly golden on both sides, 1 to 2 minutes more. Repeat the process with the remaining batter, adding more butter and dialing down the heat if the pancakes turn dark on the outside before they’re cooked through on the inside.
- Serve the pancakes immediately or keep them warm in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven. Leftover pancakes can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, or frozen for up to 3 months. To reheat, stack leftover pancakes and wrap them in a paper towel before gently reheating in the microwave.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my banana oat pancakes recipe.
Make it gluten free: Be sure to purchase certified gluten-free oat flour or certified gluten-free old-fashioned oats.
How to make your own oat flour: To make oat flour out of old-fashioned oats, simply pour one cup of oats into a food processor and process until it looks like fine sand. See pictures here.
Make it dairy free: Use non-dairy milk like almond milk and coconut oil instead of butter.
Make it egg free: Replace the eggs with flax eggs (I’ve heard this works well from other commenters, but haven’t had a chance to try myself).
Update September 2024: I’ve improved this recipe, adding ¼ cup more milk to thin the batter, increasing the maple syrup from 1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons to help prevent burning against the pan, and increasing the amount of spice for more autumnal flavor.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This was a bit saltier. Although the recipe is almost exactly like the banana oat pancakes and that’s my most favorite pancake in the whole entire world. I will use just a sprinkle next time. I though addition of raisins might be nice for some sweetness.
That’s great, Madina! I appreciate your review.
This is go to pumpkin pancake recipe come fall, my whole family loves them. They are perfect!
Great to hear, Cat!
This recipe did not work for me unfortunately. The pancakes did not cook through despite a long cooking time.
We love everything about these pancakes! They are very easy to make, fluffy, and delicious! I served them with warm maple syrup, chopped pecans and whipped cream. Thank you for your time perfecting this recipe
Can I make the batter and store in the refrigerator overnight? I’d love to be able to whip these up for breakfast
Hi Patsy, I wouldn’t recommend it. But these could be a good option to keep in the freezer!
I made these, and had to add wheat flour. The batter was so wet, they wouldn’t cook. Tried adding more flour, wheat flour… Nothing helped. The taste would have been great if they were not so mushy. Maybe it’s because I used almond flour, not really sure.
Hi Dylan, this recipe is developed for oat flour, so almond flour would definitely be the reason that the batter was extra wet. Almond flour can’t be substituted at a 1:1 ratio for other flours.
If you use buttermilk ( or Greek yogurt -water mix) and whole oats you can make the batter the night before. You might need some flour still though
I love a bit of orange with pumpkin, so I added some orange zest to the recipe, and I always add a little non-bitter brewer’s yeast and ground flax seed to my pancakes for some health goodness. I’m actually thinking an orange syrup would be dreamy with these! Today, I had elderberry/rose/cinnamon/honey syrup on hand, which was also lovely.
Kate, I noticed reference to “orange cakes” in your recipe. Was there supposed to be a link? I’m thinking of experimenting with orange pancakes soon. I’m certain I could search your site for the orange cakes, but if you have a link, thought you might want to make it active on this page.
These are a great idea! Very pumpkiny, oat flour works perfectly.
The recipe seems a bit off though. Two TABLESPOONS of oil seems like a lot for a fairly small batch of 8 pancakes. The pumpkin already provides plenty of moisture. And one TEASPOON of maple syrup adds basically no sweetness.
I’d recommend 1 Tbsp of oil at most, and 1-2 Tbsp of maple syrup to bring out the pumpkin flavor better.
Hi Kate, I’m sorry you didn’t love these. I appreciate your feedback. I found this recipe works best as is. I’m glad you found something to work for you.
Like many others, I had way-too thick pancakes in that first batch (I used Bob’s GF oat flour and whole milk and followed to a T). They were more like scones or biscuits! Hard to cook through without burning–I finally decided to finish them in the oven. I thinned the second batch with quite a bit more milk–at least double, maybe triple the recipe–and then they flowed and cooked more like pancake batter, and the finished pancakes looked like pancakes. Even so, the interiors never quite tasted cooked. They didn’t crumb up, so were pretty mushy. We like the flavor, though, and have always made the NYT fluffy pumpkin pancakes, but I’m looking for a GF version now that my daughter has tested positive for celiac disease. We all love these gf muffin
I’m sorry to hear that! How did you measure your flour?
These were delicious! Easy to make (no mixer involved). I was able to use up some of the pumpkin I roasted.
These were great! I left the batter in the fridge overnight and they turned out wonderful. Thanks Kate x
Great to hear, Katja! I appreciate your review.
My kids and I really enjoy these! They have more pumpkin puree than any other pumpkin pancake recipe I have found, which I love. They are quite nutritious, yet still delicious! I use 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice instead of measuring out the individual spices :)
I love this recipe and I like the banana ones as well! I make them and freeze them. I would like to know the nutrition for each pancake if you could please share. I don’t see it given?
Hi Cheryl! The nutrition information is below the notes section.
These pancakes are so good. I added chopped pecans.
Can you make these with regular flour too?
Pumpkin Pancakes is a great recipe if you want to use other flour.
Wow so tender!! I always add less salt. I used buttermilk so didn’t add lemon. Very yummy!!!
Great to hear, Marcia!
Hi Kate, I JUST found these as part of your 15 pumpkin recipes email. These pancakes are amazing, the touch of lemon juice was a brilliant idea. I think it helps with the sometimes cloying pumpkin puree I’ve experienced in other recipes. I am also loving the oatmeal flour, fantastic idea. Thanks again, I enjoy your innovations and always look forward to trying your recipes.
Jill
Decatur GA
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed these, Jill! I appreciate your review.
Delicious flavor! I used roasted pumpkin I had grown myself, put it into the blender with thrust of 5he wet ingredients after I had made my oat flour. Also used buttermilk instead of place of milk and lemon juice.
They baked up nicely on the griddle, but didn’t hold together quite well enough. When I use this recipe again (I know I will!) I’ll replace some of the oat flour with some kind of all-purpose flour.
These pancakes are amazing! I had a question about the nutrition information. It says serves 4. Is the nutrition information for 2 pancakes then? Thanks in advance.
I’m so glad that you enjoyed them. Yes, the recipe makes 8-10 medium size pancakes, and that would be about 2 pancakes each for 4 servings. The information shown in the nutrition section is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator, and would be slightly different depending on the amount of batter used for each pancake. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Flavor is great and I love how nutritious these are. But I followed the recipe exactly and they didn’t cook in the middle. I tried making them super thin and even microwaving them but nothing helped. I ended up adding extra oat flour which helped. Would try again but probably not add the oil and increase flour.
Made these for brunch today and everyone loved them! Great texture and flavor and the color was pretty too.
These are a year round staple in my house, as they are a great way to sneak a veggie into breakfast for the kids. I suggest using store bought oat flour for the best texture, and I reduce the maple syrup by half, since the kids like to dip them in syrup. Cook low and slowww. Love these pancakes; great recipe!!
I usually love your recipes and have followed this one exactly. I found the pancakes very mushy and it was hard to cook the pancakes all the way through without burning them. I think only 1 tablespoon of oil would be needed. Perhaps a little bit more baking powder to allow them to rise a bit more? I used gluten-free oats and blended them right away for the oat flour. The flavour was great… just too wet…
Can I sub with almond flour?
Hi Vik, you can substitute almond 1:1 for oat flour. I do have an almond flour pancake recipe.
Loved these.
I had bought some whole moon pistachio milk to try, so used that for the milk, and I used simple truth organic pumpkin which was more like a baby food texture than the thick cans.
I also went with the coconut oil and heated it with the maple syrup like you taught me for the banana bread (we have in regular rotation around here).
Yum. I have vision of these for thanksgiving morning with coconut whip cream and vegan maple sausage.
These pumpkin oat pancakes look absolutely delicious — the perfect cozy breakfast for fall! The use of oat flour and real pumpkin purée makes it both healthy and hearty. I really appreciate the detailed tips on cooking “low and slow” for that perfect fluffy texture. Definitely adding this to my weekend breakfast list.
I really like this recipe and it was fun to make with the kids. However, I also experienced the same issue other people have had with them not cooking through. I had to cook them really really slowly at low heat, and it took a while because I tripled the recipe for freezer pancakes.
Another delicious recipe! I had some thick rolled oats that were too thick for overnight oats, so I decided to turn them into oat flour and bake with them. This looked like a perfect fall recipe, and indeed it was. I made it exactly as described, with 2% milk. The pancakes cooked up easily on the electric griddle and have a delicate, perfectly balanced flavor. Thank you!
Hi Becky, thank you for taking the time to review and rate the recipe.
Surprisingly delicious and fluffy. I added some protein powder and chopped pecans