How to make Pancakes with Almond milk?

Question

We've been experimenting with using almond milk as a substitute for actual milk in my household. The biggest failure so far has been with pancakes. The pancakes taste okay, but they are far stickier in the pan than batter made with milk, scorch more easily, and don't brown well. What can I do to get a more satisfactory pancake with almond milk?

Answer 1

I use almond milk as a milk replacement, almost exclusively. I was about to say when I made pancakes with almond milk they turned out fine, when I realized I made Buttermilk pancakes instead of just regular pancakes. I compared recipes for normal and buttermilk and noted that there was far less milk called for in the Buttermilk recipe (makes sense).

In short: you may try finding a recipe that does not call for so much milk, such as a buttermilk pancake recipe.

For reference, the recipes I compared had 1 1/4 cups of milk in the original recipe versus 1/4 cup in the Buttermilk recipe.

Answer 2

I just used this recipe from Silk and they turned out perfectly. (I am not affiliated with Silk, I was just looking for a substitution which is how I stumbled upon this site and your question)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour
1-2 Tbsp sugar or honey
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup Silk almondmilk, any flavor but Chocolate
2 Tbsp canola oil or melted butter
1 egg 

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together Silk, oil and egg.
3. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir just to moisten—a few lumps are fine.
4. Cook pancakes on a griddle over medium heat.
5. Serve immediately.

Answer 3

Have you considered using soy milk? I used soy milk for making my pancakes this year for the first time and they worked out great. I followed this recipe from Delia Smith -http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/basicpancakeswithsuga_66226

The just opted to use soy milk and used oil instead of butter. My partner couldn't notice any difference in taste compared to previous years. Although I didn't try one that wasn't flavoured with lemon and brown sugar.

Also, I've found that generally if you leave pancakes in the pan a little longer than you think necessary before flipping they come away from the bottom of the pan far easier, especially if using a non-stick pan.

Answer 4

I used leftover "unsweetened" almond milk just now, to make griddlecakes using a Fanny Farmer recipe that our family has enjoyed for years. Recipes mentioned above are almost identical. I happened on this website while eating said pancakes, seeking more information about the use of almond milk.

I figured that, like buttermilk, I should add about 1/4 teaspoon of bicarb (baking soda) to the two teaspoons of baking powder required. I forgot to put in the two tablespoons of sugar - we usually only use a pinch or two instead anyway, because the pancakes are otherwise too sweet for us. The batter looked fine and the cooking was a little slow. They did not rise a whole lot but that is normal for us if we alter the ingredients. Upon eating with maple syrup and butter, our usual way, they had a firmish skin, a little soggy inside and had that faint salty metallic taste that comes with the use of baking soda. My conclusion is that almond milk lacks the acid of buttermilk, so no extra baking soda (on top of the two teaspoons of baking powder) should have been used. I also think at least a pinch of sugar is still necessary - possibly to react with the baking powder in some way, but I always thought that unsweetened almond milk of the long-life variety tastes sweetish anyway (can't stand the stuff). I'm not sure about the pinch of salt I added - a lot less than what was asked for in the recipe - the pancakes tasted a tiny bit salty but maybe a bit is necessary to help the rising too.

Anyway, hope this helps. People should also not confuse pancakes with crepes - the latter are the thin flat ones usually served with lemon and sugar. I also would have thought that soy and almond milk would be similar, at least the long-life varieties of same, but the person did specifically ask about almond milk.