Fluffy Vegan Banana Pancakes – Spiced With Fennel and Cardamom

These fluffy vegan banana pancakes are inspired by the deep-fried Indian pancakes in India called Malpua. It uses a combination of whole fennel seeds, cardamom, and poppy seeds to flavor the pancakes and makes this taste exotic and delicious. You are in for a treat, my friend!

You can also choose to make my spiced syrup to pour on these fluffy vegan pancakes!

Why Spiced Banana Pancakes?

So, some time back, I kinda never understood the hype after pancakes. They did not taste phenomenal, and neither did they fill me up for breakfast. And it’s not that I didn’t try! I was curious to see why the Americans (and in turn all of social media) raved about it so much.

So I tried making regular pancakes, protein pancakes, and pumpkin spiced pancakes etc., partially also because I was also trying to fit into the vegan foodie space and saw a lot of oatmeal and vegan pancake situations going on. I then gave up. I mean if I needed a base to add toppings to, I would rather choose bread. Like a really good toasted sourdough, you know? I can’t be the only one!

Anyway, then I decided to change my strategy. Instead of trying to force myself to like things that were clearly attached to childhood nostalgia for most people, I decided to use the tool I have at hand: SPICES. I don’t mean chili peppers! But real whole spices. Say hello to my spiced, super Fluffy Vegan Banana pancakes spiced with real whole spices.

This whole fennel seed-cardamom-white poppy version is what really turned me into a pancake lover now.

I could eat this all day!

Ingredients and substitutions for Fluffy Vegan Banana Pancakes:

So I went with basic vegan banana pancake ingredients and then flavored it.

Basic ingredients:

All purpose flour: You can easily sub with with whole wheat flour. Just know that the pancakes could be denser.
Baking powder: Levener to make thee rise and fluff up.
Ripe banana: Acts as a binder and natural sweetener for these vegan pancakes. I don’t add any other sweetener. If your banana is not ripe enough, then add a teaspoon of sugar into the batter.
Plant milk: I used Soy milk, but feel free to use another type of plant milk.

Spices for the pancakes:

Whole fennel seeds: We add half crushed and half whole seeds to enjoy the variety of flavor profiles obtained by changing the flavor extraction method (to learn more about spices, join my cooking courses 😉)
Cardamom seeds: You can sub with pre-powdered cardamom, but the taste won’t be as
White poppy seeds: Adds a unique nuttiness to the flavor. You can choose to skip it out.

For sugar syrup: Sugar, water, cardamom, saffron strands

Spiced Banana Pancake variations

To change up the spices you can use cinnamon, saffron, anise, cloves, or just cardamom

For spiced chocolate chip pancakes, add 1 cup of non-dairy chocolate chips to the batter.

For spiced berry pancakes, add around a cup of fresh or frozen berries to the batter.

How to store these Fluffy Vegan Banana Pancakes

These vegan pancakes will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, in an airtight container. Simply reheat in the microwave or toaster oven until warm.

These pancakes also freeze really well! Make sure to let them cool completely, then stack them in a large ziplock bag. Try to get most of the air out of the bag, close it, and freeze. To reheat, pop them in a toaster oven or a microwave until warm with your favorite toppings.

Other breakfast recipes to try: