What a way to wake up! Whether you are in the woods camping or in the comfort of your own home, these wild blueberry pancakes make breakfast time simply glorious.
We love these wild blueberry pancakes because they are:
- Full of intense wild blueberry flavour
- Fluffy and sweet
- Easy to make, with no milk or plant milk needed
- Perfect for camping
- And a fun opportunity to go out foraging!
We love them so much, we’ve eaten them everyday this week!
Into the wild..
It’s the end of August 2018, and our travels in the van have taken us to Paul’s summer holiday desination of his childhood – The breathtaking Etrachsee in Styria, Austria. The air is fresh and slightly cool, a refreshing change from the heat. The perfect place for relaxing and enjoying nature, and the perfect place for some foraging too!
Hiking up a steep slope, I stopped to take a rest (My English legs are not so used to climbing up hills!) Sitting on a rock I suddenly noticed that the low growing bushes around me had berries on them… Are those wild blueberries!?? YES! I picked them till my fingers were purple, washed them in a crystal clear mountain stream, and ate them until my tongue was purple too.
The next day, we climbed up that mountain side again. But this time armed with a container to bring berries back down! I can tell you the hike sure felt a lot easier with the motivation of these beautiful berries waiting for us at the top.
Since last year, I’ve gotten much better at hiking uphill. Fuelled my many of these delicious wild blueberry pancakes!
Why Wild Blueberries are so great!
Wild blueberries are smaller, and we find, much tastier than cultivated blueberries. Here’s just a few of the reasons we love them:
- Higher in antioxidants and nutritional value
- Bursting with extra flavour
- Can be picked for free
- They grow in gorgeous places
For all our tips on where and when to find wild blueberries, check out our Wild Blueberry Foraging Guide!
Because of their smaller size, and extra nutritional value, these berries make fantastic, healthy pancakes.
How to make pancakes without eggs or milk
Pancakes were the very first thing I learnt to cook myself as a child. Just flour, milk and eggs. Then my Dad went dairy free, so I learnt to make them with soy milk. And then years later I chose to cut out all animal products from my diet (find out why I am so happy decided to go vegan) and so the eggs went too. And so I learnt that you really don’t need eggs or milk to make great pancakes.
And you don’t even need a plant milk substitute either. (I didn’t really believe it until we tried!) Which is really convenient if you are out camping and have no refrigeration. Or, perhaps, are also trying to avoid plastic and unneccesary waste like us! We make these simply with water.
Ground flaxseed works as a binder, and a source of Omega 3. And a dash of vinegar helps the pancake batter become bubbly and fluffy when cooked.
Wild blueberries at the ready? Let’s get pancake making!
Sending this recipe to you with love from the misty Austrian mountains
Sophie and Paul
Wild Blueberry Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 tsp ground flaxseed
- 4 tsp oil vegetable or mild olive oil
- 1 tsp vinegar apple cider or white wine
- 1 cup water or plant milk
- 1 cup wild blueberries
- cooking oil
- sugar to sprinkle
Instructions
For the batter
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and flaxseed.
- Add the oil, water and vinegar, and mix quickly into a smooth batter.
- Wash the berries very well. This is particularly important when picking wild blueberries
- Stir the berries into the batter
To cook the pancakes
- On medium-high heat, heat a small bit of oil in your frying pan, griddle or skillet. To avoid the pancakes sticking, wait patiently until the pan is hot 🙂
- Pour large spoonfuls of batter into your pan and continue to cook on mediuim high heat.
- Turn the pancakes over when bubbles have formed on the surface and begin to pop.
- Cook for 1-2 more minutes before taking pancakes out of the pan.
- Continue until you have used all the batter, adding a bit more oil to the pan each time you cook a new batch.
To serve
- Paul loves to sprinkle more sugar on top of the pancake before eating. So Austrian! Feel free to try maple or agave syrup instead!
- Add some fresh berries onto your plate. The combination of cooked and uncooked berries creates an even deeper field of taste. And it looks just delish… Mmmh!
Notes
Nutrition
We hope you enjoyed our wild blueberry pancakes as much as much as we do! For more tasty wild food recipes, check out our Vegan Foraging Recipes.
Loved our recipe? Have a question we can answer? We'd love to hear from you! Sophie and Paul 💚