Gluten Free Brown Rice Flour Pancakes -- Also Dairy Free!

Gluten Free Brown Rice Flour Pancakes are super easy -- requiring no xanthan gum and just a single flour. Also dairy free!

Today's recipe is a blast from the past! When High School Guy was a mere elementary and middle school guy, he went through a number of years of eating wheat and dairy free before mysteriously outgrowing his food allergies -- so I spent some time experimenting with gluten free, dairy free recipes.

As I was going through some of those old recipes recently, I found this one for Gluten Free Brown Rice Flour Pancakes. These gluten free, dairy free pancakes were always a hit with both boys, making this easy gluten free pancakes recipe a definite keeper.

Brown Rice Flour Pancakes -- originally published in April 2014

rice flour pancakes and strawberries

Even when not on sale, brown rice flour is one of your cheapest gluten free flours -- making these from-scratch Gluten Free Brown Rice Flour Pancakes a rare affordable gluten free pancake choice. Even better? These tasty gluten free, dairy free pancakes require no Xanthan gum, and this is an easy single flour gluten free pancake recipe!

Gluten Free Brown Rice Flour Pancakes

brown rice flour pancakes ingredients

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice flour, plus more if needed (see note)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup vanilla soy milk (or other non-dairy milk of choice)
1 egg
1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup dairy free mini chocolate chips or blueberries

Directions

In large bowl, mix together rice flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add egg, oil, vanilla, and vanilla soy milk and mix until well blended.

Stir in chocolate chips or blueberries. Lightly oil a cast iron skillet with canola or coconut oil.

Heat on medium, adding the batter for your first pancake only when the pan is completely hot.

cook pancake on one side

Cook pancake on one side until bubbles begin to form on the top, then flip and cook until pancake is browned on the other side.

browned rice flour pancake in a pan

Remove, eat, and enjoy!

Note: See comments -- Many people seem to find that they need to add more rice flour than I used in the original recipe. Add more in gradually until dough is at your desired consistency.

That's a successful pancake

Gluten Free Brown Rice Flour Pancakes are also dairy free.

With syrup, with strawberries, any old way they could get them: These pancakes were a definite hit with both boys. As soon as this batch was gone (and it was gone quickly!), they were asking me to make more.

Brown rice flour pancakes are nice and light, just sweet enough, redolent of vanilla with a hint of cinnamon, slightly crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside... and with no aftertaste like you sometimes get with alternative gluten free flours.

Gluten Free Brown Rice Flour Pancakes, printable recipe

Gluten Free Brown Rice Flour Pancakes

These pancakes are nice and light, just sweet enough, redolent of vanilla with a hint of cinnamon, slightly crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside...
Course Breakfast
Cuisine pancakes
Keyword dairy free, gluten free, pancakes, rice flour
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 2

Ingredients

  • 1 cup brown rice flour + more, if needed, see Note
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup vanilla soy milk (or other non-dairy milk of choice)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • ¼ cup dairy free mini chocolate chips or blueberries

Instructions

  • In large bowl, mix together rice flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add egg, oil, vanilla, and vanilla soy milk and mix until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips or blueberries.
  • Lightly oil a cast iron skillet with canola or coconut oil.
  • Heat on medium, adding the batter for your first pancake only when the pan is completely hot.
  • Cook pancake on one side until bubbles begin to form on the top, then flip and cook until pancake is browned on the other side.
  • Remove, eat, and enjoy!

Notes

See comments -- Many people seem to find that they need to add more rice flour than I used in the original recipe. Add more in gradually until dough is at your desired consistency.

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38 Comments

  1. Nice recipe but I thought eggs were dairy as well? Oh well, I just swap the egg for a "flax" egg. Works the same in my opinion. Rhanks for sharing

      1. For people with milk product allergies they are not; for grocery store placement they are.

      2. Best ever! Made for daughter in-law who has many allergies. I added tiny amount of Corn starch, maybe 1/8 tsp. This was only because I feared my previous glutin free pancake disasters that came out mushy. Not sure if Corn Starch contributed. But pancakes were very nice regardless. Also why do people think eggs are a dairy?

  2. This recipe does not come out right. The pancakes fall apart and they don't fluff. At all. Waste of ingredients.

    1. Sorry you had that experience -- I've never had them fall apart as you're describing. Make sure your pan is greased and that you don't add the pancakes until completely hot; don't flip until bubbling.

    2. Awful! Glad I only wasted one pancake. I then added a half teaspoon of baking soda to the mix and used a non-stick pan instead of the cast iron skillet and much better

  3. Thank you for making my day with this recipe. My doctor took me off gluten to see if this helps with some health issues. I’ve been feeling down about this — not least because I am (or was) an avid bread baker. Not only are these delicious (they brown beautifully), I already had brown rice flour on hand for flouring bannetons, since it works better than wheat flour for ensuring the bread dough doesn’t stick. It was just really nice that something I used every day in my “old” life can still be re-imagined as the base for these yummy GF pancakes.

    DH is pleased that they don’t require xanthan gum or anything unfamiliar, so he and our little guys can continue their tradition of Mothers Day pancakes in the morning. You brightened the weekend for all of us!

    1. Thank you for sharing! I'm so very glad that the recipe brightened your day, and hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day.

    2. I'm new to GF and unsure of how some flours work, I'm an experienced cook though, and knew as soon as this was blended it wasn't right. I read further, ratio of milk needs halving, putting the note after the recipe was poor, wasted ingredients. You can't just add more flour without increasing egg either. I recommend people find a different recipe

      1. If you’re new to cooking with gluten free flours, then it’s your mistake that the recipe failed.

  4. These were very easy to make. They kept their shape when and didn't fall apart. The only thing is they tasted like baking soda. Next time I will try them with half the amount to see if they turn out better.

  5. thanks for this easy recipe that is way less expensive than a prepared gluten free p.c. mix. I omitted sugar & chips and they still taste good. They tend to not stick to the wrought iron without the sugar. I put slices of cheddar cheese on mine while they're hot & eat them like roll ups.

  6. So glad I found this recipe!! I added some psyllium to up my fibre (about 1 tbsp), 1 tsp of baking powder and 1 tsp of baking soda, left out the sugar and they tasted great!! The next time I made them I did not put in psyllium in and they didn’t stay together as well so will stick with the psyllium. Going to make pikelets for my daughters birthday and these will be perfect 👌🏾❤️

  7. These were good, but at first they weren't. They were thin and weird at first. But as I went, I discovered that the texture of the batter changed. If anyone struggles with thin, non-rising pancakes with this recipe, I recommend letting the batter sit for 5 minutes or so and see if that helps. :o)

    1. Yes, that is what I did, rested batter and even added extra flour. Very, very good, will look for more recipes.

  8. I just started a gluten free diet and these were beyond my expectations.
    Light and fluffy! I added 1/4 cup of ground flax seed flour and diced bananas.
    Will definitely save this to my favorites list.
    Thanks..

    1. The pancakes were watery and I mix up enough pancakes at work to know that the consistency was off because they were way too thin. But a few extra tablespoons of rice flour and they were okay. My brother is lactose and gluten intolerant so this was the perfect breakfast for him.

    2. Thanks for your comment. I added 1/4 cup flax and half a mashed banana and they turned out great. I let the batter rest for a while before cooking. I recommend this recipe.

  9. These pancakes tasted good, but I ended up putting in twice as much flour in them to get the right consistency. The batter was super runny to begin with.

  10. These were awesome. I followed the recipe exactly. It made three medium sized pancakes. I would like to omit the sugar and maybe try mashed bananas inside next time. Since it was my first time making them I didn’t want to change the recipe any. I used soy milk. They came out perfect, fluffy and didn’t stick. We topped them with smashed bananas a little peanut butter and a drizzle of honey and I had only a handful of chocolate chips inside since I was almost out. They were closer to the dry side so I wouldn’t eat without a topping.

  11. After going gluten free for health reasons I thought I would never eat a delicious pancake again thanks so much!

  12. Very nice. I’m used to a thicker pancake made with nut or oat flours. I missed traditional thin pancakes. This is exactly the fix for that. And the best part? ITS NOT GUMMY! Hooray! Not gummy in the slightest. I followed the recipe exactly, used water instead of milk, omitted the vanilla, and let the batter rest for five minutes before using. I also found I had to stir the batter up every time I poured into the pan-the flour would be sitting at the bottom. I used Bobs Red Mill brown rice flour. Good results and my 3 year old loved them so much she literally cried for ten minutes when she realized there were no more. Great recipe.

  13. I've been without gluten for 17 years. I love this recipe! A recipe with no xanthan gum or other obscure ingredients is a winner for me. I omitted the sugar, cinnamon, and chocolate chips and used almond milk and light extra virgin olive oil instead of soy milk and canola. The vanilla added is wonderful - brings all the goodness together. They were divine with a little vegan butter and a bit of real maple syrup. Leftovers will be perfect for popping in the toaster tomorrow morning! Thank you, Rachel.

  14. I came across this recipe following a Google search for recipes using Brown Rice Flour, as, due to the COVID pandemic, my local grocer no longer had any regular flour on their shelves. I don't follow any particular dietary restrictions so this recipe was purely experimental.
    The recipe in itself was a success. It was easy to make, but which pancake recipe is not? I cooked it on my Costco stainless steel frying pan and unfortunately, after using coconut oil, it kept sticking. I later switched to butter, which defeated the whole non-dairy concept.
    I found this recipe lacking the flavour I had from my childhood days. The recipe works but I personally found it bland.

  15. These were perfect!!! I used stevia as a replacement for sugar and only had double proof baking powder and they turned out amazing. I also omitted the oil/spray. The consistency is different when you take that first bite (They melted in my mouth vs having to chew a regular pancake) but its expected esp with the flour change but nevertheless they were incredible. Thank you for this recipe!

    1. I also used almond milk and omitted the choc chips. Topped with sugar free syrup and a small mount of strawberries.

  16. I rate it 5 stars IF YOU USE IT FOR WAFFLES. If you use this recipe for pancakes, I rate it ONE STAR. I tried making pancakes with this recipe and they were disgusting - gummy and ooey gooey on the inside. That is NOT how real pancakes are and that is not what I am still searching for. I almost dumped all the batter in the trash but decided to see how it would do in my waffle maker. I coated my waffle maker with coconut oil and let it cook for 12 minutes. It came out crunchy which I believe is necessary for all the GOO in the middle to be completely cooked. I love it! As waffles, this is great! So thank you!! Also, I did have to add about 1/2 c. of brown rice flour. And i used water instead of milk like another reviewer since I did not have milk. And I used EVOO instead of veggie oil.

  17. I am puzzled by the negative comments! I tried it for the first time and they were excellent. I did add a little more rice flour as suggested if the batter seemed a little thin., I added about 1/4 cup more, mixed it in with the b atter in the flour and they were PERFECT! I even added some raisins with the chocolate chips..

    Thanks for the recipe. To the others, maybe you sure re-read the recipe, and make sure you do not try to experiment with substitutes until you have perfected this one..

  18. These did not turn out at all. I waited until my pan was hot, it was greased well. But when I tried to flip them, they just fell apart.

  19. I had brown rice flour and didn't know what to do with it. i also added another 1/4 cp of flour and a 1/2 pk of truvia. i added chopped strawberries. yum is what i say

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