The ultimate easy protein pancakes recipe I love

These American-style protein pancakes are the breakfast of champions

My favourite tried and tested recipe for protein pancakes is super easy (iStock/The Independent)

Is there anything better than a pancake breakfast? While the obvious answer might be “no”, the better answer is “no, but we should add more protein”. I’m a big fan of starting the day with a healthy breakfast, but healthy doesn’t have to mean boring or flavourless. As long as my first meal of the day comprises protein, carbs and healthy fats, I’m happy. This winning combination of nutrients means I stay full and I have plenty of energy to see me through to the afternoon.

The body needs protein, carbs and fat for energy and if it doesn’t get enough of each of these, it’s likely you’ll feel tired, experience cravings and probably feel a little irritable too. The best thing to do to fuel your body is to get all three in one meal at the top of the day.

When I know I’m going to have a busy day or when I plan to train hard in the gym, I’ll think about adding extra protein to my breakfast. Now, I could go for a protein shake, and some days I do. But on others, I opt for something delicious like a stack of American-style pancakes with extra protein powder. My recipe is fail-safe, easy to make and remains my favourite year-round.

Pro tip: if you want to make fewer pancakes you can halve the ingredients but personally, I like to make a batch and then freeze some to pop in the toaster whenever I feel like having pancakes. It saves making another batch from scratch and means you can have a quick protein-rich breakfast whenever you fancy it.

My easy protein pancakes

I like to make a batch and then freeze some to pop in the toaster whenever I feel like having pancakes (Emilie Lavinia)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

100 grams of self-raising flour

100 grams of protein powder – Myprotein’s impact whey protein is great

1 ½ tsp of baking powder

1 tbsp of golden caster sugar

3 large eggs

25g of melted butter, plus extra for cooking

200ml of milk

A pinch of salt

Vegetable oil for cooking

Method

Mix the protein powder, self-raising flour and baking powder with the golden caster sugar and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Just use a spoon until they’re nicely mixed. Then create a well in the middle of the mixture with the back of your spoon and add the eggs, the melted butter and the milk.

Using a whisk or electric mixer, whisk the mixture together until it looks smooth and it drops off the whisk nicely. You want a nice dropping consistency so that when you drop the mixture into the pan it isn’t too runny and stays put, but isn’t so thick that it doesn’t spread out.

Heat a small knob of butter and oil in a large frying pan over medium heat (if you don’t want to cook with butter you can cook the pancakes in only oil but the butter does make the flavour richer). When the butter looks frothy, pour in blobs of pancake batter. Try to make them about 8cm wide and keep some space between them so that they don’t join together into one big pancake as they spread out.

Let the pancakes cook for about one to two minutes, you should see little bubbles on the surface as an indication that it’s time to flip them over. Flip each pancake and cook the other side for one to two minutes. When the pancakes are done, repeat the process until you’re out of batter.

You can serve however you like, with a dollop of peanut butter or yoghurt, decadent bacon and maple syrup, or classic with a squeeze of lemon and some blueberries.

You can, of course, cheat with a ready-made protein pancake mix and for days when you know you’ll be short on time, this can be an absolute lifesaver. However, if I can, I prefer to make my mixture with eggs so that I get the added benefit of protein from whole foods, the fluffy texture from the classic mixture and an extra hit of protein powder to boot.

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