Carla’s Banana Pancakes

There are two things that automatically conjure up my sister Carla for me: chocolate chip ice cream and banana pancakes.


Carla’s mom (my stepmom) always made banana pancakes for breakfast on weekend mornings when we were growing up. Now, Carla makes them – in fact, I’m not sure she even makes plain pancakes anymore, ever! Banana pancakes are her standby recipe, as well as her easy solution to the dilemma of overripe bananas. Over the years, she has revised her mom’s recipe to make them a little healthier, adding whole wheat flour and rolled oats, as well as a little applesauce, but the taste remains pretty much the same – a buttermilk pancake infused with the sweetness of cooked banana.


While I’ve had banana pancakes at restaurants that contained chunks of banana (probably stirred or tossed in), these pancakes do things a little more gently, a little more thoroughly. The bananas are mashed and stirred into the batter, so that the banana flavor is present throughout the pancake, rather than punctuating it at random.


If you prefer not to use Bisquick, try adding mashed bananas to my from-scratch buttermilk pancakes. The recipe can be found here.


Eli isn’t a huge fan of bananas, so we don’t have these very often, but when I start missing my sister (who lives 900 miles away in Oklahoma City), I can whip up a batch of these, take a bite, close my eyes, and imagine she’s right there at my kitchen table.


Carla’s Banana Pancakes


4-5 ripe bananas, mashed
1-1/4 cup Reduced Fat Bisquick
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Buttermilk, about 1 cup (if you don’t have buttermilk on hand, add 1 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup milk, stir, and let rest for five minutes to sour)
Optional: chopped walnuts, mini chocolate chips


On a large plate or platter, mash the bananas with a fork until they are mushy.


In a large bowl, whisk together the Bisquick, whole wheat flour, and oats.


In a separate bowl, stir together the eggs, vanilla, and applesauce.


Making a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, pour in the egg mixture, stirring until fully combined.


Add the buttermilk a generous splash at a time, stirring well after each addition, until the batter is pourable (if the batter is too thick, the pancakes will not cook through their centers; if the batter is too thin, it will run all over the pan), roughly the consistency of cake batter. Stir in the mashed bananas.


Spray a non-stick griddle with oil, and place over medium-high heat.


When the griddle is hot, drop the batter onto its surface by 1/3 cupfuls, leaving about 4 inches between pancakes, as they will spread.


Cook 2-3 minutes, until the underside is golden brown (use a spatula to lift the edge of the pancake and check its progress). Flip, and cook the other side. Remove to a platter. If you are cooking in several batches and need to keep the cakes warm, pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees, and keep the platter inside, adding pancakes as they are done.


Serve with butter and maple syrup.