Homemade Oat & Walnut Protein Pancakes

Okay, these pancakes have been in my kitchen rotation for years, and somehow I’m just now getting around to sharing them here. Better late than never, right?!

Meet my Homemade Oat & Walnut Protein Pancakes, a hearty, cozy, ridiculously easy to make, and made mostly with ingredients you might already have hanging around the kitchen!

The base is a simple blend of oats, cottage cheese, eggs, and milk, with a little pure maple syrup and vanilla mixed in. But then we get to my favorite part: pumpkin pie spice and chopped walnuts.

And yes, pumpkin pie spice.

In pancakes.

All year long.

I firmly believe pumpkin spice deserves a permanent spot in the pantry and should not be limited to a few months of the year. Around here, it is very much a 12-month ingredient!

The Kind of Recipe You Don’t Have to Overthink

One of the reasons these pancakes have stuck around in my kitchen for so long is that they’re incredibly simple. Everything except the walnuts gets tossed into a blender or food processor and blended until smooth. Stir in the chopped walnuts, let the batter hang out for a few minutes so the oats can soak up some of the liquid and thicken, and then they’re ready for the skillet. That’s it! No complicated pancake technique. No giant pile of dishes. No need to make breakfast harder than it needs to be. I also love that once they hit the skillet, the kitchen starts smelling like warm vanilla, maple, toasted walnuts, and pumpkin spice which is never a bad way to start the day!

Now Comes the Fun Part

These are definitely make-them-your-own pancakes, which is probably another reason I love them so much!

Add fresh berries. Toss some extra walnuts on top. Drizzle them with pure maple syrup. Add a spoonful of nut butter. Sprinkle on some extra cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice. Or… just open the fridge, see what you have, and experiment.

There really aren’t many rules here! Some mornings they can be simple pancakes with a little maple syrup. Other mornings they can become a towering situation involving fruit, nut butter, walnuts, and whatever else happens to sound good at the moment. Both are perfectly acceptable!

A Little Gift to Your Future Self

These also reheat beautifully, which makes them one of my favorite easy meal-prep breakfasts. If you’re already pulling out the blender and skillet, making a double batch is rarely a bad idea. Store the extras in the refrigerator or freezer, and suddenly there are homemade pancakes waiting for you on a morning when cooking from scratch sounds significantly less appealing. Future-you may be very pleased with past-you. And really, that’s what I love about recipes like this. Nothing fancy. Nothing that has to be perfect. Just simple ingredients, a little experimenting, and something homemade waiting for you in the kitchen.

That’s very much our kind of thing around here!

Homemade Oat & Walnut Protein Pancakes
Cozy, hearty pancakes made with oats and cottage cheese, warm pumpkin pie spice, crunchy walnuts, and a touch of pure maple syrup.

Head to the full recipe below for the ingredients, directions, tips, and plenty of ideas for making them your own.

Tend & Gather
www.tendandgather.org