Let me just start by saying I am beyond crazy for this wheat free banana pancake recipe, and so is everyone I give them to. The finishing touch of “chocolate dusting” takes them from great to amazing. This actually just might be my favorite breakfast of all time.

I made the banana pancake recipe up one morning almost a year ago and scribbled it on what was then a white piece of notebook paper. This past weekend I was making my umpteenth stack of pancakes while straining to read what I had scribbled on the now stained, torn and rumpled paper. As I carefully sliced the bananas (my banana pancake recipe definitely turns out best if the bananas are sliced thin, by the way) I jotted a silent little note to self that I would most definitely get the recipe on the website before it vanished like so many of my other beloved recipes. Why though has it taken me almost a full year to walk my handwritten banana pancake recipe from the kitchen to the office and type it up on Clean Cuisine? My only excuse is that a lot of squirrels live around here lol. (Click HERE if my squirrel joke didn’t make any sense.)

Anyway, good thing the tenth annual IHOP National Pancake Day 2015 is tomorrow, March 3rd, because I work well under deadlines 😉

Banana Pancake Recipe in Honor of National Pancake Day

I decided I absolutely had to get my banana pancake recipe on the website in time for National Pancake Day! During National Pancake Day, the company’s largest philanthropic event of the year, more than 1,500 IHOP restaurants across the country will be giving guests a complimentary stack of IHOP’s signature buttermilk pancakes all day (from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.) Pancake patrons are encouraged to make a voluntary contribution to their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital (or to contribute at least what they would have paid for the pancakes – $5). Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® raises funds and awareness for 170 member hospitals that provide 32 million patient visits each year to kids across the U.S. and Canada.

Healthy Wheat Free Pancakes You’ll Flip For!

Since I am pretty sure IHOP has not cleaned up their signature buttermilk pancake recipe since the last time I was there about 18 years ago, I figured I should do my part to share a clean eating pancake substitute in honor of this nationally recognized special day. My healthy wheat free banana pancake recipe is also dairy-free, made with 100% whole grains, and has no added extra oil to the batter. And if you use cacao nibs instead of chocolate chips, the recipe has zero refined sugar. But I promise you won’t miss a thing in the taste department substituting my banana pancake recipe for the IHOP stack.

However, since I most definitely do not want to take anything away from the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital charity by encouraging you to stay homebound with a stack of Clean Cuisine pancakes, I encourage everyone who tries and likes my banana pancake recipe to put your money where the miracles are and donate $5 to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital HERE.

IHOP’s goal for 2015 is to raise $3.5 million for charity. Every little bit counts.

What to Drink with Your Banana Pancake Recipe?

And just what will I be drinking when I enjoy my stack of pancakes on National Pancake Day tomorrow? Coffee of course.

And yes, coffee and clean eating can go hand in hand.

If you have not yet heard the news, the Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has been submitted to the Federal government and for the first time ever, the report addresses caffeine and coffee. Not only does the report say caffeinated coffee is OK—it even goes so far as to say coffee is good for you. I think many of my fellow coffee drinkers could have probably told you that years ago. But in all seriousness, the research on the health benefits of coffee is pretty impressive. So yes, coffee, clean eating and some pancake recipes (such as the banana pancake recipe below and my Blueberry Flourless Pancakes) are all compatible. Who knew!?