Must-Add Ingredients For a Healthier Stack of Pancakes

If you're watching your cholesterol, try replacing the egg with a flax egg — here's a recipe for vegan gingerbread pancakes showing you how. You could also just mix flax meal into the batter as in these wheat-free pancakes.

Photo: Jenny Sugar

Whatever type of protein powder you have on hand, add a serving to your pancake batter for a protein punch. You'll probably have to increase the amount of one of the wet ingredients to get the right consistency. Here's a recipe to try for almond protein pancakes.

Photo: Jenny Sugar

For a touch of natural sweetness without adding sugar, mix in half a mashed roasted sweet potato. Aside from a warm autumnal hue, it adds vitamin A, fiber, and a moistness you'll devour. Here's a whole-wheat banana pancake recipe made with sweet potato.

Photo: Jenny Sugar

If you're a fan of adding spinach to your smoothies, why not add it to your pancake batter? Puree one cup of packed spinach with banana and blueberries for these kelly-green-colored flapjacks boosted with fiber, calcium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin K, and folate.

Photo: Jenny Sugar

Cut into a heartier stack by mixing oats into the batter, and the fiber will make them extrafilling, curbing hunger longer. Oats can also help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. This recipe calls for instant oats, but these banana almond oatmeal pancakes are made with rolled oats.

Photo: Lizzie Fuhr