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Dark Chocolate Paleo Pancakes

These Dark Chocolate Paleo Pancakes taste like you’re eating chocolate cake for breakfast! We love them topped with fresh berries, a drizzle of maple syrup, and some coconut whipped cream. (And maybe some chocolate sauce if it’s Valentine’s Day. *wink*)

Dark Chocolate Paleo Pancakes on a white plate topped with coconut whipped cream, fresh berries, and a drizzle of honey.

I love this recipe for paleo pancakes because they’re fluffy and sweet and they seems more dessert-like than should be allowable for breakfast. The pancakes themselves are gluten free, grain free, dairy free, and naturally sweetened.

I like to pull this recipe out for our Valentine’s Day breakfast with our kids. Some years we do a Valentine’s Waffle Board or a Gluten-Free Crepe Bar. 

The nice thing is that you can top these chocolate pancakes as naturally or as decadently as you like! They’re easy to make, too, with ingredients that are widely available.

Ingredients for Chocolate Paleo Pancakes

For this paleo pancake recipe you’ll need a couple different kinds of grain-free flour and a few other things…

  • blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
  • tapioca or arrowroot flour/starch
  • cocoa powder
  • baking soda
  • salt
  • eggs
  • unsweetened applesauce
  • honey or pure maple syrup
  • melted coconut oil or ghee
  • vanilla extract
  • stevia (optional)
  • fresh berries & honey for serving

NOTE: Do NOT replace the almond flour or tapioca/arrowroot flours for another type of flour. Many paleo pancake recipes call for coconut flour or bananas. This is not a coconut flour pancakes recipes and it doesn’t call for either. And you can’t swap either of those flours for coconut flour and get the same result.

What kind of almond flour is good for fluffy paleo pancakes?

I use blanched almond flour (Kirkland Brand sold at Costco). It’s light and finely ground. This type of almond flour will give you fluffy, light pancakes.

Almond flour vs. almond meal

Almond meal, however, is different from blanched almond flour. Unlike blanched almond flour, the skins of the almonds have not been removed and the almond meal is not ground as finely. You can use almond meal in this recipe, but your pancakes might be more dense with a more pronounced almond flavor. 

About tapioca flour

Tapioca flour or starch (they’re basically the same thing) gives these pancakes some lightness.

You can use arrowroot powder/starch if you can’t find or don’t want to use tapioca flour in these pancakes. Both of these types of flour are similar to corn starch in baking (which you can also use, but it won’t make the pancakes paleo).

Rounds of paleo pancake batter cooking on a nonstick griddle.

Replacement for eggs in almond flour pancakes

If you want to make these easy paleo pancakes egg free, you can use either a chia egg or a flax egg.

This is done by blending either 1 Tablespoon of chia seeds or 1 Tablespoon flax meal with 3 Tablespoons of water. Let it sit for about 10 minutes until it turns into a thicker, gelatinous consistency.

Add the mixture to the recipe when it calls for the eggs.

How to make grain-free pancakes

This paleo pancakes recipe comes together like any other pancake recipe — mixing wet ingredients into dry ingredients! 

Just make sure you whisk each set of ingredients really well before combining them.  

Cook the pancake batter on a lightly greased hot skillet or griddle over medium heat. You can make them small like silver dollar pancakes or 3-4 inches across, which is what I like.

You’ll want to use a lower temperature because almond flour burns more easily than regular all-purpose flour. 

I love my electric nonstick griddle. The handles remove easily and it’s nice and slim and fits in my cupboard. Easy to wash, too! I use it when I’m making extra big batches of pancakes. They’re done so quickly!

A stack of three chocolate paleo pancakes placed on a plate with a spatula.

Can you make these pancakes low carb?

Because these are pancakes with tapioca flour, isn’t not naturally low carb or keto friendly.

You could further reduce the carb count by replacing the honey/maple syrup in the recipe with a low carb granulated sweetener (like Lakanto monkfruit) and drizzle it with low carb maple syrup (Lakanto maple syrup is good! I use this a lot.).

The carb count in the nutrition facts below are for the recipe made with honey or maple syrup. 

Are these pancakes Whole30 friendly?

Nope. No pancakes are. 

Even pancakes made with Whole30-friendly ingredients aren’t allowed. Here’s a detailed explanation why: The Pancake Rule

Just save these for after your round is over! 

That same stack of pancakes is topped with fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries and actively drizzled with honey.

How to Serve the Best Paleo Pancakes

Chocolate grain free pancakes are the way to go. Seriously. These are so tasty!

Here are some topping ideas to get you started…

  • Fresh berries
  • Honey or maple syrup
  • Whipped coconut cream or regular whipped cream if you can tolerate dairy and don’t mind if this isn’t dairy free. Trader Joe’s has a delicious sprayable dairy-free coconut whipped cream. It’s not naturally sweetened, but is low sugar.
  • Chocolate sauce (Here’s a Paleo Friendly Chocolate Sauce if you need it!)
  • Mini chocolate chips or dark chocolate shavings
  • Chopped nuts
Now there's coconut whipped cream added to the pancakes with the fresh berries and honey.

If you like this recipe, you might like these other paleo-friendly breakfast recipes!

More Paleo Breakfast Recipes on Perry’s Plate

Paleo Chocolate Banana Protein Waffles

Apple-Pomegranate Breakfast Crumble

Coconut Chia Pudding with Mango

Sweet Potato Hash with Chorizo

Homemade Chicken Breakfast Sausage Bowls

Crispy Oven Sweet Potato Hash Browns

Pancakes are now drizzled with chocolate sauce and a section has been cut out with a fork.

If you make one of my recipes, be sure to post it on social media and tag me at @perrysplate or #perrysplate so I can send you some love!

Dark Chocolate Paleo Pancakes

Dark Chocolate Paleo Pancakes

Yield: 12-14 pancakes
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

These Dark Chocolate Paleo Pancakes taste like you're eating chocolate cake for breakfast! We love them topped with fresh berries, a drizzle of maple syrup, and some coconut whipped cream.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup blanched almond flour
  • 2/3 cup tapioca flour
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Generous pinch of salt
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/4 cup honey or pure maple syrup, plus more for serving
  • 3 Tablespoons ghee or melted coconut oil, plus more for cooking
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/8 teaspoon liquid vanilla stevia (optional)
  • Fresh berries and whipped cream (or coconut cream), for serving

Instructions

  1. Whisk together the first five ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
  2. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients (except the berries and cream). Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture. Stir together gently, scraping down the sides, until no large dry pockets remain. It's OK if there are a few small lumps -- don't over mix the batter.
  3. Heat a nonstick skillet to medium-high heat. Brush some ghee on the surface of the skillet, and using a 1/4 measuring cup, drop dollops of batter onto the hot skillet. Turn the skillet down to medium heat. Cook the pancakes for 3-4 minutes on each side until they're toasted and the centers are cooked through. Transfer to a large plate or platter and keep warm.
  4. Serve with berries, whipped cream, and a drizzle of honey or maple syrup.

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Nutrition Information
Yield 5 Serving Size 3.5 pancakes
Amount Per Serving Calories 444Total Fat 26gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 15gCholesterol 169mgSodium 337mgCarbohydrates 45gFiber 5gSugar 21gProtein 11g

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Kelli H

Sunday 12th of February 2023

Made these as hearts for a valentines day treat for my girls. I used ghee and they have an off flavor! Not sure what's up with my ghee. They are good minus that so next time coconut oil it is!

Natalie Perry

Friday 17th of February 2023

What a fun treat for your girls! Ghee will add a bit of a nutty, browned butter flavor. Coconut oil would be a good choice if you didn't like them with ghee.

Abbi

Friday 12th of May 2017

I've made these pancakes more times than I can count and we love them. They also freeze well and reheat in the toaster. Love your site and recipes! Thank you!

Natalie Perry

Friday 12th of May 2017

So glad to hear! And good to hear that they freeze and reheat well. One of these days I might actually make more than we can eat so I can try that!

Jonathan Hunter

Friday 4th of March 2016

I made these last night as some of my family members are "banting". They where so delishy! It is a bit of a different texture than if you would make it with flour. The almond flour I had maybe wasn't ground fine enough because you could taste little bits of it almost.

I wanted to know. Here in SA where I am from we call a no carb diet a "banting diet". Is banting and paleo the same thing?

Natalie Perry

Tuesday 8th of March 2016

Hi Jonathan! I'm glad you liked the pancakes! I've never heard of banting, but paleo isn't intended to be a no-carb diet. Yes, grains are off limits, so I suppose it's a low-ish carb diet, but all vegetables, including root vegetables are fair game in any quantity.

Maria J

Monday 15th of February 2016

These look delicious!  I will have to try them soon. Just read that you did a family cheese and chocolate fondue night for Valentines. Us too!  It's a favourite with our family for fun occasions like Valentines or New Year's Eve with the kids.

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