Hairy Bikers banana pancakes are fluffy breakfast pancakes made with whisked egg whites, sliced banana and optional cinnamon. Then the recipe on their official site makes 12 at 74 calories a pancake before toppings, ready in about 22 minutes.
Slathering them with butter is the big temptation, but “resist or your calorie count will go through the roof”, as they warn on their site. And the batter skips butter too, relying on whisked egg whites for much of its lift instead of whole eggs.
Folding in the whites is the step to take slowly, a quarter first to loosen the batter, then the rest very gently. And the more air you keep, the lighter and puffier the pancakes rise in the pan.
Hairy Bikers Banana Pancakes
Description
Self-raising flour and semi-skimmed milk make a lump-free batter, studded with thin banana slices and lightened with sweetened egg whites. Then spoonfuls go into a hot oiled pan in batches of 4, ready to stack with berries and a dribble of agave or honey.
Ingredients
For the pancakes
To serve
Instructions
- Mix the dry: Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon, if using, into a large bowl.
- Whisk the whites: In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry, then whisk in the caster sugar.
- Make the batter: Stir the milk slowly into the flour, then beat hard with a metal whisk to get rid of any lumps.
- Add the banana: Peel the banana, halve it lengthways and cut it into thin slices, then stir the slices into the batter.
- Fold in the whites: Fold a quarter of the whites into the batter with a large metal spoon until evenly combined. Then very gently fold in the rest, keeping as much air in as you can.
- Cook in batches: Brush a large non-stick frying pan with a little of the oil over a medium-high heat, then add 4 large spoonfuls of batter, well spaced. Cook for 1½ to 2 minutes, until the tops look almost dry and small bubbles rise, then flip and cook for 2 minutes more.
- Serve: Keep each batch warm while you cook the rest, brushing the pan with a little more oil each time. Then serve with the berries and a dribble of agave, honey or golden syrup.
FAQs
Is there a Hairy Bikers banana pancake with bacon?
Yes, their banana and bacon pancakes are on BBC Food, linked to their Mums Know Best series. That batter uses 2 whole eggs, 275g self-raising flour, 300ml whole milk and a large mashed banana, with 25g melted butter blended in.
Then the pancakes go 4 at a time into the pan, while the rest keep warm at 110°C/Fan 90°C/Gas ¼. And they top them with 8 rashers of crisp streaky bacon and maple or golden syrup.
Are these healthy or diet pancakes?
They’re on the light side, because the batter uses only egg whites and semi-skimmed milk, with no butter. So their site counts them at 74 calories each, with the berries and syrup on top of that.
For a wholemeal version, their banana pancakes in Eat Well Every Day use spelt or wholemeal flour, 2 mashed bananas and raisins. Or their buckwheat pancakes in Eat to Beat Type 2 Diabetes are 75 calories each, made with naturally gluten-free buckwheat flour.
What’s the plain Hairy Bikers pancake recipe?
For thin, traditional pancakes, the batter in their Chicken & Egg book is 125g plain flour, a pinch of salt, 1 egg and 300ml milk. So it gives you 10 to 12 thin Pancake Day pancakes rather than these thick, fluffy ones. Or for big buttermilk ones, their American pancakes fill a 20cm pan with blueberries scattered on top.
They whisk the egg into the flour to a thick paste, then trickle in the milk and rest the batter for about an hour. Then they melt 25g of butter in the pan and stir most of it into the batter.
Is there a savoury Hairy Bikers pancake?
Yes, and the one I’d point you to is the savoury Dutch pancake in One Pot Wonders. And they describe it as “Yorkshire pudding meets a savoury bacon and Dutch cheese filling”, baked in a smoking-hot ovenproof pan.
It uses 75g plain flour, 3 eggs and 125ml whole milk, with bacon lardons, shallots, apple and Gouda scattered on top. And their Yorkshire puddings rely on the same trick of batter hitting smoking-hot fat.
Can I make the batter ahead?
I’d cook it straight away, because the whisked egg whites start to lose their air once they’re folded in, which is my own view. But you can weigh out the dry mix and slice the banana a little ahead.
Their site does say the cooked pancakes make a lovely snack as they are or warmed through in a toaster. If you have more ripe bananas, their banana bread is the obvious next bake, while their blueberry muffins use up spare berries.
