Low Calorie Pancake Recipe

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

Nothing like a stack of pancakes to add volume to your diet plan; we'll show you how with our tasty recipe and pancake tips..

 

The traditional recipe for pancakes is as follows:

Recipe Ingredients: About 960 calories for the entire recipe, plus any that will be used for the cooking process. Makes about 8 servings at 120 calories each.

The Recipe Ingredients

1 cup of all-purpose white flour
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 Tablespoon of white sugar
1 cup of milk
2 teaspoons of baking powder
Dash of salt
2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil, plus additional oil or cooking spray that will be used to cook the pancakes

How to Prepare This Recipe

pancake recipeTo prepare sift the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients, then add to the dry until fully incorporated. A few lumps are desirable.

Pour the batter in a large measuring cup and transfer at about 1/4 cup at a time onto a heated griddle, non-stick pan or a heavy grade iron skillet that is well seasoned. If the iron skillet is not well seasoned, the pancakes will stick to the bottom quite easily - no matter how much oil is used amid the cooking process.

From the basic recipe, buttermilk can be substituted for the milk to create buttermilk pancakes. For fruit versions, simply add dried or fresh fruit that has been washed and thoroughly been dried. Sliced strawberries, blueberries and thin slices of banana all work exceptionally well in the basic batter recipe.

For a nutty pancake - simply add nuts. For a different flavor, reach for extracts such as vanilla, orange, strawberry and imitation rum.

For a low calorie pancake recipe, the basic ingredients will be altered somewhat. The following is Diet Bites lower calorie pancake recipe.

Recipe Ingredients: About 650 calories based on the use of 1 egg rather than the substitute. Makes 8 servings at about 80 calories each.

 

1 cup of all-purpose white flour
1 egg OR egg substitute to lower cholesterol content as well as caloric values
1 Tablespoon of Splenda that measures the same as sugar
1 cup of reduced fat milk
2 teaspoons of baking powder
Dash of salt
2 Tablespoons of reduced fat margarine that has been melted and is at room temperature before adding to the batter ingredients
Butter flavored cooking spray

To prepare, follow the directions above for the basic pancake recipe.

As we can quickly see, using the lower fat ingredients we were only able to reduce fat values and calories by about 1/3. We must also keep in mind that additional oil will be used to cook the basic recipe which will add additional calories to each pancake - from 120 to 240, depending upon how much oil is used per mound of batter. Each Tablespoon contains a smacking 120 calories and is of course, 100% fat.

Remembering the Syrup & Butter

We must also remember that most people add a good deal of butter, margarine and syrup to their prepared cakes - and most of the time, they do not measure the amount added. Syrup is extreme in caloric content - at about 240 calories per Tablespoon. We have our lighter alternative to syrup posted below which blows syrup out of the water.

Other healthier alternatives include honey rather than syrup. Also, sugar free syrup can cut calories substantially. And one of our favorite lower calorie syrups is the KARO Light Corn Syrup for 120 calories per serving with no unpleasant after taste.

Commercially Prepared Pancakes, Hotcakes, Johnnycakes

Why make pancakes when you can purchase them in the frozen section of your local market. Most are low in fat & calories while keeping portions reasonable. And the calories are already pre-measured so that the dieter can easily calculate the totals. As to syrup, just skip it and you'll feel better for doing such. Place a frozen pancake into a toaster; allow it to heat thoroughly and crisp. Smear with one serving of reduced fat margarine - and it's such a tasty treat. You can even add a serving of healthy fruit preserves for an additional 50 calories - and you are still nowhere near the amount you would have consumed if you'd used syrup.

Or, try this healthy Diet Bites recipe.

Combine the following for a dynamite low calorie pancake recipe. Simply place the sweet berries between the pancakes, then top with topping and more fresh berries:

- 3 prepared frozen pancakes (220 calories)
- 1 cup of fresh strawberries, sliced (45 calories)
- 2 Tablespoons of LIGHT whipped topping (15 calories per serving)

This low calorie pancake recipe serves 1 for about 180 calories.

McDonalds Hotcakes

They are indeed delicious and satisfying for only 350 calories per three hotcakes, 9 grams of total fat, 8 protein grams, 60 total carbohydrate grams and 590 mg of sodium content. When one serving of their whipped margarine is added, calories increase to 390 per serving and 13 grams of total dietary fat. Carbohydrates remain the same, as does protein with sodium content increasing just a bit to 640 mg.

If we add one serving of syrup to the hotcakes the nutritional values increase to 570 calories, 105 total carbohydrate grams and 660 mg of sodium with protein and fat grams holding steady. If we choose to skip the whipped margarine, here are our revised nutrition data: 530 calories, 8 protein grams, 9 fat grams, 105 total carbohydrate grams, 610 mg of sodium.

Each syrup package contains 180 calories, 45 total carbohydrate grams, 20 mg of sodium and 0 fat and protein grams. Each whipped margarine package contains 40 calories, 4.5 fat grams, 55 mg of sodium, 0 carbs and protein grams.

With a bit of savvy planning - you can certainly make these delicious hotcakes a part of your healthy weight loss plan. Consider splitting the order with a friend or family member. OR, simply enjoy the hotcakes with one packet of the whipped margarine.

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