I've made these vegan sourdough pancakes super easy to follow and are incredibly delicious! This vegan recipe for sourdough pancakes is made from the discard of your sourdough starter which helps make your pancakes extra thick & extra tasty!

Vegan Sourdough Pancakes Ingredients
- Sourdough Starter
- All Purpose Flour, unbleached
- Apple Sauce, unsweetened
- Maple Syrup
- Plant Milk, unsweetened
- Vanilla
- Baking Soda
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Vegan butter
If you're like me, you've hoped on the sourdough bandwagon during the pandemic. One of the major pain points of caring for a sourdough starter is discarding over 3 quarters of the starter every time you have to feed it! That's where discard recipes like this sourdough pancakes recipe come in.
To be honest, this whole sourdough starter experiment has been an ongoing saga on our Instagram so if you've been following us you know this recipe has literally been weeks in the making so we hope you enjoy it as much as us!
How To Make Vegan Sourdough Pancakes
There is only one prerequisite to this recipe and it's that you need to have an active and healthy sourdough starter. It takes about 7 days to get on up and running (or you can usually buy some from your local bakery). For reference, I followed this recipe to get mine going and it's so cool to do despite it taking a week!
Here's a breakdown of how you can make vegan sourdough pancakes:
1. Mix starter, flour, apple sauce, maple syrup, plant milk, and vanilla in a large bowl and let sit for 30 min. Depending on which soy milk you use you may need to use more or less. Soy milk tends to be thicker so you may need more to achieve the right consistency whereas almond milk is much thinner. Then, add in one cup then add plant milk by the tablespoon until the right consistency is achieved.
2. Mix in baking soda, powder, and salt.
3. Turn stove on to medium heat and heat pan with vegan butter in it.
4. Use a half-cup measuring cup to scoop batter and place in the pan, depending on how big your pan is you'll be able to fit 1, 2, or 3 pancakes in it. It's fine if they're touching a little but you don't want them crossing over and becoming one pancake.
5. Next, cook on one side for about 5 min or until a few bubbles appear on top of the pancake and flip cooking for another 4 min. The first run of pancakes will inevitably always take longer than the subsequent rounds so just keep that in mind if you're timing them. It's also been my experience that no matter how many times I make pancakes/crepes/waffles the first batch is always a crapshoot, so don't worry if yours is too!
6. Serve with maple syrup and/or coco whip.
Optional ingredients to add into the batter or top pancakes with:
- Sliced bananas
- Blueberries (in or on top)
- Chocolate chips
- Shredded coconut (on top)
- Peanut butter
Really the possibilities are endless!
Kitchen Equipment I used for recipe:
- Aesthetically pleasing teal spoon set – a lot of people recently have been asking about my spoon set and I feel like a fraud because everyone thinks it’s some expensive set but it’s super inexpensive and they look amazing!
- Super cheap but quality non-stick pan - A good non-stick pan will change your life and it doesn't have to break the bank. I love this one because it's made out of granite and is super durable!
Vegan Sourdough Pancakes
Equipment
- Non-Stick Pan
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Sourdough Starter
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour unbleached
- ½ cup Apple Sauce unsweetened
- ¼ cup Maple Syrup
- 1.5 cups Plant Milk unsweetened
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoon Vegan butter
Instructions
- Mix starter, flour, apple sauce, maple syrup, plant milk (see notes), and vanilla in a large bowl and let sit for 30 min.
- Mix in baking soda, powder, and salt.
- Turn stove on to medium heat and heat pan with vegan butter in it.
- Use a half cup measuring cup to scoop batter and place in pan.
- Cook on one side for about 5 min and flip cooking for another 4 min. (see note)
- Serve with maple syrup or coco whip.
Pups Notes
- Depending on which soy milk you use you may need to use more or less. Soy milk tends to be thicker so you may need more to achieve the right consistency whereas almond milk is much thinner. Add in one cup then add plant milk by the tablespoon until the right consistency is achieved.
- The first run of pancakes will inevitably always take longer than the subsequent rounds so just keep that in mind if you're timing them.
If you try this recipe, please leave it a 5-star review in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you! You can rate it, comment about it, send us pictures about it on Instagram @RescueDogKitchen.
Nutrition Facts for Sourdough Pancakes
The nutrition information presented here is for all of the ingredients. I take all of the nutritional information from Cronometer a nutritional tracker website that provides you with a lot of great information, especially regarding micronutrients!
Nutrition Facts
4 servings per container
Serving Size1 g
- Amount Per ServingCalories395
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat
2.5g
4%
- Sodium 750mg 32%
- Potassium 303mg 9%
- Total Carbohydrate
80g
27%
- Dietary Fiber 4.75g 19%
- Sugars 15.75g
- Protein 12g 24%
- Vitamin A 6%
- Calcium 22%
- Iron 52%
- Vitamin D 8%
- Vitamin E 1%
- Vitamin K 3%
- Thiamin 52%
- Riboflavin 62%
- Niacin 28%
- Vitamin B6 7%
- Vitamin B12 46%
- Folate 40%
- Pantothenic Acid 8%
- Phosphorus 23%
- Magnesium 11%
- Zinc 11%
- Selenium 51%
- Copper 23%
- Manganese 62%
* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
You don't have to look very hard to see these pancakes are seriously packed with nutrition. One of the many benefits of eating plant-based minimally processed foods is that they hold their nutritional values much better than their processed counterparts, and you don't have to sacrifice taste 😉
These vegan sourdough pancakes have:
- 24% of your protein intake
- 52% of your iron intake
- Almost 50% of your b12 intake
- and over 60% of your manganese intake per serving
All in all, the health benefits of these vegan sourdough pancakes (and sourdough in general) lay past the nutritional label.
First and foremost sourdough is easier to digest as the bacteria has already been working on breaking it down for you. Speaking of bacteria sourdough has PLENTY of good bacteria which is key to fostering good gut health!
Also, a sourdough starter is basically free from preservatives, it's literally just flour and water (depending on who's recipe you follow) which again makes it more digestible and better for your stomach!
Commonly Asked Vegan Sourdough Pancake Questions
Is sourdough vegan?
At its core yes sourdough is vegan. Sourdough is simply flour and water, sometimes salt and rarely yeast, all of which are vegan ingredients. Also, certain recipes may call for the addition of non-vegan ingredients in the subsequent process of making the sourdough but at it's core sourdough is vegan.
Is sourdough hard to make?
Yes. Sourdough requires plenty of patience and a strict schedule to maintain in order to keep a successful and thriving sourdough starter alive. Although plenty of bakeries now offer sourdough starter kits where you simply add water and wait a bit and it's ready to be used.
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Alyssa
Perfect recipe!
Frizzle
These turned out great- only adjustment I made was I did the "two people" serving & subbed banana for applesauce. I did let it sit more for like an hour too. Turned out super fluffy! It still made a lot of pancakes 🙂 I'll freeze them
John
So glad to hear that you enjoyed them as much as us! 🙂
Katrina
Loved it! Throwing away sourdough starter hurts, this recipe is a great way to avoid the heartbreak!
John
Amazing Katrina so glad you loved it 🙂
Jesse
This is such a good recipe! Fair warning these pancakes are thick, but we like thick pancakes so it was perfect!
John
We also like them thick, so were glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Evelyn Castaneda
Awesome idea for sourdough discard! Thanks!
John
No problem! hope you enjoy it 🙂
Rebecca
I’m so pumped to make these pancakes!! I’m on Day 7 of my sourdough starter was looking for discard recipes! Perfect timing
John
Ooooo that's so exciting Rebecca! Can't wait to hear how they went!