The Worlds Best Pancakes

A couple of weeks ago I posted a list of “You know you’re a cyclist when…” which included

You know you’re a cyclist when you mentally log every meal as "good fuel" or "bad fuel"

Today I’m going to share with you a secret recipe for some of the best pre ride fuel known to man.

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes!!!

These are so good they could fuel an entire ride over the Alpe d'Huez and back without even breaking a sweat.

Rumor has it that Chris Carmichael used these pancakes as a secret weapon in training Lance Armstrong and the UCI currently has these pancakes under investigation as a performance enhancing substance. Coincidence? I don’t think so!

This recipe will take you about 15 minutes to assemble but it’s worth the work.

Ingredients you’ll need.
2.5 cups of Whole Wheat Flour (no, this isn’t bleached white flour it’s coarse whole wheat. We are weird so we grind our own but you should be able to find this at the grocery store. The coarser the better.)
2 cups of Milk
1 Egg
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil or Apple Sauce if you’re ultra healthy
2 Tbsp Molasses or Honey (Molasses is way better but Honey will also work)
2 Bananas (new or old and freckled, it doesn’t matter)
1 Tbsp Cinnamon

Next get out two medium size bowls. One for the wet ingredients and another for the dry ones.

Put the Whole Wheat, Baking Soda, Baking Powder and Salt into one of the bowls. Once you have all of the ingredients in there stir it up with a whisk. Trust me you’ll want to do this. Clumps of Baking Soda in a pancake don’t taste very good.

Action Photo of the Salt Addition

Getting out the clumps

Now, add the wet ingredients to the other bowl in this order. Milk, Egg, Oil, and Molasses. If you add the ingredients in this order the Molasses won’t stick to your tablespoon because it just had oil in it.

Once you have all of the wet ingredients in the bowl mix them up really good with a whisk. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl good because the molasses tends to collect down there like it’s afraid of the sun.

Another action photo - high whisk cadence is important

Now, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl and mix it up.


You’re just about there except for the bananas.

Peel the bananas and place them on a plate. By the way, Jenny just informed me that unpeeling a banana is not what I thought it was. Who knew, I guess if you were to unpeel a banana you would have to put the peels back on then duct tape it back together. I suppose unpeel ranks up there with unthaw and irregardless. Good thing I didn't put that in this post.


Now take a fork and mash the bananas up until they are the consistency of slime. Don't worry though it's a good slime. Once you’ve got a good pile of banana slime on your plate add the cinnamon to it and stir it into the banana slime. At this point it won’t look very good but it does wonders for the pancakes.



Now slide your banana/cinnamon slime off of the plate into your pancake batter and mix it up really good.

You’re ready to cook the best pancakes in the world just like you would any other pancake. I cook them at 350 degrees on an electric skillet.




This recipe will make 12 - 4 inch pancakes.

If you get industrious and make these before people get up at your house they will wonder downstairs and ask you what smells like banana bread. These pancakes smell incredible and taste just as good.

Here are a couple of variations in eating them.

Traditional: Topped with butter and maple syrup. This is good any time and I’m sure this is how your grandmother would have served them.

Ultra Healthy: Topped with applesauce. Still tastes pretty darn good and cuts the calories way down over the syrup route.

Maple Bar: Topped with peanut butter and syrup. This doesn’t sound very good but when peanut butter and maple syrup are mixed together they give your pancakes a maple bar flavor. This is so good you’ll be hooked for life after one bite.

These pancakes really rock and rank up there with PB&Js as the best cycling food ever. You should give them a try when you have some time before a ride. I also make them on Sunday mornings while the family is getting ready for church. For some reason I have an incredible urge to go for a bike ride every Sunday while I’m at church. I’m sure it’s the pancakes.



If you end up trying these pancakes leave me a message and let me know how they worked out.

Enjoy.