Green food coloring for St. Patrick’s Day? Why would you need to, when you can make these spinach mint pancakes? especially when so many other delicious foods are already green.
Truthfully, we’ve already gone the naturally green frosting and naturally green cake route, so pancakes shouldn’t be that much of a stretch.
When we first saw these Spinach Mint Pancakes (adapted from Kitchen Cyclone), we knew they were on to something brilliant. In many cases the problem with using leafy greens to color your sweet dishes is that you get a slight (or sometimes not-so-slight) plant-y taste. But by adding peppermint extract you can cover up all of that leafy flavor. Plus you have plausible deniability if you feel you need to conceal the fact that there’s spinach in there. (“What makes these pancakes green? Must be the mint leaves!”)
The key question in our house, however, is always how they taste. Do they taste good? Good enough for the kids to *want* to eat them (as opposed to gamely trying them once? The answer is an unequivocal yes. They wanted seconds. And thirds. And when we got to school a little while later and discovered that our first grader had forgotten his backpack, he explained it by saying, dreamily, “I think I was just distracted thinking about those green pancakes.”
Spinach Mint Pancakes
Bright green pancakes adapted from Kitchen Cyclone. They're green from spinach but they taste minty, so you can tell kids, "It must be the mint leaves!"
Ingredients
- 3 large handfuls baby spinach
- 1/4 cup honey or agave syrup
- 1 1/2 cups almond milk
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp peppermint extract
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
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Place spinach, honey or agave syrup, almond milk, egg, and vanilla and peppermint extracts in a blender and blend for 1-2 minutes until spinach is evenly broken down. Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl.
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Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the mixture and whisk until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
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Heat a griddle or pan to 350 degrees. Pour batter on griddle in approximately 1/4 cup increments to make large pancakes, or 2-3 tablespoons to make smaller pancakes. Heat until lightly brown on one side; flip; brown the other side; and then repeat until all pancakes are cooked.
Give them a try – your kids might discover a new favorite pancake. And yes, you can serve them for St. Patrick’s Day, but why not make them a year-round tradition?
Hi! I'm Jeanne Fratello - a writer, reporter, and food enthusiast who is on a mission to write great stories about food and where your food comes from. 
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