Alex Guarnaschelli's Secret Ingredient For The Best Vegan Pancakes

Celebrity chef Alex Guarnaschelli has been sharing her culinary knowledge with Food Network audiences for decades. In spring 2025, she was kind enough to sit down to an interview with Tasting Table about all things pancakes. Dairy and eggs are common ingredients in easy pancake recipes, but making simple swaps with vegan alternatives will satisfy those with plant-based diets. While Guarnaschelli's tips for making the best pancakes include adding egg whites for a cloud-like texture, she considers aquafaba the ultimate egg white dupe for the fluffiest vegan pancakes.

Aquafaba, the canning liquid for chickpeas, is a well-known egg white alternative that foams up beautifully in sour cocktails, brings an airy creaminess to homemade hummus, and lends a cloud-like consistency to vegan pancakes with egg-white adjacent whipped peaks. The proper ratio for substituting aquafaba for egg whites is 2 tablespoons of aquafaba for every egg white you are swapping out. While aquafaba contains certain chemical stabilizers to maintain a stiff foam, we recommend adding a dash of cream of tartar to lock in that stability. For a standard homemade pancake recipe, add 4 tablespoons of aquafaba in a bowl with sugar to whisk until stiff peaks form and set to the side. Once you have combined the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients into a cohesive pancake batter, fold in the whipped aquafaba and sugar mixture. Then, you can dole out the batter onto your griddle as normal — only the results will be the fluffiest, airiest vegan pancakes you have ever tasted.

Aquafaba is certainly one of the best ways to elevate vegan pancakes. So, next time you open up a can of chickpeas, reserve that extra liquid for your next batch. You can even check out our tips on proper storage practices for leftover aquafaba. If canned chickpeas are not a household staple, you can also make aquafaba from the liquid used to soak and cook dried chickpeas.

Aquafaba will provide that cloud-like consistency without affecting the flavor of vegan pancakes, but you will also need a creamy, rich milk alternative. Coconut milk and oat milk are two plant-based milks that will bring creaminess and flavor to your recipe. We even substitute milk for a blend of cashews and water in this recipe for vegan and gluten-free cinnamon oatmeal pancakes. Of course, you do not need all the bells and whistles. You can adapt this recipe for easy pancakes by swapping the dairy milk for coconut milk and the egg for aquafaba. If you want to make vegan buttermilk pancakes, it is easy to make buttermilk from scratch by stirring a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar into a cup of plant-based milk before adding it to your vegan pancake recipe. Guarnaschelli shared plenty of other tips that apply to vegan pancakes, starting with using a cast iron skillet to instill a beautifully textured outer crust to contrast their fluffy interiors. When it comes to toppings, Guarnaschelli likes to keep things simple with fresh fruit and a hearty drizzle of maple syrup.