Carrot cake is just one of the wonderful delicacies in life in my opinion. Moist, rich cake slathered with a creamy cream cheese frosting…Now that is my kind of dessert! So, in lieu of my love for carrot cake, I decided to re-create this ever popular cake into something that is excusable to eat for breakfast, Protein Pancakes! You can certainly top these ‘cakes’ with plain ol’ maple syrup, but why would you want to if you could use cream cheese frosting!?! If you enjoy carrot cake and pancakes suit your fancy, then you will love this protein packed combination of the two!
Dashing Dish
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Carrot Cake Protein Pancakes
Here's the Dish
Method
The estimated total time to make this recipe is 15-20 minutes.
1
Put all of the ingredients in a blender, (except for 1/4 cup grated carrots and the optional add-ins), and blend until smooth! Stir in the additional grated carrots and optional add-ins (if desired).
2
Meanwhile, heat a nonstick griddle (or large nonstick skillet) coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Spoon about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake onto griddle. Turn pancakes over when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked.
3
To make the cream cheese frosting, whisk together the softened cream cheese, syrup, cinnamon and stevia in a small bowl until smooth. Drizzle over pancakes while warm if desired! Enjoy!
Ingredients
| 1/4 cup | Plain or vanilla protein powder |
| 1/2 cup | Plain low fat Greek yogurt (or plain vanilla yogurt) |
| 1/2 tsp | Cinnamon |
| Pinch | Ground ginger and nutmeg 1 |
| Pinch | Salt |
| 1/2 tsp | Baking powder |
| 2 | Egg whites |
| 1 cup | Old fashioned oats (gluten free if sensitive) |
| 1/2 cup | Water |
| 2-4 | Packets of stevia, (or sweetener of choice to taste) |
| 1/2 cup | Carrots, chopped fine (these will be blended into the batter) |
| 1/4 cup | Carrots, grated (these will be stirred into the batter) |
| Optional: | 2 tbs walnuts, chopped, 2 tbs golden raisins |
| Optional Cream Cheese Frosting: | |
| 1/2 cup | (4oz) Low fat cream cheese, softened in the microwave for 30 seconds |
| 1/4 cup | Low sugar or sugar free maple syrup |
| Dash | Cinnamon and stevia (or to taste) |
1 You could also use 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie or apple pie spice in place of the nutmeg and ginger.
Katie's Tip!
Packed with healthy carbs, fiber, and protein, these pancakes make a great post-workout breakfast! Nutrition Breakdown
| 3 | Servings (about 3 pancakes) |
| 175 | Calories |
| 2 g | Fat per Serving |
| 22 g | Carbohydrates per Serving |
| 3 g | Fiber per Serving |
| 3 g | Sugar per Serving |
| 18 g | Protein per Serving |
| 4 | WWP+* |
*Weight Watchers Points per serving
72 Comments
stacy said:
Love this ….can’t wait to try it. Thanks
Jillian said:
Those look delicious! Does the nutrition information include the cream cheese frosting? I always wonder that for the “optional” ingredients :)
Kristin said:
O.M.G. these look amazing!!! I seriously cannot wait to try these out this weekend. I do wonder the same as Jillian- does the NI include the frosting? Based on the caloires alone, I am massuming no but if it does then even better.
Thanks for all you do!! You are such an inspiration!!!!!
Maria said:
Love these pancakes!
Ashley said:
mmmmm :) do you have any substitute suggestions for the protein powder?? thanks much!! LOOOVE your recipes!!
Ali @ Around the VeggieTable said:
YUM! These look so tasty :) Can’t wait to try!
Jo Williams said:
WOW, dessert for breakfast – can’t wait to make these!!
Shirley@motivatedmommyoftwo said:
These look delicious!!!
Abby said:
How exciting! I just came up with a healthy carrot cake oatmeal recipe and can’t stop eating it… like, I try to find an excuse to eat oatmeal for dinner every week just to make it again.
Yay for carrot cakey things!
Yay for still being able to button your jeans!
Jenna Thorson said:
Can you post your carrot cake oatmeal recipe? I LOVE carrot cake ANYTHING!! :D
Jessie said:
I made these for dinner and had chobani 2% pineapple greek yogurt instead of cream cheese. It was deeeeeliocious. I am looking forward to the leftovers as well. Thank you for this!
Kamille said:
I love this idea! I’ve never cooked with protein powder before though. Does it alter the texture at all?
Gracers said:
If your recipes don’t show up on Foodgawker, then something is wrong with this world because those pancakes look phenomenal!
Nette said:
Can protein powder be replaced with flour? This looks amazing! :)
Life's a Bowl said:
OH EM GEE, YUM! If only I could pin this while simultaneously comment :P You totes should add a “Pin It” button because I’ve seen sooo many of your recipes throughout the Pinworld lately!
Hannah said:
OH my word – my husband’s favorite breakfast item at one of our favorite local cafes is carrot cake pancakes – except they have over 600 calories for ONE! He will be so THRILLED, and I will be thrilled that they aren’t filled with stuff that’s bad for him!
Lindsey said:
I’ll be making these today!! I’ve been craving carrot cake lately and these will definitely do the trick!
Kristen said:
Do you think using carrot baby food would work in the batter? I’m too lazy to peel and blend the carrots :)
Ida said:
Wow, this looks amazing! Definitely going to try them:)
Cassandra Bishop said:
I posted these on Pinterest and they got 71 repins in just a day! They look soooooo good!!!
Megan said:
Made these for breakfast without the frosting…just used regular syrup. Oh my goodness, so good!! My mind couldn’t quite wrap around the fact that they’re healthy. They also passed the toddler/husband test, too! Yum :)
Shaina said:
I made these pancakes over the weekend and they were AMAZING! I love all of your pancake recipes, and thanks to you I can eat my favorite food! Also, I love that you put the weight watchers points and the nutritional info on your recipes! Thank you, and good luck with your site!
Anna @ The Guiltless Life said:
Hi Katie! These look fab! A couple of quick questions:
The chopped carrots that you blend in with the batter – are these cooked first? I’m just not sure how they’d blend raw!
And lastly, how many does this recipe make (based on your nutritional info)? Thank you!
Georgia said:
Hi! I have a couple of questions. What did you mean by “low sugar” in the cream cheese ingredient section? Also, how would agave syrup work? Would it boost up the PP? Thanks!
Charissa said:
These looks amazing…I’m totally on a protein pancake kick! These are so perfect for Spring!
Wendy said:
Hello!
Silly question here, but where can I find protein powder and is there any brand you recommend? Most of what I see is whey powder – are there different kinds of protein powder? As you can probably tell, I’ve never bought or used protein powder before and know nothing about it. :)
Thanks!
Jamie said:
Katie!! You truly have a gift! These look amazing and I’m sure taste just as amazing as all of your other recipes :) ! Thank you so much for all of your posts, and I will DEFINITELY be making these for Easter brunch!! Yum!!
Thank you :)
SkeeterN (lcf) aka Anita said:
Can the Oats be substituted by Almond Flour? I do low carb and do not eat Oats? Everything else looks doable. But would lower the carrot amount and use full fat everything.
LaKendra said:
CanNOT wait! Looking forward to the taste and the low points! Thank you so much for thinking of this!
Bethany said:
Ok, so I made these pancakes and they were good but the “syrup” was AMAZING!! Let’s just be honest here, if you poured that stuff over dirt it would taste great. So once the pancakes were gone I still had some of that heaven in a bowl syrup of yours and couldn’t waste it so I made a bowl of oatmeal with some grated carrots, cinnamon and nutmeg. Then I added some walnuts and about 2 Tbs of that yummy “syrup”. Oh my!! Not sure I can ever go back to any other oatmeal recipe. Thank you so much for all of your recipes!!
J said:
These are so good, you make eating healthy easy and fun
Danielle said:
Would these work without the oatmeal?
Heather Fowler said:
Accidentally tried these without oatmeal today… HUGE mistake! They stuck to the pan and never got firm enough to flip. I burned them on both sides. I was curious to look and read the other comments about them. I’m glad to see these have gotten such great reviews. I will try and make them again, without oatmeal next time. LOL. The syrup was the BOMB! Thanks :)
Ange said:
Hi Katie – I tried these this morning and YUM – delicious! I didn’t even have stevia and my husband who is a sweet tooth still really enjoyed them. I have ordered some stevia so will try with that when it arrives. Thank you for your lovely blog – I am inspired. God bless.
Jille H said:
Made these for breakfast this morning and HOLY MOLY they are delicious!!! I thought the serving size looked small but honestly couldn’t finish them – so filling. And could definitely use them as a dessert for one of my sweet tooth days. Job well done Dashing Dish!!! =)
Jenna Thorson said:
One word: Amazing! I loved these pancakes! What a great breakfast for a carrot cake lover and a great way to get your veggies in the morning! :D
Erin said:
These pancakes were amazing. A family favorite!!!! Thanks! :)
Cynthia J Martin said:
I love the recipe…I’ve been dieting since February and it is hard to find such recipes! I am hoping you have many :)
Cindy
Alicia said:
Made this Sunday morning for breakfast and yum! : ) I wanted to find out though…I was wondering if you think I could sub the oats for whole wheat flour in this recipe? If so, should I use the same amount…or less? Thanks again! : )
Dashing Dish said:
that should work… haven’t tried it so i can’t say for sure, and yes to the same amt!
Autumn Sprecher said:
Just made these for dinner! OMG… DELISH.
Jim said:
I’ve made this three times now and they are absolutely amazing.
The only suggestion I have is to use extra cinnamon/pumpkin pie spice and another tablespoon of stevia than the recipe shows.
To cut 75 calories I only use 3/4 cup oats and it changes nothing!
I make 10 medium-sized pancakes and my batch is only 420 calories. They are so good I just eat them plain!
Beth said:
Any ideas on how these could be made into muffins? I also substituted 1/4 cup of
ground flax for 1/4 cup of the oats in the banana bread protein muffins recipe. I assume I could do the same on these?
Dashing Dish said:
i have carrot cake muffin recipe :)
G said:
These are UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! My fiancé just made them for me and I almost fell off my chair…..no sugar or flour!!! These literally taste like a pastry…..sooooo good and soooo good for you!
Maria M Triana said:
Hi Dashing Dish, my name is Maria. This is an amazing recipe. I love all your recipes so much that I added this one to my blog, but giving the link to here, as the original source, as I always do with everything I publish. Thank you very much for your time and kind consideration.
Lindsay Lee said:
I made these this weekend, they were amazing! My kids thought they were the best thing! Thanks for another awesome recipe Katie!
kate said:
Tried these this morning and I could NOT believe they were low in sugar and fat. These pancakes taste like dessert, so good! Thank you!
nikki said:
Just made these!! Sooooooo good!!!
MAB said:
I can’t wait to try the pancakes.
They look delicious!Hope to get more
from you.
Megan said:
Is the serving size 3 pancakes or is it one pancake and the batter makes 3? I was a lil confused :)
Dashing Dish said:
recipe makes 3 servings of 3 pancakes
Megan said:
what are the nutritional facts for the topping?
Jess said:
Print
Ruth said:
Just made these my god they are DELICIOUS gonna stuff my face right now thank you for such an easy quick recipe
Shelly Moore said:
I made these tonite for dinner (minus the cream cheese frosting) and my kids AND husband loved them. The only thing I did differently is added vanilla and extra raisins. Thank you ;)
Kristi Colvin said:
I LOVE carrot cake. I am so going to try these in the waffle maker also! :D
Turah said:
Hey Katie or anyone else that has tried this. Would you say the cream cheese or yogurt is better for the icing as far as taste? I saw another recipe where yogurt was used as icing. I am thinking yogurt would be better for me to buy, but I also think the cream cheese might taste better. Please let me know. I want to try it this weekend with my bf. I was trying to see if I could get away with buying yogurt instead, and still have it taste amazing. Thanks!
Lesley @ the Breakfast Runner said:
I made these this weekend and I. AM. OBSESSED. Wrote about them in my blog, hope ya don’t mind! :)
Katie Farrell said:
no, sorry that doesnt include optional ingredients
Katie Farrell said:
you could use extra oats (same measurement as the pp)
Katie Farrell said:
you could try replacing the pp with flour or oats!
Katie Farrell said:
certainly kristen!
Katie Farrell said:
woo hoo! thank you so much cassandra!
Katie Farrell said:
I use designer whey protein powder, it can be found in many grocery stores, health food stores, or vitamin shops such as GNC. OR you can buy it on amazon!
Katie Farrell said:
just a low sugar brand of syrup… also agave would work!
Katie Farrell said:
anna, depending on your blender :) you should be able to blend them up if chopped fine enough raw…if not, you could steam them first!
Katie Farrell said:
i’m sure almond flour would work, never tried it with this recipe, so i cant say for sure, but i dont see why not! :) the amount may change though, i’d mess around with it until you get the right pancake batter consistency!