This Dye Free Pink Pancake recipe is perfect for Valentines, and any other time you want a special breakfast. You won’t believe how PINK they turn out, just by adding beets! Coloring your food with vegetables rather than fake coloring is way better for your family! Plus, you really can’t taste the beets, I mean.. really!
Dye Free Food Coloring
Kids love foods that have fun bright colors. We love to color our foods for different holidays – green for St. Patrick’s Day, pink for Valentines, red or green for Christmas – it is fun to have a reason to make our food fun! Instead of adding artificial colors and dyes, we like to color our food with natural colors from foods that are already brightly colored! Beets have one of the deepest and brightest colors and can turn any food pink! We love to add them to pancakes because they turn unbelievable pink!
Why Are Beets So Good For You?
These perfectly pink pancakes really pack a lot of nutrition. Beets are really high in antioxidants as evidenced by their deep color. They are also a great source of folate, and other micronutrients that have been shown to function as anti-inflammatory compounds. If you want to add veggies to your breakfast and the nutrition that comes with them, these are the perfect pancakes for you to make!
How to Make Beet Puree
Making beet puree is literally much easier than I would have thought. Wrap beets in foil. Cook at 400 degrees for 1 1/2 hours (like you would a potato). I did this the night before I wanted to make the pancakes, and then let the beets cool all night. In the morning, I came back, unwrapped, peeled (the skin slid right off), and sliced. Put the slices in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. You can add a teaspoon or so of water to get it to blend better if you need to.
How to Make Dye-Free Pink Pancakes
To make your pancakes, we like to use this homemade mix recipe. Then add 1/3 cup of the beet puree, plus a little extra liquid to make the batter a little more runny.
Pour pancakes onto a hot griddle, using about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake for a nice big pancake. If you like smaller pancakes, just use a couple of tablespoons for each pancake. The smaller the pancake you make, the less brown in will get and the more pink it will look!
Serve with fresh fruit and yummy syrup. If you want to make them extra fruity, use this homemade blueberry syrup.
How to Make Pink Pancakes fun for Valentines
If you have little kids, sometimes it is fun to make your food little too! I poured some of my pancake batter into a squeeze bottle to easily make tiny round pancakes. When they were cool, I slid them into a toothpick with a heart on one end. They I put some yogurt into a cute little container and added some Valentines sprinkles. These pink pancake kabobs were a hit!
You could also dip them in syrup if your kids prefer that to yogurt. Greek yogurt just gives them a bit more protein!
Dye Free Pink Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 medium beets
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Instructions
- Wrap beets in foil and bake 400 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours. Let cool.
- Unwrap the cooked beets, and peel. The skin should slide right off. Slice into large pieces.
- Put the slices in a food processor or blender with 1 1/2 cups milk puree until smooth.
- In a large bowl combine, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add beet mixture, maple syrup and melted butter and gently stir until combined.
- Spray, or use a small amount of oil to grease a griddle or pan.
- Pour a small amount of batter onto the hot griddle. The small pancakes tend to turn less brown and keep the pretty pink color.
- Cook until golden on both sides.
- Serve with fresh fruit and syrup on top.
