Whole Grain Pancakes with Pineapple-Ginger Compote
In this monthly series, I commit to cooking whatever is on the cover of Bon Appetit, Saveur or maybe some other food magazine. There’s a reason these particular dishes are on the cover – they’re usually the best recipes in the magazine.
The May issue of Bon Appetit arrived with a huge stack of “Smoky Mountain Griddle Cakes” dripping with syrup on the cover. I just call them “pancakes” in my house, but either way, a big pile of them was in my future.
I don’t really eat a lot of pancakes, to be honest. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m just not a big fan of sweet breakfast – I even make oatmeal and cereal into savory dishes.
But every once in a very long while, pancakes for dinner hits the spot. Especially when I just happen to have buttermilk left over from my buttermilk chicken marinade or blueberry buttermilk muffins.
Or, in this case, pancakes in the middle of the afternoon after a long night of bourbon drinking (my friends and I had a cocktail competition that involved drinking a half-dozen bourbon drinks to determine a winner).
While I was planning to top my pancakes with some Michigan-made maple syrup, I also wanted to jazz them up a little bit with some fresh fruit.
I made a quick compote with fresh pineapple, fresh ginger, ground cinnamon, and some agave nectar (honey or brown sugar would work just as well).
Don’t forget my easy method of cooking bacon in the oven for a side! If you have a few pancakes left over, use them to make banana pancake ice cream! And check out my other brunch ideas for lots of morning meal options.


Whole Grain Pancakes with Pineapple-Ginger Compote
Ingredients
For the Whole Grain Pancakes:
- 1 egg
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1/4 cup maple syrup, plus extra for serving
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/3 cup brown rice flour
- 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- Nonstick cooking spray
For the Pineapple-Ginger Compote:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1/2 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into 1-inch chunks
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Make Whole Grain Pancakes: In a small bowl, whisk egg, buttermilk and maple syrup. In a large bowl, whisk all-purpose flour, cornmeal, brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture; whisk until combined. Add butter; whisk until no lumps remain.
- Heat a griddle or large nonstick skillet over medium heat. In batches; spray griddle with nonstick spray, then pour batter by 1/3-cupfuls onto griddle. Cook 2 to 3 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through.
- Meanwhile, make Pineapple-Ginger Compote: Heat butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add pineapple and ginger and cook 6 to 8 minutes or until slightly softened, stirring frequently. Stir in agave nectar and cinnamon. Serve pancakes topped with compote and/or maple syrup.
Thanks Lizzy! Fruit is the way to go!
Thanks Paula! I think it’s easy to assume that gluten-free is going to mean “not very good,” but in this case, these pancakes had way more flavor than the traditional version! I’m going to make up a big jar of the dry mix so I have it on hand.
That stack is phenomenal, and I agree that there can never be too much maple syrup! The idea of having fluffy gluten free pancakes is so interesting, not because I eat like that, but I think that it´s good to have a not 100% white flour variation sometimes.
I rarely eat pancakes for breakfast either…but if I do, I love them topped with fruit. Yours look terrific!
Thanks Danelle! And it’s SO easy!!
The pan cake is nice and awesome. Thanks. It helped me alot to prepare the recipe. ClickNorth
Indian
That pineapple compote sounds amazing!
I actually JUST started using buckwheat this year! I also put it in a batch of cookies last night. It has so much more flavor than other flours. It might be a turnoff to some, but I love the flavor of it!
Thanks Laura! My husband was the “hand model” dripping the syrup. I’d never done a “food action shot” before, so while he was drizzling and I was snapping away, I was screaming “this is so cool this is cool!!” the whole time. haha.
This is the second pancake recipe I have seen today, I love whole grain pancakes your stack looks so good. I have to try your flour combination, it sounds perfect, it’s been a long time since I’ve used buckwheat and I love it.
These have my mouth watering! I love pancakes. And while I eat sweet things for breakfast all the time, I typically reserve pancakes for dinner. The pictures are stunning with the syrup dripping all over. Okay . . . I need to go make some pancakes!