Sweet Potato Casserole Pancakes

Eating seasonal produce is one of my favorite ways to reduce my carbon footprint. When something is in season near you, it means it doesn’t have to travel so far to reach your plate, which means the environmental impact of that item is much lower. It ALSO means that the item is fresh, ripe, and delicious. Win, win!

When dreaming up this breakfast, I was having a hankering for sweet potato casserole. I wanted to make something that was reminiscent of the classic Thanksgiving side dish, without all the sugar and highly-processed, plastic-wrapped marshmallows. And I wanted to be able to eat it for breakfast (though I’m not against eating actual Thanksgiving food for breakfast).

Enter: Sweet Potato Casserole Pancakes

These Sweet Potato Casserole Pancakes require just one small sweet potato to add the beautiful color and flavor. Note that you will need to roast your sweet potato in advance, so just make sure to leave some time for that. You could also use your pumpkin puree from How to Cook and Use the Whole Pumpkin and make these pumpkin pancakes!

The Fair Trade cinnamon adds a warm, cozy spice that I just cannot get enough of this fall. The pecans add a little crunch and then… There’s the Vegan Marshmallow Fluff.

Vegan Marshmallow Fluff

I know you aren’t going to believe me when I tell you what the marshmallow fluff is made from. I know you won’t believe me and I know you’ll think I’m insane.

But the Vegan Marshmallow Fluff is made from… chickpea juice.

Are you still there? I know, I know – chickpea juice sounds very questionable. But stay with me.

My grandfather, who was a product of The Great Depression, used to make our family save the juice from different canned goods. Olives, chickpeas, artichoke hearts. He’d ask us to pour the juice into a glass and then… He would drink it. Straight. Right down the gullet.

We would all shudder quietly, averting our eyes and trying not to knock the glass out of his hand in horror.

But ultimately I learned three important lessons from my dear grandfather pounding the juice from canned goods:

1. This man lived to be 99 years old, so maybe we should all start drinking canned olive juice for our health.
2. His generation lived through a time when food was scarce and people were hungry. Wasting food, even weird food, was not an option. I try to keep this in mind before I throw something into the compost or down the drain. We are very lucky to have food to eat every day.
3. He was really onto something when it came to the bean juice.

Bean juice, fancily known as aquafaba, can be used in a variety of fun (and totally shocking) ways. One of its main appeals is that it whips up into little peaks, making it an excellent substitution for whipped egg whites. And I promise you, it does NOT taste like beans!

You’ll see more recipes from me on Revolutionary Chef using aquafaba, and I’ll provide some detailed tutorials soon. In the meantime, I hope you’ll take your chances and give this a shot! Otherwise, you can substitute with something like coconut whipped cream 🙂

What Makes Sweet Potato Casserole Pancakes Revolutionary?

1. In Season Produce. For much of the northern hemisphere, sweet potatoes are coming into peak season now. This means less travel (and less carbon emissions) to get it from the farm into your belly.

2. Fair Trade Spices. Most of our cinnamon comes to us all the way from Sri Lanka and Indonesia (Source). 80% of the world’s vanilla comes from Madagascar (Source). Madagascar vanilla is on the United States Department of Labor’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor. By buying Fair Trade cinnamon and vanilla extract, we can ensure that farmers are getting a fair price, that workers are being treated fairly, and that no child labor is being used.

3. Vegan. It is super easy to sub out dairy in pancakes. We use olive oil in place of butter. Simple. Instead of buttermilk (which is a staple of fluffy pancakes), this recipe uses almond milk and a bit of apple cider vinegar. The vinegar is there to react with the baking soda, since baking soda needs some kind of acid to work. Usually this acid is supplied by the buttermilk, but we can achieve the same effect with plant-based milk and vinegar. Ahh… science.

Enjoy!