Zucchini Bread Protein Pancakes

Since starting Tone It Up last August, I’ve become more and more intrigued with finding healthy alternatives for some of my most favorite dishes, especially sweets! You can imagine my excitement when I came across the Tone It Up protein pancakes!

As other varieties of protein pancakes have emerged, I’ve gone wild trying all of the different ingredient combos I could find.

My favorite? Banana bread protein pancakes from Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers. How could they possibly be bad?!

My latest inspiration came from a tweet last Friday.

I’m sorry,what is this?! Zucchini bread oats, you say? Yes, please and thank you!

If you can do it with oats, there’s not reason you can’t make a protein pancake out of it. So I did.

Zucchini Bread Protein Pancakes

Yields 4 pancakes (1 serving)

Ingredients
1/2 – 3/4 cup zucchini, finely shredded
1/2 cup oats
1 egg white
1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese; greek yogurt works well too, but the cottage cheese makes them fluffier
1 scoop vanilla protein powder; I use About Time Whey
1 tbsp psyllium husk; optional, but helps to thicken the batter
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Heat a skillet over medium heat. Finely shred your zucchini and make sure to squeeze out all excess moisture. There’s a lot in there and you don’t want it in your pancakes!

Add all ingredients, except zucchini, into a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth. Once smooth, add the zucchini and pulse until well combined, but not completely smooth.

Spoon mixture out onto skillet into 4 equal-size pancakes. It’s time to flip when they start to bubble around the edge. Keep an eye after flipping as the second side takes about half the amount of time.

My favorite toppings for these pancakes are 1/2 sliced banana, a little drizzle of maple syrup, a sprinkling of unsweetened shredded coconut, and a little extra cinnamon. Kristin topped her oats with chopped walnuts too; a staple in many zucchini bread loafs!