Keto Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
I’ll be honest with you. After a few weeks of eating keto, I wasn’t really into breakfast anymore. I was getting bored of eating so many eggs and, even more than that, I found that on most days I just wasn’t hungry in the morning. Sure, on the weekends I might make a batch of waffles with a side of bacon or something. But aside from that, what was once my favorite meal of the day became more of a take it or leave it kind of thing. I could have a cup of coffee and be satisfied until dinner.
But this weekend while I was making my standard weekend treat of keto pancakes, an idea popped into my head. The rest of my household was eating those carb laden Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls. I wasn’t tempted…but I *was* curious. Could I make something with a similar level of cinnamon-y cream cheesy deliciousness that didn’t have a billion carbs in a two bite serving? Apparently so.
Sure, it’s a little more work than just plain pancakes. You have to make a cinnamon filling to swirl in the middle, and a cream cheese frosting to drizzle on top. But it only took one bite to convince me that it was worth it. Soooo worth it.
The recipe below makes enough for about 2 servings, which honestly is all that you want in your house at a given time. Because otherwise, not only will breakfast suddenly become way more appealing, but you’ll also find yourself looking for excuses to have breakfast for lunch…or dinner.
Keto Cinnamon Roll Pancake Recipe
Cinnamon roll pancakes that are keto-friendly. What else can I say?
- Prep Time: 15m
- Cook Time: 15m
- Total Time: 30m
- Yield: ~6 pancakes
Ingredients
Pancakes
- 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or sugar free vanilla syrup
- 2 teaspoons sugar substitute, or more to taste
- 1 dash cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- almond milk or half and half as needed
Cinnamon Swirl
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon sugar substitute
- 1 tablespoon sugar free maple syrup, or additional sweetener
- 1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 dash nutmeg (optional)
Cream Cheese Topping
- 1 ounce cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or sugar free vanilla syrup
- 1 teaspoon butter, melted
- heavy cream or half and half as needed
- sweetener to taste
Instructions
Cream Cheese Topping
- Mix ingredients in a small bowl until well combined, adding liquid as needed to thin. Ideally, you want something thin enough to pour. Set aside.
Cinnamon Swirl
- Add ingredients to a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sweetener (if granulated) is dissolved, and ingredients are well combined. Turn off the heat and set aside. (Alternatively, use a microwave.)
Pancake Batter
- Combine softened cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, sugar substitute, and cinnamon using a blender or mixer.
- Add coconut flour, baking powder, and cinnamon, blending again until very well combined.
- NOTE: Batter may thicken if left to sit for more than a few minutes. If this occurs, add almond milk or half and half as needed to thin it.
Making the pancakes
- Pour circles of batter about 4 inches in diameter onto an electric griddle set to 325F or a greased pan over medium heat.
- When the top begins to bubble, drizzle a spiral of the cinnamon swirl mixture over the surface of the pancake. Using a spoon or knife, swirl the cinnamon into the pancake.
- Flip pancakes when edges begin to harden and bottom is golden brown.
- NOTE: Wipe the pan between batches to prevent burning.
Serving
- Reheat cream cheese frosting if needed. Serve pancakes swirl side up, with cream cheese and remaining cinnamon swirl mixture drizzled on top.
Tip: You can make neat little spirals of cinnamon…or you can just kind of swirl it in on top. Either way tastes just fine.
What is the macro breakdown?
When divided into two servings, it works out to about 380kcal/34g fat/7.5g total carbs/3.3g fiber/4.2g net carbs/11.1g protein. If you divide it into three, it’s about 260kcal/23g fat/5g total carbs/2.2g fiber/2.8g net carbs/7.4g protein.
Your cinnamon swirl pancakes… I absolutely LOVE you.♡ Thank you for cooking without almond flour in one of your recipes! This recipe just makes me happy.
Do you mind letting me know which sweetener you use and the brand of sugar free maple syrup? I want to make sure it comes out as good as yours did and I have no idea which syrup! Help ?
I’ve made this with both Swerve and plain erythritol as sweeteners. Sometimes I also add a drop or two of cinnamon vanilla Better Stevia.
As for the syrup, just go with whichever one you like most as far as the taste and sweetener profile, it shouldn’t make a big difference. I’ve made this with both Cary’s sugar free syrup and sugar free Mrs. Butterworth’s with good results 🙂
Wow!! Amazing recipe! A definite must try!! 🙂 Thanks for this!
Hello. Amazing pancakes. My kids even liked them. We are new to Keto way of eating. I did have a problem with the cinnamon swirl. Not sure what I did wrong? Maybe it was the cinnamon I used. It didn’t pour smoothly.
If it got lumpy and the butter separated you cooked it too long ?
Just made these this morning. Sooooooo good! Think next time I’m gonna add a little bit of vanilla protein powder to the batter and cream cheese frosting to kick up the protein content. Thanks for a great find!!!!
So happy to hear that you liked them! I sometimes add a little vanilla or cinnamon roll flavored protein powder to the frosting too.
Just made this this morning. The cream cheese frosting was amazing. These are delicious but now my husband and I really want more!
They can definitely be a little addictive 🙂
Made these this morning. Tasty and filling!
When I poured the first Pancake into the pan I wasn’t sure that one serving would be enough, but two pancakes was perfect.
Thanks for the recipe!
I’ve posted a photo on my Instagram of the results. 🙂
So no matter what, I find anything with coconut flour dry as hell. These were not bad though. I did add 2 teaspoons of isopure vanilla protein powder. But overall. delicious! Thanks!
I made these this morning for my kids and they loved them! So did I! Thank you for posting an amazing recipe!
I made these this morning and they turned out so good! Instead of the sweetner in the cream cheese frosting I used Birthday Cake flavour protein powder. Thanks for sharing it was SO DELICIOUS!! My husband loved them too!
thank you so much for this recipe! I am only on day four and I have a killer sweet tooth and I was dying!!! This has fulfilled my need for a sweeter breakfast. I’m way too American for meat breakfasts lol. Many many thanks.
Great recipe! Made this morning, delicious and satisfying. Definitely a keeper in my “go to” recipe box.
Thank you so much for this recipe! It was absolutely amazing! Made them for my husband’s birthday since his favorite thing is pancakes and he said said these were the best pancakes in the world! WIN
This is so ooooooooo freaking tasty. I added protien powder to the frosting!!! My favorite pancake receipe ever. Keto too boot…..
Omg. These were amazing! I was just perusing Keto Recipes on Pinterest and when I came across this I figured out what dinner would be. This was such a treat! Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely heavenly….
Absolutely heavenly….
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Can this be made with almond flour? I just bought some because I thought it was less carbs. What’s the difference between them?
Almond flour and coconut flour are both low in net carbs, but they are not directly interchangeable in most recipes because coconut flour is “drier” and absorbs more liquid. You could try using almond flour in this recipe, but you would likely have to use a bit more. Also, the texture will be slightly different.
Is there any way to make this without nut flour? I would love to make this for my mom on Mother’s Day but she cant eat any type of nut flour.
You may be able to replace the coconut flour with Carbquik. I would cut down a bit on the baking powder in the recipe though, and possibly add an extra teaspoon or two of the Carbquik to the batter to get the right thickness. If you decide to try it, do share how it turns out!
Can heavy whipping cream be used or does it need to be heavy cream?
Heavy cream and heavy whipping cream are the same and interchangeable 🙂
These made my morning! Low carb pancakes can be very disappointing when it comes to taste, but these were not! Filling, tasty and the perfect macros?! Thank you! I enjoyed these pancakes while my family ate “regular” pancakes, for once they wanted mine!
i need food like this
So delicious!! The whole family loved these and then loved your keto waffles the next day too!
This is soooo great!!! Thank you!!!!
Made these bad boys, so so good! This is my second attempt to make pancakes with coconut flour, and I’m so very happy how these turned out! Thanks!!!
I love the cinnamon and yea, this is a must try!
I’m making these for breakfast and using almond flour. I added a few extra tablespoons because my batter seems extremely liquid-y? Did I do something wrong or is it supposed to be that way?
This recipe uses coconut flour, not almond flour. Coconut flour is much more absorbent, so your batter wouldn’t be thick enough using almond flour instead.
These were absolutely delicious! I’m very new to keto and these were easy to make and absolutely wonderful! I did change a few things so I’m sure the original recipe is also outstanding. I used almond flour instead of coconut flour because I can’t stand the taste of coconut. I may get brave and try it next time though since the flavor of these is so good with ge cinnamon sugar swirl I’m sure I wouldn’t even notice the taste of coconut. I also omitted the cream cheese frosting just to try the full batter of the pancake. I’m sure it’s delicious. I also separated my eggs and whipped the whites and it made the batter and inside of the pancake so amazing fluffy and delicious! Thank you for one amazing recipe. My husband is hooked on these already.
I am obsessed with these pancakes. They are AMAZING. I make them all the time and even my boyfriend, who is sugar obsessed, likes them! Seriously satisfies all my sugar and pancake cravings!
These are so yummy! Thanks for the wonderful recipe!!
These are seriously the best pancakes I’ve ever had!! I’ve been missing a good pancake since going keto and these will definitely be the go-to!!
This is a lot of work to make 4 pancakes, but they are very good. Next time I will triple the pancake batter and cinnamon swirl recipe and freeze extra. Then when I want some I’ll just pop a couple in the microwave and make the cream cheese topping
These pancakes are delish! I’m a week into keto and just started craving something ‘carb like.’ These hit the spot! Three were enough. I messed up the frosting, it was too thick and clumpy but I’ll be making it again for sure and fixing my screw up with the frosting! THANK YOU!!!
I tried these for dinner was craving carbs and it hit the spot!! Instead of cooking on the stove I used a small waffle iron it made 3 but could have stretched it out to 4. I swirled the cinnamon mixture into the batter before adding it to the waffle iron. It was a delicious treat.
These have become my kids’ favorite breakfast! They leave my kitchen smelling amazing!
I’ve been looking for something like this. I don’t have those sweets cravings anymore but now that I’m not hungry all the time and food has become boring. I’m going to try them for the Saturday brunch meal. Just for something outside of my normal routine.