Baby Pouch Pancakes [no banana]
Turn a baby favourite into a brain-boosting breakfast! These easy, nutrient-packed baby pancakes made with fruit pouches are perfect for supporting your little one's brain development-especially during the critical first 1,000 days. With only 5 ingredients, this baby led weaning recipe is quick, simple and best of all, freezer friendly!
This recipe is written in proud and paid partnership with our friends at Brainiac! We can’t wait for you to try this one!
This post may contain affiliate links.
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"This is an incredibly easy recipe and go-to item for us! My little has been eating these since 7 months and now at 2 years still asks for them! The ability to add things like blue berries or change the flavours by using different pouches keeps them interesting! These pack so well for daycare and are enjoyed hot and fresh or cold as a snack or warmed up!" - Paula
Feeding a baby in those early months is one of the most exciting-and sometimes overwhelming-parts of parenthood. Between learning their cues, exploring textures, and navigating those first bites, you quickly realize just how much nutrition matters.
The first 1,000 days-from pregnancy through your baby's second birthday-are a powerful window for brain development. During this time, your baby's brain is forming up to a MILLION neural connections every single second. That's a lot of development!
This is exactly why we fell in love with Brainiac fruit pouches. Not only are they convenient (because let's face it, we're all a little sleep-deprived!), but they're also packed with science-backed nutrients like Omega-3 DHA, Choline and MFGM-key building blocks for growing a healthy brain (more on each of those below).
Now, prepare to fall even more in love with Brainiac after you put those pouches to work with our Baby Fruit Pouch Pancakes!
This recipe is a fun and functional way to turn something your baby already loves into a wholesome meal. These pancakes come together quickly, are soft and baby-friendly (tbh, also toddler-friendly) and are a perfect example of how feeding your little one can be both simple and nourishing.
Because we're huge fans of breakfast for baby, don't forget to add our tahini oat bars and anda bhurji (Indian scrambled eggs) to your rotation--both of these recipes include brain boosting ingredients for your growing bub. And if you're really in a rush, our two minute mug cake will fit the bill for you and your baby.
Why this recipe works
🕒 1 minute prep time
🙌 The perfect soft baby led weaning texture
🔄 Easily customizable - use a fruit or veggie pouch you have at home
🧠 Brain boosting nutrients
❄️ Batch prep and freeze for a quick BLW breakfast
👶 Baby friendly from 6 months+
SUMMARIZE AND SAVE THIS CONTENT ON:
Jump to:
- Why this recipe works
- What to look for in a baby pouch
- Why do we love Brainiac?
- Key ingredients
- Why do we recommend these healthy pancakes for babies and toddlers?
- How to serve these healthy pancakes at each baby & toddler stage
- Allergen information & substitutions
- Baby Pouch Pancake Recipe FAQ
- Play + books that match this recipe
- Other recommended baby recipes
- Baby Pouch Pancakes
What to look for in a baby pouch
Pouches can be a convenient and nutritious option-but only if you know what to look for. With these aisles getting so full at the grocery store, we're going to make it easier for you to shop with nutrition in mind for your baby.
When possible, look for:
- Brain-boosting fats like omega-3s (especially DHA): Omega-3 is a healthy fat that supports early brain and nervous system development-especially critical during the first 1,000 days of life.
- Fruit- and veggie-forward ingredients: Choose pouches where real fruits and vegetables are listed first on the ingredient list. This means your little one is actually getting the fiber and antioxidants from whole foods!
- Iron and zinc: Both of these are important nutrients for growth, immune function, and brain development. Babies' need for iron increases at six months, ie: around the time they start solids. Flip the packaging and look at the nutrient facts table-do you spot some iron? Awesome!
- Fiber when possible: Many babies and toddlers fall short on fiber. If the pouch contains ingredients like chia, oats, or veggie blends that naturally boost fiber, that's a great bonus for their developing gut.
- Avoid added sugar and salt: Babies and toddlers don't need extra sugar or sodium-these can interfere with developing taste preferences and aren't recommended in early years.
Why do we love Brainiac?
The product developers at Brainiac follow a mandate we can 100% get behind - follow the science! They look at the research to determine which nutrients have proven benefits and whether babies and kiddos are consuming these nutrients in adequate amounts.
Using this data, they formulate their products to help fill in important nutritional gaps. Currently, these are the nutrients they're focusing on in their Little Brainiac Neuro+ lineup, which is geared towards babies six months and up.
DHA
Short for docosa-hexenoic-acid, DHA is a sub-type of omega 3 fatty acid that's specifically needed to build your baby's brain. Specifically, DHA helps develop vision and parts of the brain that regulate attention, inhibition, and impulsivity.
While there aren't any official daily recommended amounts of DHA for babies, experts suggest babies need about 70 - 100 mg each day. You'll find 35 mg in every Neuro+ pouch. Other sources include seafood and fatty fish like salmon.
Choline
This B-vitamin-like nutrient is getting a lot of spotlight in the nutrition world recently, and for good reason! Choline plays innumerable roles in brain development, including memory. Equally fascinating, researchers are discovering that choline isn't a solo operator: a synergistic effect is seen when the brain receives choline, DHA, and lutein, a nutrient found in many fruits and vegetables.
Each Neuro+ pouch contains 110 mg of choline, which gets you close to the daily recommended intake of 150 mg. Other sources include eggs and tofu!
MFGM
We've got another acronym for you! MFGM stands for milk fat globule membrane. Essentially, this is a protein structure that houses fat in mammalian milk. According to the Journal of Pediatrics, studies on adding MFGM to the diets of infants and children have shown promising results regarding both neurodevelopment and defense against infections.
One pouch in Brainiac's Neuro+ line up will provide 400mg of MFGM. This is equal to what you'd find in three bottles of breastmilk.
Prebiotics
Two of Brainiac's newest flavors to hit the Neuro+ product line (Blueberry Banana Oat & Banana Cinnamon Oat) also contain oat fibre. Oats contain beta glucan, a prebiotic fibre that makes its way to the colon and serves as food to the healthy bacteria in our gut. When you selectively feed the beneficial microorganisms, they in turn provide nutrients that support the gut lining. Strengthening the healthy microorganisms also allows them to better crowd out disease causing microorganisms.
You may be interested in: Infant Probiotics [& everything gut health for baby]
You can find Brainiac at your local Walmart, Whole Foods, Publix, Meijer, Gelsons, and HEB, as well as via Amazon, Thrive Market, Instacart, Hungryroot and more. See store locator here.
Key ingredients
Brainiac Neuro+ Pouch: in this recipe we're using Braniac's Neuro+ Pouch. If you don't have access to this product, you can any other pouch available to you.
Egg: this recipe calls for one egg, and this is the ingredient that will help hold the pancake together. If your baby has an egg allergy, you may be able to use an alternative such as a flax egg.
Oats: you can use quick or large flake oatmeal for this recipe.
Ground flaxseed: be sure to use ground flaxseed because it is easier to digest for your baby, and, your baby is more likely to reap the nutritional benefits of flax this way!
Why do we recommend these healthy pancakes for babies and toddlers?
Babies grow at an incredibly rapid rate! Did you know? Their brain will double in size during the first year. That's an incredible amount of work taking place in the brain and all the firing of neurons!
That growth requires a source of energy…from food! That's where these pancakes come in. The Brainiac pouches (all of them) focus on brain building nutrients that as down-low science geeks we love and you get to offer it to your baby in a really approachable way, like a pancake. Remember, it's only nutrition if our kids are eating it and your baby will definitely love this pancake.
Most of all, these pancakes offer your baby a good bang for each bite in combination with the other ingredients like eggs, ground flaxseed, and oats (yay for more prebiotics!).
And one more thing, since you're a busy parent on the go, we also believe these pancakes would be great for travel days. Imagine having a batch of these on the plane for your baby--nutritious, soft and practical (remember to store with an ice pack!).
How to serve these healthy pancakes at each baby & toddler stage
4-6 months: since soft finger foods are not recommended until infants are at least 6 months old, we suggest that you mush this into a puree or chunky texture with additional pouch contents. You can spoon feed or use a slotted spoon to help your baby self feed
6-9 months: if baby led weaning is the feeding style that is working for you, you'll love this recipe. It's a perfectly soft texture. Simply offer the pancake whole or sliced in half.
9-12 months+ : By this stage, your baby likely has an adorable pincer grasp! This means you can slice the pancakes into small bite sized pieces about the size of a kidney bean! We suggest serving the pancakes alongside a dollop of chia berry sauce - yum!
For the rest of the family: Follow the recipe exactly as suggested. You're welcome to add any additional sweetener if you'd like.
Allergen information & substitutions
This contains an egg which is a top priority allergen according to Health Canada. If your baby has an egg allergy, you may be able to use an alternative such as a flax or chia egg.
It's also important to keep in mind that your pouch may contain an allergen. In this case, we advise that you throughly check the ingredient label to find the best fit.
Stressed about allergens and how to introduce or manage them for your baby? Be sure to view most recent step-by-step recommendations for introducing food allergens to infants, visit our video lesson in Start Solids Confidently, your go-to resource for feeding babies.
Baby Pouch Pancake Recipe FAQ
These pancakes can be safely offered to your baby at 6 months. If you're a big fan of the BLW method you should know these pancakes are very soft in texture and can be munched down by your baby's strong jaw.
Spoonfeeding? That's fine too. You can break apart the pancake and mash it with some additional smoothie and offer it to your baby on a spoon.
While you won't reap the benefit of the additional omega 3, MGFM, and choline, the recipe will work with any purée.
100%! Freeze in a single layer, then add to a ziploc bag. You can easily reheat these on a frying pan, in the toaster, or even an air fryer.
While we haven't tried it, you may be able to use a flax egg to replace the egg in this recipe. Not familiar with this? We've got a full tutorial on how to make a flax egg for you.
Play + books that match this recipe
If pancakes or maybe even this style of pancake is new to your baby, offering opportunities for reading food books and facilitating food play can help them feel more comfortable and confident before eating. Here are a few play based ways to support that:
If you tried this fruit pouch baby pancake or any other recipe on our blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Baby Pouch Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup Brainiac Neuro+ Smoothie *see note for our suggested flavors
- 3 tablespoon quick oats
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
- Cooking oil
Instructions
- Preheat a frying pan over medium low heat.
- Crack the egg into a small bowl and whisk with a fork.
- Stir in the Brainiac Neuro+ Smoothie, oats, and ground flax seeds.
- Allow the batter to rest for five minutes to thicken up.
- Grease the pan, then scoop the batter onto the pan into four pancakes.
- Cook for ~two minutes or until the bottom is a golden brown. Flip and cook for about 1-2 minutes on the second side.
- Allow to cool to safe temperature and serve with the remaining fruit purée either as a spread on top of the pancake or in a bowl for dipping.
- Freeze leftover pancakes and reheat in a frying pan as needed.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Take it from us, as parents with *big kids.* We still make varieties of these pancakes for our kiddos and they love them. This will be a quick n' easy, but more importantly, healthy recipe you'll make for years to come.
Let us know what flavours you use, we'd love to hear from you!
Hi!
Canadian mama here. Just wondering if you know if Braniac has any plans to begin selling their pouches in Canada?
Thanks!
Thanks for tuning into this post. Right now, no current plans but possibly in the future.
Is there any substitute for flax seeds or could you just use some more oats or oat flour?
Yup - you could likely replace with flour or oats!
You mean with only four ingredients I can make such a nutrient packed breakfast for my baby? Unbelievable!
These pancakes were so easy to make. Even better, freezer friendly and a fun way to use up pouches.
This was a great recipe, use an apple pouch i happened to have at home and it worked out great.
Glad to hear the apple pouch worked out.
Love these so much because of how easy they are but so full of nutrients!
These are so easy to make and our baby loves them! I like using a veggie pouch too for a savoury option!
Wow - life changed - love love love the idea of using a savory pouch for this recipe!
This is an incredibly easy recipe and go-to item for us! My little has been eating these since 7months and now at 2years still asks for them! The ability to add things like blue berries or change the flavours by using different pouches keeps them interesting! These pack so well for daycare and are enjoyed hot and fresh or cold as a snack or warmed up! Quick, easy and nutritious so I always feel good giving these to my little (and will probably continue to do so for many many years! I can see this being a great school snack down the road too as it can be so versatile with flavours!)
This is an incredibly easy recipe and go-to item for us! My little has been eating these since 7months and now at 2years still asks for them! The ability to add things like blue berries or change the flavours by using different pouches keeps them interesting! These pack so well for daycare and are enjoyed hot and fresh or cold as a snack or warmed up! I will probably use this recipe for many years to come as I can see this being a great school snack down the road too!
This is the magic we love to hear. Thanks for trusting us and this recipe. We're glad to hear that it's been supportive for your little eater. We recently learned that it's also great with a savory veggie loaded pouch!
Very easy recipe!
Easy = the best!