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3 novembre 2017
One difficulty that I regularly experience before my runs and races is the breakfast step: it’s essential to always watch out about not eating too much, choosing the right foods that will give long-term energy, are easily digestible, or not too fat… Fortunately those healthy banana & buckwheat pancakes for runners passed the crash test with success, as pre-training breakfast as well as pre-race breakfast.
They are easily digestible, even if you choose to eat the whole stack by your own, as I do every single time. The beaten egg whites enable to get more pancakes, which are more fluffy, while staying quite light. Buckwheat four is perfect for runners as it’s perfectly digestible and won’t bother the physical effort as it’s also gluten-free, while being rich in proteins. Its glycemic index is relatively low, which is perfect to obtain balanced pancakes after adding bananas. I usually top them with a few extra banana slices as well as a drizzle of honey for an indulgent touch.
For those who are still doubting about the credibility of those healthy banana & buckwheat pancakes before a race, I made them before my last 10K race a few weeks ago, at which I also smashes a new PR of 43′ without any craving nor digestion uncomfort. Just watch out about eating 3h before the physical effort – at least for races – to not be bothered when you’ll be running.
I’m always very critic when it comes to healthy alternatives to cookies, pancakes or cake recipes for breakfast. I often find them quite bland, ugly, or just totally not matching what they promise to look like – that’s actually the case for many banana pancake recipes that involve only bananas, oats and eggs for ingredients; I don’t know about you but in my case they never looked even close to what they look like on Instagram or Pinterest when I tried to make them at home.
However, I found the good balance in my recipe to make it nourishing and tasty enough while being healthy and adapted for a sport diet, and I have to admit that in spite of being called healthy banana & buckwheat pancakes for runners, I got used to make them on weekends lately, even though I don’t train after.
More recipes with buckwheat:
5 perfect carbs for runners
Buckwheat, smoked salmon, avocado, raspberry & mint salad
Rosemary buckwheat toasts with sheep cheese & wild blueberries
Ingredients
- 70g buckwheat flour
- 1,5 ripe banana (150g)
- 2 big eggs
- 100ml cow or soy milk
- 1tbsp coconut butter
- 1/2tsp baking powder
- 1/2tsp cinnamon
- A pinch of salt
Instructions
- 1. In a salad bowl, stir flour, baking powder and cinnamon together. Add banana, coconut butter, milk and egg yolks into a blender bowl, then blend until you get a smooth banana purée.
- 2. Add banana purée to dry ingredients and stir well to obtain a creamy texture. Add a dash of extra milk if needed.
- 3. In a bowl, whip up egg whites with a pinch of salt. When firm, add half egg whites to the pancake dough and stir delicately with a spatula, trying to not break them. Add the other half, and stir until foamy and homogeneous.
- 4. Heat a slightly greased frying-pan on medium fire. When hot, add half a ladle pancake dough to the frying pan and bake for a few minutes.
- 5. When the pancakes start to bubble and get a nice golden color on the lower side, flip it and bake for another 30 seconds to 1 minutes. Set aside on a cooling rack. Repeat process until you run out of dough. Serve warm, topped with extra banana slices, a dollop of greek yogurt and a drizzle of honey for instance.
