The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes

I am so pleased to introduce our recipe for The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes!  What’s unique about this recipe?  For one thing, it produces pancakes that contain ~75% less sodium than regular pancakes.  They are also baking powder-free, making them kidney-friendly as well!

But most importantly, The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes are light & fluffy & taste great!  Like seriously “melt in your mouth” great!

Jump to:

• The Significance of a baking powder-free pancake
• Regular pancakes & sodium
• High Sodium Ingredients in regular pancakes
• Regular pancakes & phosphorus
• The problem with baking powder alternatives
• The “Secret Ingredient” in the Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes
• The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes—low sodium & kidney-friendly!
• Ingredients in the Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes Recipe
• Tips to ensure The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes are fluffy!
• Serving Suggestions of The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes
• Enjoy!
• The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes

The Significance of a baking powder-free pancake

Virtually ALL pancakes, whether made using a recipe or from a mix, contain baking powder.  So, the fact that The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes recipe is baking powder-free is a huge deal for a couple of reasons:

1. Baking powder is high in sodium.  So, a recipe without it automatically cuts back on the sodium content.
2. Baking Powder is full of phosphate additives! This means that it could cause high blood phosphorus levels for many people with kidney disease.

Let’s talk a little more about the sodium & phosphorus in the typical pancakes.

Regular pancakes & sodium

A ~ 100 gram (~ 3 ½ ounce) portion of homemade buttermilk pancakes contains 522 grams of sodium! The same serving size of prepared pancakes from a mix contains 628 mg of sodium!

To put this in context, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, & National Kidney Foundation recommend a daily sodium limit of 1500-2300 mg for healthy adults.  For those with certain chronic health conditions such as heart disease & kidney disease, a limit of 1500 mg per day is often recommended.

Therefore, one serving of regular pancakes would provide roughly one-quarter to one-third of the recommended daily intake of sodium. That's a huge chunk of your sodium budget to start off your day!

In contrast, The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes contain only 137 mg sodium for about the same-size portion!  This is just a fraction of the sodium in the typical pancakes!

High Sodium Ingredients in regular pancakes

The sodium in typical pancakes comes from many different ingredients:

• Salt—A typical pancake recipe might call for ½ teaspoon of salt.  This weighs in at a whopping ~1150 mg of sodium!
• Baking Powder—As mentioned, baking powder is a major source of sodium in most pancakes.  Many pancake recipes use 2 or 3 teaspoons of  baking powder which totals almost 1000-1500 mg of sodium!
• Baking Soda-- Many pancake recipes use baking soda as an additional leavening agent, which contains 1260 mg sodium per teaspoon!
• Buttermilk is an ingredient in many pancake recipes.  Buttermilk contains 363 mg of sodium/cup.
• Salted butter is used as the fat source in many pancake recipes. One stick (½ cup) of salted butter contains a whopping ~ 720 mg of sodium!

Regular pancakes & phosphorus

As we mentioned above, the biggest source of phosphorus, particularly phosphate additives, in most pancakes is baking powder.   It is for that reason that this article will mainly focus on baking powder when discussing phosphorus in pancakes.

The typical pancake recipe that includes 2 or 3 teaspoons of double acting baking powder contains ~400-600 mg phosphorus in the form of additives.  In contrast, our Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes are phosphate additive-free!

Organic vs. Inorganic phosphorus

However, it's not just the amount of phosphorus in the baking powder that's a concern for many with kidney disease. In fact, there isn’t a huge difference in the phosphorus content in one serving of the typical homemade pancakes (139 mg) compared to the phosphorus in The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes (115 mg).

However, when it comes to being kidney-friendly, it's the type of phosphorus that really makes the difference!

Baking powder contains inorganic phosphorus, or phosphate additives, 90% of which are absorbed by the body. In contrast, organic phosphorus, or phosphorus found naturally in food, is absorbed at a much lower rate. This is especially true for plant sources of phosphorus.

So, for many with kidney disease, phosphate additives could cause their blood phosphorus levels to be too high.  

The problem with baking powder alternatives

As discussed above, baking powder in most pancakes is a problem for many due to both its sodium & phosphate-additive content.  So, the logical solution might seem to be to use one of the baking powder alternatives on the market. 

However, many of these alternatives have their own set of concerns! 

• Some baking powder alternatives may be lower sodium or even sodium-free, but still contain phosphate additives.
• Reduced sodium baking powder can still contribute significant sodium to a recipe.   
• Availability & cost are legitimate concerns for all of the baking powder alternatives.

Below, we’ll briefly discuss these concerns in relation to some popular products:

Hain Pure Foods Featherweight Sodium-Free baking powder

Haines Pure Foods Featherweight sodium-free baking powder has been a popular alternative for those baking low sodium.  However, there’s a few things to consider about this product:

• Availability: Although at the time that this article was published there has not been an official announcement, the company has responded to inquiries that they have stopped production of this product. 
• Cost: Even if you are able find it, this product is currently over 10x the cost of regular baking powder!
• Contains phosphate additives: This product still contains phosphate additives & is therefore not a good alternative for many with kidney disease. 

Rumford®️ Reduced Sodium Baking Powder

• Cost: This product is more expensive than regular baking powder.
• Phosphate additives:  It contains 2 different types of phosphate additives.
• Can still contribute significant sodium: At 35 mg of sodium per ⅛ of a teaspoon, that might not sound like much.  However, many pancake recipes contain 3 teaspoons of baking powder. This comes out to 840 mg of sodium!

Ener-G™️ Sodium-Free Baking Powder

This product is sodium-free & phosphate additive-free.  Therefore, for many, it could be a good alternative to regular baking powder.  However, there are a few things to consider:

• Availability:  Possibly because of the scarcity of the Hain’s, this product is currently very hard to find, often marked as “sold out” or “unavailable” on-line.
• Cost: If you are able to actually find it, it tends to be very expensive--perhaps more so now that there seems to be a higher demand.  One on-line supplier I found wouldn’t even sell it unless you purchased $100 of products from their site! 

The “Secret Ingredient” in the Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes

It’s for the above reasons that I was determined that The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes would not only be made with low salt ingredients, but that it would NOT contain baking powder/ baking powder alternatives.  However, I soon learned that the latter would NOT be an easy task!

I experimented with several low sodium pancake recipes that were duds! Luckily, all that changed when I came across an old waffle recipe that was passed on to me by my grandma!

Surprisingly, the recipe did not use baking powder!  You see, just like most pancake recipes, virtually all waffle recipes contain baking powder.  

Interestingly, the main leavening agent in the recipe is egg whites beat until they form stiff peaks, which are then carefully folded into the batter!  The result is a light & airy masterpiece!

This led to me wonder:  if egg whites work for leavening for waffles, why wouldn’t they have the same effect in pancakes?  So, I did some experimentation, made a few tweaks to the waffle recipe, &…. voila!  The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes (using egg whites as the main leavening agent) were born!

The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes—low sodium & kidney-friendly!

Our recipe for Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes uses carefully selected ingredients resulting in pancakes that contain the following per ~ 3 ounce serving (2 pancakes):

• 137 mg of sodium
• 115 mg of phosphorus (no phosphate additives)
• 131 mg of potassium

Ingredients in the Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes Recipe

Salt, an ingredient in the original waffle recipe, was eliminated as in ingredient in The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes recipe.  Below are the ingredients used in the recipe:

• All-purpose flour
• Sugar-- The sugar gives just a touch of sweetness.
• Vanilla extract-- This was not in the original waffle recipe.  However, I added it to help compensate for some of the flavor lost from the removal of salt.
• Melted unsalted butter—You can substitute with your favorite oil in a pinch, but the butter does add richness to the recipe.
• Baking Soda—Only ¼ teaspoon of baking soda is used in this recipe.  This adds 63 mg of sodium per serving, or about half of the sodium in the recipe.  However, unlike baking powder, baking soda does not contain phosphate additives.
• Milk w/ vinegar—Soured milk, created by mixing a small amount of vinegar to milk, is a lower sodium alternative to buttermilk
• Egg yolks—The egg yolks add richness to the pancakes.
• Egg whites—This is the “secret ingredient”, or the star of the recipe!  The egg whites, which are beat to stiff peaks, are the main leavening agent in the recipe. Without the egg whites, the pancakes would be flat & dense! 

Tips to ensure The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes are fluffy!

In order for the Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes to have the sought after light & fluffy texture, several key factors need to come together:

• Baking soda & milk/vinegar reaction—Baking soda is alkaline & needs to react with an acid to create air bubbles for leavening.  The acidity of the soured milk serves this purpose. 

*For another recipe that uses soured milk & baking soda for leavening, check out our recipe for Low Sodium Cornbread (Kidney-Friendly).

• Whip egg whites to stiff peaks—The egg whites MUST be whipped until stiff peaks are formed for ultimate "fluffiness".  No more, no less.  You can learn more about beating egg whites to stiff peaks here.
• Gently, gradually fold in the egg whites—The egg whites are gently folded into the batter a little at a time.   If they are mixed in too aggressively, the structure of the egg whites will break down & they will not deliver the desired volume.
• Cook right away! Have your griddle or skillet heating so the pancakes can be made right after the egg whites are folded in.  The longer the batter sits, the less fluffy they’ll be!

Serving Suggestions of The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes

If you’d like a change from the typical butter & syrup, below are some low sodium & kidney-friendly serving suggestions!

• For a nice, hearty breakfast, or "breakfast for dinner", serve with our Easy Low Sodium Sausage!
• With a side of fresh berries or fruit
• With eggs prepared your favorite way
• With low sodium & kidney-friendly toppings such as: fruit (berries, peaches, pineapple, coconut, applesauce), fruited pie-filling, jam, powdered sugar, whipped cream & sprinkles.
• With low sodium & kidney-friendly “add-ins” such as: sprinkles, fruit (berries, apples, pineapple, coconut, applesauce, peaches), ½ c pumpkin (adds ~ 40 mg potassium/serving) & pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon

Enjoy!

Our delicious, “melt-in-your-mouth” Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes are low in sodium, potassium & phosphorus.  In addition, due to the absence of baking powder, they are also phosphorus additive-free! 

The “star of the show” in this recipe is the egg whites which are beat to stiff peaks & gently folded into the batter right before grilling.  This creates a surprisingly light & airy pancake that will rival any pancake made the traditional way!

Give The Ultimate Low Sodium Pancakes a try!  I’m sure you’ll agree they live up to their name!