Who doesn’t love pancakes?
Warm, soft stacks of pancakes piled a mile high covered with maple syrup.
Yum.
No matter how strict you are with your diet, pancakes are always tempting and delicious.
The downside is that pancakes are almost 100 % of the wrong carbohydrates and will easily derail your diet.
Luckily, there are some options out there for those of us who still want pancakes, but don’t want to sabotage ourselves.
Protein pancakes have been popular in recent years amongst the fitness community.
With protein pancakes, you can quite literally have you cake and eat it too!
While most of the recipes out there for protein pancakes are pretty simple, they can still be time-consuming to make.
I don’t feel like buying a bunch of ingredients when I can buy a premade mix that couldn’t be simpler to use.
I’ve been using pancake mixes from a company called Birch Benders for years. They make a variety of different mixes, including a protein mix, which I just recently tried.
I love this mix and it saves me a ton of time when I want to make protein pancakes.
If you are looking for a high protein pancake mix, my Birch Benders protein pancake mix review below is going to tell you everything you could ever want to know about it!
About Birch Benders
Birch Benders is a cool company.
The odds are high that you’ve seen their products in your local grocery store as they’ve started popping up everywhere.
I first found their mixes at Whole Foods a few years ago and never thought they would become so popular.
I should’ve known better than because people love pancakes.
Birch Benders is a small company based out of Colorado that call themselves a “micro pancakery”.
They make health-conscious pancake and waffle mixes that adapt to a variety of diets including keto, paleo and plant-based.
The best part about their mixes? You only need to add water.
They give you literally every other ingredient you need in the mix so it couldn’t be easier to make.
I am by no means a chef and I have zero issue making these pancakes.
Their mixes are free of artificial ingredients of any kind.
Depending on which mix you buy will depend on the ingredients.
The paleo mixes for example are grain, gluten and soy free.
I love these mixes because no matter what diet I’m on, I can make these fit into it without feeling guilty.
Protein Mix
I’ve been on a standard high-protein low-fat diet since I stopped doing the keto diet.
While it’s more flexible, I’ve been eating a lot of the same things.
I’ve been eating egg whites and oatmeal almost every day for breakfast and I was getting a bit sick of it.
The diet that I’ve been following gives an option for having protein pancakes for breakfast as long as they fit the parameters of the diet.
I honestly forgot Birch Benders made a protein mix until I saw them in the store.
It was perfect timing because I had been looking up recipes for protein pancakes the day before, but they seemed a little too involved.
I don’t want to buy 6 ingredients to mix together when I can just buy this mix and add water.
I was ecstatic to find that their protein mix was low-fat along with being high in protein.
It’s also pretty low in sugar and uses unbleached wheat flour as it’s carbohydrate base.
All the Birch Benders mixes can be used to make either pancakes or waffles.
I’m sure if you are creative you can find other things to make with them as well.
How to make
I wish I could sound cool and breakdown some complicated process for you with these pancakes, but I can’t.
To make them you literally have to open the bag, measure out the mix and add the right amount of water.
There is a guide on the back of the bag that tells you how to figure out how much water to add so you can’t even screw that up.
The only way you could probably screw these up is by overcooking them, which I’ve done.
Unlike other mixes, you don’t need to add any ingredients of your own.
After you mix everything up, you just cook them on a pan for a few minutes as you would with normal pancakes.
You can also use a waffle maker if you are making waffles.
Be warned that these pancakes cook fast.
If I let the pan heat up enough, it usually takes about a minute each side before they’re done.
Taste
Now on to the important part.
So, how do they taste?
I think they taste really good.
Despite being made out of different ingredients that normal pancakes, they are very comparable in taste.
They don’t have that odd protein taste that every protein bar and food has.
They taste like normal pancakes and I wouldn’t even guess that they were protein pancakes if someone fed them to me in a restaurant.
These pancakes have been a great way to add some variety to my breakfasts.
I’ve been making them a few days a week which is more than I planned on originally.
I am going to buy the 3-pack next as I can see that these are going to be a diet staple for me!
Consistency
I had some concern when I first tried Birch Benders mixes that they would not come out like normal pancakes.
I was expecting them to come out a little flat or inflated.
That hasn’t been the case at all.
These pancakes come out just like normal pancakes.
They are light, fluffy and easy to eat.
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients for the Birch Benders protein mix:
Unbleached wheat flour, whey protein concentrate (whey protein concentrate, lecithin) evaporated cane sugar, vital wheat gluten, leavening (monocalcium phospate, sodium bicarbonate, non-gmo corn starch), eggs, salt, natural flavor.
Contains: wheat, egg, milk, soy.
That’s it for ingredients. No garbage or artificial ingredients. Nothing you will feel bad about eating.
As you can see it does have common allergens like wheat and egg, so you will want to avoid it if you have issues with that.
If you do have food allergies, I would highly recommend trying one of their other mixes like the paleo one.
There is truly a pancake mix for everyone with Birch Benders.
Keto chocolate chip anyone?
Nutrition
Here is the nutrition breakdown for the protein mix:
Calories- 180
Total fat- 1.5g
Saturated fat- 0.5g
Cholesterol- 40 mg
Sodium- 290 mg
Total carbohydrate- 26 g
Dietary fiber- 1g
Total sugar- 6g
Protein- 16g
The only concern with this is if you are on a low-car diet, but it’s not even bad when compared to other pancakes mixes.
Price
You will usually pay around $6.00 a bag for this mix.
According to Birch Benders, each mix makes around 20 medium-sized pancakes, so I think that’s a fair price.
If you bought each of these ingredients separately, you would definitely be paying more than $6.00, although you’d get more pancakes for less in the long run.
Do you really want to do that though?
I know that I don’t.
Birch Benders has taken every step to make this mix as simple and convenient as possible.
I am all about convenience and simplicity!
Why I love this mix
The three words I would use to sum up why I love this mix are convenience, ingredients and nutrition.
Within minutes, I can make a breakfast that fits my diet and won’t cause me unnecessary guilt.
It uses a good source of carbohydrates and has a good amount of protein in it.
This mix makes breakfast so much easier for me and I am extremely grateful that Birch Benders makes such great products.
I honestly cannot think of a negative for this product aside from the fact that it goes too fast!
If you like protein pancakes, I highly recommend giving these a shot.
For the convenience and price, you really can’t beat them.
I definitely have to rate this mix as delicious.
I will be buying many more bags of Birch Benders protein mix as long as they continue to make it.
Stay pumped,
Dan
P.S. Have you ever tried this mix or any of the other great ones by Birch Benders? I’ve love to hear your thoughts, questions and comments below!
I thought about having some pancakes, heard about the mix, decided to give it a quick google search, and bam! Here they are! These sound fantastic. For just six bucks, twenty pancakes, nuts! Honestly, I don’t even know how to make the real pancakes, so this is perfect for me. Besides, it’s protein pancake, so it’s going to be a fantastic after-workout meal when I’m in a hurry or just lazy to make something else. Thanks for reviewing this brand, man. Much appreciated!
They are pretty awesome Ivan and couldn’t be easier to make! I’d love to hear your thoughts on them if you end up trying them. I really think that you will enjoy them! You’re very welcome. Thanks for your comment and thanks for stopping by!
Great review! It’s nice to know there’s an easy to use mix instead of all the different ingredients needed for most recipes.
Thank you Karen! They are very easy to make! Thanks for your comment and thanks for stopping by!
Oh, we love pancakes, we frequently have “pancake Saturday”. Well, we actually have them any Saturday we are home in the mornings and not rushed! 🙂
We have been looking for something that is a little healthier and these sound great! We live in a rural area and I have never heard of or seen this brand. The company sounds cool and we like to support smaller independent if possible.
Based on your review, we will give them a try.
I know the syrup isn’t great for us but I feel better about it if the pancakes are healthier.
Thanks so much!
Lisa
What a great idea Lisa! I need to have a pancake Saturday. Well I guess I technically did today because I just made these again LOL. I really think that you will enjoy them. Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes I put a little syrup on! I’d love to hear your thoughts on them. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comment!
Wow, these pancakes seem like the real deal! I also love pancakes and waffles for breakfast, but I usually have that guilty feeling whenever I eat them. I’ve been looking for these types of options that actually taste good. I’m currently using Kodiak Cakes mix and pre-made waffles, they’re not the worst but they are more on the dry side, which causes me to add more syrup which negates any benefits haha. But I will have to give these a try when my current supply runs out. Thanks for the great article!
Same here Dereck, which is why I love these! I don’t get that feeling afterwards. I wouldn’t eat them every single day, but you probably could and be fine as long as the rest of your diet is good. Kodaik mix is also awesome! I just bought a big box and am planning on doing a review of them in the near future. While those taste good, these taste different and I think I might like these more. I need to have the Kodiak cakes a few more times to make a final decision. Both are awesome though. You’re welcome! Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comment!
Gee, thanks. Now I want pancakes!!! I would ask you to make me some, but I’m gluten-intolerant. 🙁
So if you want to make me pancakes, you’ll have to buy a different mix. Why can’t I live next to a micro pancakery?
My son is really into the whole protein diet, so I’m going to have him read this; he loves pancakes!
You’re welcome Cathy LOL. They do make a gluten-free version, but they are not of the same protein variety. Wouldn’t it be great to live next to one? I’d much rather live next to one of those than a micro brewery LOL. I hope he likes them! Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comment!