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This paleo dutch baby takes less than half an hour start to finish, making it the perfect treat for weekday mornings. Whip one up for your valentine this week!
Ready to switch things up? Try my new chocolate paleo dutch baby recipe!
A couple of weeks ago I shared a picture of a cranberry dutch baby on Instagram, and people got really excited. Several people messaged me asking for the recipe early because they couldn’t wait until I posted it on here to make it. I can understand the excitement–these paleo dutch babies are pretty fabulous, especially because they’re simple to make in less than half an hour.
I have to be at work at 7:45 on Wednesday mornings, and I often roll out of bed at 6:15 and whip one of these up. Just because it’s early on a weekday doesn’t mean we don’t have time to make a hearty and indulgent breakfast!
This paleo dutch baby is a streamlined, small-batch version of the German Apple Pancake from my cookbook, Paleo Planet. I find myself making this weekday morning variation much more often than the original–so often, in fact, that I have the ingredients and quantities memorized. If you have a two-tablespoon measure (otherwise known as a standard coffee scoop!), the process is especially easy.
We start with a pat of butter in a cast iron skillet, which goes straight into the oven to warm up. If you’re making the cranberry version, you’ll add the cranberries and a little sugar to the pan as soon as the butter is melted. If you’re making the plain version, just let the buttered skillet hang out in the oven until the batter is ready.
A cereal bowl is big enough for mixing up this small amount of batter. If you’re using your two-tablespoon measure, here’s what you’ll need: three scoops of the milk of your choice, two scoops of almond flour, one scoop of tapioca flour, and half a scoop of sugar (of course, you’ll find precise measurements in the recipe card below). Three-two-one-1/2…easy, right? Add a pinch of salt, two eggs, and a scant capful each of vanilla and lemon extract.
The lemon extract is optional and I know many of you don’t have it stocked in your kitchen. However, I highly recommend getting some–it rounds out the flavors of this paleo dutch baby perfectly. Imagine the flavor and fragrance of a lemon without any of the sour taste; that’s what you get from lemon extract!
I use it all the time for baking and even for cocktails. It’s my secret weapon for making my mocha ricotta pie, blueberry buttermilk ice cream, and grain-free carrot cake extra delicious. Rodelle is my go-to for both lemon and vanilla extracts. The pure flavors of their extracts make me feel like I’m dipping into little bottles of magic.
Back to the paleo dutch baby: once you have the batter ready, you carefully pour it into the hot skillet. Adding the batter to a hot, hot pan is crucial to getting the kind of puffy edges we’re looking for here. If you’re making the cranberry version, the batter will move the cranberries around as it floods the skillet. I usually just spread them out quickly with a spatula before putting the skillet back in the oven.
As for which version I prefer, I’d be really hard pressed to choose. Ben prefers the plain version, but I enjoy the hit of brightness that cranberries provide, and like feeling virtuous about the added antioxidants. There are also infinite other variations: use fresh peaches or strawberries instead of the cranberries, top a plain baby with fresh fruit, go with the original apple…the possibilities are endless.
Hope you find the time to share this paleo dutch baby with someone you love this Valentine’s Day!
If you’re interested in the new chocolate version of this paleo dutch baby, check it out right here.
Weekday Morning Paleo Dutch Baby (Cranberry or Plain)
This paleo dutch baby takes less than half an hour start to finish, making it the perfect treat for weekday mornings.
Ingredients
For the cranberries:
- 1 tablespoon ghee*
- 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
- Sprinkling of cardamom to taste (optional)
For the dutch baby:
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
- Pinch of sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk of choice (dairy, almond, etc.)
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
For serving:
- Maple syrup and ghee or butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the butter in an 8-inch ovenproof skillet (or two 4-inch skillets) and put the skillet in the oven to melt the butter. If you’re making the cranberry version, sprinkle the cranberries, sugar, and cardamom on top of the melted butter and return the skillet to the oven. The cranberries will begin to cook while you prepare the batter. If you’re making a plain dutch baby, just add the butter only and let the pan stay in the oven until you’re ready to pour the batter in.
- In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk all the dutch baby ingredients together until smooth. Carefully remove the skillet from the oven and slowly pour the batter in. If you’re using cranberries, you may want to quickly rearrange them with a spatula so they’re evenly distributed. Put the pan back in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, until the dutch baby is puffed and browned around the edges. Slice into wedges and serve hot, topped with butter or ghee and maple syrup if desired.
Notes
*You can also use butter instead of ghee.
Recommended Products
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 servings Serving Size: 1 servingAmount Per Serving: Calories: 627Total Fat: 50gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 37gCholesterol: 204mgSodium: 443mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 10gSugar: 8gProtein: 22g
The nutrition label provided is an estimate for informational purposes only and may not be accurate. I am not a nutritionist or medical professional.
Thank you to Rodelle for providing products for use in this post!
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Okay, I just got done making and eating this!! It was a total hit and easy! Thanks so much!!
Oh wow! What a flavour poppa, I used organic dried cranberries and apricots with no added sugar, it was full of cardamom fruity flavour emphasised by the lemon essence. A real winner and now thinking what I can do with savoury options. Thanks so much for sharing cheers Margie
This was so good! I made it today and just finished eating it. Thank you for such an easy and delicious recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it! You’re very welcome!
Hi I finally had to comment to say that I found your Dutch Baby recipe about 6 months ago and it became an instant family favorite!! We now do three pans at a time (we are a family of five) and we have it about once every two weeks! My husband and daughters would love to have it everyday!! The addition of the lemon extract and the cardamom with the cranberries is simply perfect! Thank you so much for this. I now use lemon extract in other dessert dishes that have fruit in them, it just makes the flavor pop!!
I’m so happy you like it! I make it with my daughter about once a week and we do a triple recipe now. Lemon extract is such a great discovery, right?!
Made this today and it puffed up BEAUTIFULLY!! Even better than my regular gluten free Dutch babies!! I wish I could post a photo!
Yay, I’m so glad! I’m not sure if I could enable photos on here but if you’re on Instagram you can tag me there @acalculatedwhisk (https://www.instagram.com/acalculatedwhisk/). I’d love to see it!
Hi, I’m looking to make this soon but can’t eat butter or ghee. Have you ever tried it with coconut oil or vegan butter?
Thanks!
I haven’t but I feel pretty sure that it will work! Hope you enjoy!
The first time I made Dutch baby using cold eggs and milk, it did not puff up like it should. Then I realized the eggs and milk needed to be at room temperature. Many Dutch baby recipes state to use “room temperature eggs and milk.” I’ve only made it since that way (which is why it has always taken me a long time to make…). Your recipe (among a few others, I encountered) does not state warm eggs or milk. What do you know about the necessity of using room temperature eggs and milk?
Ps. I, too, wanted to use coconut flour but I read your response to another reviewer to use arrowroot starch instead. I’ll have to try that one. Thanks!
I always make this with cold eggs and milk and it always puffs up! I will try with room temp soon to see if maybe it puffs up even more. In my experience, if the oven and pan are hot enough and the mixture is whisked thoroughly, it puffs up well. (I have noticed that if you eliminate the sugar completely it doesn’t seem to rise as much.)
i always just microwave both eggs and milk in 5 second intervals and stir til room temp, puffs up amazing and should take no longer an extra 3 minutes, just be careful, you can cook your eggs fast!
Could I use coconut flour instead of the tapioca flour?
That might not work well because coconut flour absorbs much more liquid than tapioca flour. If you need another option, you can use arrowroot starch instead of the tapioca.
Delicious! Made this today and I really enjoyed it with the almond flour. I reduced the coconut sugar by about 1/2 Next time I will leave it out entirely. It’s got a perfectly lovely flavor with the vanilla and almond! The sugar makes it tasty but also seems unnecessary to me personally. Thanks for the lemon extract idea, it’s on my shopping list now!
I’m so glad you like it! I sometimes make this with half the sugar or no sugar as well and it definitely still works and is delicious. I think it may not puff up as nicely around the edges with no sweetener at all but am still testing to determine if that is really because of the lack of sugar or perhaps because of other factors like small variations in oven temperature. Hope you love it with the lemon extract, too!
I just made this for breakfast today and wow! I wish I could share a photo of how amazingly it puffed—just as a Dutch baby should. Easy and delicious!
Yay, I’m so happy you liked it!
Looks absolutely delicious I will be making this very soon and being paleo even makes it better. Thanks
Thanks! Hope you like it! I make these all the time.
I want to try this tomorrow morning. I happen to have some orange extract in my pantry — and some fresh lemons — but no lemon extract. Could i sub either the orange extract or a bit lemon juice/grated lemon rind for the lemon extract? Which one would be better? Or should I just do without? thx
Hi Donna! It’s still good without the lemon extract and while I haven’t tried orange, I bet that would be a great sub. You can also definitely add up to a teaspoon or so of finely grated lemon zest to the batter–I do that sometimes instead of extract and it’s great. I wouldn’t use lemon juice with cranberries since they’re already so sour, and would be a little careful with the juice even if you’re making the plain version, since lemon juice is so tart and lemon extract isn’t at all. (However, I have an oven pancake in my cookbook Paleo Planet with apples instead of cranberries, and I toss the apple slices in lemon juice since they’re so sweet that the tartness works for them). Long story short, I’d try it with orange extract and a little lemon zest if I were you. Hope you love it!
Greta reply! Thank you so much. I’m making it now….
So it came out great. I made the plain version, with orange extract and a bit of lemon zest. Thanks for the recipe and for the help. I’ll check out your website. This is the first one of your recipe I’ve tried.
Yay, so happy you liked it! I’m going to try it with orange extract next time. Hope you enjoy the other recipes! Thanks so much for coming back and letting me know how it went.
can i use CANNED COCONUT MILK??? if so, i’m assuming to not refrigerate it and leave it at room temp to measure??
Yes, that should work, but it’s best to water it down a little since it’s so thick. Add enough water so that it’s about the consistency of regular whole milk or just a little thicker. You definitely don’t need to refrigerate it!
This looks amazing!! I have made gf Dutch babies
With Pamela’s gf flour mix, always use a Pyrex dish (full recipe)… question, how can I make this without a
Cast iron pan? Will it be as tasty?!
Terri, you can make this in any ovenproof skillet of a similar size (one 8″ skillet or two 4″ skillets), or you can double the recipe and make it in a 10-12″ skillet. Just make sure the skillet isn’t super shallow. I’m not sure how much your Pyrex holds, but you could definitely play around with making it in there, too!
I have never tried to make a dutch baby, but LOVED them when traveling in Europe! You make it look easy, I’ll have to try!
Hope you do try it, Amy–so easy and fun!
This looks incredible, and I absolutely love cranberry baked goods in the morning!
Thanks, Kari! Me too–such a nice bright and healthy start to the day!
That cranberry one looks divine!
Thank you so much! Cranberry is such a vibrant and punchy addition here!
This looks so good that it makes me think I’ve died and gone to Heaven..
Hope you give it a try! 🙂
A delicious way to begin the morning…
Yes, and super easy, too! 🙂
You make it sound so easy, Becky! I love the cranberry one with the great pop of color. These look so good!
Thank you so much! Hope you give it a try!
These Dutch Babies look awesome. I have not them since I was a kid. Would be nice to have them again.
Thanks so much, Stacey! Looks like a lot of people ate dutch babies as kids and haven’t had them since. Time to bring these babies back!!
I haven’t had a chance to try dutch baby recipe but it looks so good ! My husband’s birthday is coming up and I think I will make this for his birthday breakfast !! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe !
This would make a great birthday breakfast! Let me know what he thinks!
Swoon! I haven’t had a Dutch Baby since my mom passed away. She made them for me as a young girl and for holiday breakfasts. I love them so much and have been missing them. I’m so excited to see your Paleo version and it’s so lovely with those cranberries! LOVE this so much!
Thank you so much, Emily! What a sweet holiday tradition you had with your mom.
I grew up eating Dutch Babies. Totally remind me of my childhood. This looks amazing!
Thank you, Katja! I feel kind of nostalgic about these, too–my mom and I used to make them with a recipe we’d clipped from the newspaper. Eventually we lost track of the clip and didn’t make them again until the advent of the Internet!
I don’t think I have ever actually had a dutch baby, so I’m definitely interested in trying this one out! Looks so delicious!
You’re going to love it! One of my very favorite breakfasts.
I have been dreaming about dutch babies ever since watching an Epicure Magazine video on them,… and you have made them, perfect and paleo!! It’s so going down. Thank you!
Yay! Let me know what you think when you try it!
That is way easier than I thought it would be!
It really is SO easy–dangerously easy, in fact. 😉
I can tell you have perfected this dish! It looks so perfect! I make a similar one – much more basic and probably far less tasty – but it never comes out looking as good as that. Great recipe!
Thanks so much, Mark! Hope you give this version a try!
Omgggggg cannot even. Yum!
Thank you, Rachel! This is one of my all-time favorites (as in I make it all the time!).