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Wondering how to make pancakes from scratch? This easy recipe makes fluffy homemade pancakes that come together in less than 30 minutes. Get ready to dig into a stack of the best pancakes you’ve ever had!
Pancakes are one of my all-time favorite breakfast ideas. This easy pancake recipe makes fluffy pancakes just begging to be stacked tall and drenched in maple syrup. I like to serve them with fresh fruit like blueberries and strawberries, which is the twins favorite combo. In fact, this pancake recipe is so easy that I’ve been making it for them before their swimming lessons early in the morning!
Why You’ll Love This Pancakes Recipe
- Simple ingredients. They are easy to throw together and are made with ingredients you typically already have in your kitchen.
- Flexible. They are easy to change up with different mix-ins and toppings. Add some chocolate chips or fresh blueberries to the batter, or serve the finished pancakes with everything from maple syrup to whipped cream.
- Fluffy! These pancakes come out tender and fluffy. Think of the best stack of pancakes you’ve ever had at a diner. That’s these pancakes.
- Can be made ahead. Did you know you can make a batch of pancakes on Sunday, then store them in the fridge for easy weekday breakfasts? They also freeze well. More on all this below.
What You’ll Need
Making pancakes from scratch only requires a few simple ingredients. (You can even use this recipe to make a DIY pancake mix ahead of time – see details later in this post.)
To make homemade pancakes you will need:
- All-purpose flour – I haven’t tested this with whole wheat flour.
- Sugar – The recipe calls for regular white sugar, but you could also use light brown sugar.
- Baking Powder – This helps the pancakes rise and achieve a super fluffy texture.
- Salt – Adding salt to recipes in moderation can enhance the sweetness.
- Egg – This also makes the pancakes fluffy while also supporting the structure of the pancake.
- Milk – Any kind of milk will do, including plant based milks.
- Butter – I prefer to use unsalted butter. If you are using salted butter you may need to adjust the amount of salt used separately.
- Vanilla – Always use pure vanilla extract.
That’s it! Odds are you already have most of this in your kitchen. These pancakes were meant to be.
How to Make Homemade Pancakes from Scratch
So now that I’ve told you these are easy, fluffy and delicious, let’s talk about how to make them.
- Combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately. Mix the wet ingredients in a medium bowl. Use a large bowl for the dry ingredients.
- Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Gently fold them together. You don’t want to do this too brusquely or overdo it. It can over develop the gluten in flour and end up giving you dense, tough pancakes. You’ll end up with some lumps in your batter and that’s ok.
- Heat the griddle. Let the batter rest while you heat your griddle or pan. Give the batter another little stir before using it and you’ll notice any remaining lumps will break up a bit.
- Cook your pancakes. Spoon batter onto your griddle about 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup at a time, depending on how large you want your pancakes to be.
- Flip. You’ll know they are ready to be flipped when they’ve got bubbles coming through the top and the edges are set. I usually cook them until they are just about done, so after I flip them, they just need a little more time to finish cooking the other side so that it’s golden.
- Dig in! Finally, serve your pancakes warm with your favorite maple syrup!
Options Mix-In Ideas
One of the best things about making homemade pancakes from scratch is that you can add some of your favorite mix-ins. Here are some ideas:
- Chocolate chips
- Fresh blueberries or raspberries
- Crispy cooked bacon that’s chopped into pieces.
- Sprinkles
- Lemon zest
Tips for Success
- Check the date on your baking powder: Baking powder is the leavening agent that makes these pancakes super fluffy. Baking powder expires though, so make sure you check the expiration date.
- Don’t over mix. Be sure not to over mix your pancake batter so that you don’t get tough, dense pancakes. Lumps are ok.
- Use a flat cooking surface. For a nice looking pancake, cook on a flat surface. A griddle is preferable.
- Make smaller pancakes. Don’t make your pancakes too large, or they’ll be difficult to flip.
- When to flip a pancake: Your pancakes are ready to be flipped when you see plenty of bubbles coming through the surface and the edges are set.
- Keeping pancakes warm: I like to preheat my oven to 200F and place a baking sheet inside the oven with a rack on top. Then I place the pancakes on the rack to keep warm while I finish cooking the rest of the batter. This way everyone gets warm pancakes when it’s time to serve. The reason I add a wire rack on top of the sheet pan is to prevent the pancakes from gathering moisture in the oven, which can make them soggy.
Want to Make Pancake Mix With This Recipe?
If you wanted to make these pancakes even easier to make, you could combine the dry ingredients ahead of time and have it in your pantry as a pancake mix. You’ll want to put it in an airtight container. It should keep well, as long as the flour and baking powder you use is fresh.
How to Store and Reheat Extras
- Store in the fridge: Let the pancakes cool completely, then store them in an airtight container for up to one week.
- To reheat: Microwave one pancake for about 20 seconds. Add another 5-10 seconds as you add additional pancakes. If you know you’re going to have pancakes in the morning, you could even pop the number of pancakes you’ll need into the fridge the night before so they thaw (which is what I’ve been doing).
Want to Freeze Your Pancakes?
Homemade pancakes are so easy to freeze and reheat later. You can either layer parchment paper between the pancakes when you freeze them so they don’t stick to each other, or you can lay the pancakes out individually onto a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze them that way. Once frozen, pop them all into an airtight container or bag.
More Pancake Recipes
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Fluffy Homemade Pancake Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 15-20 pancakes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Homemade Pancakes Recipe makes soft & fluffy pancakes. Get ready to dig into a stack of the best pancakes you’ve ever had!
Ingredients
- 2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour
- 4 tbsp (52g) sugar
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 cups (360ml) milk
- 4 tbsp (56g) butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
- In a large measuring cup, combine the egg, milk, butter and vanilla extract.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold them together until well combined, but still a little lumpy. You don’t want to over mix them or they could end up less fluffy and tough. The batter should be relatively thick, but easily pourable.
- Set the batter aside to rest while you heat the griddle, 5-10 minutes. Any remaining lumps with start to soften as the moisture soaks in. Gently stir again.
- Heat a griddle or non-stick pan over medium-low heat and melt a little butter to grease it. Pour batter onto the pan and let it spread out into a round pancake. I used about 3 tablespoons of batter per pancake.
- Allow to cook until bubbles appear on the surface and the edges are set, then flip and cook until golden.
- Continue cooking with the remaining batter.
- Serve pancakes with maple syrup or your choice of toppings.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 pancake
- Calories: 89
- Sugar: 3.5 g
- Sodium: 71.8 mg
- Fat: 2.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Protein: 2.3 g
- Cholesterol: 15.8 mg
Categories
Recipe originally from Cafe Delights.
Can you refrigerate the pancake mix for just 1 day before cooking?
I haven’t ever tried that to be able to say for sure. But my guess would be that the pancakes will turn out a little more dense.
This is a very good recipe, thank you! Made these with my grandson & put green food coloring in them for St. Patrick’s day.
So glad you enjoyed them!
I have been making homemade pancakes for a while now. I wanted to try something new today. This is the fluffiest pancake I have ever eaten or made. Winner Winner Pancake Dinner.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
is it possible to half this recipe with only 1 egg? instead of using a large egg could i use a small egg and call that half of a large egg
You could try it. Or beat one egg together and do your best to divide it into two parts.
pancake tuesday very soon 🙂
the pancakes were very nice and everyone ate some and wanted more
hooray I have all the ingredients and a large appetite! I am so excited to make them!
simple recipe and look amazing😀
Awesome! I hope you enjoy them!
Hi 🙂 I was just wondering ,what type of sugar do I use ?
Regular granulated sugar
can I use sunflower oil instead of butter for cooking it?
I haven’t ever tried using an oil. It might be ok.
We’ve been making these for years and they’re a hit every time. Thank you for sharing this recipe! I prefer salted butter….our family is a little salty. Lol
Lol! Glad they are a hit!
I wanted to find a new pancake recipe, and I started here after discovering your site per another recipe. I believe my search is over. These are so good. And your tips and instructions made the difference. Thank you for this!
Wonderful flavor. They were a little thinner than I like so I added an extra tsp of Banking powder and 1 Tbsp flour. Warm the milk for 1 min in the microwave so the melted butter will mix in. Cook time should be very very short…don’t over cook …I am always surprised taking them off the heat thinking they r probably not cooked through but they are perfect.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
This site is great, however i made this recipe and my batter was super thick and almost unpourable, what did i do wrong?
Sounds like maybe some thing wasn’t measured correctly. Often that can be flour. Over measuring flour could certainly make your batter too thick. Here’s a post on how to measure flour.
These definitely are fluffy, but taste bitter to me. I suggest using less baking powder!
not one to usually write reviews, but I have been making this recipe forever now… I searched and searched for a fluffy pancake recipe that didn’t have buttermilk (my boyfriend doesn’t like the flavor of it) and this recipe is better than any other buttermilk pancake recipe I’ve ever made. My son loves it, my mom, myself… Anyone who has ever tried them loves them. I’ve mixed in strawberries, blueberries, and chocolate chips, they’ve allll been delicious. There is only 1 small change I would make, and it’s when adding the melted butter. I struggled a little when adding the butter to the .ilk and egg mixture because the butter would get cold again and end up clumpy. So I found that if I mix the milk and egg mixture to the flour then add the butter, it solves that problem. I never noticed a difference doing it either way except it was less messy because ethe butter doesn’t get stuck to the measuring cup but other than that the recipe is perfect as is! Thank you so much for these pancakes! Myself andy family thank you as well 😁
So FLUFFY!!! AND delicious!!! We put a Christmas spin on this recipe. We used oat milk, oat eggnog and a 1/4 heavy cream for the milk. We omitted the salt and cut the sugar by half using organic coconut sugar and organic raw sugar. We put a dash of cinnamon in too. We followed the rest of the recipe to a T.. We put just a touch of Burbon barrel aged syrup on top of the cakes. We will be making this recipe again and again. Not a fan of processed store bought “food” and I have tried a few other recipes and they were just eh. Your recipe is perfection. Thank you.
I forgot to ask…….can you save the batter for the nest day in the refrigerator. Or do I need to use all the batter right away? We can’t eat them all, lol. Thank you.
I haven’t tried holding onto the batter for the next day. I feel like maybe others have commented that they did and it was fine. I usually just make them all and save them for later, if needed.
Glad you enjoyed them!
The batter was just fine overnight and used the next morning! Looking forward to exploring more of your recipes.
Thanks for sharing! Glad it worked well!
These pancakes were delicious and fluffy. I’ll definitely will be making them again
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
My son asked for pancakes this morning and I had to make them from scratch. This recipe was the top of my search. Easy and really fluffy.. pretty much dissolves in the mouth. My son loved them and my wife asked why do we go to this one American diner here in Germany and that these where way better and I agree. Great recipe!
So great to hear that! Glad you enjoyed them!