This post may contain affiliate sales links. Please read my disclosure policy.
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
Watch the Video
Print
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.
Ok, not going to lie, these were really good, but I have never ever put butter in my pancakes and it gave my mix a really greasy texture to my batter. The batter would not spread out on the pan. I guess really thick pancakes were good, but the inside of them I could not get done without burning the pancake itself. I’m not trying to hate or anything, but it was kind of a difference to my normal recipe I use to make pancakes from scratch.
The pancakes are really awesome n fluffy . I have tried a few online recipe and this is a winner ! I do add another splash of milk though cos I thot it looks a bit thick for me . 5 stars!
This recipe made it into my recipe book! I try a lot of recipes throughout the web, but very few make it into my book to keep as my “go to” recipe for a dish of any kind. I like the idea of pancakes, but unless they’re sourdough flapjacks or a crepe, I always walk away disappointed. Not this time! Wow. My husband doesn’t like pancakes, but after trying them on Friday, he requested them again for Sunday! I agree with a previous comment —you don’t need to add anything on top, they’re amazing by themselves! The alterations I had to make based on our ingredients on hand were using 3/4c half n half and add water to make it to the 1 1/2c milk. I also do not have any vanilla extract so I just left it out. Thanks to you and this recipe, my husband and son sing my praises (which keeps me cooking for them 😉)
This is a great recipe. I felt like I had been cursed lately because other pancake recipes I tried had turned out gummy or tough, even a recipe I used from America’s Test Kitchen. But I tried these tonight as part of dinner and they were great! Light and fluffy and yummy! I’m definitely keeping this recipe 🙂
I have finally found the best pancake recipe ever. I added one banana and it came out so delicious. Thank you so much for sharing. Aloha from Hawaii.
I may have done something wrong. My batter was runny and lumpy. Should I have worked it a little more? Or let us sit longer before cooking? Great taste though. Thank you.
It’s hard for me to say without being there, but generally this will be a little lumpy and that’s totally ok and basically how it should be. If you have no lumps at all, you probably have over mixed it. As for runny – hard to say but if they don’t over spread after you try one or two pancakes, it should be fine.
Is there a way to make the pancakes if I don’t have baking powder (or baking soda)?
Not really. They wouldn’t rise properly and give you a fluffy pancake.
Great recipe, this will definitely will be my go to! Subtracting one star because milk amount is not nearly enough. I would start with two cups and go by your judgement.
Yummy !
We have tried a LOT of different recipes over the years, even recipes from well-known chefs and cookbook authors. I made this recipe this morning and we all agreed that these are easily the best we have tried. I can’t see any reason to seek out any more recipes. Thank you for this!
I have found my new favorite pancake recipe! I have been on the hunt fora couple months and tried several different ones online that were good, but not GREAT! These were perfect!! I did have to add more water to mine as they were a bit thick, however I didn’t have any milk on hand so initially I had to substitute with equal parts water and whole whipping cream so maybe thats why?? Anyway, even after adding maybe an additional 1/3 to 1/2 cup water they were still DELICIOUS!! Thanks for a wonderful recipe!!!
I made these this morning for breakfast and they were awesome! My family loved it!
Great recipe! 👍🏽
Amazing recipe! Pancakes came out super thicc and fluffy, and were the perfect amount of sweetness.
Made these pancakes today. They were delicious! I replaced the vanilla with fresh lemon juice, but otherwise followed the recipe. Thanks for sharing!
This is the best pancakes I’ve ever made. Hands down. I will never make store mix again Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed them!
I’ve made this recipe at least a dozen times since I discovered it and it’s great! So versatile too. I have made the recipe exactly to the letter and also frequently make subs and it still turns out well. My most common alteration is the following:
Sub 1/4 cup of almond flour for 1/4 cup of the all purpose flour
Add 1/4 cup old fashioned oats (can also use 1 packet of instant oats in any flavor or plain) plus 1 tbs flax seed meal to the dry ingredients
Soak 1tbs chia seeds in 1/4 cup water or apple juice for 10 minutes and stir well into the into the liquid ingredients
And usually after pouring the batter in the pan I add a few slices of banana & blueberries to each pancake to make a smiley face for my kids.
We go on lots of nature hikes on the weekends and this never fails to fill them with energy!
I love all of your recipes that I’ve tried so far, this is no different. Fluffy and delicious pancakes.
So glad to hear you’ve enjoyed them!
These are the best pancakes I have ever tasted! They were so fluffy and tasty! Thank you so much for the recipe 🙂
So glad you enjoyed them!
Since I am staying at home through these hard times I will give this a try because I don’t care to run out for the mix. I bet this will be good for my homemade onion rings batter as well. Thank you for the great recipe, thanks for sharing! Wish me luck and wish all of you well through this tough time! God bless…