Why are restaurant pancakes so fluffy?

The secret to fluffy restaurant style pancakes? Buttermilk! The acid in the buttermilk reacts to the leavening agents in the pancake batter, creating air bubbles that make the pancakes tall and fluffy . It's a simple switch that makes all the difference.

Why do buttermilk pancakes taste better?

Thus, buttermilk can give pancakes a better texture and make them tender in your mouth. Buttermilk pancakes may also make your pancakes have more flavor layers. The buttermilk adds tang , which compliments the other ingredients well, making your pancakes more robust and gourmet.

Why are my buttermilk pancakes not fluffy?

Making pancake and waffle batter ahead of time is a huge no-no and will lead to flat, dense results every time . Even letting your batter hang out for just a few minutes after you've mixed it before you start ladling it onto the griddle will lead to less fluffy results.

Why do IHOP pancakes taste better?

While the griddles themselves likely vary from one diner chain to the next, diners are pretty much all working with a waffle iron or griddle that's already hot. IHOP, for instance, requires its pans to be heated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and uses Crisco instead of butter to grease it , says Grimm.

Why are restaurant pancakes so much better than homemade?

Restaurants have professional griddles The constant heat leads to a more evenly cooked pancake, that never runs the risk of having the batter poured too early. If the heat is always at the right level, it's always the correct time.

Should you let buttermilk pancake batter rest?

A – Ideally make your batter and let it rest for about 30 minutes before cooking . This allows the flour to absorb the liquid, making the pancakes lighter and fluffier. Q – Why buttermilk? The acidity of buttermilk reacts with the raising agents to make you pancakes lighter and fluffier.

Should I use milk or water for pancakes?

Can I Use Water Instead of Milk in Pancakes? Milk adds both flavor and texture to pancake batter, so if you are looking to make pancakes without milk, a simple swap to water doesn't always do the trick . For pancakes made without milk, you'll want to add some flavor through melted butter and vanilla extract.

Why do you put coins in pancakes?

However, it's not as tasty as you think, as they add small objects (after they've been thoroughly cleaned of course) such as buttons, rings, and coins. Each object has a special meaning, for example, if you find a shiny coin in your pancake, you're deemed very lucky and will end up rich !

What does adding an extra egg to pancakes do?

With little gluten, pancakes rely on eggs to provide the additional structure necessary to hold the bubbles and allow the pancake to rise. The fat in the yolk also provides richness and flavor. Too much egg, however, will make the pancake dense and custard-like ; not enough will make it drier and more biscuit-like.

How to get perfect pancakes every time?

Things to Avoid When Making Pancakes Don't overmix the batter. ... Don't let the griddle or skillet get too hot! ... Don't add the butter or shortening until after the griddle or skillet has been preheated. Don't go overboard with butter or shortening. ... Don't press down on the pancakes while they're cooking. Don't overflip. Jan 18, 2023

Do pancakes taste better with water or milk?

Pancake lovers' biggest complaint when adding water instead of milk is that the flavor seems to change. Pancakes aren't as richly flavored with water . There are a few ways to improve your batter when you've used water, including: Add extra butter.

The BEST Buttermilk Pancakes Recipe (2024)

February 14, 2021 By Sam 750 Comments

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I’ve got breakfast covered today with my classic Buttermilk Pancakes recipe — made completely from scratch (and tips to make them if you don’t have buttermilk, too!)! I’ll be showing you how to make thick, fluffy pancakes that can be ready in under 15 minutes!Recipe includes a how-to video!

The Best Pancake Recipe

Buttermilk pancakes are an American classic breakfast food, but despite their unfussy ingredient list, too often people grab for the box mix because it’s just “easier”. Too many home bakers have struggled with dense, flat, or rubbery pancakes, or ones that have charred exteriors, raw centers, or are just all-around lacking in flavor. Today we’re going to fix that with my favorite, fool-proof buttermilk pancake recipe.

While you’d be hard-pressed to find a truly complicated buttermilk pancake recipe, many recipes sadly leave out important tips and tricks that can make or break your breakfast. Do you know the right time to flip? The right heat for your stovetop? Which substitutions are acceptable and which definitely aren’t? How to make buttermilk pancakes if you don’t even have buttermilk?

My recipe has not only been carefully perfected to yield fat, fluffy, and super flavorful pancakes (the cousin to my paper-thin crepes), but I’m also answering all of these questions and sharing my super simple tips and tricks so you’ll never reach for that box mix ever again.

Grab your (preferably non-stick) skillet and get ready for perfect, golden pancakes every time. Let’d do this.

What You Need for Perfect Pancakes

This recipe is easy and uses pantry staples, but let’s talk about a handful of the ingredients before we get started:

Buttermilk: When combined with the baking soda, this gives the pancakes a nice lift, making them thick and fluffy.It’s purpose isn’t only a chemical one, though, it also gives buttermilk pancakes a great flavor with a classic but subtle tang. See my FAQ section below to make this recipe if you don’t have buttermilk.
Eggs. Ideally these should be room temperature. Ideally all your ingredients should be so that the batter combines easily but I’m realistic about the fact that most people aren’t going to wake up two hours early to set their buttermilk out to come to room temperature and I’d never ask you to do something I don’t do myself. Fortunately, this recipe is fairly resilient.
Butter. This should be melted. Do this first so it has time to cool a bit before you add it to your buttermilk.
Baking powder and baking soda. The combination of these two leaveners give the pancakes the perfect fluffiness and lift.
Flour. I recommend using all-purpose flour. You can experiment with substituting some of the flour with whole wheat flour, but since that is a much thirstier flour you might need a bit more buttermilk to keep the batter from being too thick. Self rising flour is not recommended as the baking powder and salt are already accounted for.

This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make Buttermilk Pancakes

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Whisk together buttermilk, egg, and vanilla separately and drizzle the melted butter into the mixture while whisking. Add to the dry ingredients.
Very gently fold together the wet and dry ingredients until almost completely combined. Don’t overdo it or your pancakes will be flat and dense rather than fluffy.
Cook on medium heat until golden brown on each side. Don’t crank up the heat, this will yield pancakes with burnt outsides and raw centers, and that’s just sad 🙁

SAM’S TIP: You can tell your buttermilk pancakes are ready to flip when the edges begin to look set and the bubbles in the batter begin to burst. At this point you should easily be able to flip a spatula underneath to gently lift up an edge and take a peek: look for a golden brown color!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I cut the recipe in half?

Yes! Zach and I often make a half batch of buttermilk pancakes for breakfast, it divides easily and results are exactly the same! For the buttermilk, you would use 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons.

What if I don’t have buttermilk?

You can use my buttermilk substitute recipe instead (you only need milk and vinegar or lemon juice). Pour 2 Tablespoons + ¾ teaspoon of white vinegar or lemon juice into a large measuring cup then add milk until you have the 2 ¼ cup called for. Stir.

However you should know that “homemade” buttermilk is thinner than the real thing. You may not need to use the full 2 ¼ cup called for, it could make your batter runny and your pancakes too thin. If using the substitute, set aside about ½ cup of your buttermilk (so only use 1 ½ cups) and use the recipe as indicated. If the batter seems too thick, gradually add more of the buttermilk substitute as needed.

Why were my buttermilk pancakes flat/not fluffy!?

Most likely this is a result of over-mixing the batter, this can yield flat, dense, or even rubbery pancakes. Donot over-mix your pancake batter — I can not overstate how important this is.When combining your wet and dry ingredients, gently fold together with a spoon or spatula until just combined. A few flour streaks remaining in the batter is actually a good thing!

Can I add blueberries/chocolate chips/etc. to my buttermilk pancakes?

Other Breakfast Recipes You Might Like:

French Toast or French Toast Casserole
Blueberry Muffinsor Banana Muffins
Scones
Cinnamon Rolls

Enjoy!

Let’s bake together! Make sure to check outthe how-to VIDEO in the recipe card!

Best Buttermilk Pancakes Recipe

My BEST Buttermilk pancake recipe makes thick, soft, and SO FLUFFY pancakes that can be ready in under 15 minutes! Recipe includes a how-to video!

4.98 from 531 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 8″ pancakes

Calories: 243kcal

Ingredients

▢ 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
▢ 3 tablespoons sugar
▢ 2 teaspoons baking powder
▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
▢ ½ teaspoon salt
▢ 2 ¼ cups buttermilk¹ (530ml)
▢ 2 large eggs lightly beaten, room temperature preferred
▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
▢ 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled (57g)

Recommended Equipment

▢
Mixing bowls
▢
Non-stick skillet

Instructions

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, until well-combined.
In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together buttermilk,, eggs, and vanilla extract.
Take your melted butter and slowly drizzle it into your wet ingredients while whisking, stirring until well-combined (the butter may separate and curdle if your other ingredients are cold, this is OK, just whisk to combine).
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon to stir until justcombined — do not overmix your pancake batter or your pancakes will be flat. Use a light hand when stirring, and a few flour streaks in the batter are fine.
Spray a non-stick skillet with cooking spray or lightly brush with canola oil and place on burner on medium-low heat.
Allow skillet to preheat before adding batter (about 5 minutes, it's good for your pancake batter to sit several minutes as well, which is why you prepared that before preheating your pan), and once skillet is heated (I usually test this by hovering my hand several inches above the pan and making sure I can feel the heat radiating from it) scoop pancake batter into pan (I use about ½-⅔ cup of batter per pancake).
Allow pancake to cook until edges begin to appear cooked and bubbles in batter begin to burst. Using a pancake spatula, carefully flip pancake and continue to cook several more minutes until pancake is golden brown.
Repeat until all batter is used — I recommend spraying or brushing the pan between each batch of pancakes.
Serve warm topped with salted butter and maple syrup!

Notes

¹If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can try to substitute my easy buttermilk substitute instead,however a number of people have reported that the batter becomes very thin for them (which makes sense as homemade buttermilk is thinner than the real thing). While I have had success using the full amount listed using buttermilk substitute, because others have had issues, I recommend adding the milk slowly until you get the proper consistency shown in the photos and video.

Nutrition

Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.

Tried this recipe? Show me on Instagram!Mention @SugarSpun_Sam or tag #sugarspunrun!

Buttermilk Pancake recipe originally published 01/29/2018, updated just in time for Fat Tuesday! Recipe is unchanged but additional tips have been added and a video is now included!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

Bridgett
March 24, 2024 at 3:58 pm

Best pancakes!
Reply
Aisosa
March 24, 2024 at 6:02 am
Me and my little sister LOVED it!!!!!!!! thanks. this is a very child friendly meal. YUM.
Reply
Kim
March 22, 2024 at 11:56 am
I am retiring my old favorite recipe. This recipe is fluffy perfection. I appreciate the added weight and ml measurements. I’ve recently started using these and have been really impressed with the outcomes. Dont be concerned if you think the batter is too thick, it cooks up light and fluffy. DONT over mix. Thank you for this upgrade to my kids favorite food. 🥞
Reply
Amanda
March 19, 2024 at 8:49 am

Fluffy, delicious, and so easy to make on a Saturday morning. My picky 4 year old loves these and tells me they are the best pancakes in the whole wide world! I have to agree 🙂
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