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
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.
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.
Most likely this is a result of over-mixing the batter, this can yield flat, dense, or even rubbery pancakes. Do not 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!
Absolutely! You can add up to a cup of add-ins to your buttermilk pancake batter. Because you want to avoid over-mixing your batter, it is best to fold these in when your flour is halfway incorporated rather than waiting until you’ve already mostly combined your wet and dry ingredients.
You can also skip the mix-ins and instead top off your pancakes with whipped cream or blueberry sauce, instead. Or do mix-ins and fancy toppings, I don’t judge!
Yes you can! While I have a waffle recipe that I love and would recommend, my buttermilk pancake batter actually makes delicious waffles, too.
These are great with simple butter and syrup, but sometimes I like to get fancy and add whipped cream, strawberry sauce, blueberry sauce, caramel sauce, chocolate gravy, or hot fudge sauce!
Have you ever tried a pancake sundae before with ice cream and toppings? Not health food, but so good!
Alright, I think that pretty much covers it! I hope you’ll try these out and please let me know what you think!!
Enjoy!
Other Breakfast Recipes You Might Like:
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Make sure to check out the how-to VIDEO in the recipe card!
Best Buttermilk Pancakes Recipe
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
- 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 just combined — 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
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.
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!
Manda
You’re my got to blog for just about anything baking related! This recipe is my default pancake recipe.
I’ve always used the buttermilk substitute and had great success. Recently buttermilk became accessible in my area and WOW! Definitely a game changer!
Question: For a special valentine’s day breakfast, I’d like to make a chocolate batch. How much cocoa would you recommend to use? Any other changes I would need to make to the recipe for it?
Thanks for the tips and for always having the best recipes 🙂
Sam
Hi Manda! Unfortunately I’m not sure exactly how to alter this recipe to make a chocolate one. 🙁
Carlie Ferrell
Absolutely amazing! My oldest son took one bite and said “This is the best pancake I’ve ever had”…and then proceeded to scarf down 4. Highly recommend!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Aw, sounds like they were a real hit for your family, Carlie! Thanks for the review ❤️
Ashley
Bruh, these are without a doubt one of the best recipes for pancakes ever. I usually follow to a T, but was low on buttermilk this time. Used 1.5 cups buttermilk and .75 cups of 2% milk and it thinned them just enough to make even more. So so good. Anything from Sugar Spun Run is always a complete YES.
Paula Singleton
I’ve made these quite a few times, and it always turn out great. So fluffy and delicious and if I have any left, I freeze them with a piece of wax paper between each one and pop it in the toaster and they’re delicious again.
Amanda S
This is the best pancake recipe I’ve ever tried. I did add a small swirl of syrup on top of the raw side of the pancake while it was cooking.
This tastes just like Perkins pancakes
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad you love them, Amanda! That syrup swirl sounds great–we’ll have to try that 😊
Karina
These were super easy to make and my seven year-old loved helping! They came out delicious and we will definitely continue to use this recipe. Is it possible to substitute the butter in the recipe for coconut oil instead?
Sam
Hi Karina! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! I haven’t tried using coconut oil, but I think if you melt it before using it could work. 🙂
Hillbilly
Truly the best recipe I’ve tried👍👍
Kevin Arguello
I quadrupled the recipe because we have 9 children in the house and we all think they’re the best pancakes ever. This is now our forever go to recipe. Thank you so much. Sincerely
Steph
Absolute worst recipe I’ve ever tried. I wish I can attach a picture because these were so runny and flat and terrible tasting. Followed the recipe to a t, even let everything warm up to room temp. Ended up having to almost double the amount of flour to get what would actually result in something that looks like a pancake. And I didn’t over mix it, it was still lumpy when I poured it onto the pan.
Sam
Hi Steph, this is honestly very strange and certainly not typical. I would take a look at the video if you haven’t already and you can see the consistency it should be. Lumps are fine after mixing so that’s not a concern, but what you are describing sounds like something was accidentally mis-measured (or was anything substituted, by chance?), for sure. Sorry to hear it, though, as we love these and I would love for you to have the same experience! 🙁
Trudy
These are the best butter milk pancake receipt I have ever made. My husband is so happy I found this receipt and would be very happy if I made them every Sunday! Thanks
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you both loved them, Trudy ❤️
Warren Barnes
I followed the recipe exactly with the exception of allowing the batter to sit for 30 minutes. They came out exceptionally fluffy and tasty. I think each pancake had a little over a half inch rise on them. They were really filling. I’m filing this one in my recipe “folder”
Thanks!
Krista
Delicious! I halved the recipe and it was perfect for a breakfast for 2.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Krista 🥰
David A. Shreeve
Could I use this recipe in my waffle iron?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes, although we have a great waffle recipe too. Enjoy ☺️
Elizabeth Jones
I followed the directions exactly as written. The pancakes cooked well and looked fantastic. However, they were not edible because there was an odd tin taste that we couldn’t figure out. I am thinking that it had something to do with the baking soda but I’m not sure. Otherwise, we could tell that without that overpowering odd taste, these would be the absolute best pancakes. What did I do wrong?
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this Elizabeth! That taste is definitely from your either your baking soda or baking powder being bad. I would probably toss it out, get some fresh ingredients and give it another go. 🙂
Andi
This happened to me too…I bought all new ingredients from the store, brought them home, and mine also also turned out with a weird tinny taste. I used brand new baking powder/soda and I’m pretty sure I measured everything correctly. It almost tasted like…sour? Any ideas? I’m assuming error on my part since this recipe has so many high reviews and I’m not the best cook in the world lol.
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this happened, Andi! If you are getting a tinny/sour taste it’s most likely your baking powder or baking soda. I’ve had this issue with generic brands. 🙁
Leon B
I can honestly say this is the absolute best pancake recipe I’ve tried. I have been searching all over YouTube and trying to find a recipe that wasn’t overly complicated, but still hits the mark. This recipe does not disappoint I can say I will definitely continue using this. So glad I found it! 🤩
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re SO happy you loved the pancakes, Leon! Thanks so much for leaving a review 😊
Bruce
Not only wonderful pancakes, but the recipe is easily cut in half. Many scratch pancake recipes have amounts that don’t have very convenient measurements when halved.
Sam
Yes! I love that about this recipe too, as we often cut it in half here, too. Glad you enjoyed, Bruce! 🙂