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!
Heena
want a eggless pancakes recipe..pls
Sam
I’m sorry I don’t have one. 🙁
Rhea
Do you have a gluten free version my is allergic
Sam
I’m sorry, Rhea, I do not. 🙁
Sue
I usually use self rising flour, any difference than all purpose?
Sam
Hi Sue! I recommend using the all purpose flour here. There would need to be some adjustments made if you were using self rising flour.
Kim
2 questions:
(1) Can I add cinnamon; husband is a big fan of it
(2) Do you really have 2 stand mixers? LOL
Thank you and keep up the good work!
Sam
Hi Kim! Yes you can add cinnamon, that would be fine. Just whisk it in with the dry ingredients 🙂
And YES I do, haha!! They both get a workout every day, too. My mom often comes over to help me with my baking and recipe testing and just having one stand mixer wasn’t enough.
Debra
I can seen to find a waffle recipe – may I request a waffle recipe – not Belgian, just good regular waffles! Thank you Sam!
BTW I forgot to post when I made ur buttermilk pancakes and they were DELISH!
Sam
The buttermilk pancake recipe should actually work fine as a waffle. 🙂
Ivonne
These buttermilk pancakes are amazing! Light, fluffy and flavorful! I will be making them again and again. Thank you.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Ivonne! 🙂
Village Bakery
Great recipe, Sam. Made these this morning and they were great – Joe
Sam
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed! Thank you for commenting!! 🙂
Barb
Hi Sam, I made a few of your recipes (vanilla cake with choc icing and choc cake with choc icing) and they were the tops! I tried these pancakes but they didn’t fluff up much (at the same time they were not super flat) and it seemed like the centers didn’t totally bake through even though the top and bottom was browned. I had them on a mid heat for a good 4 min a side. I also left some lumps in the batter when I mixed it with a wooden spoon as I was trying not to overmix. I also heated the griddle for 5 min and let the batter sit for at least 5 min.
My kids loved the pancakes, but when I went to test one, although it looked done, it seemed a little uncooked. It was moist and translucent in the middle. Perhaps I needed to let the pancakes sit for a bit before trying it, as I ripped a piece off right when I took it off the griddle?
Any thoughts to getting fluffier pancakes that at cooked all the way through?
Sam
Hi Barb!! I’m so happy to hear that you have been enjoying the recipes! Sounds like they weren’t over-mixed but could they have possibly been under-mixed? a few flour streaks are fine but pancakes are finicky and if they weren’t mixed enough that *could* have been the problem.
If they were browned on the bottom but still raw in the center, perhaps the skillet temperature was too high? Since they still needed 4 minutes per side this seems unlikely to me (I think they would’ve burned if it was too high) but it’s a possibility. Sitting for a minute or two could help, but if it seemed that underdone I don’t really think that is the issue, either.
I’m really not entirely sure what the problem was, it really sounds like you did everything right! My best guess would be *maybe* a little under-mixed (especially if they were a bit translucent in the middle), but that’s really just a guess, it sounds like you were careful and very conscious of your batter so I’m not certain.
Ugh, I wish I could be more helpful! I am going to be making a video of this recipe in the near future, I’ll see if I can figure out what might have gone wrong while I’m doing that.
Debra
That happened to me the first time I made the pancakes too and I thought I did everything right… The next day I made them again, this time I took the time to get the cold ingredients to room temp and they came out perfect, fluffy and fully cooked thru. I hope this might help and Im so glad I tried again because they truly are the BEST pancakes Ive ever made!
Lilia
Hi, I am going to try them today! I will let you know how it went.
Sam
I hope you love them!
Joe Stout
Great recipe some of the best pancakes I’ve ever made. This is a keeper!!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed them, Joe!! thank you for commenting! 🙂
Destiny
Thanks for the recipe! I am all set to try it this evening. Quick question- Does this have an ‘eggy’ smell? Do you recommend adding vanilla extract to mask it?
Sam
Hi, Destiny. No they shouldn’t have an eggy smell or taste to them. They already have a teaspoon of vanilla extract, I wouldn’t recommend adding more. 🙂
Natasha
I was sceptical but now I make them every weekend!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoy them, Natasha! 🙂
Rebecca
How many pancakes does this usually make?
Sam
It will make about 8 8 inch pancakes. 🙂
Jo jo
Do you ever save/refrigerate leftover batter? There’s only 3 of here so I’ve def got extra
Sam
I usually cut the recipe in half, but my mom does this all the time! She just covers the batter with a lid (or plastic wrap) and stores it. She’s stored the pancake batter as long as 3 days and while she says sometimes the pancakes aren’t quite as fluffy, they’re still delicious!
Tracy
Best pancakes I ever made using your recipe! I will never make boxed pancakes again!
Sam
So much better than box mix pancakes! I am so glad you enjoyed them, Tracy! 🙂
Maria
I made them Christmas morning and they came out thick, fluffy and delicious. My family loved them. They are my new go to pancake recipe. Thanks for sharing they were amazing.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Maria! 🙂
Rebecca
How many pancakes does this usually make?
Sam
8 8″ pancakes 🙂