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!
Merritt
No joke. These were perfect, fluffy and delicious!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you liked them, Merritt! 😊
Kelvin
😁👌buttermilk pancakes were amazing thank you for the recipe my family loved them tasty and fluffy thank you for step by step ingredients.
Karla Cole Sterrett
Love this recipe – I added a quarter cup of milk to slightly thin the batter . They are excellent and I am a chef so recognize excellence! Will definitely make these again as we all loved them , maybe a little too much ?
Sam
Is there a such thing as loving them too much? 😉
Karina
Amazing! They come out light and fluffy. This is my go to pancake recipe from now on. Thank you!
Lindsey R
This is THE pancake recipe. Thats it. No need to look for a recipe. I’m a (former) baker so using the vanilla bean paste is crucial 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼 I’ll make this up for the two of us and it’s SO good that we’ll enjoy them for lunch the next day AND dinner that night!
Jennifer
So fluffy. Almost too fluffy. The man temperature is very important.
Delicious we added blueberries, so good.
kyleigh
I literally LIVE for this recipe! better than any restaurants pancakes i’ve ever had. SO FREAKING GOOD! My boyfriend constantly wants me to make them lol
Laura
This is not a good pancake recipe — literally the worst I’ve ever made and pancakes are pretty easy! (or should be). Too much milk, not enough baking powder and I’m not sure what else — I added flour and baking powder and they were marginally better but not very good. I’ve never had trouble with a recipe and I’m a good cook so it’s not me! Maybe consider adjusting your ingredient ratio.
Sam
Hi Laura, what a bummer! I did just see your other message where you described the pancakes as turning out “flat, paper thin, rubbery, refused to rise or brown”. Good news, this is an easy fix and I actually discuss it in detail in the blog post and video. Assuming the ingredients weren’t improperly measured (the ratios and amounts are correct as written — just made them with my kids this past weekend), then these first 4 complaints are classic signs of your batter being over-mixed (and you’ll run into this issue with ANY pancake recipe, unfortunately, over-mixing is one of the easiest ways to ruin a batch of pancakes and why I make important mention of it). Try again mixing less next time and you’ll have MUCH better results. Definitely take a peek at the video where I provide a visual on how much to mix. Not browning typically means you used too much oil in your pan or your pan simply wasn’t hot enough (which could also affect the rise). I hope this helps, and I can’t wait for you to taste the pancakes as they’re meant to be 🙂
Naomi Larson
Perfect and so easy!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad you enjoyed the pancakes, Naomi! 😋
Tammera
Lost my favorite pancake recipe, so tried this. I used 2 tsp each baking powder & baking soda with the milk/vinegar substitute. They were great and very fluffy and so filling.
Margaret Crews
They worked great for me – grandsons devoured them. I would show a picture but I don’t do Instagram. Thanks for the recipe😃
Lady
Perfectly perfect pancakes! Thank you so much!
Tonya P
These pancakes were great! I tweaked the recipe for my family by adding 1/4 cup more buttermilk, 1/2 tsp of fresh ground cinnamon & 4 TBSP of brown sugar instead of white sugar.
Deb
Can I freeze the extra pancakes for another day?
Sam
Hi Deb! Freezing these pancakes will work just fine. 🙂
Tremaine
It’s true. This is the absolute BEST pancake recipe! Very light, Fluffy, and flavorful! Thank you so much for sharing!
Rita Wood
I made these and loved them. They turned our perfect. So delicious; thank you, can’t wait to make them again
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad you enjoyed the pancakes, Rita! Thanks for giving our recipe a try ❤️
Eve Stevens
I make pancakes all the time and somehow can never find the right buttermilk pancake recipe. This one is amazing! Tender, fluffy, flavorful, silky, tangy…inspired me to write my first ever comment on a blog 😊
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you found our recipe, Eve! Thanks so much for leaving a comment and rating–we really appreciate it! ❤️
MaryG
Thanks for the recipe. I was looking for one because I have real buttermilk, not fake store bought. Have been making my own butter, so the leftover liquid buttermilk can’t be wasted! But its liquidy, probably more so than the homemade fake buttermilk option to add lemon or vinegar to milk. So I’ll start with a cup of real buttermilk and gradually add more to get to the right consistency. Thanks again.