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!
Joshua Rubin
Always a hit with the family! Great recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy it’s a hit, Joshua! Thanks for the review 🩷
Christine
Best pancakes I’ve ever made! I think the melted butter really helps with a consistent golden browning of the pancake. Also using pam instead of butter between pancakes helped keep them from burning. I was missing 1/4 cup of buttermilk and supplemented with water. Definitely saving this recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for the review, Christine! We’re so happy you enjoyed them 🥰
Erica
Fantastic recipe! I substituted cashew milk with lime juice for the buttermilk since it is what I had, and they turned out perfectly. My daughter said they were as good as her favorite restaurant. Thank you for this recipe!
Vicki
Yummy! Best ever!
Lisa T
Buttery and fluffy pancakes! Made with homemade buttermilk and homemade butter. Absolutely fantastic recipe!
Jule
These pancakes came out perfect!! Very fluffy and moist and definitely not too sweet for the family. They were still delightful even hours later. I unfortunately ran out out of baking powder, but the recipe still turned out awesome with an extra 1/4 tsp of baking soda instead.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy they were a hit for you, Jule! Thanks for the review 🩷
Janine
These pancakes were delicious! Blended well while mixing, fluffy and just really good 😋.
Sabrina
I’d personally nix the sugar unless you plan to eat these without maple syrup, but besides being a little too sweet, these were perfect! I even chaotically dumped all the ingredients together willy nilly and they still turned out fine. I didn’t have any vanilla extract but they were still very good! I did taste a slight salty/metallic flavor that I associate with baking soda (powder maybe), so I don’t know if there’s too much in this recipe or maybe mine’s gone bad or something (it’s super, duper old LOL) but be wary of that. All in all super good, I’d remake it with no sugar and maybe just a tiny bit less soda (or fresh soda LOL)
Anna V
delicious recipe. I omitted the sugar and still tasted delicious with fruit toppings. definitely will make again!
Meg
super fluffy and light!
Nemo Fairlight
The best pancakes I’ve ever made in 35 years! Husband couldn’t stop saying “yum.”
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy they were a hit! Enjoy 🩷
Bonny
OMG this is the BEST butter milk recipe I have ever made let a lone ate.
I used buttermilk substitute
2 cups milk
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
***1/2 cup warm water 110f
***1 envelope activated dry yeast
everything else except omitted baking soda
*** in 2 cup measure have 110f degree water add yeast pinch of sugar mix set aside for 10 minutes
in 4 cup measure add milk eggs vanilla melted butter stir to mix add yeast mixture stir
add all at once to dry ingredients blend with whisk until incorporated
do not over mix.
let mixture rest 10-20 minutes with whisk stir twice
I used my outside 28″ Weber griddle at med high
swirled stick of butter over surface. pour onto griddle in the size you want. I was able to get 6-8 pancakes at a time for a total of 24 pancakes.
***with that amount of liquid I had a nice 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick pancake (my husband likes thin pancakes.
since they came off almost at the same time they were all HOT
This will be my go to pancake recipe from now on.
thanks for sharing a incredible pancake recipe. My husband sang it’s praises all over social media
Brianne
Delicious, light and fluffy
Lisa
Exactly what a good buttermilk pancake should be! My husband and I love them!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy they are a hit for you, Lisa! Enjoy 😊
Melodie Astrope
can I put leftover batter in the fridge for tomorrow?
Sam
Sure thing! 🙂
Pippa
the batter was chuncky
Sam
A lumpy batter is a good thing here. 🙂
Ilona
WOW! Those are AMAZING!!
I used lemon-buttermilk, added blueberries and only used 3 teaspoons of coconut-sugar and I am IN LOVE!
I tried making pancakes countless times and this is the FIRST TIME that I genuinely like the result❤️
Much love from Germany, xx
Jack
I made the batter the night before and put it in the fridge till the next morning and it thickened the batter and when they cooked the were so thick and light and of course delicious. It’s what my mom did when she made pancakes and they always came out wonderful.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Jack! Thanks for letting us know how it went for you 🩷