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!
Rana
Great recipe, super easy and absolutely delicious 😋 . We don’t have buttermilk so I always use your buttermilk substitute recipe that works great. They are a new favorite in our home. Btw I make a few extra pancakes that I keep in the fridge and reheat the next morning they taste as good as the day before. I love your recipes because you explain everything and keep things clear and simple. Rated Super yummy by my son.
Sugar Spun Run
I really appreciate your kind words, Rana. Thank you so much! I am happy that you and your son also enjoyed the pancakes. 🙂
T. McCray
Tried this recipe tonight (breakfast for dinner) and it honestly couldn’t be better….so GOOD!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! Pancakes are perfect for EVERY meal! 🙂
Monica
What am I doing wrong? The batter was SOOOO thin I had to add a lot more flour. Any guesses as to why?
Sam
Hmmm that is really weird, Monica! I don’t know what could have happened here. Maybe there was too much liquid or maybe your flour was too lumpy? I’m not really sure. I’m sorry. 🙁
Dorothyann
Make sure your using real butter. I used to try and use vegetable spread and it made things really runny.
Nataliya
Love pancakes , so glad I found this recipe so easy and so delicious my new got to
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Nataliya! 🙂
Beth
Will definitely keep this recipe! The pancake is tasty, fluffy and really nice and “tall”! Thanks for the tip of not over mixing it! (i have a tendency to do that!) Breakfast staple for sure! Thank you for sharing!
Sam
You’re very welcome, I’m so happy to hear it was such a success for you, Beth! 🙂
Janet
Best batch of pancakes I have ever made.
Sam
I am SO happy to hear this! Thank you so much for letting me know how they turned out for you, Janet! 🙂
Yasmin
I’ve made them twice, once with blueberries and once plain, and they were GREAT!
We don’t have buttermilk in my country so I made your substitute. They turned out fluffy, thick and absolutely delicious!
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Sam
I am so glad you have enjoyed them so much, Yasmin! 🙂
Flo
It’s true, these are in fact the best pancakes I’ve ever made. That’s a big judgement from me since I have tried loads of recipes on Pinterest. I found this gem and they will be my go to recipe always!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Blair
We LOVE these pancakes!! I haven’t made them in awhile, since I haven’t been sleeping good and my kids wake up at 6am (please send help! Lol) and I am always too tired to stand over a pan in the mornings. I decided to whip these up, since the mixing of ingredients can actually be done half asleep thanks to your easy recipes!
And then…I BAKED THEM. In two 9 inch pie pans at 350 degrees for around 20 minutes. My girls named it Sam’s Pancake Pie. My littlest ate it with butter on top and my oldest had it drizzled with syrup.
So, just so you know…your pancakes can be baked! And they’re just as amazing as pan-cooked!
Sugar Spun Run
“Sam’s Pancakes!” I LOVE it! I am so glad that this recipe has been such a hit in your home, Blair. Thanks for letting me know that they can be baked. I will have to try that the next time I make them. I hope that you get some sleep soon. 😉 Thanks for commenting!
Adrianna
Delicious! So glad I made them. Thanks you! I do Have one question. Is the batter good in the refrigerator and if so for how long?
Sam
Hi Adrianna! I have kept it for a day in the refrigerator, but make sure it’s covered up. It may need a quick stir when you use it the next morning. 🙂
GiGi
Not sure why I couldn’t make amazing pancakes just like other reviewers. As an experienced cook, I first read the recipe several times and followed it exactly. My batter was very, very thin and resembled a lumpy crepe batter and not pancake batter.
I reviewed the steps trying to find my mistake, but had followed the recipe to the exact letter. In reviewing the recipe, I realized you called for more milk than flour. I’m not sure how that wouldn’t result in a runny batter.
Sam
I’m really sorry this happened. I’m not sure what could have gone wrong. Watching the video may be helpful. 🙂
Marina
Amazing!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Marina! 🙂
Karoline
This recipe is by far the best recipe for pancakes I have ever had it was super easy to follow and absolutely delicious. Thank you so much
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Karoline! 🙂
Libby
These are delicious!! I made them this morning for my son’s 7th birthday breakfast, and they couldn’t have turned out any better. So good!
Sam
I am so glad he enjoyed them so much, Libby! Happy birthday to your son. 🙂
Chinedum
Your recipe I found easy to follow, quick and results amazing!! I am a new convert to sugarspunrun. Thank you!!
Sam
Thank you so much! I hope you love all of the recipes just as much! 🙂