How to Make my Favorite Everyday Pancakes

One of my favorite things to do lately is batch breakfast meals so that I can have one morning of cooking and then several days of just re-heating. I bounce around a few different things, but today we made pancakes. I like pancakes but they aren’t my favorite breakfast food. I usually go for waffles or French toast over pancakes. My kiddo likes waffles and pancakes, but today I didn’t want to bother with the palaver of making waffles… so pancakes it was.

These pancakes have the taste and texture of a complicated recipe, but they are SO simple. They can be put together in one bowl. These pancakes have the perfect balance of sweetness that allows for extra ingredients to be added without making them too sweet, but they are also great on their own. The best part is that hold up well in the fridge or freezer so you can make them ahead of time and have ready made pancakes for several days or months (from frozen). This recipe is also super versatile, only want to make a few? Halve the recipe. Need to feed an army? Double it. Unlike some recipes that get wonky when you halve or double it this recipe works for me every time.

Tips for Perfect Pancakes Every Time

Don’t over mix your batter. One of the biggest mistakes when people make pancakes and other baked items it to over mix. Trust me, its better to under mix these than over mix. When you mix a liquid with flour you start to develop gluten. Gluten development is great for breads or pasta, but you don’t want tough pancakes. They don’t have to be as undermixed as biscuits, but you want to just stop seeing large lumps of flour. Remember each time you scoop out batter you are continuing to mix it a little bit as well. To help prevent over mixing I like to fully mix my wet ingredients in the measuring cup before adding them to the dry ingredients.
Rest the batter. One of the reasons you won’t have big lumps of unmixed flour in your batter is because you are going to rest it. Once you’ve finished stirring your ingredients together let the batter hang out in the bowl for about 10 minutes. This allows for the flour to fully hydrate and the baking powder to activate meaning fluffier tender pancaked. This is also a great time to toss the few extra tools you used to measure and mix into the washer so you can relax after eating.
Preheat your pan. We all know about the first pancake phenomenon… that first one is either undercooked or burnt. I like to start preheating my pan about 2 min before my batter is ready. For my stove I like to pre-heat on med-high and then back it down to just above med. This results in perfectly golden pancakes that are crispy on the edges and fluffy in the middle.
Cook in oil not butter. Cooking pancakes in butter can taste great, however, butter has a much lower smoke point and is really easy to burn in the pan. I find that cooking pancakes with a neutral oil (I like grapeseed oil) gets you more consistent and better tasting pancakes. Cooking with butter means you end up with a few good pancakes to start and then a bunch pancakes tasting a little but like burnt butter.
Try using a cast iron skillet. If you’ve never had pancakes on a cast iron griddle you are truly missing out on a great breakfast experience. I usually reserve busting out the cast iron on the weekends, so if you have the time it can make excellent breakfast. These cakes still taste great on a non-stick skillet and is usually how I make them as well.

Everyday Pancakes

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Servings 4

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2 large eggs
2 tbs vegetable oil

Optional

1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon (if using) in a large bowl and whisk well to combine.
Combine wet ingredients. Measure out milk and add eggs, oil, and vanilla (if using). Whisk well to combine.
Add wet ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into dry and whisk until just combined. It shold be fairly smooth with some lumps.
Let batter rest. Set aside batter for 10 minutes to rest.
Fry pancakes. After pre-heating your skillet add about 1 teaspoon of oil to the pan and swirl to coat. Using a ¼ cup measuring cup to portion out batter to form 2-3pancakes. Cook on first side until the edges begin to look dry, bubbles start to appear on surface, and they are golden brown, takes about 3 minutes. Flip and cook for additional 2 minutes. Repeat using more oil as needed until all batter has been used.
Enjoy. Serve warm topped with your favorite pancake toppings.

Next Step Mama’s Cooking Notes

Mixing dry and wet separately. Its not necessarily required to pre-mix your wet ingredients, but I find it helps me not overmix my batter. I like to just toss the rest of my wet ingredients in after I’ve measured out my milk and whisk it really well to combine.

Thinner or thicker pancakes? Personally, I like my pancakes a little bit closer to crepes so I will add an additional splash of milk to thin out the batter.

Flavor additions. These pancakes taste great on their own, but some additional ingredients can pump up the flavor. You can add ingredients directly to the batter like ½ tsp cinnamon, 1 cup fruit like blueberries or bananas, ½ cup chocolate chips. Or if making for a crowd that likes different things, I like to simply sprinkle my toppings directly on the pancakes after I’ve portioned them in the pan but before flipping. Buttermilk is also a great substitute for milk in this recipe if you like that classic buttermilk pancake flavor.

Make ahead instructions: These pancakes can be made ahead of time and saved in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for 2 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and pop them in a toaster for a few minutes or an oven at 350 on a wire rack for about 10 minutes or until warmed though.