In today’s post: These fluffy pancakes are easy to make with pantry staples and they taste absolutely amazing!
Pancakes are a much loved food in our home. We have them regularly for both breakfast and dinner (add some scrambled eggs and fruit and you have a pretty great meal!). I always have the ingredients for pancakes on hand and they are so easy to mix up – and if you have a bunch of hungry teenagers like I do you can feed everyone for pennies!
Find 35 more easy dinner ideas right here
Now, for many many years I made pancakes from a boxed mix. It’s hard to beat the convenience of just stirring water into a mix…
…but it turns out that homemade pancakes only take about 5 minutes to make and they taste SO MUCH BETTER! And don’t worry, you won’t need any unusual ingredients for these, just your pantry basics:
- flour
- sugar
- salt
- baking powder
- milk
- egg
- butter
You don’t even need buttermilk! And there’s nothing difficult about mixing it up either. These pancakes are basically foolproof. Plus they’re FLUFFY!
How to make Fluffy Pancakes from scratch
Want to see them fluff? Just watch my video below to see them actually fluff up on the griddle. Then keep reading for the recipe and all my pancake making tips.
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Fluffy Pancake Recipe
Please note that the recipe below makes fifteen 4 inch pancakes or seven or eight 6 inch pancakes. The recipe can easily be doubled or triple (or more!) depending on how many people you are feeding. For my family of 7 we always double the recipe, even if serving with eggs and fruit.
Fluffy Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/4 cups milk
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp butter melted
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
- Whisk in milk and egg until combined. Then whisk in butter. Batter will be slightly lumpy.
- Allow batter to rest about 10 minutes. Batter will thicken slightly. Meanwhile, heat griddle to 350 degrees F.
- Pour out pancakes, 1/4 cup of batter each, on a hot griddle. Allow to cook until bubbles appear on the top and edges start to look dry, about 2-3 minutes.
- Flip pancakes and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden brown on both sides. Remove from griddle and serve hot.
Tips for making Perfect Pancakes
Ok, pancakes are pretty darn simple, but there are some things that will ensure they turn out perfect every time.
Mix ingredients in this order: whisk together the dry ingredients first, then stir in the milk and egg, then stir in the melted butter. If you try to stir in the melted butter and milk in one step the cold milk can chill the butter in tiny pieces, which won’t mix into the batter evenly. And don’t mix too much – it’s totally fine for the batter to look a little lumpy.
Allow the batter to rest about 10 minutes before cooking. This will give you maximum fluffiness!
Use a measuring cup to pour out the batter. Measuring out the batter ensures your pancakes are a uniform size and doesn’t take any extra time at all. Just use the measuring cup to scoop up the batter and then pour it on the griddle. If you use a 1/4 cup measure you’ll end up with pancakes about 4 inches across, which is a great size for kids. Or you can use a 1/2 cup measure for nice big pancakes, like the ones you see in these photos.
Pour the batter straight down on the griddle for circular pancakes. You do not need to pour the batter in a circle or try to smooth the batter out once it’s on the griddle; just pour it all out and let it do it’s thing.
Cook pancakes on a griddle for best results. Pancakes cook best on an electric griddle because you can control the heat and keep it at an even 350 degrees F. You can absolutely cook pancakes on a skillet on the stove, but it’s a bit harder to tell how hot your skillet actually is. Sprinkle a little water on your skillet and if the water immediately dances and sizzles you know it’s hot enough to start cooking pancakes. If the pancakes are getting too dark before they are ready to flip you’ll know you need to turn the heat down a bit.
Know when it’s time to flip your pancakes, and for fluffy pancakes only flip once. Pancakes are ready to flip when they having started to puff and bubbles are forming. Wait until a couple bubbles have popped and the edges are starting to look dry (this will take 2-3 minutes on a 350 degree griddle). Flip the pancake and let it cook 2-3 more minutes. If your temp is consistent you’ll have perfectly cooked pancakes that are golden brown on both sides and soft and fluffy in the middle.
How to Store/Freeze Pancakes
One thing we really love about pancakes is that they store and freeze beautifully! Allow them to cool completely, and then store them in a plastic zip top bag in the fridge for a few days. Reheat in the microwave or toaster. They freeze well too! To make sure they don’t stick together in the freezer you can place a small piece of parchment paper in between each pancakes and freeze them in a ziptop bag. Alternately, you can lay them out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze until hard, and then transfer to a bag. Enjoy!
Janet Alvey says
These were exceptional!!! My family loved them. They definitely are 5 stars!!!
Mona Koons says
tried this last weekend and now it is my go to !!
Susan says
The batter is way too think. Needs more liquid. I probably used another 1/2 cup of milk to make the batter at least somewhat pourable. I still spread the batter out slightly on the griddle even after adding the additional milk. Otherwise they were very fluffy and tasty.
autumn says
Hi Susan, thanks for letting us know! The amount of milk definitely can vary depending on how densely packed your flour is when you measure it, etc. I’m glad you liked the pancakes once you were able to adjust the recipe.
Bugbutt says
There are so many ads I can’t see the recipe. I can’t make it if I can’t see it. I won’t read any of it if I can only read one line at a time.
Gina says
Perfectly ready and deliciously fluffy! I followed the recipe exactly and were very much enjoyed them, thanks!
Gina says
I meant perfectly easy!
Chana Stone says
These came out very fluffy but extremely salty. If you make these, I would do more sugar, for sure.
Bobbi says
This is a great recipe. Easy, and uses ingredients you already have. They were fluffy and light. Family loved them. Yay!!
Patricia says
Hello, I made these pancakes for breakfast this morning. They were a big hit in my house. I used whey instead of milk and made shapes our of mine, I got 8 all together. Thanks for sharing
Savannah says
I love this recipe! My kids love it more! Can I make a big batch and keep the batter in the fridge for a day or two? How long do you think it would keep?
Aer says
Can you substitute water for milk?
Helen says
This was delightful! My one and only change…I added blueberries ❤️. Wish I would have found this earlier. Thank you!
Nellie says
Thank you for this recipe. The fluffy pancakes held their shape well.
TL says
This was a recipe that my two-year-old daughter had her eyes closed eating, it was that good!
Lily says
Followed the recipe and ours tasted like flour and salt. They were fluffy though.
Farmhouse Girl says
Made these tonight and they were the most successful, fluffy pancakes I’ve ever made. I couldn’t believe how fluffy they were and they were cooked all the way through. For flavor, I added 1 tsp. of vanilla extract, which I believe should be mandatory in every pancake recipe. Delicious! I will use this recipe again.
Lindsey says
The batter turned out way too thick. I added some more milk and then they were perfect. I also added a pinch of cinnamon. This is a good basic pancake recipe.
kellsot says
I literally found this recipe on a whim, and decided to try them. Pancakes are a staple in my family, though we tend to use the box mix. However, I decided to see if there was a quick, from scratch recipe available. These are not much harder to put together when compared to the box recipe, and they taste much better! I followed the recipe as written, and they came out perfectly! This will remain a staple recipe for me!
Steffany says
Is it really supposed to be one whole teaspoon of salt? My gut was telling me to reduce it to 1/4, but I chose to follow the recipe. They came out fluffy and beautiful, but they taste like the ocean.
Autumn Baldwin says
Hi Steffany! We do make then with a teaspoon of salt and have never had complaints that they are too salty, but of course you can vary that amount to your taste. Also, just make sure you are using baking powder and not baking soda. Thanks.
Julie says
Just made these! I don’t usually review recipes I try, but I had to for this one. I’ve tried so many different homemade pancake recipes, they all had fancy ingredients, not things I just had on hand already, and to be honest I was never really impressed. I found this recipe and had everything on hand already, it’s the most simple recipe! And they are delicious 😋 so fluffy!! This is the best recipe I have found on here and will now be my go to! I followed the recipe exactly and they came out great! I knew they were going to be super fluffy when I saw how thick the batter was! Give this a try for sure!