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Stack these fluffy homemade pancakes tall and add a pat of butter and maple syrup for the perfect weekend breakfast. They’re easy to make with pantry ingredients and turn out stellar every single time!
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Pin RecipeMy Top Tips for Fluffy and Light Pancakes
No one wants to sit down to a plate of thin, tough pancakes! But sometimes that’s how they turn out. It’s a bummer, but it doesn’t have to be that way! This recipe incorporates some tricks I’ve learned to make sure I always get fluffy pancakes when I make them at home. Here’s the lowdown:
- We start by sifting the dry ingredients. This helps make them light and airy—and that helps create that fluffy texture we want in our pancakes.
- Mix just enough to wet the dry ingredients. It’s totally fine if there are a few lumps and streaks of flour in the bowl after mixing. If you mix too much, the gluten in the flour over-develops, and this creates dense, tough pancakes with less rise.
- Let the batter sit for 5 minutes. During this time, the dry ingredients will absorb the wet ingredients, thickening your batter. And this means that when you pour the batter into the pan, it won’t spread out, resulting in thin pancakes.
Variations
As written, this recipe will give you your classic homemade pancakes, perfect for piling on the toppings. But if you want to switch things up a bit, here are some ideas:
- To make these pancakes a little healthier, use whole wheat flour, or do half white flour and half whole wheat.
- For some fruity additions, fold in chopped strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries. (Or make these Blueberry Pancakes!)
- Make them more fun with chocolate chips or sprinkles.
- Enhance the flavor of this recipe by adding vanilla or almond extract.
Try These Pancake Recipes Next!
Whether it’s my homemade waffle recipe , breakfast casserole, or French toast casserole, we sure love our weekend breakfasts in our house, but pancakes have a special place in my heart!
- For another classic (and fluffy!) pancake recipe, try these old-fashioned Buttermilk Pancakes.
- Coconut Flour Pancakes are a great option if you’re on a grain-free diet.
- Your kids will flip if you make this Pancake Cereal for breakfast. Super fun!
- If you want your breakfast to taste like a treat, these Nutella Pancakes are just the ticket.
Fluffy Homemade Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
Instructions
- Sift together the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large bowl.
- Make a well in the middle of the dry mix. Add the wet ingredients-the egg, milk, and butter.
- Lightly whisk the batter together until just mixed. The batter will have small lumps. Let sit 5 minutes while your skillet heats up.
- Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the skillet. With large skillet on medium-high heat add 1/4 cup of pancake batter to the skillet.
- Let cook until bubbles form on the surface and edges are dry.
- Flip and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes until golden brown.
- Top for butter, powdered sugar, and pure maple syrup to serve!
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Nutrition
Wow!!!! Fluffiest pancake recipe. Made them almost with same recipe ingredients but never with this result. Followed recipe exactly as written. Will make this recipe again and again.
Delicious pancakes we had to substitute whole milk to almond milk and they were still delicious.
Okay…I tried this recipe again. These pancakes (my absolute favorite breakfast food) turned out perfectly this time! Sooo fluffy, I added some vanilla for xtra specialness. I can’t wait to try them with pecans or blueberries! Absolutely yummy! 😋
Followed the recipe to a T and it didn’t work, consistency was too wet and thin, we tried adding more flour and it just didn’t work. Wasn’t flipping the way it should, not sure what I did wrong when I followed it exactly, I was pretty disappointed.
This is the second time I’ve attempted this recipe. The dough is too thick and something seems off. These just taste salty.
Unfortunately my cakes turned out very thick and had to overcook to cook middle of cakes, not cooked on top when flipped because just to thick, where did I go wrong?
Your FAQs say baking soda makes them fluffy, yet there is no baking soda in the ingredients.
What gives??
I love them and my kids love them and they’re easy and quick to make
Thank you! We’re so happy to hear this!
Perfect pancakes! Fluffy with crispy edges, absolutely perfect and ready to make faster than a mix.
Substitute gluten free flour and you can have delicious pancakes without issue!
I’ve made this recipe several times, it’s excellent.
We’re so glad you were able to make them work for you!
Great recipe, I did tweek it as I usually do with most … Added 1 more egg, 1tsp vanilla extract and a bit more flour -1/4 cup. Super fluffy!!! They were delicious!! Thanks!!
We’re so glad you were able to make it work and enjoyed the pancakes, Claudia!
I make these all the time! I normally get the premix, but one day I didn’t have any. I looked up a recipe that I had all the ingredients for and this one was the winner! I’m glad it was because it’s delicious. The only thing is that sometimes I need to add more flour to the batter because it’s too soupy. I changed the recipe to 2 cups flour and it’s PERFECT!
Thank you for the feedback, Lauren! We’re glad you were able to adjust the recipe to suit your preferences and are so glad you enjoyed it!
These come out great every time. We’ve added mashed bananas. I add blueberries. These are the only pancakes we eat.
We’re so happy to hear this, Christine! We would love to see a picture of your recreations. 😊
Good pancakes! I would just add a little less salt next time.
Thank you for the feedback, Jess! We appreciate you trying the recipe. 😊
So we don’t use buttermilk in this recipe. The name of your recipe is buttermilk pancakes. Can’t wait to try it
Nice and fluffy! Kid approved!
We’re so glad it was a hit!
Taste overwhelmingly of baking soda. This recipe is super high in sodium
Hailey in your review you were talking about a taste of baking soda, but there isn’t any bake soda in the recipe. There is only baking powder and that helps.the pancake fluff up.
I love this recipe! I use gluten free one to one flour and it works perfectly every time. I usually only put 2.5 tsp of baking powder in, and they still turn out very fluffy and yummy! Everyone loves these!
Thank you so much, Elizabeth!
I have made these pancakes a few times, using a vegetarian method (vegan butter, coconut milk). They turned out perfectly EVERY time! Thanks for the recipe!!
We’re so glad! Thank you for trying them out, April!