Pancakes From Scratch

Written by
Danilo Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
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Danilo Alfaro
Updated 06/26/19
Pancakes

The Spruce

 
  • Total: 30 mins
  • Prep: 15 mins
  • Cook: 15 mins
  • Resting Time: 20 mins
  • Servings: 6 servings
Nutritional Guidelines (per serving)
164 Calories
7g Fat
20g Carbs
6g Protein
See Full Nutritional Guidelines Hide Full Nutritional Guidelines
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 164
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 7g 8%
Saturated Fat 3g 13%
Cholesterol 78mg 26%
Sodium 1172mg 51%
Total Carbohydrate 20g 7%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Protein 6g
Calcium 404mg 31%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

This recipe makes light, fluffy, and utterly delightful pancakes with just a few simple ingredients. After you make these pancakes once, you will never reach for the pancake mix again.

One thing to keep in mind is that you don't overmix pancake batter—this can cause your pancakes to turn out rubbery. Just mix until the dry ingredients are mostly incorporated into the wet, with some lumps still visible. Then let the batter rest for 20 minutes. This gives those lumps a chance to dissolve and the glutens in the flour to relax. You can actually hold the batter in the fridge for several hours if need be. As a matter of fact, it'll even hold up pretty well overnight.

If this is your first time making pancakes, you will want to get a few tips and tricks under your belt before you begin preparing breakfast for the family or weekend guests. Once you master how to make these, you can make any type of pancake easily.

1:23

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Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients. 

    Pancakes from scratch ingredients

  2. Sift together the flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.

    Sift flour and baking powder
    The Spruce

  3. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs thoroughly, then stir in the milk, sugar, and salt, and mix until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the vanilla.

    Beat eggs with milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla
     The Spruce

  4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and use a fork to gently, but thoroughly, combine until most of the dry ingredients aren't dry anymore. Make sure not to overmix—you'll still see some lumps. You can gently break up some of the bigger lumps with your fork, but don't mix for much longer than 20 seconds.

    Add dry mixture to wet mixture using fork
    The Spruce

  5. Let the batter rest for about 20 minutes. Toward the end of that time, preheat your griddle to 375 F or heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Preheat the oven to 170 F to keep batches of pancakes warm.

    Pre-heat skillet for pancakes
    The Spruce

  6. When your cooking surface is hot, lightly spray it with cooking spray.

    Spray skillet with cooking spray
    The Spruce

  7. For each pancake, ladle 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle or pan. Cook until the tops of the pancakes are full of bubbles and the bottoms are golden brown.

    Cook pancakes on one side until golden brown
    The Spruce

  8. Flip the pancakes and cook until the tops are golden-brown.

    Flip pancakes and cook other side
    The Spruce

  9. Either serve right away or transfer to the oven to keep warm.

    Serve cooked pancakes
    The Spruce

  10. Top with maple syrup and enjoy!

Tips

  • The great thing about the measurements in this recipe is that they can easily be halved if you want to make pancakes for 2 people instead of 4. Of course, you can also double the recipe if you have a larger group to feed or want to freeze cooked pancakes for later. (To freeze, once the pancakes have cooled, place in zip-top bags with the layers separated by wax paper.) 
  • If you are finding your pancakes just aren't turning out right, it could be that your baking powder has gone stale. If it's been more than 6 months since you bought your baking powder, toss it and buy a fresh container. When baking powder gets too old, it won't rise as much as it should, and your pancakes will be heavy and dense rather than light and fluffy.
  • Another problem could be how you are measuring your flour. Make sure you weigh your flour, not just scoop it out of the bag. If you scoop, chances are your pancakes will be thick and dense rather than light and fluffy.

Recipe Variations

  • For some added nutrition, you can substitute plain yogurt for half the milk. Your batter will be thicker, so lower your griddle temperature a little. But the pancakes will still turn out fluffy, and the extra tangy flavor is heavenly. And tell your kids not to worry—you can definitely add chocolate chips to this recipe!
  • A cup of fresh blueberries is another welcome addition. You can use frozen ones, too, as long as you thaw them first, but these are more likely to bleed color into the batter. Which is not necessarily a problem, just be aware of this in advance and stick to fresh blueberries if you want to avoid that.