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This is the best homemade pancakes recipe from scratch. You can fool around with all sorts of other ingredients when it comes to pancakes, but in the end it’s always Grandma’s recipe that rules them all.
This was my Grandma’s and then my Mom’s recipe and now it’s all that I use for my family anymore! It’s perfect every time! I also have a great Belgian Waffles recipe if you want to try those as well.
How to Make Pancakes from Scratch
Making these is easier than you think. Here’s how to get started:
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, white sugar and salt in a medium bowl. (see the recipe card below for measurements)
- In another bowl, combine milk, eggs, oil and vanilla.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients, then pour in the wet ones, whisking until smooth.
- Start heating your griddle (medium heat) then take a scoop of batter and pour onto the preheated griddle. Flip when slightly bubbled and golden brown underneath. Cook until golden brown.
- Serve and enjoy!
Variations
- Whole Wheat: You can substitute whole wheat flour easily (just add another 1/2 tsp of baking powder to compensate for the heaviness).
- Cake Flour: If you want your pancakes to be fluffier, follow the instructions below and use cake flour!
How to Make Fluffy Pancakes
I have a whole post on how to make fluffy pancakes, so make sure to read that! I suggest letting the batter sit for a while ( 5-10 minutes) and let the chemical reactions start working. I’ve also found that waiting to heat your griddle AFTER you make the pancakes gives you that time to let the batter sit.
Making Pancakes From Scratch Tips & Tricks
- Use a hot griddle. Not as hot as a lot of recipes tell you, because then you just burn the outside of the pancake and the inside is raw. Try using a medium-high heat setting.
- Get a wide spatula/flipper. This will help you lift the pancake properly and turn it over. I like flippers.
- Serve this with my Homemade Brown Sugar Sauce (that’s what is in the photos)
- If you want lighter, fluffier pancakes use the cake flour, but the end product pancakes do soak up the syrup more than the all purpose flour pancake recipe does. I personally like it better, and will keep a bag of cake flour on hand for pancakes.
- Don’t have cake flour? See below for instructions!
IMPORTANT NOTE
IF YOU ARE USING SIFTED FLOUR, adjust your liquid measurements! I do NOT use sifted flour and that is why your batter will be too runny. Don’t sift your flour!
How to Make Cake Flour
Making your own cake flour is so easy it’s not even funny! I just happened to have a bag of it, but when I make pancakes and don’t have that bag anymore (because obviously I am bad at remembering to buy flour) I will make some cake flour. All you have to do is:
- For every cup of all-purpose flour that you use, you are going to remove 2 tbsp of the flour, then replace it with 2 tbsp of cornstarch and whisk in.
- So for example, scoop 4 cups of all-purpose flour into a bowl. You will then remove 8 tbsp ( which is 1/2 cup) of the all-purpose flour and put it back in the bag. Then you will get 1/2 cup of cor
nstarch and add that into the bowl of flour. Take a whisk and whisk it all together. - Voila! Cake flour!
This is the recipe that my mom used while we were growing up as she always made pancakes from scratch. She would freeze then and then we would eat them during the week for a quick breakfast! Try my Overnight Cinnamon French Toast Casserole or my Best Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins for more great breakfast and brunch recipes!
Happy cooking!
Karlynn
The BEST Homemade Pancake Recipe From Scratch
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes
- Total Time
- 10 minutes
- Course
- Breakfast Meals
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 14 pancakes
- Calories
- 201
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 2 2/3 cups all-purpose or cake flour
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 2 eggs
- 6 tablespoons oil or melted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- In a medium bowl or a large 16 cup capacity liquid measuring cup, whisk together the flour, baking powder, white sugar and salt.
- In another large capacity liquid measuring cup, combine 2 1/2 cups of milk, eggs, oil and vanilla. Mix until combined. If you need to, add more milk until the batter reaches desired consistency.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour the egg mixture in. Whisk together until the batter is smooth with only a few flour chunks – it doesn’t have to be completely smooth.
- If you have a griddle start it heating now on medium heat. I have a cast iron one that I adore, but it takes a while for it to heat up uniformly. If not, heat the largest pan that you have.
- To make the pancakes I use a muffin batter scoop, which is called a #8 disher scoop. This is one of my favourite kitchen hacks, that scoop! It measures out muffins, pancakes, extra large cookies, you name it!
- Take one scoop of batter and pour onto your already heated griddle, fitting on as many as you can at once. Flip your pancakes when they are slightly bubbled on the surface and golden brown underneath. The key is a medium heat that is ready and raring to go, so they instantly sizzle when you place them on the surface, but not so hot they burn.
- Continue to cook all of the batter, placing cooked pancakes on a covered plate when cooked.
- Serve with my Homemade Brown Sugar Sauce.
Recipe Video
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Josie says
can I use almond flour instead of cake flour????
Josie
Kwiggs says
This recipe is awful. Not fluffy. The dry to wet ratio is completely off. And it made way too many. I wasted so many ingredients 🙁
Mr. Kitchen Magpie says
If it didn’t work for you, it’s because you neglected to follow the instructions. We’ve made this for years and still do and it’s always preferred by the kids. Remember, the recipe notes say:
If the batter is too thick after mixing, add more milk.
IF the batter is too runny, you can add more flour
~Mike
Mary says
Just for myself, I am going to use this recipe for making waffles too. I received one of those mini maker machines for Christmas since I am a senior and only one around. I like to also make them ahead of time for when I am in the mood. I sometimes eat breakfast for dinner. Thanks for sharing.
Jacqueline Hourani says
Hi,
Thank you very much for this recipe. I read that you use a #8 disher scoop for each pancake. I looked this up on Amazon/Google search and I get a bunch of ice cream scoops. Could you give me the measurement amount for each pancake instead?
Thank you!
Mary V says
Great Pancake recipe! I have always used the original Betty Crocker recipe, but this I mad exactly how stated they turned out great! Tasty, Fluffy and perfect. 5 stars. My new pancake recipe
Ari says
In a way, I’m impressed that a such simple recipe could turn out to be so terrible. End result was flat, tasteless, chewy, and confusingly greasy pancakes. Truly bizarre.
Karlynn Johnston says
Oh I’m pretty sure you must have read the recipe wrong or missed an ingredient. I’ve made these pancakes all my life, probably a hundred times at least and they’ve never turned out flat and greasy. Not to mention there’s a ton of good reviews from other people who’ve tried them, this recipe has been on my website for 10 years!
Peetah Mangels says
Is that the correct amount of baking powder? 2 tablespoons? That might taste a bit bitter. Maybe a typo?
Angel says
Make sure you’re using baking powder and NOT baking soda! The baking powder is what gives the pancakes their fluffiness and they won’t be bitter as long as you’re using the proper ingredient. I see this a lot on the comments on different recipes calling for such a high amount of baking powder and usually figure people use baking soda by accident and yes it would probably turn everything bitter. Lol
Stacy says
Amazing recipe. I cooked this recipe and my critics liked it. Recommend. I love to cook and collect good recipes.
Roz says
Love the recipe. Was looking for a recipe that used cake flour. The first time I had to add flour because the batter was too thin. Did it again and cut back on the liquid came out light and fluffy. Added a little all spice. Delicious
Matthew says
Not a bit, they do turn out bitter, and rely on the sugar to balance out the bitterness and help them to brown. I’ve modified many pancake recipes to take out the milk and try to keep the sugar down, this one gets a hard fail from me. I’ve tried many other close to 5 start recipes, often many of them call for a lot of baking powder & sugar, and they are bitter, like box recipes, or like you get at many restaurants – like dennies. People are addicted to sugar, and they like the flavour of restaurants pancakes. So if you want pancakes that taste like restaurant quality, this is the recipe for you!
I reduced the sugar to 1/4 cup, normal milk to almond, butter to oil. It came out a little on the watery side, I could have added some more flour, but then the batter would get over mixed and the pancakes would get gluey, air bubbles pop & whatever gluten that’s left in the cake flour over developed.
NotsoMartha says
Start with only 1.5 c milk at the most then work your way up!
SoNotMartha says
I’m making these for Easter breakfast tomorrow!
Looks amazing- thank you for sharing!
Ann says
Love this pancake recipe so much, have made them numerous times, one of the best i have tried, and the Belgian waffles are truly amazing, made a stack for my grandson this morning, he said they were the best he has tasted and now i have to keep making this recipe.
Lorraine says
5 Star all the way. Light and fluffy. Not too sweet. This one is a keeper. Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Lisa says
I don’t usually comment on recipes, but this is the best pancake recipe I’ve ever made. Anytime I’ve tried to make pancakes from scratch they have come out horrible – cooked in the outside raw on the inside. Not these! I followed the recipe exactly except I used coconut milk instead of regular milk. The consistency was perfect. I read a few of the comments that mentioned that the batter was too runny. Not mine. The reason why I searched for this recipe is because I ran out of pancake mix and I have a lot of cake flour that I needed to use up. My son had 4 of them. He loved them! I loved them too. Full disclosure, my daughter didn’t like them, but she’s the pickiest eater and doesn’t like anything.
Earlyne says
My hubby & I agree, imagine that, this recipe is by far the best pancake recipe ever! I used almond milk cause that’s what I use for everything. Thanks for posting. I look forward to many more recipe suggestions from thekitchenmagpie 👍
Liz says
Excellent pancake recipe. I did the trick and made cake flour from regular flour with the substitution suggested. The only other change was to use buttermilk instead of regular milk, and I halved the recipe but still used 1 tbsp of vanilla extract…..added one mashed bananas and oh so yuummmm
Tasty Freq says
My absolutely favorite recipe. I don’t change a thing. Except for a little less milk. I use this recipe for bacon pancakes best ever!
Tara says
This recipe was terrible. They had no flavor and were bland. Plus wayyyy too much milk.
Sarah says
Agreed! Not sure why the comments here are so positive. it’s a 1/1 ratio flour and milk. Didn’t make the batter the right consistency at all. .
noella chantelle says
Made these pancakes and they were amazing!!
Julie Smith says
Can I use water in place of milk?
Sarah says
Way too much milk and the melted butter seized when added to the milk mixture. Total fail.
Pat Em says
When making pancakes, waffles, cakes, snything that calls for adding melted butter to milk, always warm your milk slightly to room temp or slightly above in the microwave. The butter will not sieze and it will mix in your batter better. All ingredients should be room temp including the egg.
Tina says
The best pancake mix for sure! Just made some and it turned out amazing!
Janene says
Too much milk. I did not sift my flour. I had to add some more flour in. I would suggest mixing all wet ingredients in with 1 cup of milk and then add more milk as needed.
Eileen Shedrick says
Use room temperature milk or your melted butter will seize when mixing
Julie Smith says
Can I use water in place of milk?
Maria D. says
Way too much milk in this recipe, and I did not use sifted flour. Had to add about another 1/4-1/2 cup to make up the difference.
Ryan Beaucage says
Too much baking powder. Common issue striving for fluffy instead of taste
Kay says
Too much milk in the recipe. I checked others. Only needed 2 cups milk.
Faith Henry says
Made the cottage cheese pancakes and the homemade fluffy ones. We loved them both, and I am sharing the recipes with my friends. No more pancake mixes for us! Thank you for the wonderful recipes!
marlen says
prep time 5 min–cook time 20 min = 10 min just checking!!
Joy D says
Tried this recipe and the one for banana pancakes, my family loved it. Can you freeze this?