Who doesn’t love pancakes for breakfast? Loved by kids and adults alike, perfect, light fluffy pancakes are super easy to make at home. Here’s how to make the best pancakes ever in your very own home, from scratch.

They’re quick, easy, fluffy and ultra delicious and wonderful added to a pancake or breakfast board for a fun breakfast.

Close up of a stack of 3 pancakes on a white plate, topped with berries and butterIt’s hard to go past a recipe that’s just as delicious for breakfast as it is for dessert too. Not only are they simple to make but you can also make up your very own pancake mix from scratch to keep in the pantry ready for when the craving hits.

These homemade pancakes have all the convenience of store bought mixes but they taste so much better. This makes it a great pancake recipe for kids  – they can learn to make up a few batches of dry mix to store in the pantry then when you want them, add wet ingredients, give them a shake (kids love this part) and cook them up. These pancakes can be made even more fun and perfect for birthdays like these Funfetti Pancakes.

How to make easy pancakes

  1. Start by mixing together the dry ingredients. These can be put into jars in your pantry at this point ready for when you want them.
  2. Add the wet ingredients – melted butter, milk, eggs and vanilla extract give wonderful flavour. Give it all a good mix up and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.
  3. Heat some oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat, then add 1/4 cupfuls of mixture to the pan. Only cook 2-3 at a time.
  4. When bubbles appear and the top starts to dry a little, flip them over and cook the other side for a minute or so or until golden.

It’s important not to overcook them once flipping or they’ll dry out and be crumbly as opposed to soft and fluffy. They are mostly cooked already right before flipping so just long enough to get a light golden colour is enough.

A stack of 3 pancakes on a white plate, topped with berries and butter

Extra tips for making pancakes

  • You can cut vanilla extract out of the wet ingredients and instead use the same amount of vanilla sugar in your dry ingredients if preferred.
  • To store the pancake mix for later, use a jar with an airtight, screw top lid that is quite wide. This will make it easy to add your wet ingredients later. A jar size of about 4 cups (1 litre / 1/4 gallon) is perfect, leaving plenty of room to shake them up in the jar.
  • You can also store it in airtight plastic bags, then use a bowl to mix your pancakes up. Use a plastic container or the bowl method if kids will be mixing them – don’t want them shaking a big glass jar around.
  • When cooking, don’t overcrowd the pan or they won’t cook as evenly and you may have difficulty flipping and removing the pancakes.
  • Don’t heat the pan too hot, medium heat is fine. This is hot enough to get them golden and cooked through without burning them before they’re ready.
  • Don’t overcook them after flipping. Just long enough to get a slight golden to the underneath is perfect.
  • Store the pancakes, stacked on a plate covered with a clean tea towel before serving.

And have you ever heard of pikelets?

What are pikelets?

Prounounced pie-klts, pikelets are like mini pancakes and are well known in the UK, New Zealand and Australia. They are about palm size and when I was growing up, mum would put pikelets in our lunch boxes, spread with butter and we’d eat them cold. So simple and so delicious.

How to make pikelets

The great news is this recipe makes perfect pikelets.  I’ve used it to make them on a number of occasions, including when I made this Lemon Syrup below. Cook them the same way but use a maximum of two tablespoons of batter per pikelet.

Lemon syrup being poured over a stack of pancakes

If you’ve never made pancakes from scratch, now’s the time. Imagine the extra flavour you get from adding in real ingredients like the butter, egg, milk and vanilla that you won’t get when you just add milk or water to a store bought pancake mix.

Pancake topping ideas

I grew up with simple lemon and sugar as the topping for pancakes (although mums pancakes were more like crepes and we’d roll them up) and I adore maple syrup and butter over pancakes but there are loads of toppings that work well.

Can you freeze pancakes?

The news gets better – pancakes freeze very well. Lay a square of baking paper between each cooked pancaked to make them easier to separate when you want one. Place them in a plastic ziplock bag then into an airtight container. They’ll keep for up to 3 months.

To cook them from frozen you can place them in a toaster or heat them for 30-40 seconds in the microwave.

Pancakes for dinner?

If you’re a pancakes for dinner kind of person, maybe try them with bacon, eggs and maple syrup or piled into a casserole dish withe sausages and beaten eggs, bake then drizzle with – you guessed it – maple syrup.

Want a DIY Pancake Mix – no eggs required?

Pictured above is my DIY Pancake mix. It’s based on this recipe below but can be stored in the pantry for months and requires no eggs. When you feel like pancakes, simply pull out a jar, just add oil and water and shake it up. You can get the full recipe here on my Tangi DIY Pancake mix video.

If there was ever a time to learn how to make pancakes, it’s now and these easy fluffy pancakes will never let you down. The options are endless to make them your own from storing your own dry mix to freezing and pancake toppings galore, this is the only post you’ll ever need.

More sweet breakfast recipes

A stack of 3 pancakes on a white plate, topped with berries and butter
5 from 4 ratings
There's no need for pre-mixes when you can make Easy Fluffy Pancakes at home in minutes. A few simple ingredients and this perfect pancake recipe is all you need. It's great fun for kids to make too.

Ingredients

Dry ingredients

  • 195 g plain (all purp) flour (5.3oz / 1 ½ cups)
  • 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Wet ingredients

  • 57 g unsalted butter, melted (¼ cup / ½ stick)
  • 1 cup milk (250ml)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided

Instructions
 

  • Sift together dry ingredients then whisk to mix thoroughly. At this point you can put your dry ingredients into a 1L / ¼ gallon jar with a large opening and store in the pantry until required.
  • Add wet ingredients and stir (or shake if using a jar) until incorporated. Small lumps in the mix are ok. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.
  • Heat a light sprinkling of oil in a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Allow it to heat for about 5 minutes before putting in first pancake.
  • Drop ¼ cups of mixture into pan - an ice cream scoop works well. When bubbles appear and the top look mostly dry, carefully flip the pancakes. Cook other side for another minute or so. Don't overcook, or they'll end up dry.

Notes

  1. For best results you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
  2. I use a large ice cream scoop to portion out my batter which makes it easy to portion and to drop them into the pan.
  3. Using a 1/4 cup volume ice cream scoop, you'll get about 10 pancakes or using a 1/3 cup volume scoop will give you 7-8 pancakes.
  4. Store the dry mix in the pantry for up to 3 months. Use a container at least 1 litre / 1/4 gallon with a large opening. It needs an airtight lid. Use plastic if kids will be using the jar to shake the pancake mix up.
  5. Pancakes can be frozen. place a piece of baking paper between each, then place in a ziplock bag and an airtight container for up to 3 months.
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Have you tried this recipe?Don't forget to leave a rating and comment below and let me know how it was! I love hearing from you. Nutrition information is approximate and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use may cause variations.

A stack of 3 pancakes on a white plate, topped with berries and butter