The difference between a flat pancake and a tall one is a single measurement: baking powder against flour. Across this page it runs from two thirds of a teaspoon per cup up to two and a third, and that spread is most of what separates the first six recipes from one another. Everything else is flavor.
Buttermilk is the second variable. Its acid reacts with baking soda, so a buttermilk batter can carry less total leavening and still rise higher, and the crumb comes out more tender because the acid keeps the gluten from tightening. If you have none in the refrigerator, three quarters of a cup of milk with two teaspoons of vinegar does the same job, and one recipe here is built that way deliberately rather than as a substitution.
The third variable is how the egg goes in. Whole and whisked gives the ordinary stack. Separated, with the whites beaten and folded in last, is how the diner pancake gets its structure on only two thirds of a teaspoon of baking powder per cup, the lowest on this page. Pushed further with sugar, it gives the Japanese souffle pancake its height on a quarter cup of flour for two servings, less flour than any other recipe here.
Times run from 20 to 50 minutes and calories from 56 a popper to 849 a serving once the buttermilk syrup is on it. Six of the twenty-five are not sweet at all. One rule matters more than any recipe on the list: stop stirring while the batter still has visible lumps. A smooth batter means you have developed the gluten, and no amount of baking powder rescues a pancake from that.
The Plain Stack, Six Ways
Same pancake, different leavening and different dairy. Compare these six and the rest of the page explains itself.
Fluffy Pancakes
Nine ingredients, plain milk, and two and a half teaspoons of baking powder to a cup and a half of flour. Ninety other pages on this site link to it, which makes it the house pancake and the right starting point if you have never measured any of this before. View the full recipe — 25 minutes · serves 4 · 340 calories
Simple Pancakes from Scratch
Seven ingredients, the shortest list on the page, and the highest baking powder rate at two and a third teaspoons per cup of flour. No buttermilk, no vanilla, nothing to buy. That leavening rate is forty percent above the house pancake, and you can see it in the rise. View the full recipe — 25 minutes · serves 4 · 326 calories
Diner Style Fluffy Pancakes
Two eggs separated, the whites beaten and folded in at the end, which is why this one needs only two thirds of a teaspoon of baking powder per cup and still comes out the tallest of the six. More work, and the texture is the reason to do it. View the full recipe — 25 minutes · serves 4 · 341 calories
Classic Buttermilk Pancakes
Two full cups of buttermilk to two cups of flour, which is a loose batter that spreads wide and thin in the pan. Baking soda does most of the lifting here against the buttermilk acid, with only a teaspoon and a half of powder behind it. View the full recipe — 45 minutes · serves 4 · 399 calories
Soft Buttermilk Pancakes
Twenty minutes start to finish, the fastest on this page, and the same high leavening rate as the from-scratch stack but with buttermilk instead of milk. That combination is what gets you a soft center rather than a chewy one. View the full recipe — 20 minutes · serves 4 · 343 calories
Light Buttermilk Pancakes
Two and a half cups of flour and a full half cup of melted butter, the richest batter in this group. Five servings instead of four, and 513 calories a serving, which is where the butter went. Cook these in bacon grease if you have it. View the full recipe — 40 minutes · serves 5 · 513 calories
Small Batches and Shortcuts
Four for when you do not want to stand at a griddle for twenty minutes, or do not have buttermilk, or are cooking for one or two.
Small Batch Buttermilk Pancakes
One cup of flour and one cup of buttermilk, which is the right size for two people without leftovers going rubbery in the refrigerator. Nine ingredients, 232 calories a serving, the lightest full pancake here. View the full recipe — 25 minutes · serves 4 · 232 calories
Fluffy Pancakes Without Buttermilk
Three quarters of a cup of whole milk with two teaspoons of white vinegar, left to sit until it thickens. That is a real buttermilk substitute rather than a compromise, and the baking soda reacts with it exactly the same way. View the full recipe — 25 minutes · serves 3 · 348 calories
Breakfast Pancake Poppers
The same batter baked in a mini muffin pan instead of cooked on a griddle, which means no flipping and no standing over the pan. Eighteen poppers at 56 calories each, and they hold up in a lunchbox in a way a pancake does not. View the full recipe — 25 minutes · makes 18 poppers · 56 calories each
Pancake Batter Fried Marshmallows
Five ingredients: twenty jumbo marshmallows, a cup of complete pancake mix, water, oil and powdered sugar. The batter has to coat completely or the marshmallow escapes into the oil, which is the whole technique. View the full recipe — 50 minutes · serves 4 · 103 calories
Fruit, Spice and Syrup
Five where something is added to the batter or poured over the top. Two of them pass 700 calories a serving, and both earn it.
Fluffy Blueberry Pancakes
A cup and a half of blueberries into one cup of flour, which is more fruit than batter by volume and the reason these need a gentle hand in the pan. Twenty minutes, and a teaspoon of vinegar in the milk to activate the soda. View the full recipe — 20 minutes · serves 4 · 315 calories
Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
Nineteen ingredients across three components: the buttermilk batter, a cinnamon butter swirl piped into the pan, and a cream cheese glaze. Twenty-seven other pages link to it, the most of any flavored pancake here, and at 720 calories a serving it is closer to dessert. View the full recipe — 30 minutes · serves 4 · 720 calories
Cinnamon Brown Sugar Pancakes
Half a cup of brown sugar creamed into the batter rather than sprinkled on afterward, which caramelizes at the edges where it meets the pan. Nine ingredients and 417 calories, the richest plain-shaped pancake on the page. View the full recipe — 25 minutes · serves 4 · 417 calories
Pumpkin Spice Pancakes with Maple Syrup
Three quarters of a cup of pumpkin puree against a cup and a half of flour, which is enough moisture that the batter needs three quarters of a teaspoon of baking soda on top of the powder to lift it. Four spices, not a premixed blend. View the full recipe — 35 minutes · serves 4 · 311 calories
Buttermilk Pancakes with Warm Buttermilk Syrup
The syrup is the recipe: half a cup of butter, a cup of sugar and half a cup of buttermilk boiled together, then half a teaspoon of baking soda whisked in at the end so it foams pale and thick. That is why this comes to 849 calories a serving. View the full recipe — 30 minutes · serves 4 · 849 calories
Tall, Light, or Not Wheat
Four built on technique or on a different flour rather than on more baking powder.
Fluffy Japanese Souffle Pancakes
A quarter cup of flour for two servings, less than any other recipe here, with the structure coming almost entirely from meringue. They are cooked covered over low heat for far longer than a normal pancake, which is the only way the inside sets before the outside burns. View the full recipe — 40 minutes · serves 2 · 473 calories
Fluffy Lemon Souffle Pancakes
The same folded-meringue idea with a tablespoon each of lemon zest and juice, on one cup of flour and only a teaspoon of baking powder. The acid in the juice tightens the egg foam slightly, which makes these easier to flip than the Japanese version. View the full recipe — 30 minutes · serves 4 · 321 calories
Vanilla Coconut Flour Pancakes
Half a cup of coconut flour and four eggs, which is the ratio coconut flour needs because it absorbs roughly four times the liquid wheat flour does. Seven ingredients, no grain, and a tablespoon of vanilla rather than a teaspoon. View the full recipe — 25 minutes · serves 4 · 317 calories
Make Ahead Whole Grain Einkorn Pancakes
Four cups of whole grain einkorn flour mixed as one batch and portioned, at 63 calories a pancake. Einkorn has weaker gluten than modern wheat, so it never toughens from overmixing, which makes it the forgiving option for a make-ahead batter. View the full recipe — 40 minutes · makes 12 pancakes · 63 calories each
With Sausage, or Not Sweet At All
Six that end up at dinner as often as breakfast. The last three have no sugar in them anywhere.
Sausage Dipped Pancakes
Eight breakfast sausage patties dipped in pancake batter and cooked through, so the batter sets around the sausage instead of beside it. Nine ingredients and 834 calories a serving, which is honest about what it is. View the full recipe — 35 minutes · serves 4 · 834 calories
Pancake Sausage Bites
Sausage links baked inside pancake batter in a muffin tin, twelve to a batch at 238 calories each. Eight ingredients, no flipping, and they reheat in a toaster oven without going rubbery the way a syrup-soaked pancake does. View the full recipe — 40 minutes · makes 12 bites · 238 calories each
Pancake Sausage Casserole
Two cups of pancake mix poured over a pound of browned sausage with cheddar and maple syrup, baked as eight squares. This is the version that feeds a table at once instead of a stack at a time. View the full recipe — 45 minutes · makes 8 squares · 357 calories
German Potato Pancakes
Two pounds of russets with only a quarter cup of flour holding them together, fried in half a cup of oil. Seven ingredients. Squeeze the grated potato dry in a towel first or they will steam instead of crisping, which is the one step that decides the result. View the full recipe — 45 minutes · serves 4 · 491 calories
Beef Stuffed Mashed Potato Pancakes
Two cups of cold mashed potato formed around seasoned ground beef, bound with one egg and a quarter cup of flour. The potato has to be cold and firm from the refrigerator or the cakes fall apart in the pan. View the full recipe — 45 minutes · serves 4 · 358 calories
Crispy Zucchini Carrot Pancakes with Asian Dipping Sauce
Two and three quarter cups of grated vegetables to half a cup of flour, so this is barely a batter at all. The soy, rice vinegar and sesame dipping sauce is what makes it a meal rather than a side. One hundred and seventy-two calories. View the full recipe — 30 minutes · serves 4 · 172 calories
Pancake Questions Worth Answering First
Why do my pancakes come out flat?
Three causes, in the order they are most likely. First, the baking powder is old: it loses strength after about six months open, and a half teaspoon dropped in hot water should fizz hard, not weakly. Second, you overmixed. A batter stirred smooth has developed gluten, which traps the bubbles too tightly to expand. Third, the ratio is simply low for what you want. The recipes on this page run from two thirds of a teaspoon of baking powder per cup of flour to two and a third, and if you have been using a recipe at the bottom of that range expecting the top of it, the recipe is not wrong, it is just a different pancake.
What can I use instead of buttermilk?
Three quarters of a cup of milk with two teaspoons of white vinegar or lemon juice, stirred and left five minutes until it thickens and separates slightly. That gives the acid baking soda needs, which is the only job buttermilk is doing. Plain yogurt thinned with milk to a pourable consistency works as well and is closer in body. What does not work is plain milk in a recipe that calls for buttermilk and includes baking soda, because the soda has nothing to react with and leaves a soapy taste.
How hot should the pan actually be?
Medium, and the test is a drop of water: it should sizzle and skate across the surface rather than sitting still or vanishing instantly. Too cool and the pancake dries out before it browns. Too hot and the outside sets in ninety seconds while the center is still batter, which is the usual reason a pancake looks right and is raw inside. Wipe the pan between batches, because the butter left from the last one burns and marks the next.
Can I mix the batter the night before?
For baking powder alone, yes, with some loss of rise. For a recipe with baking soda and buttermilk, no: that reaction starts immediately and is largely spent within half an hour, so an overnight batter goes flat. The better make-ahead is to combine the dry ingredients in a jar and the wet in another, refrigerate both, and whisk them together in the morning. The einkorn recipe on this page is designed as a true make-ahead batch.
How do I keep a whole batch warm, and do they freeze?
Hold the finished pancakes in a single layer on a rack in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven rather than stacked on a plate, where the steam between them turns the surfaces soggy. For freezing, cool them completely on a rack, stack with parchment between each, and freeze in a bag for up to two months. They reheat in a toaster on the lowest setting straight from frozen, which is better than a microwave because it drives moisture out instead of in.
More Breakfast Collections
Where the rest of the morning lives.
- 25 Breakfast Recipes — Eggs, casseroles, sandwiches and the rest of the first meal.
- 25 Banana Bread Recipes — Twenty-five loaves compared by banana-to-flour ratio.
- 25 Casserole Recipes — For feeding a table at once instead of a stack at a time.
- 25 Egg Recipes — Scrambles, bakes, frittatas and the rest of the egg.
- 25 Easy Desserts — If the cinnamon roll pancakes were closer to what you wanted.
Browse all of our recipe collections.
