Simple, soft, fluffy pancakes, an essential that everyone should know. You’ve been good all week. Go on. You deserve freshly made homemade pancakes for breakfast tomorrow!
Pancakes recipe
Homemade pancakes shouldn’t be complicated. It doesn’t matter if they come out wonky or with a splotchy surface instead of being a beautiful, even golden brown – after all, they’ll get smothered in toppings.
But they should be soft and fluffy. And in my world, not too sweet. Because….you know. Toppings. Load up on toppings!
Any day starting with homemade pancakes is a GREAT day!
What goes in homemade pancakes
This is what you need:
flour
baking powder
sugar
egg
milk
vanilla extract – optional
No buttermilk, no baking soda / bi carb, no yoghurt. You only need baking soda for an extra fluff boost when you have add ins in pancakes, like Blueberry Pancakes, because it weighs the batter down.
And of course TOPPINGS! Why limit yourself to just butter and maple syrup? See below for all sorts of ideas!
Pancakes Toppings – what to put on pancakes
Butter and maple syrup – the classic!
Maple syrup alternatives – honey, golden syrup and other sweet syrups suitable for eating raw
Lemon and sugar – one of my favourites! Light sprinkle of sugar and a squeeze of lemon
Strawberries and cream! Pictured below – layer it up like a cake, sandwiching the pancakes with whipped cream and sliced strawberries, then finish with a dusting of icing sugar / powdered sugar;
Sinfully rich sauces – like caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, butterscotch sauce, peanut sauce, anything!
Lemon curd, fruit compotes and sauces – like blueberry sauce (try the one in this Blueberry Cheesecake), Strawberry Sauce (use the one in this Strawberry Cheesecake) or try the warm apple topping in this Apple French Toast
BACON and maple syrup – YES!
Sprinkle of nuts
Fresh fruit – chop it, pile over pancakes with cream!
Ice cream – add a scoop onto a stack and drizzle with maple syrup, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce. Don’t forget the whipped cream!
Dusting of cinnamon and sugar
Pro tip: Keep a STANDBY PANCAKE MIX!
Homemade pancakes aren’t complicated to make, but sometimes it’s that much more appealing if there’s a ready made mix in the cupboard, just like the ones you can buy at the store!
Just measure out the dry ingredients and pop them in a ziplock bag, jar or airtight container, then when you want to make fresh pancakes, just add the wet ingredients!
To make a handy shake ‘n pour bottle like pictured above, you’ll need a 1.5L/1.5Qt+ bottle to leave enough headroom for the required liquids + shaking. I mix the wet ingredients in a jug then pour it in then shake away!
Now, go forth and elevate your morning by making a big stack of these soft, fluffy, golden pancakes! TELL ME what you top YOURS with! – Nagi xx
Watch How To Make It
Simple Fluffy Pancakes recipe video!
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Simple, Fluffy Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups / 300g plain / all purpose flour (Note 1)
- 4 tsp baking powder (Note 1)
- 1/4 cup / 55g white sugar (caster / super fine is best but not essential)
- Pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 1 3/4 cups / 435 ml cups milk (any type, any fat %)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or essence
- 4 tsp butter , for cooking
Instructions
- Place flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl, whisk to combine.
- Add egg, milk and vanilla. Whisk until lump free – no longer than 30 seconds.
- Heat a non stick skillet – use medium heat if you have a strong stove, medium high if you have a weak one. Add a tiny bit of butter (about 1/2 tsp) and swirl to melt. Use paper towel to mostly wipe the butter off (this is the trick to avoid a dodgy 1st pancake).
- Pour 1/4 cup batter into the middle of the fry pan (I use a slightly heaped ice cream scoop with lever, standard is 1/4 cup).
- Swirl pan lightly to spread or use the ice cream scoop edge to spread into 11cm / 4.5″ circle (ruler is a must) (joking!).
- When bubbles rise to the surface (see video), flip and cook the other side until golden.
- Remove and keep warm in a low oven.
- Use more butter every 2 to 3 pancakes – depends how good your non stick coating is.
- Serve with toppings of choice!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More pancake recipes
Giant Pancakes – to share!
Pikelets – mini pancakes!
Life of Dozer
I’m surprised there isn’t a massive drool hanging from his mouth.
Oh wait. I don’t want to gross you out, but after I wrote this post, I almost slipped on a puddle of drool when I was cleaning that area. Ewwwwww!
Gah these look so good and I LOVE that photo of dozer! I can’t practically hear him heavy breathing in front of these! and that wedding looks beautiful! think I’ll make pancakes for my next camping trip!
His heavy breathing is a total turn off…. ICK! 😉 N x
Wow these looks too good for sure!
Can I point out for the uninitiated, it’s lemon JUICE + sugar (superfine/caster is best) (I’m imagining trying slices of lemon + sugar, ewww!)
DUH! Totally forgot to explain that, THANKS BECCA! Will update! N xx
As long as you are claiming (rightfully so) Queen of Pancakes, I’d like to add one for you..
To me, you are the Queen of Delicious Simplicity.. I have been attracted to so many of your recipes for that very reason.. Delicious AND simple… Both warm an old mans heart…
I know what we are having for breakfast tomorrow… Dozer is welcome to join us… :O)
Ross, you are making me BLUSH!!!!! 🙂
You improve on these substantially by:
– increasing milk to 2 cups
– increasing eggs to 3 and beating whites to firm peaks along with the salt from the recipe and folding in as a last step in making the batter.
I also incorporate 2 TBSP cooking oil into batter and use no butter when cooking. I use only 2 tsp sugar.
By the way, what did you use in lieu of maple syrup for the photograph? It doesn’t look a bit like pure grade A maple syrup.
Hi Peter! Thanks for your suggestions, readers always appreciate other ways to make my recipes! You are VERY observant about the maple syrup 🙂 It is maple syrup but not a grade A one and what I did was freeze it to thicken (it doesn’t freeze hard) so it photographs better with those drips you see down the side of the stack of pancakes. It’s a food styling trick. When you don’t freeze it, it is, as you clearly know, much thinner and soaks into the pancake very quickly and you don’t get nice thick drips down the side. N x
Thank goodness it was some “pancake syrup” from the supermarket – you know, the ones where they wave their bottles in the direction of real syrup and the fine print says “flavored with.”
Your pancakes look delicious! Can’t wait to try them! And the photos- what a beautiful setting! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for the kind words Tammy! I’m flattered! N xx
Nagi,
You know how to get a girl drooling! I kept scrolling up and down looking at the gorgeous photos. Sounds like you have so much fun in your family. Pancake queen is such a cute name. This will be perfect for breakfast tomorrow!
Thank you for the compliment Precious! I must admit I tried a few times for the photos – freezing the maple syrup made all the difference! N xx
Freezing maple syrup! Wow! Thanks so much for the tip!
Great post + pictures!! Wow, now that is quite a wedding trip. So, Pancake Queen, what are your very favorite toppings — calories don’t count because we are just imagining this? I don’t think it makes a difference to Dozer. Is he Pancake Eating Prince?? Have a great weekend. xoxo
I don’t think I can get past tons of maple syrup!! N xx
Hi Nagi!
What a great blog post and what a great recipe! I really enjoyed reading all about your adventure and love that your included pictures of the wedding event! So fun!
Linda! It is so terrific to hear from you – how are you and your family?? 🙂 N xx
. Hi Nagi. First of all, what a gorgeous wedding venue. I’ve not seen vanilla in pancake recipes, but I always add it (along with a little cinnamon) when I make French toast. I probably make pancakes for G once a month and I will certainly use this next time. I personally like mine with bacon and (pure) maple syrup, but I wouldn’t turn down some with strawberries. My female dog in a “wet mouth” and leaves puddles everywhere on the floor so I can certainly relate to slipping on them.
Take care with puddles Dorothy! Your hips! Your hips! 😉 N xx
I am going to try these! My volunteer organization has a monthly breakfast (I am the cook) and I absolutely HATE the pancakes that I make. It is a box mix, requiring water only. I think making this batter will be just as easy, and I KNOW that they will be lighter, fluffier and tastier than the box batter ones!! I will let you know in 2 weeks how they turned out!
Dozer needed a couple pancakes to make him forget his traumatic paw injury!!!
You’re so amazing that you cook at a volunteer organisation! It’s been on my to-do list for ages to do something myself 🙂 N xx
Hi Nagi, these look amazing! Just wondering if you can mix the dry ingredients in advance (maybe even double or triple) and store in the pantry, then just add the wet ingredients when you feel like whipping up a batch? Can’t wait to try them!
Yes yes yes!!! I have a note 4 about exactly this and I am about to add a link for labels that can be attached to the bags! I’ll put it in that same note. 🙂 N xx
Oh Dozer is just adorable! Look at his eyes! Did he get any pancakes? This recipe looks great, so fast and simple. Bookmarking this 🙂
YOU KNOW HE DID!!!! He was mesmerised by the maple syrup pouring on the pancakes, it cracked me up, I had to get a photo of him staring at it! N xx