Anything but plain, these flavorful homemade buttermilk pancakes don’t need any add-ins to taste special (though I won’t fight you on adding chocolate chips!). Soft and fluffy with just the right amount of sweetness, they’re an ideal base for your favorite pancake toppings. Try them with homemade honey butter or cinnamon butter, whipped cream, and/or a cascade of maple syrup—pancake perfection!
Can you think of a better way to start your day than with a stack of classic buttermilk pancakes? (Well, homemade cinnamon rolls are in the running too, obviously.)
This is my go-to buttermilk pancake recipe. It’s the one I use time and time again when I crave a stack of classic, diner-style pancakes. This simple recipe makes the fluffiest, softest, most tender buttermilk pancakes… that taste anything but basic.
I love it so much that I’ve also created variations on this base recipe to make strawberry buttermilk pancakes, birthday cake pancakes, and even included a blueberry version in my first cookbook, published over a decade ago (page 35)!
Remember when I taught you about baking powder vs baking soda? Well, we are using both in today’s pancakes. In this recipe, buttermilk is used partly for its unmistakable tangy flavor. If we used only baking soda in the pancake batter, the soda could neutralize all of the buttermilk’s acid. And we’d lose that tanginess! So, by including baking powder as well, some of the buttermilk’s flavor is left behind, and there is still enough leavening to yield the fluffiest of fluffy pancakes.
Preparing the batter takes just a couple minutes. Whisk the dry ingredients in 1 bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients in another, then pour wet into dry and whisk together to combine. I like to use a large mixing bowl with a pour spout. Makes pouring the batter onto the pan/griddle much easier.
Expect a thick batter; a few small lumps are OK. Do not be tempted to whisk away all of the lumps. To avoid flat, dense pancakes, avoid over-mixing pancake batter.
Before you flip, look for holes in the pancake’s surface:
For more pancake-perfecting tips, read this article on 10 Pancake Common Mistakes—and How to Avoid Them.
And at the very frequent request of my children, here’s one of the best ways to enjoy them: with lots of chocolate chips. 😉 Happy flipping!
If you happen to have a waffle maker, try my favorite buttermilk waffles next!
Fluffy and thick with just the right amount of sweetness, these buttermilk pancakes are the ideal base for your favorite pancake toppings like maple syrup, whipped cream, strawberry sauce topping or blueberry sauce topping, lemon curd, fresh berries, etc.
