How To Make The Perfect Pancakes

Pancakes are easily one of my family’s favorite lazy meals, mostly because we never eat them for breakfast, but rather for dinner.  Quick, cheap, and most of all comforting, they were also one of Kevin’s favorite finger foods.  Over the years I’ve experimented with all sorts of techniques and recipes to come up with five ways for you to make your pancakes perfect!

  Pancake perfection tips:

1. Use good quality ingredients—buttermilk, unsalted butter, fresh eggs, and flour.  There are so few ingredients in pancakes that you want to be sure the ones you are using are the best you can.  Try to mix up your own batter instead of the pre-packaged mixes, they are not only much better for you but taste better and are far cheaper!
2. When mixing the dry and wet ingredients, mix the batter until just combined, leaving lumps. Lumps mean your pancakes will be light and airy!  Make sure to read your recipe though, some pancake batters need to rest.  However, if the batter contains baking soda you will need to bake it right away, as the baking soda will start to work as soon as the wet ingredients are added.  If you leave the batter sitting too long, your pancakes will be flat.
3. Heat the pan until a drop of water will ‘dance’ on it when you splatter some into the pan, then lightly butter the pan with a pastry brush, even if it’s a non stick pan.  You don’t need a lot of oil, otherwise your first pancake will taste like a fritter.  Turn the heat to medium low.
4. Pour in your batter with a ladle or ¼ cup measuring cup, leaving lots of room for you to flip it.   If you are adding blueberries, this is when I like to add them, by pressing a few into the top as the pancake cooks.   The pancake will be ready to flip when you see lots of tiny bubble and the edges are set.  Flip only once.  The other side will cook in about ½ the time the first side did. Think of the first pancake as your ‘tester’, and you will quickly figure out if you need to adjust the heat, etc.  On a griddle the temperature should be around 375 F. 
5. If you can’t eat them immediately, keep the finished pancakes in a 175 F oven.  This will work for about 20-30 minutes. Allow any that are not eaten to cool, then place them in a ziplock bag with a piece of waxed paper or parchment between them and tuck into the freezer, ready to be heated up and eaten another day. 

Looking for some pancake recipes to try?  Take a look at these:

  Annie’s Eats: Best Banana Pancakes

  Erica’s Killer Pancakes

My family’s favorite Apple Buttermilk Pancakes