Tested 60+ times
Tall, soft buttermilk pancakes from one bowl. Mix them fast, rest the batter ten minutes, and heat the pan properly. That is the whole trick.
Why this page exists
I spent years looking for a fluffy pancake recipe that actually worked. Mine were fine — edible, but flat and a bit tough. I thought the fix was a secret ingredient, so I tried them all. None of them worked.
What changed things was watching a diner cook. He mixed the batter badly and left lumps in it. He let it sit while he dealt with an order of eggs. And his pan had been warming long before I sat down. Three things I was getting wrong, and not one was an ingredient.
That is this recipe, tested over sixty batches on a normal home cooker.
The simple science
Fluffy means trapped air. This batter makes it in three waves: when the buttermilk meets the baking soda, again during the rest, and biggest of all in the hot pan. Your only job is to protect those bubbles.
That is why stirring matters. Lots of stirring builds gluten, which turns pancakes chewy and stops them rising. A lumpy batter holds the air instead. The lumps soak up liquid while it rests and vanish in the pan.
The rest earns its ten minutes too. The batter thickens so it can hold its height, and the baking powder gets going before it hits the heat.
Stirring until the batter is smooth. The moment you think a few more stirs and it will be perfect is the moment to stop. Count twelve folds and put the spatula down, even if dry flour is still showing.
This holds the pancake together. Spoon the flour into the cup and level the top with a knife. Scooping the cup into the bag packs in extra flour and makes heavy pancakes.
Substitutions: A cup-for-cup gluten-free blend works. Rest that batter for 20 minutes instead of 10. You can swap half the flour for whole wheat. All whole wheat works too, but the pancakes come out shorter and denser.
This is for colour more than sweetness. It helps the pancakes turn golden. With no sugar they stay pale, even when they are cooked through.
Substitutions: Maple syrup or honey work. Use the same amount and take out 1 tablespoon of buttermilk. Both brown faster, so turn the heat down a little. For savoury pancakes, use just 1 teaspoon.
This is what makes them rise. Old baking powder stops working, so check the date on the tin.
Substitutions: There is no real swap, but you can test yours. Drop a teaspoon into hot water. It should fizz hard straight away. A slow fizz means you need a new tin.
This works with the buttermilk for extra lift. It also helps the pancakes brown quickly, so they do not dry out while you wait for colour.
Substitutions: Using plain milk instead of buttermilk? Leave the soda out and use 1 tablespoon of baking powder. Soda with no acid tastes soapy.
Salt brings out every other flavour. Without it, pancakes taste flat no matter how much syrup you add.
Substitutions: Only have coarse kosher salt? Use 1 1/4 teaspoons, because the bigger crystals fill the spoon.
Buttermilk does two jobs. It reacts with the baking soda for lift, and it keeps the pancakes soft. It is thick too, so the batter sits up in the pan instead of running thin. Cold from the fridge is fine.
Substitutions: Stir 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar into 2 cups of milk and wait 10 minutes. Plain kefir works as it is. For dairy-free, sour oat or soy milk the same way.
Eggs give the pancakes structure and a richer taste. Cold eggs can turn the melted butter into little solid bits, so sit them in warm water for five minutes first.
Substitutions: For egg-free, use 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce per egg and add 1/2 teaspoon extra baking powder. Flax eggs work, but the middle comes out a bit gummy.
Butter adds flavour and keeps the pancakes soft. Melt it in the pan you are about to cook in. That saves washing up and starts the pan heating.
Substitutions: Any plain oil works and keeps them soft a little longer, but you lose the buttery taste. Coconut oil only works if everything else is at room temperature.
This softens the tang of the buttermilk. You should not taste vanilla in the pancake, just warmth.
Substitutions: Leave it out for savoury pancakes. Or swap it for 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract or the zest of one lemon.
You only need a thin layer. Wipe the pan almost dry with kitchen paper. Too much fat gives you greasy, lacy edges.
Substitutions: A good non-stick pan needs hardly any. Butter tastes best but burns fast, so use half butter and half oil.
Gram weights are for the 1× batch. The written measures above them are already converted for every batch size.
Your browser does not support spoken steps, so those buttons are hidden. Everything is written out below.
Put a large non-stick or cast iron pan on medium-low heat now, before you mix anything. It needs five to eight minutes to heat evenly. Melt the butter in it, pour the butter into a jug, then put the pan back on the heat.
In a big bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt for about twenty seconds. This spreads the raising agents evenly, so every pancake rises the same amount.
In a jug, whisk the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla until pale and even, with no streaks of egg white left. Pour in the melted butter and whisk again.
Pour the wet mix into the dry mix all at once. Fold about twelve times with a spatula, then stop. The batter should still look thick and lumpy, with some dry flour showing. Lumps are correct here.
Leave the bowl alone for ten minutes. The batter will thicken and puff up a little, and a few bubbles will show on top. Do not stir it again, or you push the air back out.
Flick a few drops of water into the pan. They should sizzle and skate across for a second or two. If they just sit there it is too cool; if they vanish at once it is too hot. Add a little oil and wipe the pan almost dry.
Pour a scant 1/3 cup of batter for each pancake and do not spread it out. Cook for two to three minutes. Flip when bubbles break open on top and stay open, and the edges look dry.
Slide the spatula right under and turn the pancake over in one move. Cook for one to two minutes more. Never press it down, or you squash out the air. Keep the cooked ones in a single layer in a warm oven, not in a stack.
Serving: 3 pancakes | Calories: 470 kcal | Carbohydrates: 60 g | Protein: 15 g | Fat: 19 g | Saturated fat: 10 g | Cholesterol: 130 mg | Sodium: 955 mg | Fibre: 2 g | Sugars: 12 g
This is for one serving of three pancakes with nothing on top. The numbers are an estimate from standard food databases, not a lab test. They will change with your brands, your pour size and your toppings.
Made these? Leave a rating and tell me how they turned out — it is how the troubleshooting section keeps growing.
Watch it happen
A short walkthrough of the batter, the rest and the flip, from Inspired Taste. Video by Inspired Taste, embedded here because it shows the same technique. Watch on YouTube →
Five ways to change it
Do not stir berries into the batter, or it turns grey. Pour the pancake first, then drop 6 to 8 blueberries on top while it is still wet. Frozen berries go on straight from the freezer. Add two extra, as they shrink a little.
Keep the butter on the heat until it foams and smells nutty, about four minutes. Pour it out at once, brown bits and all, and let it cool for a minute. Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dry mix. Lovely with just butter on top.
Scatter a small spoonful of mini chocolate chips on each pancake after you pour it. Mini chips are worth buying, because big ones sink and burn on the pan. Cut the sugar to 1 tablespoon so breakfast does not taste like cake.
Swap 1 cup of the flour for whole wheat and add 2 extra tablespoons of buttermilk. Rest the batter for 15 minutes instead of 10. They taste nuttier and hold up well under fruit. All whole wheat works, but the pancakes come out quite dense.
Drop the sugar to 1 teaspoon and leave out the vanilla. Stir in 3 sliced spring onions and 3/4 cup of grated cheddar at the very end. Cook these a bit slower, as the cheese at the edges browns fast. Good with a fried egg.
The rule is simple. Heavy or wet things go on top of the poured pancake. Light, dry things can be folded in during the last two or three stirs. Keep the total under about one cup for the whole batch, or the batter cannot set around it.
Whatever you add, still stir only twelve times. How much you stir matters more than what you stir in.
Afterwards
Days 1-3
Pancakes are best within the hour, but they are fine for about four hours under a clean tea towel. After that, put them in the fridge. Let them cool fully on a rack first, or the bottoms go sticky. Layer them in a sealed box with paper between each one. They keep for three days. Always warm them up before eating, because cold pancakes taste dry.
Up to 2 months
These freeze really well. Cool them fully, then lay them flat on a tray and freeze for about an hour. Once they are firm, stack them in a freezer bag with paper between the layers and press the air out. Freezing them flat first stops them sticking into one lump. They keep their texture for two months.
Reheating
The toaster is the best way. Put them in straight from the freezer on a medium setting for one round. The outside crisps a little while the middle warms through. For a crowd, cover them with foil and heat at 180°C / 350°F for eight to ten minutes. The microwave works in a rush, about 20 seconds each, but it makes them soft and slightly damp.
Second helpings
Cut them into strips and fry in butter until crisp, then serve over yoghurt and fruit. Put a fried egg and a slice of cheese between two pancakes for a quick sandwich. Tear them up, cover with custard and bake at 170°C / 340°F for 25 minutes for an easy pudding. Or spread with peanut butter, roll up and slice into rounds for a lunchbox.
When something goes wrong
It is usually one of four things. Your baking powder is old and no longer fizzes. You stirred the batter too much, which pushes the air out. You skipped the ten-minute rest, so the batter stayed thin. Or you scooped the measuring cup into the flour bag, which packs in too much flour. Fix those four and the height comes back.
Yes. Stir 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or plain vinegar into 2 cups of milk and leave it for 10 minutes. It will thicken a little and look slightly curdled, which is right. Use it just like buttermilk. If you want plain milk with nothing added, leave out the baking soda and use 1 tablespoon of baking powder instead.
You can, but the pancakes will be flatter, because the baking powder does most of its work early on. A better plan is to put the dry ingredients in a jar and the wet ones in a covered jug in the fridge. In the morning, pour one into the other, stir twelve times and rest for ten minutes.
Because the pan is not evenly hot yet. Home rings heat the middle first, and the rest of the pan takes five to eight minutes to catch up. Treat the first pancake as a test. If it is dark outside and raw inside, turn the heat down. If it is pale and tough, turn it up and wait a minute.
The pan is too hot, so the outside cooked before the middle did. Turn the heat down one notch and give the pan a minute to settle. The first side should take two to three minutes. If it is much quicker than that, the pan is too hot. Cast iron holds a lot of heat, so go lower than you think.
Yes. Both amounts are already written out for every ingredient, so use the buttons above the list. When you double it, use a really big bowl so you can still stir just twelve times. The ten-minute rest stays the same either way.
A flat non-stick pan is the easiest. Cast iron browns best but runs hot, so drop the heat a notch. On an electric griddle, set it to 190°C / 375°F and let it heat fully. Avoid curved pans, because the batter pools in the middle. The water test in step six is more reliable than any dial.
Yes. Use 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce for each egg and add 1/2 teaspoon extra baking powder. The batter is a little looser, so pour smaller pancakes and wait until the top looks dry before you flip. Mashed banana works too, but they will taste of banana.
Heat the oven to 100°C / 200°F. Put the pancakes in a single layer on a wire rack set over a baking tray. The rack is the important part. Stacked pancakes trap steam and go damp underneath. They stay good for about 30 minutes this way.
Go deeper
Each of these started as a question from someone standing at a stove. They all link back to this recipe.
Dead baking powder, over-mixing, no rest, or too much liquid. Here is how to work out which one is happening to you, from the way your batter looks and behaves.
Four swaps that genuinely work, ranked — plus the one adjustment people forget when they use plain milk, which is why their pancakes taste faintly of soap.
Applesauce, banana, flax and aquafaba compared side by side — what each one does to the crumb, and the half teaspoon you must add to replace the lost lift.
Milk plus acid, ten minutes on the counter — with exact ratios, a faster warm-milk version, and how to tell when it is ready without guessing.
One tray, fifteen minutes, no standing at the stove flipping in shifts. Pan sizes, temperature, timing, and an honest note on what you give up.
The two steps that decide whether frozen pancakes come back fluffy or damp — and honest timings for the toaster, oven, air fryer and microwave.
Made it?
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Wow great and Short methods. Best ever
Best recipe. I get requests to make these over and over again! Kids and adults alike love them 🙂