This is my grandma’s secret recipe for the best homemade pancakes. They are fluffy, sweet, and guaranteed to be the best you’ll ever eat!
Your family will be begging to eat these pancakes every morning! Serve them with a side of Bacon, Poached Eggs, or a slice of Omelet Breakfast Casserole.
Simple Homemade Pancakes
My grandma made the best pancakes ever. They were so good, that you didn’t even need syrup because they were so fluffy and sweet
Some of my fondest memories of food as a child were eating pancakes at grandma’s house. I loved having sleepovers at her house for a lot of reasons, but topping the list was definitely because breakfast the next day was always a treat.
Having grandma’s pancakes in the morning was as good as having cupcakes for breakfast! They were so deliciously sweet!
Since her passing almost exactly 25 years ago, several of her 10 daughters have searched high and low for a recipe similar to the one she used, but nothing even tweaked or copied has come close… until now!
I should probably put in some sort of sugar disclaimer, are you ready for this? These pancakes use a lot of sugar! (Which is what I remember about my grandma’s pancakes too!)
And I wish I could apologize for this amount of sugar or offer an alternative, but I’m not even sorry about it because they taste so good! If you’re looking for a sugar-free or healthier pancake recipe, you might want to pass on this. (No worries or offense taken, we can still be friends!)
How To Make Homemade Pancakes
Making pancakes from scratch is almost as easy as buying the mix from the store, but they taste so much better! Here’s how to make them –
INGREDIENTS –
- Flour
- Baking powder (See my video above for what happens when you use baking soda instead of baking powder!)
- Sugar
- Salt
- Eggs
- Milk
- Cooking oil
INSTRUCTIONS –
Dry Ingredients – The first thing you’ll want to do is add the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt into a bowl. Whisk everything together until it’s completely blended together.
Wet Ingredients – In a separate small bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, and oil.
Combine – Pour the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir it until everything is moist. Be careful not to overmix the pancake batter. There will still be small lumps, and that’s OK.
Cook – Pour a little vegetable oil onto the large skillet/ griddle or frying pan over medium heat, then ladle about 1/4 -1/3 cup of the batter over the oil.
Cook each pancake until golden brown on each side. You’ll know when to flip the pancakes when you see small bubbles in the center.
If your pancakes start to burn before the centers are cooked through, turn your heat down.
Serve – Pour some maple syrup or Homemade Buttermilk Syrup over the top of your fluffy pancake, or add your favorite toppings, and serve.
Recipe Tip –
I learned from my mother-in-law to put a small cap full of vegetable oil on your griddle before pouring your batter. Here’s why –
The pancake on the left was made without pouring oil on the griddle. It browns nice and evenly and tastes great, BUT the pancake on the right is cooked on top of the oil, so the outside is just a little crispy and the inside is still soft and fluffy! It is DELICIOUS!!!
Best Pancake Toppings
You can’t go wrong with the classic maple syrup, but here are a few more toppings I love:
- I have a sweet tooth, so I love to add chocolate chips after I pour the batter on the griddle.
- Seasonal fresh fruit like blueberries, strawberries, and apples with whipped cream is always a favorite!
- Banana Pancakes are both savory and sweet! Add sliced bananas and peanut butter to the tops of your cooked pancakes, then drizzle with maple syrup.
- Melted butter and your favorite jams spread over the top are delicious!
- Swap the syrup for a couple of tablespoons of honey.
Can I Freeze Homemade Pancakes?
Yes, you can definitely freeze these. In fact, I love to make an extra batch of these pancakes and freeze them so my kids can have them for breakfast during our hectic mornings.
Just put them in a freezer bag and pull them out when you’re ready to eat them. I would use them within 3 months of freezing them.
More Easy Pancake Recipes
Here are a few other homemade pancake recipes that my family loves –
- These Blueberry Lemon Pancakes are bursting with flavor.
- This Pumpkin Pancake recipe is amazing!
- If you need to satisfy a sweet tooth, try our Cinnamon Roll Pancakes.
- Cake Mix Pancakes are a fun variation to make for a special occasion.
- Red Velvet Pancakes are a rich and decadent treat.
- Sheet Pan Pancakes use this same recipe, but the batter gets baked in the oven on a baking sheet.
HERE’S A PRINTABLE BEST PANCAKE RECIPE CARD FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE –
Simple Homemade Pancake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 2/3 cups flour, sifted
- 6 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 2 cups milk
- 4 tbs. cooking oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk dry ingredients together.
- In a separate smaller bowl, mix together the eggs, milk and oil.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. *Don’t over mix, the batter will be lumpy.
- Bake on your griddle or stove top until golden brown on both sides.
- Serve with fresh fruit, butter, syrup etc… or eat them plain!
Video
Nutrition
Other Notes
Have I convinced you to try these yet? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!
This recipe originally published on Somewhat Simple in April 2010.
The best pancake recipe I’ve ever found, and I’ve tried many! I add vanilla extract and yellow raisins and we gobble these up in no time. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by!
I have a presto griddle as well. What temperature should I put it on to cook the pancakes, and around how many minutes should I cook them on each side? The recipe looks great, so I’d appreciate a few specifics. I’m a beginner cook, so it’s still hard for me to gauge things.
I usually put mine at 350 degrees and I cook 6-8 pancakes at a time, depending on the size of the pancakes.
I really appreciate the response! Thank you 🙂
Finally. A sweet pancake recipe. Awesome. Thanks for contributing to my sugar cravings!!!
I’m so glad you like this recipe! Thanks for stopping by!
These are my new go to pancakes. Well, new as in since I pinned the recipe years ago. They are perfect and really don’t NEED syrup which is great when I do t want my kids to make a sticky mess.
LOL, I’m so glad you loved’em as much as we do!
These truly are some of the best pancakes I’ve ever had! We make them at least once a week!
Aren’t they the BEST?!?! Thanks Jennifer!
You saved me! My kids wanted pancakes but I ran out of the box mix. I will never buy that again. This recipe was so easy and delicious!
Yay! So glad you guys loved this recipe as much as my family loves it!
These are the fluffiest pancakes, my kids were absolutely thrilled! Great way to start a day.
I’m so glad your kids loved them! Thanks Julia!
Great recipe! I decreased the sugar and they were still delicious!!
Thank you! So glad you loved them as much as I do!
I have made these pancakes at least 30 times and they are simply the best. Sometimes I stray and try a new recipe, but I regret it every time.
You absolutely made my day, thanks Lacey!
These are amazing!!! I always freeze the leftovers. My husband likes them with blueberries and my boys like them with chocolate chips! Great, simple recipe! These are only 1 carb??
So glad you like them! And I didn’t even notice these are listed as having only 1 carb – we have an automatic nutrition calculator that does this for us – I hope it’s not glitchy!
Love pancakes! Can’t wait to try these one of your loving Grandmother makes! My Grandmother mad the Best ever Biscuits and Gravy! We would run and search for her home made baking powder Biscuits the very first minute we would arrive ! I loved her so Much! I miss her!
Thank you for sharing!!! Hugs!
Thanks Beverly! I appreciate your kind comment!!! xoxo
Those pancakes look so light & fluffy! Pancakes are a favorite around our house. We love adding all kinds of toppings!
Totally agree! There’s no such thing as too much whipped cream on these pancakes in our house.
Thanks for a great pancake recipe that whips up easily on a Saturday morning! My kids love it!
You’re welcome! I glad they were a hit!
If I could eat this seven days a week I would!
LOL, you and me both!
You can’t get any better than these perfect pancakes for breakfast!
So glad you loved them!
I’ll have to try these!
Great recipe, Stephanie. Made these this morning and they were great -Joe
Thanks, I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
I’ve made this before and it’s such a hit! How many servings does this recipe make?
I’m so glad you loved these pancakes! It really depends on how big you make the pancakes but I can typically get about 16 of them per batch.
Wow! These are Amazing!!!
I made these one evening for my family. We had these pancakes with real maple syrup and bacon on the side. There was only a few leftover pancakes. I might have hid the leftover pancakes from my kids, so I could have them the next day.
By the way, these pancakes reheat well. They are so good!!!
I’m so glad you loved these pancakes! And I would definitely hide any leftovers from the rest of the family.;)
I love the concept of these pancakes! They’re super fluffy and have a great flavor. My only complaint is the texture. My suggestion is to lose the eggs and use buttermilk instead of the eggs and milk. It will give you a pancake that is just as fluffy, but without the cakey texture that these have. The other thing that I would suggest is lowering the amount of baking powder and adding baking soda. This along with the buttermilk will give it an incredible texture!
I will have to give those suggestions a try! Thanks for your comment!
Fantastic pancakes – thank you!!
Our summer holiday quest has been to make big fluffy American pancakes. Had tried about five other recipes and they all came out sad, grey and flat looking. These ones however are huge, white and fluffy and taste delicious. Not too sweet despite all the sugar. Oh and we made half the quantity and they came out perfectly.
Yay! I am so glad you all enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!!! 🙂
Excellent pancakes! Pancakes are just a combo of flour, liquid, eggs, and leavening, but often I end up fudging the liquid because the batter is too thick or I add more flour because it is too runny. These came out nice and fluffy each time I make them. In fact, this morning I misread the amount of baking powder and used 6 T instead of 6t. I thought they would have that telltale metallic taste, but they were fine! Sure, I could cut back on the sugar (and I did, sort of- maybe 3/4cup instead), but then you wouldn’t have grab-and-go pancakes. I think, for those interested in doing so, they should add maybe an extra tablespoon or two of milk or water to compensate for the liquid lost in the added sugar.
Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for your comment Alice! I’m glad you like these pancakes so much and I appreciate you stopping by ! 🙂
The best I’ve ever had!
Dumb question I’m sure… but do you measure the flour first then sift it, or sift flour first then measure it?
I measure and then sift. 🙂
I tried this recipie a couple times. Not sure what I’m doing wrong, but I find that it needed an additional cup of milk because the ‘batter’ ends up like bread dough if I don’t add the additional cup of milk.
Hmmmm…. that is really weird! I am sorry they turned out so thick!
Hi, has anyone tried substituting with non gluten flour?
Just finishing up a batch of these, since they were so good the first time. I did tweak them a bit to try and get a little more nutrition for my very picky granddaughter. I reduced the sugar by half, and I substituted a cup of plain Greek yogurt for one of the cups of milk. Still turned out fantastic pancakes, although I think the batter was probably thicker.
YUM! I think I need to try the yogurt substitution!!! Thanks for sharing this idea!!
The BEST Pancakes ever!
I just have to go on record to say that these seriously, SERIOUSLY, are THE BEST PANCAKES I have ever made. They are so incredibly fluffy and amazing and my pregnant self is so happy to have discovered the recipe (so are my 4 kids!).
Yay! I’m so glad you love them! Thanks for leaving your comment! 🙂
Love a good breakfast recipe. I will be featuring this at my Swing into Spring party! Thanks.
I just made these pancakes this morning and I’m going to cut the sugar way down too. To cook these I used a gas stove with a built in cast iron griddle. Normally when I make pancakes, even from scratch, I have to turn the griddle down to 3 and wait until it heats up (so things don’t stick), but with this batter medium low heat was way too much and mine were way darker than with other batters. I followed the recipe but halved it. The batter was thicker than other batters I’ve made. Even when I turned the griddle to low they still burned (When I saw bubbles, that was supposed to be my cue to flip them, but the sugar made them stick and they bunched up as I tried to glide the spatula under them and all my beautiful bubbles broke). I turned the griddle off and made the last pancake and found that this was best (It turned out looking proper.). My theory is that there is too much sugar in this batter for me to use the cast iron griddle and probably (although I haven’t tried it) a non-stick surface would be best. They were fluffy and they tasted good even though they were on the edge of burnt.
I’ve only ever made these on a non-stick skillet, so thanks for the feedback on the cast-iron one! The last time I made these, I accidentally used baking SODA instead of baking POWDER and my pancakes browned way faster on the outsides and were still gooey on the inside and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong since this had never happened to me! It wasn’t until I bit into one that I realized something was wayyy off! Just glad I caught it before serving them to my family. 🙂
I love your story and the sentiment, but 1 cup of sugar makes these a dessert, no syrup needed.
This is the best pancake recipe I’ve tried and I’ve tried lots of them! Yum and thank you!
Thanks Christina!!!! I appreciate you stopping by! 🙂
I like the fluffiness of these pancakes, but I can’t use that much sugar in them, as I’m diabetic. All my family that had them complained of very high blood sugar afterwards. Can you experiment a bit for us diabetics and see if you could substitute some whole grain flours to add some fiber and perhaps use some lower glycemic sweeteners (or Splenda)? Thanks so much!
They definitely have a TON of sugar – I wish there was a way around that! I’m not really the expert on diabetic cooking, but if you come up with another pancake recipe with some lower glycemic sweeteners, please let us all know! 🙂
~ You had me at, “Best Pancakes.” I love my breakfast, love homemade pancakes and it’s even better when you have pancakes and bacon for dinner once in awhile. I haven’t made these yet, but I wanted to make sure I told you that I especially loved your story that went along with making them.. I had a special Nanny that made the best of everything to and never, ever measured. I am so glad that I grew up around baking with my Nanny and Mom, as some of these family traditions are getting lost, but for me I hold them so close in my heart that I get emotional when I think about how blessed I was to have this in my life. Thank you! 🙂
Your comment made my day! Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you have a great week!
❌♥️❌
Pancakes are my favorite for weekend breakfasts . Nice recipe
Thanks Maria! Have a great weekend!
is the recipe amount right for the sugar? 1 cup seems like way too much for pancakes.
Yep. This calls for a TON of sugar! (Hence the reason it is like eating cupcakes for breakfast!) 🙂 But you could subtract some if you think that is overkill. 🙂
Tried it!!! And we all loved it..
The first word that came out of my husband’s mouth was EXCELLENT!
Thanks for the amazing recipe. I have tried many but never found the perfect one till now.
I am so glad you and your husband loved them! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment – I appreciate it!
Hi, I tried your pancakes this Morning… They were realy delicious….. Greetings from Germany
These are fantastic! If they please my very picky and junk food craving bonus daughters palate (her mothers doing NOT mine) then they are a success! Even though these are super good, the second time around I did try substituting some healthier alternatives. I used half all purpose and wheat flour, Truvia for sugar, unsweetened vanilla almond milk for the milk, and virgin organic coconut oil for vegetable oil. And added a dash of cinnamon. They are still super good! My daughter didn’t have a clue they were healthier. Thanks so much for this recipe!
Hello all the way from the Netherlands!
I want to try this recipe but I’m unsure about this cooking oil. What kind of oil is this? What do I need to use? Could I use butter instead?
Thanks!
Yvette
Just vegetable oil will be fine. Hope that helps!
Way too much baking powder and sugar. I cut both in half (1/2 cup sugar and 3 tsp baking powder). I also added vanilla 🙂 They turned out fantastic.
Oh and I only used 3 eggs
Thanks for the variation- everyone has their own taste, hopefully this will help others who want to lessen the sugar.
Just wanted to drop a line to say I made these cakes for my granddaughter, adding choc chips, and part of the batch without; they both turned out wonderfully delicious! Since I made more than we were going to eat, I cooked, then froze the remaining cakes per instructions I found online…my daughter in-law just zaps one or two in the microwave for my granddaughter before school, and they taste absolutely delicious…SOOO much better than a store-bought frozen pancake…cheaper too! Thanks very much for this recipe…definitely a keeper!
i’m so glad you liked them! I freeze our leftovers too and they are so yummy and easy! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Can you tell me how to freeze any left over pancakes please?
I just put the extra pancakes in a ziploc freezer bag and set them inside the freezer. It is super easy!
Morning.
I wanted to share how much we love your recipe! We are in South Africa and can’t ever seem to find good pancake mixes here. I’ve been making them from scratch for 4 years and this is by far the best. Thanks for posting!
I’m SO glad you like them, Strphanie! Thanks for stopping by!
On your instruction #4, you said to bake on your griddle until brown (or cook on your stove top). Could you please tell me what temperature, the rack number you placed the griddle on your oven , and if you have to flip the pancakes over.
Thank you!
I don’t use the griddle in the oven, I use my electric griddle- sorry about that, I should specify!
Hi! I tried it and it was fine! I’ve also shared it with my friends who also love it! Thankyou!
Nat
Awesome, thanks Natalie!
BEST PANCAKE RECIPE EVER!! I was wondering if the batter was fridge stable over night?
Nat xo
I am so glad you like it Natalie! Thanks for leaving your comment! And I am not sure about saving the batter over night- I’ve never tried it. If you end up trying it, please let me know how it turns out for you. Have a great night………..
I was very excited to try this, and halved the recipe. What a flop! It was way too runny and after a few attempts I dumped it down the drain! I know there are some recipes that can’t be halved, is this perhaps one of them?
Hmmmm, I have never halved the recipe before, but this batter is actually on the thicker side, so it hasn’t ever been runny for me. I am sorry it didn’t turn out for you- that is very frustrating!
I also halved the recipe. Although my batter seemed thick, my pancakes came out really flat and thin 🙁 They had really good flavor, but I don’t think this recipe was meant to be halved.
My Mom always separated the eggs and beat the egg whites and then added them at the last….just gently folded them in the batter.wonder if that makes any difference ?
Dona
I am not sure, I just follow the directions and if it doesn’t turn out I toss the entire recipe! 🙂
Could you add fresh blueberries to this recipe??
I have never tried it, but I don’t see why not! Let me know if you try it and how it turns out. 🙂
These were absolutely amazing! My search for the perfect pancake is over!!! I’ve made a ton of different pancake recipes and to tell you the truth this one is the only one I can say I totally LOVE! & the best part is that I always have all of these ingredients on hand. I hate other recipes that call for buttermilk because I have to make a special trip to the store and even then those pancake recipes were never as good as THIS one! Thank you so much for posting!
I am so glad you liked these pancakes- your comment made my day! 🙂
I just made these and they turned out great! I’m an international student in the States, but I’m home for the summer and I just made these for my family. They loved them! The best part about this recipe is that all the ingredients are so easy to find anywhere! Thank you so much!
I am so glad you and your family enjoyed these! Thanks for stopping by and leaving me a nice comment!
Hi!!, i want to make this pancakes but i don’t know if you use all purpose flour or cake flour, can you tell me? Thanks!
I use all-purpose. 🙂
These looks so good!! My pancakes are never thick and fluffy like this. I definitely need to give this recipe a try.
~Cheryl
http://snaps-of-ginger.blogspot.com/
Definitely Cheryl! I hope you love them!!! 🙂
Tam, I am so glad you liked them!
I just made these this morning and they were DELISH!!! Definitely the best pancakes I've ever had and my entire family LOVED them!!! THANK YOU!!!
These look so yummmm I am totally making these! Thanks for the great recipe!
~Morgan
Meet Virginia!
My sisters and I are constantly trying to re-create what Grandma made. We even have her recipes but can't figure how she tweeked them to make them so good. She had a pie made with saltine crackers that was sooooo good.
And I look forward to trying this recipe. I can't make good pancakes for the life of me. Maybe a sure fire recipe will help.
Grandma's are always better – I think so too!
We have the same thing happening in our family, only it was my grandfather who died when I was 14 robbing us of his incredible apple pies. We've all tried dozens and dozens of apple pie recipes, but non have even come close. Now I don't really even like apple pie. I think maybe your husband is right: it was our love for them and the memories created over that food that make them impossible to recreate.
Printed this out. I will try it and try using whole wheat flour…hope it will be as good. Thanks for this!