These super fluffy pancakes are sure to be a showstopper at your next brunch party! This recipe is quick, easy, and doesn’t require any buttermilk!
This post is all about teaching you how to make thick, airy pancakes without the need for special equipment or buttermilk. And while there is a recipe, I urge you to read through the entire post – the truth of it is, making wondrous pancakes is very do-able however, there is some knowledge and technique involved!
Don’t worry…it’s not going to feel like you’re stuck in chemistry class. It’s just some basic tips and explanations that often get overlooked when it comes to making pancakes at home.
Jump to:
Life is all about yummy fluffy pancakes.
Admit it, a world without pancakes would be bleak, maybe not even worth living in. You love pancakes, don’t you? You do. It’s okay, I do too. My favourite thing about pancakes (other than eating them, of course!) is watching maple syrup drip off the edges of my pancake tower, like some sort of sun-kissed waterfall.
Fluffy pancakes are one of my all-time favourite Sunday morning breakfast treats. The problem is that a lot of great pancake recipes call for buttermilk. (Honestly, who keeps buttermilk at home? Is that a North American thing?)
Without it, you can end up with a flat, lifeless pancake that looks too much like a lost crepe. Here’s a quick and easy recipe to make super fluffy pancakes with ingredients you probably already have at home. Never buy that horrid box of premix again. Please.
Can you make Fluffy Pancakes without buttermilk?
In short, yes. This pancake recipe uses no buttermilk at all (it does require regular milk though). So, you may ask, what’s the deal with buttermilk? Well, it’s terribly in vogue when it comes to baking. And there’s a reason for it. The acidity in buttermilk helps the pancakes rise.
On the flip side, I’ve never known anyone to regularly stock up on buttermilk. In fact, until I moved to Canada, I had never even seen buttermilk… not even at a supermarket!
(If you’re ever in a real pinch – you can create your own buttermilk alternative by mixing a cup of milk with a tablespoon of white vinegar and letting it sit for 10 minutes. Perhaps less conventionally, you could also use a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice instead of vinegar. Neither option tastes as good as the real thing, but they’ll do the trick. Thankfully, with this recipe – you won’t need to!)
Now, if you do happen to have buttermilk, you can give this Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes recipe a shot!
Why are my pancakes flat? How can I make my pancakes fluffier?
There are a number of factors that can lead to your pancakes being flat. But here are the four horsemen of the pancake apocalypse (pancalypse…panpocalypse…pancakalypse…help):
- Overmixing your batter – overmixing your pancake batter will deflate a lot of the air bubbles in your batter, making it difficult for your pancakes to rise into the light and fluffy pancakes you want (the video in my recipe section is an example of this!). Secondly, it’ll develop gluten. And too much gluten will result in a tough, chewy pancake.
- Stale Baking Powder – baking powder typically has a shelf life of 9 months to a year. To check whether your baking powder is still fresh, simply stir half a teaspoon of baking powder into a cup of water. If you see an immediate reaction (it’ll fizz up, bestie!), then it’s still good to use. If not, you should consider replacing it.
- Humid Conditions – This is based on an observation made by many of my readers (you can see it mentioned in the comments section below). But a very humid kitchen results in a runnier batter, which means less fluffy pancakes. If you happen to be in a place that is very humid, try putting your batter in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to make sure it doesn’t become too fluid/runny.
- Not Letting Your Batter Rest – Letting your batter rest before cooking allows the starch granules in the flour to expand resulting in an airier pancake.
- The Violent Flip – Turn the pancakes over gently. Flipping them high into the air results in the air literally being squished out of them!
Also…make sure to relax, bestie. Making pancakes should be a pleasurable experience! And this fluffy pancake recipe is simple; it doesn’t require any fancy steps (like whipping egg whites into a meringue). Be mindful of the tips above, and pay attention to your heat management, and you’re sure to be fine.
(If you want to do a little reading, check out my How to Read a Recipe Post – it’ll help you understand the procedures and the measurements used in a recipe post, like this one!)
Of course, if you do end up burning your first pancake, just remember what they say: “Le première crepe est pour les chiens!” (A French saying meaning, “The first crepe is for the dogs!”).
How to make fluffy pancakes with pancake mix
While this post is really about homemade pancakes without buttermilk, a lot of readers have asked me if it’s possible to make fluffy pancakes using pancake mix. The answer is…yes! Absolutely.
Generally speaking, I find buttermilk pancake mixes are better for this. What you want to make sure is that you follow the recipe on the box exactly, and also keep the tips mentioned above in mind.
Getting fuller pancakes is just as much about technique as it is about components, and if you go rogue on either thing, it becomes just that much harder to get that perfect result!
Storage instructions
Though they are best served fresh and warm, these pancakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Store your maple syrup separately (and not on top of the pancakes), so that it doesn’t soak through.
Other no-buttermilk pancake recipes
Here are four other amazing pancake recipes that don’t require any buttermilk at all. Each one is unique, and delicious!
- Lemon Mascarpone Pancakes – perfect for days when you’re looking to impress with an elegant pancake recipe.
- Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes – this is the pancake you serve when you want everyone to spend the first 5 minutes of the meal taking photos of the food.
- Dutch Baby Pancake – a pancake with a twist! Quick and simple to make.
- Fluffy Japanese Pancakes – taking a bite out of these meringue-based babies is like eating a delicious cloud! (Yes, they spark joy.)
Fluffy Pancakes, Updated: What’s Changed?
If you’ve been visiting my blog for a while, you may realise that this is a republished version of one of my very early blog posts (also titled, “Fluffy, Fluffy Pancakes”, originally published: February 17th 2015). I’ve updated the post quite significantly.
While the recipe is the same great pancake recipe it’s always been, I’ve rewritten the post with the aims of addressing some of the major questions I’ve received from commenters over the last few years. If there’s anything you feel is still missing, please do let me know with a comment below.
I’ve also done my best to create a clearer, more readable post, while maintaining the gist and the feel of the original. (The original post was written quite some time back, it was mostly me rambling about how much I love pancakes!)
Helpful tools
Heads up! The following is an affiliate link. If you buy something using the link, I will receive a small commission. You won’t need to pay a penny more, but it’ll help keep my lights on! Thank you bestie, you rock!
Luckily, it doesn’t take much equipment to make perfect pancakes. It is however a lovely feeling to have all the right equipment. Here are a few little things that might make your pancake-making experience just that much sweeter.
- Silver Dollar Pancake Pan – if you want your pancakes to all look exactly the same.
- Zwilling J.A. Henckels Marquina Non-Stick Frying Pan – a good pan is crucial to properly cooking pancakes, and this one is sure to please.
If you like what I’m doing here, and you want to help, why not go ahead and become a Patron? You can support Chocolates & Chai for as little as the price of a cup of coffee!
Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter for all the latest. Or just sign up to be a part of my mailing list to have updates delivered straight to your inbox!
📖 Recipe
Fluffy, Fluffy Pancakes
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 6–7 Pancakes 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A surefire recipe to make fat and fluffy pancakes, without any buttermilk or special ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour, sifted
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- Pinch of Salt
- 2 tbsp White Sugar
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoon Milk
- 1 Large Egg, beaten
- 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- Canola Oil (or any other vegetable oil), for cooking
Instructions
- Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder into a bowl and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, mix the egg, milk, vanilla, and melted butter together. Be careful not to use hot, melted butter, as that may end up cooking your eggs!
- Pour the wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients and stir till mostly incorporated. The batter should be thick and a little lumpy, but without any visible streaks of flour. If it is too thick to work with, add a little milk. Set the batter aside for 5-10 minutes.
- Heat a heavy-bottomed, non-stick pan over a low-medium heat and coat it with oil. Use a ¼ cup measure to scoop and drop the batter into the pan so that you get evenly-sized pancakes.
- Cook until the first side is golden brown, or until the top surface forms bubbles. Flip and repeat on the other side. Adjust heat accordingly. Serve while still hot.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Breakfast & Brunch
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: fluffy pancakes, fluffy pancake recipe, fluffy pancake recipie, fluffy fluffy pancakes, fluffy pancake, pancake recipe, pancakes for two, no buttermilk pancake, no buttermilk pancakes, fluffiest pancake, fluffy pancakes рецепт
Christy Mcgeorge
By far best pancakes I’ve evahhh had! Throw all the box mixes away. I will not look back. I agree with another commenter, I’ll have these for my bday cake!
Also thank you for scaling the recipe to double or triple. Comes in handy for quick reference. Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★
Ken
Too strong a baking powder flavor
★★★
Kate
Try a non-alminum baking powder…totally different taste.
T. West
I hate to be the party pooper but this pancake recipe (I wouldn’t even call it that) was HORRIBLE! My entire family hated them. I have created numerous pancake recipes and I was so excited to try these based on the wonderful comments. But obviously this must be some sort of prank!
I would not recommend. Don’t waste your time!
★
A Fajanel
Worst recipe ever! What a waste!
L.C.
Was it the flavor? The texture? I make these all the time and love them so I’m confused how they could turn out so bad for you.
Krystal D
For me, they came out flat and not fluffy at all. They were chewy. I am unsure of where in the recipe I went wring but they definitely didn’t come out like the picture
Franziska
They will be flat if you mix out all the lumps and don’t let them sit for 10 minutes. The baking powder needs time to work it’s magic. Also, check your baking powder expiration date! Old baking powder wont rise anymore. I dou led my batch and put cinnamon and apple pieces in the batter and my still turned out fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Not sure why people hate this recipe. I’ve made it lots of times and never had an issue with it. They turn out perfect!
Not T West
We’ve been making this recipe for years now.
I’ve made it. Worked.
Husband made it. Worked.
Daughter made it. Worked.
It’s as close to a perfect recipe as it gets. Not sure what happened but you obviously made a mistake or a lot of mistakes based on your comment. Your comment was really unfair.
★★★★★
Thomas Alford
Check your ingredients especially your baking powder. If it contains aluminum it will not work. Also, be sure to follow the procedure. I have yet to find recipe that can measure up to this. Classic, simple and delicious!
★★★★★
Page
I regularly make macarons and have more success w those recipes than this. With nearly equal parts liquid and dry it was extremely runny. I’m not using an aluminum baking powder, and they did not rise at all. Not sure where the disconnect is.
★
Linda
Please let me know what you meant by
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp Milk?
Are the ingredient – 3/4 cup milk powder plus 2 tbsp of liquid milk?
Thank you,
Riz
Hi Linda,
It would be a 3/4 cup of liquid milk, plus 2tbsp of liquid milk. (There’s no powdered milk in this recipe.) Hope that helps!
Ron
3/4 cup is 6 oz. And 2 table spoons is 1 oz. So that would be 7 oz. Total
Dione
The name “fluffy, fluffy pancake” does deliver! This is the best fluffy pancake recipe out there! I just tried it today and I’m so impressed! I’m glad I came across this recipe.
★★★★★
Mia
This is my favourite recipe for fluffy pancakes! I’ve been using it every time I wanted pancakes and they never disappoint! I’ve even bookmarked this website and wouldn’t look for a better recipe because it can’t get better than this!
★★★★★
Nell
Hi Mia
Mine are delicious but also didn’t become fluffy. Can u tell me if u used self raising flour although it says all purpose?
Nourhan
It was amazing i loved it so much, i did it from my btother’s birthday and he went crazy so fluffy thank u so much for the recipe 😍😍
Cathy
I’ve used this recipe for ages and love it just the way it is. However, I don’t usually have milk in my fridge these days, and today I subbed vanilla Greek yogurt with a splash a water to get a similar consistency to milk. It worked just as well as the original!
★★★★★
Ana
Absolutely the best recipe ever! I have made it several times and it’s always fluffy delicious pancakes! I learned to have patience and cook it on low heat, the best!
★★★★★
Janice Thornburg
These pancakes are delicious. We added fresh blueberries. I did beat the egg white and folded it in. We are going to try this recipes for waffles.
My husband always said Perkins has the best pancakes…..but we found out today that they don’t.
Thank you for this delicious recipe.
★★★★★
Kim
It was good, but I recommend putting the sugar in with the wet ingredients, NOT the dry ones. This allows the sugar to melt and dispurse evenly in the batter.
Justin
Can this me made and then saved for later? Like if I made 2 pancakes one day the the rest the next day?
Riz
Hi Justin, you can refrigerate the batter overnight. Or if you’ve already made the pancakes, pop them into an airtight container and refrigerate – they should be good for 2 or 3 days.
David
Recipe is good
Google has gone goofy with all of the ads that now appear during a search. Ridiculous !!!
Ruby
I didnt have any eggs and I sifted the flour they still came out fluffy thanks so much
★★★★★
Mary
What’s the best way to reheat these pacakes? I have made this recipe many times. Delicious.
Riz
Hi Mary,
They’re really meant to be eaten fresh…but if re-heating, I’d try popping them into the oven under a low heat for a short while. Hope that helps!
Sonia V
I have been cooking for decades and randomly picked this recipe since I was running low on buttermilk. I will stick to buttermilk pancake recipes next time. These pancakes had no flavor and the too-high liquid ratio made the batter too runny to get a consistent shape. The texture is also more like a corn cake than a traditional pancake. No idea how this recipe got so many positive reviews.
★
Leslie Drake
I think your problem may be user error. These were the best pancakes I’ve ever made, the fluffiest & the most flavorful. My batter was thick, not runny at all. & nothing like a corn cake.
Luke
Hi, I’m from Poland and I promised my daughter to make the American pancakes, they came out very well and delicious and of course fluffy
Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
Jarrod
Is all purpose self raising flour or plain flour?
Riz
Hi there,
Just standard all-purpose flour (not self-rising)
Alya
Thank you for the recipe. The recipe was nice it turn out so good. But the pancake not that fluffy as the picture
★★★★★
Kb
Sorry, but not fluffy at all.
Sophie
Great easy recipe, however the amount of pancakes made from it is lacking.
★★★★
Renee
Recipe is not good. Way too much liquid to flour. I don’t understand
Stanley Met
Did what it said – super fluffy pancakes with no buttermilk. Will use again.
★★★★★
Haley T.
Super fluffy! Love that! And quick and easy! But the taste…..meh. So bland. Saturating them in syrup to give some kind of flavor. Probably won’t make again.
★★★
Victoria
I absolutely loveee making these pancakes. My family loves when I make them to 🤣🤣this recipe really is the boom it has never failed me. I even used cake flour and self raising flower and there was no difference. I just left the baking powder out when I used the self raising.
★★★★★
Coralie H.
Delightfully fluffy pancakes! Though if you’re planning on making more than 3-4 decent sized pancakes I would recommend doubling the recipe.
★★★★★
J
Hey Rishaan, my kids and I make this recipe every weekend and it hasn’t fIled us one. We love how fluffy the pancakes are. Thanks for this amazing recipe
★★★★★
L Matechuk
Made these pancakes and they were great. Thanks for sharing the recipe
Carolyn
Awesome recipe! I used veg oil in the batter instead of butter. I let the batter sit for 5 minutes before I started to fry the pancakes…. it was very thick, not at all runny as some previous reviews have indicated. The pancakes cooked evenly and were very fluffy when done. I added blueberries to a few of the pancakes when they were in the pan – gently push them into the batter and cook the pancake until the batter is no longer ‘shiny’ on the top – then flip and finish up the cooking… this will help to avoid burning the berries when you flip them as they only need to cook briefly on the other side. I also added a few chocolate chips to 2 of the pancakes. Top with real maple syrup and… Divine! Entirely satisfying and couldn’t be any easier to make. **Use real vanilla… it is essential for really good flavour.
★★★★★
Chrissie
Wow, now this is the best pancake recipe on the internet! A little dry but with enough butter and maple syrup it’s totally worth it!
★★★★★
imsen
Thank you for the heartfelt story that preempted the recipe, it made me want to try the recipe even more. Just so you know, they came out perfectly fluffy. I’ve never made pancakes from scratch before and these were super simple. My husband isn’t really a pancake fan but he loved them and said they came out great! I am definitely using this as my go-to recipe for pancakes from now on, except I might have to double it from time to time. Thank you!
★★★★★
Jenn Drake
Great recipe! I didn’t have a lot of butter so I used coconut oil instead and the results were just as good. Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
Potatobear
I love in CO and maybe the high altitude messed up the recipe, but they didn’t come out very fluffy and the pancakes had no flavor and I think it having too much baking powder resulted in a bitter taste to them. I prefer buttermilk pancakes.
★★★
Nina
Kids loved them. Had to add a little more milk as I used soya an dairy free butter cause I can’t have dairy. But still was delicious. Hit with all the family.
Julia
Fluffiest pancake i’ve ever prepared or eaten. Added a few banana pieces and chocolate chips. My child loved them too and didn’t ask for butter or syrup.
★★★★★
R Morgan
Been using this recipe for years. Still the BEST fluffy pancake recipe on the internet.
All the thanks,
★★★★★
Adriana
First time using this recipe and it came out great. Nice fluffy pancakes !
Iris
I love this pancake recipe. Made it today at breakfast and my family says its yummy. Will be using this again. I even bookmarked this page 😉
Kristin
My go-to! Easily doubles. Always perfectly fluffy!
★★★★★
Julie
I made it and it was quite fluffy. I was out of vanilla and I made it out for milk. Vanilla makes it taste good. But it still quite fluffy and came out great, Thank you for the recipe.
Juniper
Tasted of nothing but baking powder. And wasn’t nearly enough liquid! As written it was a very thick paste. I had to add a lot of extra milk. The baking powder taste was too much for me, I’ll go back to my usual recipe.
★
Molly
Not fluffy at all.
★
Juliet
Its amazing. Super fluffy I love it.
★★★★★
J.J.
Excellent pancakes. Will make again.
★★★★★
Elaine
I love these no- fail cooking tips and recipe. I always return to this recipe when I make pancakes. Really cannot fathom why some commenters complain. Be sure you haven’t over-beaten the batter – it should take seconds to mix up. It’s also important to use kitchen paper to rub oil on the pan, which should be hot enough to sizzle batter when it’s dropped, but not cook too it quickly that it burns outside and stays raw inside. Making good pancakes takes a bit of patience.
★★★★★
Elaine S
We made it with sprinkles and extra whipped cream for my daughters birthday! They turned out great! Thank you!
★★★★★
CArter
I loved them
★★★★★
Nena
Absolutely love this recipe. I had never been capable of baking such fluffy pancakes!
Summer
I made pancakes today and followed the recipe. My 2yo son loves it. Instead of adding oil into the pan, I used spray oil and turned out fluffy didn’t even know what was All Purpose Flour so I used Self Raising Flour with a bit more sugar.
★★★★
Nell
Wonderful! I think mine was even better than the pictures! Tasty also!!
★★★★★