Name: The Best Buttermilk Pancakes with Caramelized Bananas Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 cup cake flour; 1 ¼ tsp baking powder; ¼ tsp baking soda; ¼ cup white sugar; Salt, a pinch; 1 large egg; 1 cup buttermilk; 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted; 1 tsp pure vanilla extract; Butter, for cooking; 1/3 cup maple syrup; 1 tablespoon brown sugar; 1 teaspoon butter; 2 ripe bananas (sliced lengthwise)

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Caramelized Banana Pancakes are a lovely way to start your day! A tall stack of fluffy buttermilk pancakes with caramelized bananas on top makes for a sweet breakfast treat that’s perfect for Sunday mornings.

If you’ve been following my recipes for any amount of time, you’ll know that I love pancakes. And sharing a delicious banana pancake recipe has been on my list for a long time, but I ran into a little problem.

I didn’t like the effect mashed bananas had on the pancake’s texture. Caramelizing bananas in maple syrup was a very delicious solution.

Jump to:

What are caramelized banana pancakes
Ingredients
How to make Buttermilk Pancakes with Caramelized Bananas
Pancake tips
Variation ideas
My best pancake recipes
Helpful tools
Storage suggestions
📖 Recipe

Caramelized bananas on top of a stack of fluffy buttermilk pancakes.

What are caramelized banana pancakes

These caramelized banana pancakes are a twist on your traditional banana pancake recipe where mashed bananas are mixed with flour to create a pancake batter. With this recipe, we’re making some classic buttermilk pancakes, and topping them with bananas that have been caramelized in maple syrup!

In terms of the taste and texture there is certainly a big difference. Given that this recipe is made up of two main components, the experience is a mixture of the two parts:

The buttermilk pancakes are fluffy and flavorful, but not overly sweet by themselves.
The maple syrup caramelized banana topping has a sticky texture (like honey!), and brings the sweetness to this breakfast recipe.

Ingredients

One of the best things about classic recipes like a banana pancake is that you don’t need a lot of fancy, difficult-to-obtain ingredients.

For the Buttermilk Pancakes

Cake flour
Baking powder
Baking soda
White sugar
Salt
Egg
Buttermilk
Unsalted butter, melted
Pure vanilla extract
Butter, for cooking

For the Caramelised Bananas

Maple syrup
Brown sugar
Butter
Ripe bananas

A tall stack of caramelized banana pancakes.

How to make Buttermilk Pancakes with Caramelized Bananas

A great thing about this pancake recipe is that it doesn’t reinvent the wheel in any strange ways. You’re making banana pancakes by cooking bananas…and pancakes. As such, a lot of the instructions are pretty much what you would imagine for a standard pancake recipe.

How to make buttermilk pancakes

Sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl (these are your dry ingredients). Whisk the eggs with buttermilk, and then melted butter (these form your wet ingredients).

Taking care to not over-mix, barely combine the wet and dry ingredients to form a lumpy batter. Let the batter (and its lumps!) sit for 10-15 minutes. (This is a great time to caramelize your bananas.)

Warm a heavy-bottomed saucepan (or a griddle, or a large nonstick skillet) over a medium or medium-low heat (depending on your stove and pan thickness), melt butter for cooking (be generous, please), and spoon or pour a third cup of the pancake batter on to the pan. Gently flip the pancakes once small bubbles begin to appear on the surface, and the edges begin to brown, about two to three minutes per side.

Transfer pancakes to a warm plate until your complete batch is ready.

How to caramelize bananas

Over a low-medium heat, mix the maple syrup, butter, and brown sugar, stirring gently until the sugar has dissolved, and the mixture is just about bubbling. Add in the sliced bananas, cook until brown and golden, turn and repeat on the other side. Serve warm.

Serve

Stack your pancakes (neat tower or messy, up to you!), spoon on some caramelized banana slices. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (and a little more maple syrup if you have a sweet tooth! And if you’re feeling like you want an A+, opt for warm maple syrup).

Maple syrup being poured on to buttermilk pancakes with caramelized bananas.

Pancake tips

All your standard fluffy banana pancake tips will apply to this recipe, as well as a few additional ones that are specific to caramelized banana pancakes.

All-Purpose flour will work fine, but will result in pancakes that are ever-so-slightly less fluffy. For the optimal fluffy pancake, cake flour (sometimes called, pastry flour) is the best choice.
Be sure to use ripe, and not overripe, bananas for this recipe. Overripe bananas may be too soft and end up sticking to your pan.
When caramelizing the bananas, be sure to adjust the heat as necessary. You don’t want to burn your caramel. And please, please, please, be very careful. Do not stick your finger into the hot caramel to get a taste, that’s something that just won’t end well!

How to make fluffy banana pancakes

The fluffiness of your pancakes will be affected by five points:

Over-mixing your batter. This is incredibly easy to do, and incredibly effective when it comes to killing fluffy texture of your pancakes.
Stale ingredients. Fresh ingredients, especially baking powder/soda, are a must!
Turn your pancakes over gently. Tossing your pancakes into the air, or even flipping them over carelessly will literally squish the air out of your pancakes. No bueno.
Skipping the rest period. You need to let your pancakebatter rest. This allows time for all those reactions that create air bubbles and fluffiness to take place!
Kitchen conditions. This doesn’t apply to everyone, but a humid kitchen can actually affect your pancakebatter. If you happen to live in a hot climate, or happen to work in a somewhat stuffy to humid kitchen, consider letting your pancakebatter rest in the fridge.

Do I have to make the caramelised bananas

Nope, you’re in charge here! If you prefer to have plain bananas, you can do that too. Heck, if you don’t like the sound of caramelized banana on pancakes, skip the caramelizing step, and opt for a chocolate sauce with your bananas. Or peanut butter!

A view from above of maple-caramelised bananas on fluffy buttermilk pancakes.

Variation ideas

As always, when it comes to creating variations on your banana pancakes, the world is your oyster. The easiest way to change these pancakes up is to play around with the toppings. For example, for some added crunch, you can sprinkle crushed pecans or hazelnuts to the tops of the pancakes.

Of course, you can also swap out the bananas for other fruits, but just be careful as not all fruits will caramelize as nicely.

My best pancake recipes

So you may know by now, but pancakes are kinda my bag. I love pancakes, and I have plenty of pancake recipes. Here are a few of my favorites for you to check out:

Helpful tools

The link below is an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase using it, I will receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you). These small commissions help keep Chocolates & Chai going. Thank you.

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!

Storage suggestions

If planning to eat later, refrigerate the pancakes and caramelized banana syrup separately in airtight containers. They’ll be okay for 2-3 days. And you can reheat them in a pan over a gentle heat.

And that’s it, bestie. Now it’s your turn, you tell me. Have you make these buttermilk pancakes with caramelized bananas? Or do you prefer a different type of banana pancake recipe? Let me know in the comments below.

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The Best Buttermilk Pancakes with Caramelized Bananas Recipe

What are caramelized banana pancakes