stack of pancakes with syrup

American pancakes

By Miriam Nice
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(53 ratings)
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Prep: 25 mins Cook: 30 mins

Easy

Serves 4

Easy, American-style, fluffy pancakes are great for feeding a crowd at breakfast or brunch. Top with something sweet like fruit, jam or syrup, or rashers of crispy bacon.

Nutrition and extra info

  • Vegetarian

Nutrition: per serving

  • kcal356
  • fat13g
  • saturates6g
  • carbs46g
  • sugars8g
  • fibre2g
  • protein13g
  • salt1.25g
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Ingredients

  • 200g self-raising flour
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
    Baking powder

    Baking powder

    bay-king pow-dah

    Baking powder is a raising agent that is commonly used in cake-making. It is made from an alkali…

  • 1 tbsp golden caster sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 25g melted butter, plus extra for cooking
    Butter

    Butter

    butt-err

    Butter is made when lactic-acid producing bacteria are added to cream and churned to make an…

  • 200ml milk

    Milk

    mill-k

    One of the most widely used ingredients, milk is often referred to as a complete food. While cow…

  • vegetable oil, for cooking

To serve

  • maple syrup
    Maple syrup

    Maple syrup

    may-pul sir-rup

    The rising spring sap of a number of varieties of maple tree…

  • toppings of your choice, such as cooked bacon, chocolate chips, blueberries or peanut butter and jam
    Bacon

    Bacon

    bay-kon

    Bacon is pork that has been cured one of two ways: dry or wet. It can be bought as both rashers…

Method

  1. Mix the flour, baking powder, caster sugar and a pinch of salt together in a large bowl. Create a well in the centre with the back of your spoon then add the eggs, melted butter and milk. Whisk together either with a balloon whisk or electric hand beaters until smooth then pour into a jug.

  2. Heat a small knob of butter and 1 tsp of oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. When the butter looks frothy pour in rounds of the batter, approximately 8cm wide. Make sure you don’t put the pancakes too close together as they will spread during cooking. Cook the pancakes on their first side for about 1-2 mins or until lots of tiny bubbles start to appear and pop on the surface. Flip the pancakes over and cook for a further minute on the other side. Repeat until all the batter is used up.

  3. Serve your pancakes stacked up on a plate with a drizzle of maple syrup and any of your favourite toppings.

  • Recipe Tip

    To serve

    If you want to serve them all at once, heat the oven to its lowest setting and put a couple of baking trays in there to keep the pancakes warm as you make the rest.

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Comments, questions and tips

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flauffy
3rd Nov, 2018
5.05
Great pancake recipe, I've used this a few times on special occasion breakfasts and they're so straightforward. Also very adaptable when it comes to toppings and extras - today for my husband's birthday he added in chunks of Galaxy, delish!
nattorama's picture
nattorama
29th Sep, 2018
5.05
These are sooooooo easy and flippin delicious.
Ayse Inal's picture
Ayse Inal
16th Sep, 2018
4.05
I've made these pancakes a number of times now and consider this my go-to recipe. However, I would strongly advise NOT whisking the batter until smooth as this makes for tough, heavy pancakes. Just turn the batter enough to combine the dry and wet ingredients, then stop! Leave those little balls of flour in the batter! This creates a much fluffier pancake. Also, I always separate my eggs, mix the yolk in with the milk and melted butter, fold those in with the dry, then whip the egg whites and fold those in last. Makes them super fluffy. Love these cooked with added blueberries, and drenched in maple syrup and cream
debrat
24th Aug, 2018
3.05
These were ok. I prefer scotch pancakes which are made with just milk, egg & flour. Waited a bit too long after adding baking powder so by the time I came to cook them it had frothed up and was really thick so difficult to pour & difficult to tell when cooked as outside cooked quickly but as so thick inside was hit or miss whether cooked!! Think they would make a good waffle mix!
ruthiebabe
12th Aug, 2018
5.05
Very easy and quick recipe. Halved the ingredients for two people and no issues with the results, which were completely yummy! They tasted better than the ones we usually enjoy at our local deli (so potentially saving us a fortune - 3 pancakes with butter and syrup costs £4.95 per person!!!).
moonlightico's picture
moonlightico
14th Jul, 2018
4.05
made these for myself this morning after having an okay lie in. as it was only for one person, i split the ingredients into thirds which made two (+ a little one) pancakes. they were good but i would suggest not putting in the butter when frying them as too much oil is produced so a teaspoon of sunflower oil is fine. i served mine with golden syrup and fresh peach!
Nickle51
18th Feb, 2018
5.05
This is a fantastic recipe. When mixing, only put in half the milk at first then slowly added the rest until I had the consistency I wanted. Also added a drop of Vanilla extract to the mix for that little extra.. Delicious !!!!
David Stokes
18th Feb, 2018
Good recipe. Kids loved them. We used wholemeal SR flour and dropped some blueberries into the pancakes before turning them. Delicious served with streaky bacon and maple syrup. The prep time certainly is not 25 minutes - more like 5!
Seth Green's picture
Seth Green
27th Dec, 2017
Thank who ever come up with this it works and is so easy im giving my mum breakfast in bed
sl230l
18th Jun, 2017
5.05
These were declared "magic" by my husband who got them made by our kids for Father's Day. We like a pancake in this house but this is the best recipe yet. We put in slightly less milk at first and added until we felt it seemed right consistency- a bit less than the recipe. I think the melted butter was a good addition. Perfect with maple syrup and streaky smoked bacon nom nom
Cookingmomma847
15th Aug, 2018
Can these pancakes be frozen?
goodfoodteam's picture
goodfoodteam
19th Aug, 2018
Thanks for your question. We think these are much better served fresh.
blackrosepetals91
21st Jul, 2018
How do you keep this so thick and round? Mine just end up wonky and thin
Ceirun Williams's picture
Ceirun Williams
31st Aug, 2018
5.05
I find it’s best to put the mix in the fridgefor at least 20 minutes. This thickens it up and stops it spreading as far when it hits the pan and you get lovely spongy thick pancakes.
ruthiebabe
12th Aug, 2018
5.05
Hi I made sure to pour the batter from a largish serving spoon into the hot frying pan and as the goodfoodteam recommend, I poured 'on the spot' rather than swishing the batter around the pan. Think having your pan reasonably hot helps - that way the rise can happen quickly allowing the pancakes to become light and fluffy and thick. Hope this helps.
goodfoodteam's picture
goodfoodteam
23rd Jul, 2018
Thanks for your question. We suggest making sure you use the mixture as soon as it's made so that the baking powder is active. Pour the liquid into one spot so that it spreads evenly. Hope that helps!
Sasha Timmons's picture
Sasha Timmons
14th Jul, 2018
how many pancakes or how much is one serving?
ruthiebabe
12th Aug, 2018
5.05
Hi Sasha It's enough for 4, so about 3 pancakes per person. I halved the recipe for two people and we had 3 pancakes each (the last one was slightly smaller than the others though).
moonlightico's picture
moonlightico
14th Jul, 2018
4.05
hi sasha! you should get around seven pancakes overall with this recipe so it depends on how many people you're feeding :) - sarah
Ceirun Williams's picture
Ceirun Williams
31st Aug, 2018
5.05
Refrerate the mix for at least 20 minutes before cooking. This will make your pancakes rise more as it spreads out slower if you prefer them a little thicker.
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