5 Secrets for Astonishingly Good Pancakes

When you think of the perfect pancake, what do you see? A big stack of ultra-fluffy, golden brown pancakes served with all your favorite toppings? Bingo! But, if you don’t take the right approach, your pancakes may come out flat, soggy and altogether disappointing batch after batch. Luckily for you, we’re here with the top five secrets you need to make the pancakes of your dreams every time. Check it out.

Buttermilk is Not Optional – Ever

Fluffy pancakes start with buttermilk. Period. Milk alone cannot achieve the thick and fluffy texture you crave.

Buttermilk can work its magic due to its high acid content. As its acids hit the baking soda in the dry mix, the chemical reaction bubbles up the batter to add height while breaking down the gluten. On top of that, the buttermilk adds a richness unmatched by its milky counterpart.

Don’t have buttermilk on hand? You can often get away with adding one tablespoon of white vinegar to a measuring cup and filling it whole milk to the one-cup mark. Then, stir and let it sit for about five minutes. You won’t get the richness, but your pancakes will rise to the occasion, for sure.

Whip Your Egg Whites into a Frenzy

If you’re not whipping your egg whites into a frenzy, then you’re missing out on cloud-level fluffiness in your pancakes. When whipped to the stiff peak stage, the egg whites bring tons of air into the equation to fluff up each delightfully delicious disc.

To do this, simply separate your egg whites and yolks for the total number of eggs needed for your recipe. Then, add the yolks to the batter like normal before turning your attention to the egg whites.

After that, you just have to use an electric mixer to beat the whites until they create stiff peaks when you pull the beaters out. Once that’s done, gently fold the egg whites into your otherwise complete batter.  

Mix to Combine, Not Beat into Submission

Pancake batter definitely benefits from a gentle touch. Otherwise, your batter will toughen up, creating chewy, dense pancakes that will leave you full of regret.  

To avoid that, you just have to mix all your dry ingredients first to combine them well. Then, add all your wet ingredients – minus the egg whites, of course – and mix just until everything looks well combined.

Lumps are perfectly fine and normal, in fact, so don’t try to get rid of them. After it’s combined, reduce your intensity even more to fold in your egg whites without taking the wind out of their sails.

Use a Dry Pan – But Be Ready for Sacrifice

Although it’s tempting to use oil for your pancakes, it’s ill-advised. The oil just soaks into the pancake, weighing it down and ruining its lightly sweet flavor.

Instead, you have to use a completely dry pan. While that might sound scary, it’ll only cost you one small sacrifice: the very first pancake. After that, the rest of the batch won’t dare stick to the pan, especially after seeing you gobble up that test pancake with glee.  

Add a Not-So-Secret Banana to the Equation  

Bananas in your pancakes? The horror! Well, not really, not if you like bananas, that is. So, if you’re a fan of these tasty fruits, slice one up and toss it in your batter before folding in the egg whites. The fun additions can add interest to every bite, letting you come up with all new recipes to share with the world.

If you’d like savory pancakes, bacon, shredded cheese, and chives can get you there. Prefer to keep it fruitylicious? Strawberries, mangos, pineapple and coconut, and the list goes on. The sky is the limit in what you can make if you put your mind to it.

Now that you know how to create pancakes to remember, it’s time to get cooking! Just be sure to make a trial batch to nail down your newfound techniques before inviting the whole crew over for your soon-to-be award-winning pancakes.