My Best Buttermilk Pancakes

The best soft and fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes recipe that I finally nailed after so many trials! This will be your new favourite – promise! This recipe makes super delicious and tummy-filling buttermilk breakfast pancakes every single time!

Are your pancakes flat, rubbery and heavy? Did you also believe that only box-mix can give you fluffy pancakes? I have been there until I took up the challenge to get it right. Follow my instructions to get the best fluffy pancakes.

Jump to:

• Buttermilk (laban) pancakes
• Ingredients
• What not to do
• Secret to fluffy pancakes
• How to make buttermilk pancakes?
• Storage
• 📖 Recipe Card
• 💬 Comments

Buttermilk (laban) pancakes

Full-fat Laban (buttermilk) and almond flour make these pancakes rich while the eggs and leavening agents make them light and fluffy. A fluffy stack of pancakes with golden crisp edges dripping with maple syrup is a guilty experience that is worth every calorie. Pancakes and breakfast are synonyms, don't you agree?

My buttermilk pancakes are a little indulgent in a good way and the best weekend brunch. Top the pancakes with some maple syrup or honey and some chopped seasonal fruits! Yum!

Ingredients

My quest for a perfect pancake batter started during the pandemic lockdown. You don't easily get box-mix, so I tried making the batter from scratch. And I always knew it had to be buttermilk pancakes for my love for Laban.

• Flour: I have used both all-purpose flour and almond flour. You may replace the almond flour with the same quantity of wheat flour or use the same all-purpose flour again.
• baking powder: there for a reason - do not get tempted to reduce the quantity.
• baking soda: do not reduce the quantity.
• sugar: you may increase but don't reduce.
• salt: always
• eggs: again, do not cut down. use large eggs.
• buttermilk: Full-fat laban or buttermilk is what is recommended here. I have used a mixture of Labneh (hung curd) and milk and that works great too. Details are in the recipe section.
• melted butter

At first, I made comparative notes of my favourite chefs' pancake recipes (Joy of Baking, Ina Garten, Laura Vitale, and Martha Stewart) then, I made notes to scale down the recipe a bit. Then I replaced some of the plain flour with some homemade almond flour because of flavour! My dry mix was ready but it took me a few attempts to find the liquid proportion that gave me perfectly fluffy pancakes.

I tried several recipe proportions and yet my pancakes all turned out flat, rubbery, and heavy. I gave up. 😒How can such a simple recipe be challenging? 

What not to do

But what dawned on me was that the batter alone does not give fluffy pancakes, you need to have the right technique for cooking them too. I had to unlearn before I could adopt the right method. I used to cover and cook pancakes until the topside was dry before I turned them so that I am sure it is cooked through. Both steps were preventing me from achieving the trademark fluffy and light pancakes.

Secret to fluffy pancakes

So, the secret is - a) Do not cover the pan and b) do not wait for the top to go dry. In other words, cook the pancakes open and flip them before the top sets.  

How to make buttermilk pancakes?

Prepare the pancake batter

The first step should be to melt the butter so that it can cool before we use it in the batter. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl or jug, whisk together the buttermilk (laban), eggs, and vanilla extract.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients then fold until just combined. Now, make sure the melted butter is not too hot. Stir in the melted butter and take care not to overmix the batter.

Let the batter rest for 10 minutes before you start making the pancake. You can take this time to prep the pan, fruits, syrup, plates etc.

Make the pancakes

Heat a large non-stick or cast iron pan over low to medium heat. Stir the batter every time before you scoop. Scoop approx ¼ cup of batter for each pancake.

Pour as many pancakes as your pan can hold. Flip the pancakes as soon the bubbles appear which may take less than 2 minutes. Cook the other side for another 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove and stack the pancakes. Repeat until all batter is used. Grease the pan and stir the batter bowl between each batch of pancakes.

Serve

Serve warm with maple syrup or honey and seasonal fruits.

Storage

This recipe makes enough pancakes for 3 humans but if one of you is very hungry then only 2! I refrigerate the remaining for the weekday snack! You just have to microwave for 30 seconds or cover and warm up on the stove.

Avoid making the batter the previous night or storing the excess batter as is. It is better to use up the batter and store any leftover cooked pancakes in the fridge or freezer. You can reheat it in a microwave, oven or stovetop.

For a tad healthier pancake, check out my Oatmeal Pancakes recipe!

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