Perfect Buttermilk Pancakes
- Total Time
- 10 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 2cups all-purpose flour
- 3tablespoons sugar
- 1½teaspoons baking powder
- 1½teaspoons baking soda
- 1¼teaspoons kosher salt
- 2½cups buttermilk
- 2large eggs
- 3tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- Vegetable, canola or coconut oil for the pan
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and kosher salt together in a bowl. Using the whisk, make a well in the center. Pour the buttermilk into the well and crack eggs into buttermilk. Pour the melted butter into the mixture. Starting in the center, whisk everything together, moving towards the outside of the bowl, until all ingredients are incorporated. Do not overbeat (lumps are fine). The batter can be refrigerated for up to one hour.
- Step 2
Heat a large nonstick griddle or skillet, preferably cast-iron, over low heat for about 5 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the skillet. Turn heat up to medium–low and using a measuring cup, ladle ⅓ cup batter into the skillet. If you are using a large skillet or a griddle, repeat once or twice, taking care not to crowd the cooking surface.
- Step 3
Flip pancakes after bubbles rise to surface and bottoms brown, about 2 to 4 minutes. Cook until the other sides are lightly browned. Remove pancakes to a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet, and keep in heated oven until all the batter is cooked and you are ready to serve.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
J. Scott Wilson
As with any buttermilk batter recipe, this works best if you let the batter sit at room temperature for about a half-hour. The buttermilk will work its magic and thicken the batter, making for super-fluffy pancakes. By cooking immediately, you're completely defeating the purpose of using the buttermilk.
MMS
Any reason why the eggs aren't lightly beaten before adding to pancake mixture? I thought over mixing was to be avoided, and it seems that mixing whole unbeaten eggs would risk this. Thoughts from the pancake experts?
Stu
A generous teaspoon of Vanilla extract makes a big difference in my experience (or 1-inch+ scraped vanilla bean).
Jean
This is my new go to recipe. I don't make any changes, but I do find that the batter is thicker if you let it sit for about 10 minutes or so after mixing everything together. It spreads like crazy if you cook right away.
JLR
The unibowlness of this is sublime, but with volumetric measurements, it's something of a fallacy! If weighed in the bowl:
250 g APF
38 g sugar
1.5 tsp each of soda, powder and salt (even my drug-dealer scale isn't up to the task of weighing these)
600 g of buttermilk (or, as I did, about 550 g of buttermilk and 50 g milk)
2 eggs
45 g butter, melted in the frying pan or on the griddle
The butter's still on my hands as I type this — delicious!
Greg
This is my "go-to" Saturday morning pancake recipe. I kick it up with two teaspoons of vanilla in the batter. When I die, I want to be buried in a vat filled with Grey Goose vodka and the NYT buttermilk pancake batter.
cw
325? Some if my pancakes were more like cookies by the end. 200 degrees is plenty to keep pancakes warm. (And heat some plates to serve!)
Jane
I regularly cook in both the US and the UK, and I have made these pancakes several times in each place. In my experience, buttermilk can vary a lot in thickness. The buttermilk I purchase in the US is consistently thinner than in the UK. Reading the notes of other cooks, it appears that the thickness varies even within the US, since some cooks comment on the extreme thinness of the batter, while others find the opposite. Start with 1/4 to 1/2 c. less buttermilk, adjusting as necessary.
sarnor
I always beat the eggs and combine with the melted butter and buttermilk then add to the dry ingredients. If you read the "How to Make Pancakes" article cited above, the reason they are added directly to the dry ingredients is so there is one less bowl to clean.
Katie
These didn't turn out right for me--too thin and liquidy. I feel fairly certain that was due to an excess of milk. Looking at other pancake recipes I regularly use, the quantity of flour and milk is the same, but here there's a 1/2 cup more of buttermilk. If I try these again I'd reduce the milk.
Nuschler
Sorry, but as an MD I had to laugh. You don’t want butter, but you recommend “generous amount” of coconut oil?
Coconut oil is 92% saturated fat! We use fresh coconut oil right of husks for laxatives here in Hawai’i.
Stan
I have tried many recipes for pancakes, including some others from NY Times Cooking. This is by far the best-fluffy and full of flavor. I made the recipe for 2 people and added blueberries and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Beautiful and delicious.
Dave Smucker
I fix a lot of pancakes - once a week breakfast for high school boys at church and Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper too. Want better lighter pancakes - change the flour. Use unbleached self-rising biscuit flour, not all purpose. You want soft wheat flour, not hard wheat flour. Want to make them really bad use bread flour. We use 10 percent sugar, and lots of butter. (That is about 160 pancakes each Thursday morning, and 1600 for Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper).
rose
Excellent recipe. My go-to for pancakes has always been the one in Joy of Cooking, which requires you to separate the whites from the egg yokes and then make an almost-meringue, before folding everything back into the batter. The result was unfailingly fluffy cakes. Was VERY skeptical about this method, but the result were amazing. This method is so much quicker, since there's no need to beat the egg whites.
Jen
I used yogurt for some of the buttermilk, and the pancakes were fantastic.Great with orange zest, marmalade and vanilla in the batter.
cate
These are perfect! I halved the recipe and one cup of buttermilk was fine.
Donna BC
My family and I liked this recipe very much. It was light and fluffy,but not too fluffy. I think the blueberries and peaches also enhanced the taste, adding sweetness different than the maple syrup. Loved the buttermilk flavor, and left it without another flavor, to allow the fruit and syrup to stand out on this maiden voyage of a test. But it would be good with cinnamon, cardamom, or nutmeg to try a different experience.
Mel Flores
Made my own buttermilk by mixing 1 cup of plain yogurt with 1/2 cup of milk - they turned out amazing!
Puneeta
This is my go-to weekend recipe, and it always comes out great. Today, we didn’t have buttermilk, so I used half sour cream, half while milk. Even better I think!!
Steph
Love this recipe and have made it many times. I’ve learned that for us, cooking it at 300 degrees works well on the electric pan !
E.MP
I think these are the best pancakes I've ever made. I halved the recipe because it was for just the two of us and used the gram measurements someone had added in the comments instead of volume measurements. I let the batter sit for somewhere between 30-45 minutes. I saved this to use for every pancake recipe in the future. Cheers!
Kathy
Instead of butter milk, I use 1/2 cup cottage cheese, I cup yogurt, 1 cup milk. I also add either blueberries or corn. Rich flavor and more protein
AR
I didn't have buttermilk on hand so I substituted a mix of whole milk yogurt and water (1.75 cups yogurt, 0.75 cups water). Worked perfectly.
Hedda
I was skeptical about the idea that "lumps are fine," but they were.
Annie W
Sublime pancake experience. Fluffy, light, full of comforting flavor. I only add 2 cups buttermilk to make them extra thick. Yum.
gkm
One cup of einkorn flour and chia seeds for egg substitutes led to very flat pancakes.
Sarah
Best looking pancakes I’ve ever made
M.Pook
Completely forgot the sugar when making these and did not notice the difference (the maple syrup more than compensates).
Karen
I mix dry & wet in separate bowls, then combine. I also add 1 scant tablespoon vanilla extract. Let batter rest at least 10 minutes for cooking.
Aisha
Added lemon zest and ground cardamom for flavor. Subbed buttermilk for a mixture of the sour cream, yogurt and milk in the fridge. So good.
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