Old Fashioned Pancakes – Light & Fluffy, Made From Scratch

Put away the box of pancake mix and try your hand at making truly homemade, old fashioned pancakes instead! This simple recipe requires only 7 pantry-staple ingredients and takes hardly any time at all from start to finish.

In fact, it’s so easy to make that you’ll wonder why you ever used box mixes to begin with. As an added bonus, when you make pancakes from scratch, you have a bit more control over the exact ingredients going into the recipe. No extra fillers or unnecessary ingredients are required to still enjoy delicious pancakes.

When my late grandma passed, I was lucky enough to get some of her handwritten recipes. They aren’t anything fancy for sure and most of the pieces of paper are stained with use.

Despite all those stains and the lack of instructions on most of them, the recipes are still something I cherish nonetheless. One of my favorite ones that consistently produces great results is her simple pancake recipe.

This pancake recipe produces light and fluffy pancakes that almost melt in your mouth. They are perfect as is or you can make them even more tempting by adding a splash of vanilla and some mini chocolate chips (my kids’ favorite way to eat them!). However you enjoy them, I hope they become a staple in your home like they are in ours!

How To Make Old Fashioned Pancakes

*Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the full recipe, including exact measurements and amounts. You can also print out the instructions. I go into a bit more detail about the recipe here first, just in case you need it.

Ingredients

• Flour – I like to use all-purpose unbleached flour to make these pancakes. You can also use a blend of 50/50 all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour if you prefer.
• Baking Powder – This is the special ingredient that keeps the pancakes light and fluffy. If you notice that your pancakes are coming out flat and that you aren’t overmixing the batter, then it could be that your baking powder is expired. Be sure to check the date before using it.
• Salt – Any type of table salt will work for this recipe. However, stay away from coarse salt.
• Sugar – Just a little bit of granulated sugar goes a long way in this recipe. I like to have the toppings add sweetness to my pancakes as opposed to the batter itself being overly sweet.
• Egg – If you are using store-bought or refrigerated eggs, allow them to come to room temperature before using. This will allow for more even baking.
• Milk – Start with the lower end of the milk amount. If your batter is super dry, add just a little bit more but try to avoid overmixing.
• Melted Butter – The butter adds a nice richness to the recipe and helps prevent the pancakes from sticking to the pan or skillet. With the addition of the melted butter, you don’t need to add any on the top when they are done (unless you want even more butter flavor!)

Optional Ingredients – One of my kids’ favorite alternatives to these plain pancakes is turning them into chocolate chip pancakes. To do this, simply add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips to the wet ingredients before adding them to the dry ingredients.

Instructions For Old Fashioned Pancakes

Begin by preheating your cooking surface. I’ve used an electric griddle, a stovetop griddle, and a large cast iron skillet to make these pancakes. My favorite option though is the electric griddle because the pancakes cook up evenly and quickly. (We love to use our electric griddle for these pancakes. This is the updated version – Product Link: Presto 22-inch Electric Griddle.)

Set the electric griddle to 350º Fahrenheit. If using a skillet or other appliance, start to get the cooking surface warm. Grease whatever cooking surface you are using with butter or oil and set aside.

In a large bowl, add your flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar and mix well. In a smaller bowl, combine your beaten egg, milk, and melted butter. If you are making chocolate chip pancakes, add those ingredients now.

Slowly, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix only until just combined. It’s ok if there are a few clumps in the batter.

The more you mix the batter, the flatter and denser the pancakes will be. This is one of the biggest keys to having light and fluffy pancakes. Do not overmix the batter!

Baking The Old Fashioned Pancakes

Working in batches, pour some of the batter onto your preheated and oiled griddle or skillet into small piles. Normally, I just use a spatula and scrape out similar-sized amounts.

However, if you want to be precise, use a 1/3 cup measuring cup. This will yield about 8 good-sized pancakes. Obviously, dropping down to a 1/4 cup measuring cup will provide you with smaller pancakes but make more of them.

Allow the pancakes to cook for a few minutes. You should start to see some tiny bubbles around the edges when they are getting close to needing to be flipped.

Once the edges start to look like they are set, it’s time to flip. Carefully flip the pancakes. Using a large pancake turner will make this task super simple.

Cook until they are golden brown. You can peek under the pancakes but don’t actually flip them more than once. That’s another trick to keep them light and fluffy. Repeat this process with the additional batter until it’s all used up.

Top the warm pancakes with your favorite toppings. We prefer syrup, but powdered sugar, fresh fruit, or whipped cream are also great options. Enjoy!

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!
– Chelsea

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