The Best Pancake Recipe

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The Best Pancake Recipe – This tasty pancake recipe is easy and has a secret ingredient that gives them the perfect fluffy pancake consistency.

Three sour cream pancakes stacked on a plate

My whole family loves this pancake recipe.  This has become my go-to when we want pancakes for breakfast on the weekends.

What’s the secret ingredient that makes these pancakes the best?  Sour cream.  It may sound strange but it really works!

These sour cream pancakes have a butter crisp outside and the inside is so soft it’s almost creamy.  To balance the flavor of the sour cream, I added more sugar.  So these are actually sweeter pancakes than most.  So good!

The pancake batter is made in one bowl, making this pancake recipe easy!

Close up of the soft fluffy insides of three stacked pancakes

How to make pancakes:

  • In a large bowl, add milk and sour cream.
  • Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
  • Whisk together.

A mixing bowl with milk, sour cream, sugar, eggs, and vanilla for the best pancake recipe

  • Add flour, baking powder, and salt.
  • Stir until just combined (this batter will be VERY lumpy).

A mixing bowl with the dry ingredients on top of the wet ingredients for the best pancake recipe

  • Melt butter in a skillet over medium-low heat.
  • Pour pancake batter into the skillet (about ¼ cup for each pancake).

The best pancake batter being poured into a hot buttered skillet

  • Cook 3-4 minutes (bubbles will form on the top of the pancakes).
  • Flip and cook 1-2 minutes.

Bubbles forming on the top of pancake batter before flipping over

Top with maple syrup, fresh fruit, fruit syrup, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.

The best pancakes stacked with butter and maple syrup on them

Looking for more great breakfast recipes?  Try these:

Watch the step by step video for The Best Pancake Recipe below:

Find more of my recipes on TikTok

Close up of the soft fluffy insides of three stacked pancakes

The Best Pancake Recipe

5 from 132 votes
Best Pancake Recipe - This tasty pancake recipe is easy and has a secret ingredient that gives them the perfect fluffy pancake consistency.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Video

Servings 12 pancakes
Calories 113 kcal

Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Butter for greasing the pan -about 3 tablespoons
  • Maple syrup for serving

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, add the milk, sour cream, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until combined. It’s ok to have small lumps of sour cream.
  • Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir just until no large clumps of dry flour remain, trying not to over mix. The batter should be very lumpy.
  • Melt about ½ tablespoon of butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium-low heat until lightly bubbling and light brown.
  • Ladle the batter into the skillet making 3-4 pancakes (about ¼ cup of batter each). Cook 3-4 minutes, until bubbles form on top of each pancake and the bottoms are golden brown.
  • Flip the pancakes. Cook 1-2 minutes, until the bottoms are golden brown.
  • Carefully wipe out any excess browned butter with paper towels. Repeat with the remaining butter and pancake batter.
  • Serve warm with maple syrup.

Notes

Nutrition information does not include butter for cooking or toppings.

Nutrition

Serving: 1/12th of the recipe | Calories: 113kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 222mg | Potassium: 138mg | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 145IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 71mg | Iron: 0.9mg
Course Breakfast, brunch
Keyword best pancake recipe, how to make pancakes, pancake recipe easy
Cuisine American
Author Amanda Finks
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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I had a bunch of leftover Mexican crema so I gave this recipe a go and it really is the best pancake recipe! The fluffiest I’ve ever made!

  2. 5 stars
    Just made these. Wow! Definitely fluffy and such a good mix of ingredients. Thanks for adding that you put more sugar due to the sour cream. It made a difference.

  3. 5 stars
    Truly is the Best Pancake Recipe ever! Mixed the whole batter, turned around, and found the 2 eggs on the counter. Ugh. Mixed them in and let the batter rest a few minutes before baking and they were still delicious! Enjoyed by all. Thank you for a delicious foolproof recipe.

  4. 5 stars
    Thank you so much for this recipe! It took me back to my childhood when my father would make us blueberry fritters. They were a thin crêpe like pancake with blueberries, we would eat them for dinner. These are a little thicker in consistency, but the taste is phenomenal. I highly recommend this recipe! I might try thinning the batter out to re-create my dad‘s recipe. Again thank you

  5. 5 stars
    I fill a small bowl with fresh organic blueberries and pour 1/2 cup of maple syrup over them and microwave for 30 seconds.

  6. 5 stars
    Wonderful! My family agreed they were the best batch yet! I intended to try the recipe as written but as I got going realized I didn’t have enough sour cream. I substituted 1 cup of light vanilla greek yogurt (I had made a double batch) and it worked perfectly! I can’t comment on what the sour cream would have done differently but they were so good!! Thanks!

  7. 5 stars
    Made this today for breakfast for dinner. This recipe lives up to its name! Smiles and full bellies all around the table. Thanks for sharing.

    1. 5 stars
      I didn’t have regular milk so I used the chocolate almond milk and LET ME TELL YOU! Absolutely delicious! 10 out of 10 would recommend!

  8. 5 stars
    My family loves this recipe! We’ve been using it for quite awhile now & will continue to use it! My husband & I were just talking about how difficult it would be to go back to a store bought pancake mix. Thanks for sharing!

  9. 5 stars
    Making these for dinner as I type this. I’m actually eating them as I am cooking….. 5/5 for sure. I’ve been having poor luck with all recipes or whatever popped up first on my Google search for pancakes. Some batter I used was so thick and fluffy but dry… but this recipe is banging. Loved the texture.

  10. 5 stars
    Absolutely delicious, made them for my great grandchildren and they literally disappeared. Then made them again with buttermilk and they were just as good, yummy!

  11. 5 stars
    I added a few Tablespoons of oil which kept the pancakes super moist and tender but with a perfect texture. They were delicious and next time I wil sauté apple slices with cinnamon and add a few of them to each pancake. Thanks fir the ingenuity use of the sour cream. I will also turn this into a GF recipe fir my shag family. Win win!

  12. 5 stars
    I tried this recipe tonight and really enjoyed it. Like some the mix was too thin so I added more flour. Everything about the pancake was perfect. The next batch I make will be using buttermilk hope they come out the same as with the regular milk. It’s just that I prefer buttermilk pancakes.

    1. I don’t know that I would use buttermilk as a replacement for the milk, rather I’d use it as a replacement for the sour cream. The acid in both act the same in the baking process. If you sub the milk you may end up with too much acid. Since buttermilk is thinner than sour cream I might sub the sour cream + reduce the amount of milk to even out the liquid (1/2c buttermilk and 3/4c milk).

  13. 5 stars
    These are amazingly fluffy and will be my go to recipe for our pancakes from now on. I did have fresh blueberries so I added some of them and a tad of lemon zest to ours. They were so, so good! Husbby was super impressed and he knows what good pancakes should be like! He commented these were the best he has had.

About Amanda Finks

I’m a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist living in Zionsville, IN. I’m an avid cook, travel nerd, & lover of good food! I’m trained in Food Science & recipe development. It’s my mission to bring you the BEST recipes your whole family will love!

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