Easy Fluffy Pancakes Recipe
Best fluffy pancakes ever! Simple, delicious and moist – this recipe for fluffy pancakes will excite everyone at the breakfast table! No need for buttermilk or melted butter!
Fluffy Pancakes
I love fluffy pancakes. Pancakes are one of our favourite Sunday breakfast treats. It can become yours too if you try this perfect fluffy pancake recipe!
Think light and airy pancakes served with fruit and drizzled with maple syrup. Top it off with soft dreamy powdered sugar, and a dollop of butter. It’s the ideal combination of decadent and easy to make. Perfect for a lazy Sunday morning!
The secret to these fancy pancakes is making them extra fluffy and light. You’ll never look at pancakes the same again once you’ve tried these.
To make the pancakes extra fluffy, usually you need to add a few extra ingredients:
- baking powder or baking soda
- melted butter
- egg white
But I also use a few Japanese techniques as baking soda doesn’t make the pancake fluffy enough. So keep reading for how to make fluffier pancakes!
Why You will Love Our Fluffy Pancakes
Pancakes are traditionally flat and thin. But in Japan we’ve developed them into fluffy, thick pancakes.
Japanese fluffy pancakes as they’re often referred to, have become super popular for good reason! They’re delicious! It can be arranged to strawberry pancakes by topping with macerated strawberries with greek yogurt.
My goal with this recipe was to make it the best fluffy pancake recipe ever. I was trying for maximum fluffiness and tested it with yogurt, tofu, mochi and even with sparkling water.
And friend, I can share with you what my research found for making it super fluffy. My secret ingredient is mayonnaise.
“Whaaat…?”
You heard it right, mayonnaise!
How does it work?
About this magical ingredient
It may sound bizarre, but using mayonnaise is the secret for how to make fluffier pancakes. Here’s how it works:
- The vinegar of mayonnaise reacts well with baking powder.
- Mayonnaise is made with egg and oil. Oil prevents flour from developing its gluten and becoming denser.
The batter becomes heavier when the gluten develops and that doesn’t help the batter rise. That’s why extra melted butter is often added, but no need to add this recipe.
And, you can reduce the amount of fat in half when you replace butter with mayonnaise.
Mayonnaise is the perfect ingredient to make the pancake delicious fluffy and yet moist inside, and slightly crispier outside! So get ready to make fluffy pancakes from scratch today!
But how about the taste?
You may be wondering whether the taste and fragrance of mayonnaise is right for a pancake.
The truth is that mayo’s vinegary taste and fragrance disappears once it’s heated up. It becomes a hint of savoriness and touch of saltiness, and works perfectly for the pancakes! So, no need to add extra salt.
Our fluffy pancake recipe is simple and easy to make – just stick to the right amount of ingredients and you’ll be sharing homemade fluffy pancakes with your loved ones this Sunday morning!
Ingredients for Fluffy Pancakes
Cake flour is the best for this recipe and is easily available at local supermarkets. There’s less gluten in cake flour than all purpose flour or bread flour.
Mayonnaise: I prefer mayonnaise with as few preservatives as possible but really, any brand works for this recipe. Let me know what mayonnaise you use and how it worked in comments below!
Almond milk: Almond or coconut works well. But any plant based milk or dairy milk works. Light milk works well as it helps with fluffiness.
White sugar: I use granulated cane sugar or beet sugar. Any sugar is fine, but white sugar is ideal to keep the colour of pancakes lighter.
How to Make Fluffy Pancakes
So let’s go. I’ll take you through it step by step, including:
- Timing
- How to mix it
- How to cook
Timing and how to mix
The timing of when you flip over pancakes is ‘very’ important. Once small bubbles pop up, flip them straight away. This ensures that the batter rises and stays fluffy. Don’t wait until the larger bubbles are made. That’s because too much heat is added, and so pancakes don’t rise.
When the pancake batter is mixed too much, gluten is formed and that makes the pancakes dense and heavy rather than light and fluffy. To avoid this:
- Add mayonnaise and mix it well with egg yolk before flour is added.
- No need to combine the batter too much. Don’t worry if there’s some lumps in the batter.
How to make pancakes fluffier
- No one wants to eat burnt pancakes. Heat your pan up well, but reduce the heat just before you pour the batter. Then keep lowering the heat.
- Start cooking as soon as the batter is combined. These pancakes don’t rise when you keep them longer.
- Scoop up the batter with two tablespoons and drop it onto a frying pan by scraping it off. Repeat this and place directly on top of the batter already in the pan.
That’s it! Garnish and serve immediately!
Tips for Making the Extra Fluffy Pancakes
Why aren’t my pancakes fluffy?
Flat pancakes can be the result of overly wet-batter. If the batter runs off a spoon easily and immediately, it probably has too much milk added. Keep the amount of each ingredient accurate.
Over mixing the batter helps gluten grow in the flour, resulting in the pancakes becoming denser and not rising enough. Mix it with with a whisk around for 10 to 15 times.
Your batter should not be over mixed. In fact it should be a little lumpy. Remember, you want to keep as much air in the batter as possible, so don’t mix it too much.
Why the second pancake is always better than the first one?
Heat up a frying pan with medium heat before you place the batter on it. Splash a few drops of water on the surface with your fingers. If it’s hot enough, the drops will evaporate instantly. This way you can start making a perfect pancake right from the start.
After placing oil in the pan, remove excessive oil with kitchen paper. This prevents the pancakes from uneven cooking or burning of the surface.
Can you make fluffy pancakes with a pancake mix?
Yes, of course! You may keep it in your pantry. If you use premix, you don’t need to add baking powder. Add the amount of pancake mix as per our recipe instruction guides.
Can you save these thick pancakes?
These pancakes are best enjoyed as soon as they are cooked. If you would like to keep them, after the pancakes are cooled down, put them into an air tight container or a ziploc bag. Keep them in the fridge for two to three days.
More fluffy pancakes
- JAPANESE PANCAKES
- STRAWBERRY PANCAKES
- GLUTEN-FREE JAPANESE SOUFFLE PANCAKES
- MIKLIA HEALTHY BREAKFAST RECIPES
Fluffy Pancakes Recipe
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup cake flour (120g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon white sugar (18g, I used granulated beet or cane sugar)
Soft Ingredients
- 80 ml milk (80g, I used almond milk)
- 1 medium sized egg (about 50g, 43ml)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon Kewpie Mayonnaise (14g or homemade Japanese mayo)
Instructions
Preparation
- Combine cake flour, sugar and baking powder with a whisk in a bowl. Set aside.
- Mix up egg, pure vanilla extract, milk and mayonnaise thoroughly with a whisk in a bowl.
- Add the wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients. Gently combine all the ingredients with the whisk, doing about 10 to 15 circles around the bowl. Do not over mix. The texture of the batter should be thick. Leave the batter a bit lumpy.
Cooking
- Heat up the frying pan to medium heat. Reduce to the lowest heat and add oil.
- Pour the batter onto the pan. Put a lid on the frying pan.
- Once little bubbles pop up, flip the pancake straight away. Make sure you flip the pancake before large bubbles appear. After flipping, cook for another two minutes.That's it! Garnish and serve immediately!
