How to Make Pancakes from Scratch

Skip store bought mix and learn How to Make Pancakes from Scratch at home! This easy, delicious breakfast recipe is a family favorite and perfect for any morning!

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This post was last updated 3/2025.

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Shopping list:

• milk
• vegetable oil
• egg
• all purpose flour
• salt
• granulated sugar
• baking powder

Breakfast is hands down my favorite meal of the day and my daughter is a huge pancake lover! A couple years ago, while she was recovering from the flu, she had just one request: “Can you make pancakes for me?”

We didn’t have any pancake mix on hand, so I went searching for a made from scratch recipe and I’m so glad I did! I found this gem in a cookbook that’s been sitting on my shelf for a while: Always on Sunday by Eleanor Ostman. It’s a wonderful local Minnesota cookbook filled with amazing recipes from all over!

This pancake recipe is just as easy to make as the boxed version, but even better because you know exactly what’s going into it. It’s more wholesome, budget friendly, and incredibly tasty. A total win win!

We've ended up making these pancakes dozens of times since then and they're still and always will be a favorite!

If your kids are also pancake fans and you're wanting some new recipes, try my Mini Strawberry Pancakes or Minnesota Wild Rice Pancakes!

Looking for something to serve with these pancakes? Check out this Rhubarb Syrup or Homemade Breakfast Sausage Patties!

Keep scrolling for the full printable recipe 💙

Recipe tips and substitution ideas:

• If your pancake batter is too thin, the baking powder could be to blame. Even if it’s not expired, an open container that's been around for a while can lose its potency and affect the batter’s consistency. To fix it, you can add 1–2 tablespoons of flour to thicken it up, mix in a little extra baking powder, or use a fresh container for best results.

• These pancakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to three days. They can also be frozen for up to two months. Once cooled, freeze in a freezer bag or airtight container with layers of parchment paper in between. Reheat from the refrigerator or from frozen in the toaster or microwave. Double or triple your batch of batter and make extra pancakes for meal prep!

• Try adding cinnamon, blueberries, mini chocolate chips, mashed bananas, shredded zucchini, caramel, diced fresh peaches, crumbled bacon or sprinkles to your batter!

• You can use eggnog instead of milk and can also add vanilla or cake batter extract.

Our favorite kitchen equipment and supplies used with this recipe:

• Presto Electric Griddle
• OXO Good Grips 7-Piece Nesting Measuring Beaker Set
• Pyrex Tinted Glass Mixing Bowls Set
• OXO Good Grips 2-Piece Silicone Whisk Set

Yield 12 small pancakes

Author Hot Eats and Cool Reads

Prep time

5 Min

Cook time

5 Min

Total time

10 Min

How to Make Pancakes from Scratch

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, oil and egg.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to the egg mixture. Whisk until the batter is smooth.
3. Grease a skillet or griddle and heat over medium to medium high.
4. Scoop the batter onto the skillet using 1/4 cup for each pancake.
5. Heat until pancake bubbles, then flip, about 2-3 minutes for each side, until lightly golden brown. Repeat until batter is gone.

Hot Eats and Cool Reads is not responsible for the outcome of any recipe you try from this blog/website. You may not always have the same results I do due to variations in ingredients, humidity, altitude, cooking temperatures, typos, errors, omissions, or individual cooking abilities. 

You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful. I am not a certified nutritionist and make no claims to the contrary. Each individual's dietary needs and restrictions are unique to the individual.

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