The BEST One-Bowl Buttermilk Pancakes
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
These one-bowl buttermilk pancakes are a weekend staple. The recipe yields a ton, and the end result is fluffy pancake heaven! 🥞🥞🥞🥞🥞
Over the weekend, I said goodbye to my electric griddle, a gadget I’ve had for over a decade, one I’ve loved and hated over the years for various reasons: loved for its large, flat surface and, um, well, that’s really it.
My electric griddle is big and cumbersome, awkward to find space to both use and stow. For 10 years I’ve used it solely for pancakes, which has been reason enough to hang on to it because I find cooking pancakes in skillets tricky — even in my largest skillet there isn’t enough space to maneuver a spatula around more than three pancakes.
But over the weekend, I finally thanked my griddle for its service then said sayonara. What sparked this civilized departure? It was the Baking Steel griddle, a slab of thick-gauge steel designed for both stovetop and in-oven use. Yes, this griddle doubles as a pizza Steel — it’s 10 lbs. heavier than the original Baking Steel, which means it will make your oven behave even more like a wood-fired hearth.
I have been experimenting with this gadget for several weeks now, making pancakes for the kiddos, breakfast tacos for Ben and me, and English muffins for us all. What I love is not only its versatility but its shape and design — it takes up no extra space to use because it sits on the stove top; it takes up little space when it’s stowed because it measures about 1/2-inch in thickness even when it’s tucked into its awesome storage sleeve.
The Baking Steel griddle’s uses extend far beyond the dishes I am showing here, however: check out Serious Eats’ Kenji Lopez-Alt’s exhaustive research in this post. Food and Wine was equally impressed.
The Baking Steel griddle is available for order now.
Before we get to the giveaway, let’s discuss these pancakes. Pancakes have never been my forte, but for about a year now, I’ve had success with the kitchn’s lofty buttermilk pancakes, which are delicious and relatively simple to make. The peculiar trick to making these pancakes is that you separate the egg yolks from the egg whites, then incorporate the yolks into the batter before the whites. The whites are never beaten. It’s odd but oddly it works — the pancakes never taste so good as when I follow the kitchn’s method.
That said, this method requires three bowls: one for the dry ingredients, one for the yolks, buttermilk, milk and butter, and one for the whites. This, for me, first thing in the morning is too many, and because I’ve found that when I use one bowl or three my children are none the wiser, I stick to one: I whisk the eggs directly into the dry ingredients as though I am making pasta, then add the milk and buttermilk, and finally the butter. Because I melt the butter in a liquid measuring cup in the microwave then transfer it directly to the dishwasher, I don’t consider it a dish — that’s fair, right?
These pancakes have become a family fave and, with the griddle on hand, a weekly staple. The batter makes enough for a ton of pancakes and stores just fine in the fridge…sure, it turns a little grey overnight, but again, the little ones don’t mind.
For this pancake batter, incorporate the eggs into the dry ingredients as though you are making pasta dough:
Then add the milk and buttermilk and finally the melted butter:
A pancake breakfast is a happy breakfast…
The BEST One-Bowl Buttermilk Pancakes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 18-20 three-inch pancakes
Description
Adapted from the kitchn’s recipe for lofty buttermilk pancakes. The recipe below differs only by method not by ingredients. Check out the kitchn’s post if you want to try their egg-separating method — don’t worry, you don’t have to beat any whites!
When cooking these pancakes on the Baking Steel griddle, I suggest heating your griddle before you begin making your batter. I have a flat-top cooking surface, and I have the best results warming the griddle up slowly over low to medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes. If you have a gas range, you will be able to control the temperature better.
Finally, the best trick I’ve learned for cooking pancakes is to go small — I use my 2-tablespoon measuring cup to portion out batter. The pancakes cook quickly and evenly when I use this small scoop.
If you want to use sourdough discard in this recipe, simply cut back some of the flour and water, preferably by weight. So, for example, if you want to use 100 grams of sourdough discard (at 100% hydration) in this recipe, cut back 50 grams of the flour and 50 grams of the buttermilk. That would call for using 270 grams of flour and 418 grams of buttermilk.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (320 g) flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (8 g) salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups (468 grams) buttermilk
- 1/2 cup milk
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- Canola or peanut oil for frying
Instructions
- If using a Baking Steel griddle, begin warming it up over low heat.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a large bowl. Add the eggs and beat with a fork till the eggs are whisked and incorporated into the surrounding flour, as if you were making pasta. Add the buttermilk and milk, and stir with spatula to combine. Add the melted, cooled butter and stir until combined.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, film with a thin layer of oil. After about 30 seconds, when the oil shimmers but is not smoking, lower the heat to medium-low and use a soup spoon (I have a one-eighth cup (2 T) measuring cup, which I love for pancakes) to drop in heaping spoonfuls of pancake batter. Note: If you are using a BS griddle, adjust heat so griddle radiates heat and feels hot but not smoking — this takes just a teensy bit of practice.
- The batter will spread into a pancake about 3 inches wide. Cook for about 2 1/2 minutes. (If the pancake scorches or the oil smokes, lower the heat.) When the bubbles that form on the edges of the pancakes look dry and airy, use a thin spatula to gently lift one side and peek underneath. If the pancake is golden brown, flip and cook on the other side for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes, or until the bottom of the pancake is golden brown.
- Transfer to a cooling rack briefly before serving. Scrape any stray crumbs or scraps out of the skillet, add a little more oil, and continue to cook the remaining batter.
Notes
Recipe Notes from the kitchn:
- If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can use plain yogurt instead. Just use about 2/3 cup and thin it with some milk until it reaches the 1 cup mark. You can also quickly make a buttermilk substitute by mixing 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or white vinegar with 2 cups of milk.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
418 Comments on “The BEST One-Bowl Buttermilk Pancakes”
Does cold cereal counts as a one-bowl recipe? … teach me your one-bowl ways! My kitchen life is too complicated for this homeschooling Mama of five. The struggle is real.
One bowl brownies are a fave!
My favorite one bowl recipe is one pot pasta soup. You can throw in just about any grain, left over veggies, and it’s great for winter dinners! After that, it’s (vegan) pancakes, for which I could really use one of these new baking steel things!
“Clean Out the Fridge Bowl” is my favorite one bowl “recipe” 🙂 I go through the fridge and freezer to see what needs to be eaten and toss it into a bowl. Lunch today was leftover lentils that were in the freezer, rice, caramelized onions, walnut taco “meat,” cashew cream, salsa, avocado, and some shredded cheese. It was tasty and I finished up a few odds and ends instead of wasting them!
Peasant Bread! My husband was your physics teacher:) will this help my chances?
Oh my gosh, so funny, Mr. Youker was my absolute favorite!!
I have this One Bowl Chocolate cake recipe that I love. You mix all ingredients in the cake pan.
My favorite is one bowl BROWNIES! Is there anything better?!
Looks like a must have tool!
Woah, that griddle looks amazing! I rarely make pancakes because of the dreaded skillet issue. I’ve been thinking about getting an electric griddle, but, eh… I’m so underwhelmed. My husband and I also regularly make pizza, and that griddle looks like it would help us out!
My favorite one-bowl dish is actually your corn and poblano salad/salsa. That stuff is the jam!
Also! In ref to your liking the soft corn tortillas from Whole Foods – have you tried the Corn & Wheat Tortillas from Trader Joe’s? Best ever. They don’t crack like corn tortillas, (they’re flexible like wheat), and they have a delicious corn flavor. We eat your corn and poblano salad in a TJ’s corn & wheat tortilla with some Iberico Cheese (also TJ’s) and avocado and it’s so awesome!
I have two one is gazpacho and the other is one bowl brownies. So it covers both a meal and dessert.
My favorite one bowl has got to be buttermilk biscuits with scallions and cheddar!
Endless possibilities!!! My favorite one bowl ricotta cookies, and one bowl peasant bread, I make this weekly!!! Delicious! I would love to use the new baking steel, with all my baking!
Tammy
Favorite one bowl dish: Roasted Ratatouille (roast eggplant, zucchini, red bell peppers, cherry tomatoes and couple cloves of garlic and dress with lemon juice and mashed up roasted garlic in a bowl. This recipe is sourced from Melissa Clark.
I would say ditto to all the comments above for the one bowl recipe. I love making brownies in one bowl, meatballs, meatloaf, shortbread cookies, peasant bread, and the list goes on and on, especially if you have been baking as long as I have!
Anything that I can throw into the pressure cooker is my favorite one-pot meal!
I love easy breakfast dishes like the one bowl pancakes and also one bowl crêpes too!
My favorite one-bowl dish is goulash 🙂
Favorite one bowl dish is a Yumm bowl
Start with brown rice and layer it with black beans, Yumm sauce (similar to a tahini sauce) then add shredded cheddar cheese, chopped tomato, chopped avocado, sliced black olives, bit of cilantro, add some chopped chicken if you’d like, or any other type of vegetable.
These comments are making me hungry! Good thing it’s coffee time, I can whip up a batch of one-bowl scones and have some to freeze for another day…
I have a recipe for a lemon cornmeal pound cake that is divine.
My favourite one bowl recipe is arepas! I can’t wait to try making them on a griddle like this, since our electric arepa maker has recently died after many years of service!
I adapt almost any recipe to the minimum amount of dishes required! I like to make double batches of bread (banana, cranberry, pumpkin, zucchini, etc) and I always use one bowl. It works best in my small SF kitchen 🙂
Yum!
In honor of summertime, fresh tomato pasta sauce, marinated on the counter all afternoon and mixed with fresh mozzarella and pasta at dinnertime.
Favorite one-bowl recipe has to be for brownies! Those English muffins look fantastic by the way.
What a great giveaway! How excited I would be to win!!
How fun it has been to learn about everyone’s favorite one bowl creations. I wish I had all the recipes!!!
My favorite one bowl recipe would have to be muffins. I love muffins….pretty much any kind. Your millet muffins (AkA Birdseed muffins) is a favorite.
In the summer when it is time to go camping, we all love hash and potatoes with fresh tomatoes from the garden. Yummy.
Just one bowl is tough… Lately, it is pancakes.
My MIL introduced me to your site and now I’m hooked! I love the idea of the baking steel and have to try these pancakes 🙂
Roasted chickpeas! if you don’t count the pan you’re baking on. =)