35 Pancake Ideas That Put Basic Flapjacks to Shame (original) (raw)

Nothing springs us out of bed quite like the aroma of homemade pancakes. But we’re thinking it’s time we get more creative than a sprinkle of chocolate chips. Behold: 35 easy, creative pancake ideas that will spice up weekday mornings, Sunday brunch and heck, even breakfast-for-dinner night. They range from savory specialties (like a ham-and-egg Dutch baby) to sweet masterpieces (like cinnamon roll pancakes with vanilla icing) that your whole fam will be eager to scarf down—even before you’ve poured their coffee.

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1. One-cup Pancakes

This recipe is so easy that you’ll have it memorized after your first attempt. Make the simple stack a bit fancy with Greek yogurt, jam and lemon zest.

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3. Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Sure, you could go the maple syrup route…but we’re partial to this three-ingredient vanilla glaze.

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5. Swedish Pancakes

Think of these lighter pancakes as a cross between American flapjacks and French crepes. Here, they’re layered with raspberry jam and dusted with confectioners’ sugar.

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6. Croque Madame Dutch Baby

Complete with buttery, nutmeg-laced béchamel sauce.

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7. Nutella Pancakes

The only thing better than slathering your pancakes in hazelnut-cocoa spread? Stuffing them with frozen discs of it instead, so each pancake has a molten chocolatey core once it’s cooked. Molten lava cake but make it breakfast.

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9. Kaiserschmarrn (austrian Shredded Pancakes)

Also referred to as Emperor’s Mess, this rustic dish of buttery shredded magic has been around since the 19th century.

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10. Easy Red Velvet Pancakes

Bring on the cream cheese icing. Your guests will be so impressed that they’ll have no clue you started with red velvet cake mix.

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12. Johnnycakes With Rhubarb And Sour Cherries

Pucker up, friends. Not only is this stack crowned with tart-sweet rhubarb-cherry maple syrup, but it’s also finished with a dollop of tangy plain yogurt.

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13. Sheet Pan Pancakes With Chocolate Chips

Slice the one-pan gem into slabs or cut it into strips instead so the kids can dunk them into syrup like French toast sticks.

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14. Dutch Baby Pancake

German pancake. Bismarck. Dutch puff. Whatever you call it, you’ll be shocked how easy it is to prepare. (You can even mix the batter in the blender if you’re feeling extra lazy.)

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18. Pumpkin Pancakes

The ultimate way to fuel up ahead of trick-or-treating. Tangy buttermilk and warm spices like ginger, clove and nutmeg counteract the sweetness of the canned pumpkin purée.

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19. Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Ricotta cheese in the batter ensures fluffy, moist and unbelievably tender pancakes every damn time.

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21. Coconut Banana Pancakes

An edible tropical vacation that’s well worth getting out of bed for. Bonus points for toasting the shredded coconut before sprinkling it onto the pancakes.

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23. Whole Wheat Pancakes

You kids may be wise to you putting their sandwiches on whole-wheat bread instead of white, but we’re betting they’ll be less suspicious of a syrup-soaked short stack.

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25. Pineapple Upside-down Pancakes

We don’t know about you, but we’re topping ours with vanilla ice cream *and* maple syrup, thank you very much.

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26. Japanese Souffle Pancakes

The key to these light-as-cloud delicacies is whipping the egg whites into meringue before adding them to the batter.

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27. Low-carb Keto Pancakes

Using almond flour, coconut flour and monk fruit allulose instead of AP flour and sugar keep the net carbs at a low 3 grams per serving.

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28. Chocolate Buckwheat Pancakes

Dessert for breakfast is always a good idea. Top the pancakes with chopped nuts, raspberries, strawberries or caramel sauce.

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29. Rice Krispie Treat Pancakes With Browned Butter Syrup

This breakfast is peak nostalgia. If your kids are thrown off by the idea of brown butter syrup, casually mention there’s a hefty scoop of melted marshmallows in the pancake batter and they’ll be sold.

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30. Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

The pancakes are studded with old-fashioned oats, shredded apples and chopped pecans, so feel free to drench your plate in Honeycrisp-brown sugar topping.

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33. Ginger-orange Pancakes

There’s OJ in the pancakes, but the recipe also calls for a touch of orange extract to drive the citrusy flavor home.

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34. Healthy Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

All you need to do to prepare the batter is plop all the ingredients in the blender and blitz until combined. In the words of Ina Garten, how easy is that?

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35. Black-and-white Pancake Cake

Sure, you can reserve this uber-decadent behemoth for dessert…but we’re betting your kiddos wouldn’t mind having a slice for breakfast.

taryn pire

Food Editor