Pancakes are seriously one of the easiest foods in the world to make from scratch. I promise, even if you are a novice in the kitchen, you can do this without a mix!
These pancakes are 100% whole wheat, but they are light, fluffy, and delicious, and they’re very filling.
As my mom would say, these will stick to your ribs. 😉
They’re very quick and easy to make (7 ingredients), and they’re super inexpensive.
To make these, mix the dry ingredients (except for the brown sugar) in a bowl with a whisk, and, using a whisk or an egg beater, mix the brown sugar, buttermilk, oil, and egg in another bowl.
I like to do this in a 4 cup measuring cup, so as to avoid dirtying another dish.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix gently.
There will still be some small lumps of flour in the batter when you’re done, and that’s just fine.
If you over-mix the batter, you’ll have tough, chewy pancakes.
Let the batter sit while you heat a skillet over medium high heat. It’s hot enough when a drop of water sizzles immediately after landing in the skillet.
If your skillet is nonstick, you probably won’t need to grease it, but if it’s a traditional pan, you’ll want to put some oil or butter in the pan before you make the pancakes.
Drop 1/3 cup portions of batter into the hot skillet and cook the pancakes until bubbles form on top.
(By the way, do you see the lumps in my batter? That’s exactly how it should be.)
Flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Serve warm, topped with butter and syrup.
Or you can opt for whipped cream and whatever fresh fruit is in season.
And that’s all there is to making your own not-from-a-mix pancakes!
Scroll down for the printable recipe. 🙂
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Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes
Easy, 100% whole wheat pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 egg
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In a smaller bowl, combine brown sugar, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and egg; whisk to combine.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir gently to combine. Some small bits of dry flour are fine; don't overmix!
- Heat a skillet over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles immediately. Grease surface if desired, then drop batter by 1/3 cup portions onto skillet.
- Cook until bubbles form on first side, then flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- Serve immediately with butter and syrup. 🙂
Notes
I marked this as four serving sizes, but honestly, it depends how hungry your people are! These are more filling than white flour pancakes, though, so you won't need quite as many as you might think.
If you are unlike me and enjoy making pancakes ahead to reheat later, you can cook a large batch of these, let them cool, and store them in ziploc bags in the freezer until you need them.
Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 185Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 49mgSodium 715mgCarbohydrates 27gFiber 3gSugar 6gProtein 8g
Judy
Sunday 2nd of February 2025
I’m not sure what happened…batter too thin…not sure if I’ll try the recipe again…followed recipe other than brown sugar added to dry ingredients…used fine whole wheat flour that was frozen so cold
Kristen
Monday 3rd of February 2025
If you used vinegar + milk in place of the called-for buttermilk, that could definitely make your batter too thin! I recommend a mixture of 50/50 yogurt and milk if you want a substitute, or the powdered buttermilk (reconstituted according to package directions).
I wonder if cold flour could be a little less prone to absorbing liquid, but that is just conjecture on my part. I do know it's recommended to have ingredients room temperature most of the time, so perhaps less chilly flour would help.
Judy
Sunday 2nd of February 2025
Oh, my, the pancakes were a disaster! I did put the brown sugar in with the dry ingredients; used milk with vinegar for buttermilk; used cold fine whole wheat flour(frozen) from Sam’s Club; and cooked them in a Teflon-type skillet. What a flop!
Kristen
Sunday 2nd of February 2025
Oh goodness, I am so sorry to hear yours didn't turn out right. What exactly happened?
EngineerMom
Tuesday 24th of March 2020
Yum! I love whole wheat pancakes!
I like to top mine with plain Greek yogurt, fresh fruit, and a little jam melted with water to make a fruit syrup!
Kristina
Tuesday 24th of March 2020
Thank you for the recipe that uses whole wheat instead of white flour! I haven't been able to stock up on regular all purpose flour, so any alternative flour recipes will come in handy. I have all kinds of odds and ends of flours I need to use up. (Kicking myself that I didn't buy the 50 lbs of flour online a week or two ago when they were still in stock.)
JD
Tuesday 24th of March 2020
Yum! I'm not supposed to eat wheat, but my life improved greatly when I discovered a recipe for cassava flour pancakes. We can enjoy Mardi Gras again! Yours look sooooo good, though. I love pure maple syrup or homemade fruit syrup on mine. Now I'm hungry again.
Kristen
Tuesday 24th of March 2020
Pancakes are such a forgiving vehicle for gluten-free or lower gluten flours. Much better than trying to make, say, ciabatta without wheat!