Name: The Best Pancakes
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 17 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour; 3 tbsp granulated sugar; 2 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp baking soda; 3/4 tsp kosher salt; 2 cups buttermilk; 2 large eggs; 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted; 1 tsp vanilla extract; as needed maple syrup (for serving)

The Best Pancakes

Prep

Cook

12m

Total

17m

Bigly says

Pancakes. Pancakes! The BEST pancakes. And I have to be honest with you — and honesty is something we do here at BiglyEats — most pancakes are terrible. Most pancakes are sad, flat, rubbery little disks that taste like a wet cardboard box. FRISBEES. People are flipping frisbees on a Sunday morning and calling it breakfast. It's a national tragedy. Maybe international. The pancake situation in this world is BAD.

But not these. Not Bigly's pancakes. These pancakes are TALL. These pancakes have lift. These pancakes have what food scientists — and I've talked to food scientists, very smart people, the smartest — call 'structure.' You put butter on top, the butter doesn't just slide off like a sad little tear, the butter MELTS INTO the pancake, it becomes one with the pancake, and that is a beautiful thing. The architecture, the bones, the FOUNDATION — most cookbook authors can't deliver it. We can.

The secret — and I'm going to tell you for free, no popup, no newsletter signup, no cookie banner asking if you want to share your data with 200 unnamed advertising partners, which by the way is INSANE, who built the internet, what are we doing — the secret is two things. Buttermilk. And not overmixing. Lumpy batter is your friend. Smooth batter is your enemy. Smooth batter is what most chefs are doing and look where it's gotten them: nowhere. Believe me.

Ingredients

2 cupsall-purpose flour
3 tbspgranulated sugar
2 tspbaking powder
1 tspbaking soda
3/4 tspkosher salt
2 cupsbuttermilk(real buttermilk, not the vinegar-and-milk trick if you can help it)
2large eggs
4 tbspunsalted butter, melted(plus more for the pan)
1 tspvanilla extract
as neededmaple syrup (for serving)

Steps

1
Heat a nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-low heat. Patience here — too hot and the outside burns before the inside sets.
2
Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
3
In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla until smooth.
4
Pour the wet into the dry and fold with a spatula just until combined. Stop when there are still lumps — DO NOT overmix.
5
Let the batter rest 5 minutes. This step matters more than people think.
6
Brush the skillet lightly with butter. Ladle 1/4-cup portions of batter onto the surface, leaving room between.
7
Cook 2-3 minutes until bubbles form across the top and the edges look dry. Flip once and cook another 1-2 minutes until puffed and golden.
8
Transfer to a warm plate. Repeat with remaining batter, brushing the pan with butter between batches. Serve immediately with butter and maple syrup.

One more thing

Stack them tall. Tall stacks — life is short, why are we eating short stacks, who decided short stacks were acceptable, sad — and put real maple syrup on them. Not the fake stuff. The fake stuff is corn syrup with brown coloring, it's a SCAM, the maple industry is being CHEATED. Use the real stuff. Spend the extra three dollars. Your pancakes deserve it. You deserve it. The maple trees deserve it. Tremendous.

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Ask Bigly about The Best Pancakes.

Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.

The Best Pancakes

Ingredients

Steps

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