I’ve had a surprising number of people tell me they have a really hard time making pancakes at home.

Here’s how I make my buttermilk pancakes, which I whipped up for The Angry Chef just the other day.

How to Make Buttermilk Pancakes: Wait, pancakes made with…olive oil?

Yep, yep. My original recipe calls for melted butter. I will admit, though, that I usually use olive oil instead.

It cuts out one step and tastes just great. Just don’t use an oil with any kind of strong flavor. If you’re not crazy about this idea, certainly use melted butter.

Buttermilk Pancakes

1 egg
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. sugar
2 Tbls. olive oil (or melted butter)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Makes about 12-14 pancakes.

Crack an egg into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Whisk it until it’s light and frothy.

Add the buttermilk and whisk to combine.

Add the baking soda, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt to the egg/buttermilk mixture.

How to Make Buttermilk Pancakes: A quick note on technique

Now, the more official way to add dry ingredients to wet is to put the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk them together to thoroughly combine (ensuring that you don’t get a lump of baking powder, etc., somewhere).

While I definitely do this for some recipes, I honestly don’t find that it makes a huge difference in this case. Plus, it adds an extra step.

Whisk together to combine until the batter is smooth and free of lumps.

Drizzle in the olive oil. Whisk to incorporate completely.

Your batter should be relatively thick, creamy, and nice and glossy.

Set a non-stick pan on the stove over medium-high heat. I use a double burner griddle. Let the pan heat up for maybe a minute.

Pour or ladle your batter onto the pan in small-ish blobs. It will settle down and flatten out by itself as it cooks.

I like pancakes that are on the smaller size, so I pour out a puddle of batter that’s a little smaller than the palm of my hand.

Lower the heat to medium. Cook for a minute or two. Keep a good eye on them.

If you get down on eye level with your pancakes (don’t burn your snout), you can watch them cook from the bottom up.

After a minute or two, they should look fairly solid on the bottom. You should also notice a few air bubbles form on the surface of the pancakes.

Stick a thin spatula under the edge of one and take a peek. The pancake itself should feel semi-solid and be golden brown underneath. When you see this, it’s time to flip your pancakes.

To flip, slide a thin spatula all the way underneath your pancakes and turn them over. (If you only go halfway, they’re harder to flip.)

Cook them on this side for a minute or two on this side.

You’ll notice when you flip them that they poof up a little.

They’re done when the edges look cooked (i.e. totally solid) and the bottom is golden brown. Don’t overcook them, as they can get tough.

Repeat until you’ve used up all your batter.

If you’re making a bunch of pancakes, preheat your oven to 200 degrees when you start the batter. Keep the cooked pancakes warm in a baking dish until you’re ready to serve.

Enjoy!

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