Easy Fluffy Pancakes

I kinda made this sour cream version out of sheer laziness, or let’s call it innovation.

Easy Fluffy Pancakes Ingredients

This easy fluffy pancakes recipe is made weekly in our house. They’re quick to make, always come out incredibly fluffy and my son absolutely LOVES them. The key ingredient is sour cream. It keeps them super moist, adds lots of flavor and gives them that extra lift.

Flour

Basic all purpose flour is what this pancake recipe uses. You could substitute in whole wheat, or even a gluten free blend if you like.

Baking Powder

The baking powder is a key ingredient here. It’s what reacts to the sour cream and milk in the pancake batter and gives it that fluffy texture. You want to make sure you’re using a fresh container of aluminum-free, double acting baking powder.

Sour Cream

The star ingredient of this recipe. Use a full fat sour cream here.

Milk

I would recommend whole milk here, but you could get away with a low-fat or no-fat milk if you really needed to. It’ll be better with whole milk.

Eggs

The eggs give these pancakes structure and bind all the ingredients together.

Vanilla

A small bit of vanilla extract gives these a classic pancake flavor. You could also omit it if you wanted. Optional, but highly encouraged.

Butter

Butter with pancakes is required. Use either salted or unsalted, whatever you have and what you like. I used salted, because I like the extra saltiness it adds to the recipe, and I always have salted butter.

Salt

The salt amps up the flavor of these pancakes. Just a little to season them is all you need.

Sugar

These pancakes aren’t overly sweet. The sugar helps balance them out and helps them get a great golden brown color when they cook.

How to make easy fluffy pancakes from scratch

1. Combine your dry ingredients – Mix all you dry ingredients, flour, baking powder and salt, in a large bowl and mix well. I suggest using a whisk here.
2. Mix wet ingredients – In a separate bowl, whisk your eggs, vanilla, sugar, milk, melted butter and sour cream.
   Add wet to dry – Add your egg mixture to your flour mixture and stir until just combined. A few lumps here and there are ideal. It’ll give you a better pancake texture. If you over mix the batter the pancakes will be thin and dense. Not ideal.
3. Let the batter rest – Pre-heat a pan over medium-high heat. You’ll notice that as your batter sits it’ll start to get bubbly and expand. That’s the baking powder working, you want those bubbles! Do not stir the batter anymore.
4. Cook your pancakes – Once your pan is hot and ready, brush with some butter (or neutral flavored oil) and dollop in your batter. I like about 1/2 cup of batter per pancake, but make them whatever size you like. Cook on the first side till the edges look slightly dry and bubbles begin to pop on the surface. Then flip and cook on the other site. It’s a pancake, you know how to cook ‘em.
5. Plate up – Dish them out, add some more butter, syrup and your strawberry topping.

Strawberry Sauce Ingredients

Strawberries

I originally made this using frozen strawberries, in the middle of winter, but if you have fresh ones available, use them. Or, use any other fruit you like to make a delicious topping for these pancakes.

Sugar

This recipe calls for white granulated sugar. The sugar helps sweeten everything up. This strawberry topping isn’t overly sweet, just enough. You can adjust the amount of sugar based on your preference.

Salt

The salt helps balance everything out. You’ll need a pinch.

Water

This helps to get the sauce started, and the 1/4 cup you’re adding in at the start will boil off by the time the sauce is done. You can omit the water if your berries are very juicy, or you’re using thawed frozen berries that let off a lot of moisture.

How to Make the Strawberry Sauce

1. Add your fruit, sugar, salt and water to a small sauce pan.
2. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
3. You want everything to become a little saucy and your fruit, if frozen, to fully thaw.

FAQs

What can I use as a substitute for the sour cream?

The recipe for these easy fluffy pancakes was developed specifically using sour cream. But, if you don’t have any you can substitute an equal quantity of plain or vanilla yogurt, buttermilk or even creme fraiche (how fancy).

Don’t have any of that stuff? You can always use plain milk in place of the sour cream. That means you’ll double the amount of milk in this recipe, a total of 1 1/2 C whole milk. The pancakes won’t be quite as thick and fluffy, but they will be very delicious!

Need some more breakfast recipe ideas?

Eggs Benedict

Caramelized Banana Dutch Baby

Easy Breakfast Tacos

Dutch Baby Pancakes

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Easy Fluffy Pancakes

This easy pancake recipe makes the fluffiest pancakes with crispy edges. The secret ingredient? Sour cream! Plus, the best strawberry sauce recipe to go with. 

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time25 minutes mins

Servings: 2

Ingredients

The Sour Cream Pancakes

• 1 1/2 C flour
• 2 tsp baking powder heaping teaspoons
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 3/4 C sour cream
• 3/4 C milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp melted butter browning the butter is a nice touch

Strawberry Topping

• 1 1/2 C frozen strawberries or any fruit you want
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/4 C water

Instructions

Strawberry Topping

• If you’re making it, get your fruit on the stove to start cooking. This can be made in advance and served at room temp or reheated. Add your fruit, sugar, salt and water to a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. You want everything to become a little saucy and your fruit, if frozen, to fully thaw.

The Sour Cream Pancakes

• Add your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) to a large bowl. Whisk to make sure everything is evenly combined and you don’t have any rogue clumps of baking powder.
• Whisk your eggs, vanilla, sugar, milk, melted butter and sour cream in a separate bowl. Make sure everything is combined.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix till just combined. A few little lumps are fine, you just don’t want any massive pockets of dry flour. Be sure to not over mix either. You don’t want a tough pancake.
• Let you batter rest while you get a pan pre-heated over med-high heat. You’ll notice that as your batter sits it’ll start to get bubbly and expand. That’s the baking powder working, you want those bubbles. I suggest you don’t stir the batter any more, you’ll want to scoop your batter into the pan when you cook those cakes.
• Once your pan is hot and ready, brush with some butter or neutral flavored oil and dollop in your batter. I like about 1/2 cup of batter per pancake, but make them whatever size you like. Cook on the first side till the edges look slightly dry and bubbles begin to pop on the surface. Then flip and cook on the other site. It’s a pancake you know how to cook ‘em.
• Keep them warm while you cook the remaining cakes and then serve right away. Top with plenty of butter, syrup and/or fruit, whatever you like.

Notes

For the topping you can certainly use fresh fruit if you have it. I used some frozen strawberries, cause that’s what I had, but any frozen or fresh fruit is great. Use what you like. Or, just go with maple syrup. 

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