Video How to make buttermilk out of milk and lemon juice

Ditch the box mix and never look back with the BEST Buttermilk Pancakes recipe! They’re big and fluffy and the taste just can’t be beat!

Do you love breakfast? Try my Blueberry Coffee Cake, Classic French Toast, or Strawberry Crepes!

Reading: how to make buttermilk out of milk and lemon juice

A stack of buttermilk pancakes with a big bite taken out by a fork.

Table of Contents

Why these are the BEST Pancakes:

Pantry Ingredients – You probably already have everything you need, and you can easily make your own buttermilk if you don’t have it on hand.
Quick to Make – Only 5 minutes to prep!
Delicious – No one can resist a stack of light, buttery, and fluffy buttermilk pancakes! Especially with our homemade syrup on top!

How to make Buttermilk Pancakes:

Combine dry ingredients. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl.

Add wet ingredients. Add buttermilk, eggs and melted butter and mix just until wet and dry ingredients are incorporated. You don’t want to over-mix the batter.

Buttermilk, eggs and melted butter added to a mixing bowl with dry pancake ingredients.

Add milk, a little at a time until batter is still thick, but pourable.

Buttermilk pancake batter in a mixing bowl with a whisk.

Cook pancakes. Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop batter and pour on hot griddle. Cook pancakes until bubbles appear on the surface, then flip once.

Two process photos of pancake batter being poured on a hot skillet, and bubbles forming on the pancake showing it

Serve with the BEST homemade syrup!

Tips for Perfect Pancakes:

Use buttermilk. Buttermilk is a key ingredient in these pancakes and I would strongly urge you to buy the real deal! It’s thicker, creamier, inexpensive, and will taste so much better. Be sure to shake the container before measuring the buttermilk and adding it to the batter.
- If you can’t get buttermilk, substitute homemade buttermilk.
Don’t over-mix the batter. Resist the urge to mix the pancake batter until it’s completely smooth. It’s okay if it’s slightly lumpy with streaks of flour. If you mix the batter too much it causes the gluten to develop in the flour and your pancakes will be chewier instead of fluffy.
Don’t pat down the pancakes. Another urge you may need to resist is using your flipping spatula to pat down on the pancakes while they cook. Don’t do it, or you’re “squishing” the air pockets that are helping make the pancakes light and fluffy.
Don’t flip more than once. Wait until you see small bubbles rise to the surface of your pancakes, and then it’s ready to flip. Just flip it ONCE and cook it on the other side until it’s done. It won’t take long.

A large stack of buttermilk pancakes with syrup being poured over the top.

Storage and Freezing Instructions:

To Store: Keep leftover pancakes in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Reheat for a few seconds in the microwave or in the toaster oven.

To Freeze: After cooking homemade buttermilk pancakes, lay them in a single layer on a large baking tray and place them in the freezer. Allow them to harden for about 30 minutes, then stack them in a freezer safe container or bag and freeze for up to 3 months. The “flash freeze” will help keep them from sticking to each other.