Mark Bittman's Everyday Pancakes - My Therapist Cooks (2024)

4.99 from 82 ratings

These everyday pancakes by Mark Bittman are the best basic homemade pancakes you'll ever have! I mix the dry ingredients in advance for homemade pancake mix - it's great for travel or meal prepping to save time later. Serve them alone or add some candied bacon or even a ham and cheese quiche to make things really yummy.

It took me awhile to find a "favorite, forever, totally handled" pancake recipe, after maybe a year of trying different recipes for things labeled "regular pancakes" or similar. There are gazillions of recipes for basic pancakes on the internet, but this is the first one that I've been consistently impressed with.

In short, these are truly the best everyday pancakes EVER. There are no random ingredients, the measurements are simple (lots of 2-of-x), and the quantity isn't so massive that you need to have your entire extended family over to enjoy these. The original recipe is by Mark Bittman and is seen on NYT often, but I found it on Tracy's site first.

Recipe Notes

These pancakes are, in a sense, regular, in the best possible way. I'm all about jazzed up things, but a plain waffle? pancake? burger? Some classics are, to me, perfect as they are and I'd much prefer to have a basic version over and over than be constantly reinventing something that's already great.

Case in point: some of my favorite "regular" foods that I make all the time:

• Spaghetti with meat sauce.
• No-knead bread.
• Hard shell ground beef tacos.
• Chicken spaghetti casserole.

Those foods are so nostalgic that, to me, they are best made the same or nearly the same every single time.

If you're starting to cook as a family, this is also a great easy pancake recipe for kids! My kids are very into raw pancake batter which, convo for another day.

These everyday pancakes can be made in under half an hour, no question, which is perfect for weekends with a little more time for breakfast but also not trying to have brunch at 11am here.

Storytime about how much we love these pancakes: When Beck was about 2 she had a full on meltdown because the last one of this particular batch had gotten moldy after we'd told her it was hers for breakfast. ~baby wailing~ "but I want to eat that last pancake I don't want it to be in the trashcannnnnn....!" Nevermind the mold, we'll eat it anyway. (we did not let her eat it)

Ingredients

For this quick batter, you'll need flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, melted and slightly cooled butter (plus unmelted butter for serving!), vanilla, eggs, and milk. Easy!

The ingredients are fairly basic, but I do find that whole milk yields the best results in this recipe.

Step By Step Instructions

Start by combining the dry ingredients in a large bowl and crack the eggs in a small bowl.

Add the melted butter and milk to the eggs and vanilla, then whisk the wet ingredients together.

Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and use a fork or whisk to combine the batter until it's mostly smooth. Add a few more splashes of milk if the batter seems thick; I use about 1 ¾ cup milk most of the time for these.

When you're ready to cook the pancakes, heat a nonstick skillet (or a few!) or a griddle over medium heat with a pat of butter. When the pan is hot, add the batter to make a few pancakes at a time - I use a ¼ cup measuring cup or cookie scoop to make mostly-even pancakes.

Cook the pancakes for 3 minutes or so on each side depending on how hot your pan is. When the first side starts to bubble, they're ready to flip!

After flipping, let the pancakes cook for another minute or two until golden, then remove from the skillet.

The pancakes will take several batches to cook. While you're preparing them, you may need to adjust the heat on your pan up or down to keep the heat on the pan even. I find that as the time passes and my pan gets hotter and hotter I need to lower the heat a bit to let the pancake batter cook all the way through without burning the pancakes.

Serving Suggestions

I make all of the pancakes at once - this batter changes textures somewhat when kept in the fridge overnight.

I love pancakes on their own, but if you're feeling fancy some Cajun glazed bacon in the oven while you make these (start it first!) pancakes + some fruit on the table is a really nice touch.

Leftovers, Freezer Pancakes, and Make-Ahead

• Leftovers: These are lovely kept on the counter in a storage container or Stasher bag for a day or two - after that they do tend to mold rather quickly.
• Freezer Pancakes: These make REALLY nice freezer pancakes. I often make a double batch, cook them all, and freeze leftovers. Then on school mornings I microwave one or two at a time for whatever kid wants pancakes.
• Make-Ahead: The batter for these pancakes CAN be made ahead, but I like the texture best when it's freshly mixed up. To get a little ahead of things, I often measure the dry ingredients in advance and add the eggs/milk/butter/vanilla when I'm going to make the pancakes. I do this for travel as well, my very own homemade pancake mix!

These easy, fluffy NYT pancakes are SO good. They're light on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside from being cooked in butter, and they puff up just a bit but aren't overly bready or cake-like.

I use pats of salted butter because salt + sweet is not to be toyed with, but that's just me.

Here's your weekend love, and the leftovers on a Monday morning are just the icing(syrup) on the cake(made of pancakes).I hope you love these!

This recipe was originally published in May 2018 and has been updated with more clear instructions and a few more tips and tricks.

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