Chocolate Chip Pancakes

The best chocolate chip pancakes recipe ever! Made with buttermilk, these pancakes are soft and fluffy! Add berries for extra flavour!

Are you looking for the BEST chocolate chip pancakes recipe? Look no further, because this one is definitely a winner!

There’s something about weekend mornings that just feels so special. Maybe it’s the extra sleep, or the slower pace, but there’s nothing quite like waking up to a leisurely breakfast.

A tall stack of these chocolate chip pancakes are the perfect way to start your day, and the best breakfast!

Made with buttermilk for a fluffy texture, and loaded with chocolate chips, these amazing pancakes will have you looking forward to breakfast all week long! You will love that these pancakes are light and fluffy with just the right amount of chocolate chips in every bite. It’s a tasty spin on a classic pancake recipe.

Serve these with some fresh fruit and warm syrup, and you’ll be in breakfast heaven!

If you’re looking for an amazing breakfast or brunch idea, these chocolate chip pancakes are definitely worth trying!

Why you will LOVE these Chocolate Chip Pancakes!

• Taste like chocolate chip cookies in pancake form.
• Soft and fluffy homemade pancakes.
• Crisp outside edges!
• So easy to make, you forget about box mixes.
• Perfect Saturday morning treat.
• Made with basic pantry staples.
• Easy to double or triple for a big batch.
• Freeze well, so make them ahead and enjoy on busy weekday mornings!

Tips for the Best Buttermilk Pancakes

• Use real buttermilk for your batter.
• Make sure your eggs and buttermilk are room temperature before starting.
• Carefully spoon and level your flour, and measure them exactly.
• Always start by combing your dry ingredients together to make sure your leavening ingredients are evenly distributed.
• Mix your pancake batter until just combined. Small lumps are OK.
• Fold in your chocolate chips, be careful not to over-mix!
• Let the batter rest for 5 minutes. Resting the batter allows the gluten to relax resulting in pancakes that are more soft and tender. This is when you should start pre-heating your pan.
• Use clarified butter for the best flavour, without burning.
• The perfect pancakes start with a pan at just the right temperature.
• Bubbles will form and burst on the pancakes when they are ready to flip. Don’t flip prior to this.
• Don’t be afraid to use your first set of pancakes as a test batch to gauge the heat of your pan.
• Serve with real maple syrup, not table syrup. As a maple syrup loving Canadian, yes, it makes a huge difference.

How to Make Fluffy Pancakes with Crispy Edges

The key to light and fluffy pancakes is using fresh baking soda and baking powder. They should be no more than 6 months old to ensure you get the best reaction! The other detail is to make sure you don’t over-mix your batter. Over-mixing can result in rubbery or dense pancakes.

To make sure you get those amazing crispy edges, you just need to make sure you pan is just hot enough. If your pan is too cool then your pancakes will be rubbery and weird, too hot and they will burn.

Heat your pan over medium heat, then add your oil or butter, and allow that to get perfectly hot before adding your batter. Then let them fry until you not only see bubbles form on the top, but see those bubbles pop and form holes that stay open on the surface of the pancake. Voila! Perfect crispy edges.

What is the Best Oil to Make Pancakes with?

The best oil to make pancakes with is one that can handle high heats and has a fairly neutral or buttery flavor. There are many different types of oils to cook with, but I would really only recommend using either clarified butter or vegetable oil.

Butter is probably the best type of oil to make pancakes with because it not only has a delicious buttery flavor, but when clarified it also can handle high heats and will give your pancakes a rich flavor. Butter is best for frying with when it is clarified.

you can clarify your own butter. All you would need to do is melt the butter and let the milk solids and whey settle at the bottom of your mixing bowl. Pour off the liquid (the clarified butter) and save, discarding the sediment in your mixing bowl.

Clarified butter is also known as Gee, and you can also purchase it at the grocery store.

Vegetable oil and canola oil are two oils that work well to make pancakes with. They can be used to fry just about anything and they both have a very neutral flavour. Most vegetable oils can be used at high heat which makes them excellent choices for frying.

That said, using oil you will almost definitely miss that buttery flavour to the pancakes. To make up for this though, you can serve butter on top of your pancakes.

What is the Best Pan to use for Making Pancakes?

When it comes to making pancakes, there is a huge debate on which pan will give you the best results. I have seen people use everything from cast iron pans or non stick pans to griddles, but what is truly the best pan for cooking pancakes?

The best pancake pan for making pancakes is either an electric griddle or a cast iron griddle pan. I personally prefer using a cast iron griddle pan because not only does it give you that nice and crispy edge around the outside of the pancake but it also helps develop that golden brown colour we all know and love.

When I use any other pan, the pancakes don’t tend to be consistent as they don’t hold heat the same way as a griddle or cast iron. So while, yes, you can use any non-stick pan and end up with OK pancakes, you will get better results using an electric griddle or a cast iron griddle pan.

With an electric griddle, you can make larger batches which is nice when cooking for a crowd. However, electric griddle pancakes tend to make pancakes without the crisp outside edges that I love about pancakes. I tend to prefer cast iron griddle pans for this reason.

The heat distribution on both an electric griddle or griddle pan is consistent and they make beautiful pancakes every time! A cast iron griddle pan will give you a gorgeous pancake with the buttery-crisp edges and texture everyone loves about pancakes!

While you can use a regular cast iron pan for this job with great results, the higher sides of a cast iron pan make it tough to flip those pancakes. No matter which option you choose, just make sure to use a wide heavy-bottomed pan – if your pan is too thin, your pancakes will burn.

Bottom line – a cast iron griddle pan is your best bet and a great investment!

Can You Make Buttermilk Pancakes Ahead of Time?

You can make the batter in advance and store it up to 2 days in the fridge. Just give it a mix before using.

That said, your leavening ingredients won’t work as hard, so your pancakes may not be as light and fluffy.

Pancakes really are best when the batter is used within 5-30 minutes. If you do need to make pancakes ahead of time, you will get better results by frying them and storing the actual pancakes.

How to Freeze Pancakes

These pancakes are best eaten immediately after being prepared. However, you can store them in the refrigerator or freezer for later use.

To store, let the cooked pancakes cool completely then wrap each pancake tightly in plastic wrap followed by foil or place in freezer bags.

Place in the refrigerator for up to three days or freeze up to three months.

How to Reheat Pancakes from Frozen

When you are ready to eat, simply remove the wrapping and pop them in the microwave for 45-60 seconds or until warm. To help prevent overly soggy pancakes, place them on a paper towel on a plate when microwaving.

You can also reheat them from frozen right in your toaster – this is my favourite method! I find microwaving can make them soggy but the toaster makes them taste almost as good as fresh from the pan.

You can also reheat them in your frying pan over medium-low heat, turning frequently until heated through.

About the Equipment Needed to Make Pancakes

2 Mixing Bowls – Use a medium bowl to mix together the dry ingredients, and a large bowl to combine the batter.

Whisk – Use a hand whisk to combine the batter, you don’t need an electric mixer for this job.

Frying Pan or Griddle – Read my notes above.

About the Ingredients for Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Buttermilk

Flour – Spoon and level the flour when measuring it, otherwise you’ll wind up with pancakes.

Baking powder & soda – Leavens the pancakes, make sure they are still active so your pancakes rises perfectly.

Salt – Helps to balance all the flavours and make em shine.

Sugar – Just plain white granulated sugar.

Buttermilk – Make sure your buttermilk is room temperature before starting. If you don’t have any buttermilk on hand make it yourself by adding a tbsp of lemon juice to regular milk. While buttermilk substitutes might do the job, I’d recommend using real buttermilk if possible though.

Eggs – Make sure you have room temperature eggs to start with.

Butter – It is best to use unsalted butter, but if you only have salted on hand, simply halve the additional salt.

Vanilla – Real vanilla extract is best but feel free to use artificial if that is what you have on hand.

Chocolate chips – Dark chocolate chips are rich and work so well with the sweetness of maple syrup. You can use semisweet chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips instead if desired. Feel free to measure these with your heart.

Looking for More Tasty Breakfast Recipes?

Check out some of my favourite recipes for a weekend breakfast or brunch!

Raspberry Sweet Rolls – soft, fluffy and sweet yeast rolls filled with raspberries and smothered with cream cheese frosting.

Feed a crowd at the breakfast table with these Berry Sheet Pan Pancakes! These are quick and easy fluffy pancakes bursting with fresh berries!

These Puff Pastry Raspberry Danishes are an easy to make breakfast pastry featuring puff pastry, fresh raspberries and a luscious ricotta filling.

How to Make Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Pancakes

Yield: 12 pancakes | Prep time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 ¼ cups buttermilk (at room temperature)
• 2 large eggs (at room temperature)
• 3 tbsp melted butter
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions:

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda, salt and sugar.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract until well combined.

Pour the buttermilk mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and fold together until just combined. Some lumps are ok!

Fold through the chocolate chips.

Place a frying pan over medium-high heat and let it warm up.

Once you have a hot pan or hot griddle, add a little vegetable oil or butter and let that heat up.

Add about ¼ cup of the pancake mixture to the pan then turn down the heat to medium. Cook pancakes for 2-3 minutes or until golden on the bottom and the bubbles start to pop, then flip and fry for another 2-3 minutes or until cooked through.

Repeat with the remaining batter. You can cook multiple pancakes in one pan if large enough.

Stack and serve with your favourite toppings.

I went for fresh raspberries, blueberries, extra chocolate chips and maple syrup.

These delicious chocolate chip pancakes make the perfect breakfast, dessert, special occasion brunch, or anytime really. They’re fluffy and full of buttery flavor; they make the best chocolate chip pancakes I’ve ever had! Trust me, you will never use a pancake mix again.

This chocolate chip pancake recipe is simple too- all you need is a whisk, bowl and spoon to mix everything together.

If you want to amp up your pancake game even more, try adding some nuts like walnuts. Just remember not to overwork the batter because that will result in tough/rubbery pancakes instead of light and crispy ones.

Now go out there and whip up these fluffy chocolate chip pancakes, and let me know what you think!