Justin Sullivan is the Associate Food Producer for Delish, where he cooks up exciting new recipes and videos to stimulate your taste buds and your eyeballs. He has worked in professional kitchens across New York, but his favorite role will always be as matzoh ball sous chef to his grandma. He loves diners and being from New Jersey, and when he’s not in the Delish Test Kitchen, Justin travels the globe as the world’s foremost chicken finger critic.
There is no place on the planet that pumps out consistently hot, delicious and visually stunning pancakes like IHOP. Sure they're seasonal flavors are incredible but we believe that their classic buttermilk, homestyle pancakes are truly some of the world's greatest. We set out to recreate out our own version and we think we got very close thanks in large part to the tips and tricks provided by IHOP’s VP of Culinary, Scott Randolph. We thought we'd pass these crucial nuggets of pancake wisdom onto you so you can keep them in mind as you try recreating these unbelievably fluffy pancakes:
Mix Batter Right Before
"While it’s always nice to prepare ahead in the kitchen, buttermilk pancake batter is best made as close to the cooking time as possible,” Randolph says. The leaveners are activated by buttermilk and will lose their lift over time, leaving you with flat flapjacks.
Use Cold Liquid Ingredients
This tip goes against everything you’ve heard about baking, but keep them frosty to avoid heating up the gluten too early. “Super-cold eggs are key,” Randolph says. 3 Cut out the fat. IHOP doesn’t use butter or oil on its griddles, as that can create a brown, webbed look instead of a uniform golden hue. Use a nonstick surface, or rub a little Crisco on ahead of cooking.
Take Care With Mix-ins.
Wetter ingredients like bananas or Nutella can affect the moisture content, so use less than you think. And “ingredients like chocolate should be added once the pancake is already on the griddle, to help balance the flavor throughout the pancakes,” Randolph says.
Serve Immediately
The longer pancakes sit (even warming in the oven), the more air is released and the tougher they get. If you’re adding sides like bacon, cook the pancakes last.
Used these pancake tips? Let us know how they worked out in the comments below!
- Yields:
- 4 - 6
- Prep Time:
- 5 mins
- Total Time:
- 5 mins
Ingredients
For The Whipped Butter
- 1/2 c.
butter, softened
- 2 tbsp.
whole milk
For The Pancakes
- 2 c.
all-purpose flour
- 3 1/2 tbsp.
granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp.
baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp.
baking soda
- 1 tsp.
kosher salt
- 2 c.
buttermilk
- 2
large eggs
- 3 tbsp.
melted butter
Maple syrup, for serving
Directions
For The Whipped Butter
- Step 1In a medium bowl using a hand mixer or whisk, beat together butter and milk until mixture is fluffy and scoopable, 2 to 3 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside
For The Pancakes
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 200º. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in buttermilk. Add eggs over buttermilk and whisk until combined, then fold in melted butter until just combined. (Clumps are OK!)
- Step 2Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat until hot but not scorching, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a measuring cup, ladle ½ cup batter into the center of the skillet and use the bottom of the measuring cup to smooth batter out into a uniform circle about 5½" wide.
- Step 3Cook 2 to 3 minutes until sides start to lift from the pan and bubbles start to form on top. Flip, then cook an additional 1 to 3 minutes, or until the other side is golden brown. Transfer to a baking sheet and keep warm in oven until ready to serve. Repeat with remaining batter.
- Step 4Top pancakes with a scoop of whipped butter and drizzle with maple syrupe.
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