This extra buttery pancake recipe has been a staple in my house for several years now. Pancake breakfast is a Saturday morning tradition for us with the kids - it’s one of the few meals that everyone in the house loves without question!

I have no idea where this recipe originally came from, it’s been scribbled down on a piece of binder paper in my kitchen drawer for years. I have finally taken the time to properly document it so I can share it with friends and family.

What exactly makes these pancakes extra Special or buttery?

The thing that makes this pancake recipe unique is the mix of both melted butter and oil in the batter. When the melted butter hits the cold milk in the bowl it turns into little butter crystals. These intentionally stay “clumpy” in the batter until it’s poured on to the hot frying pan. Then the butter crystals melt while they’re grilling on the pan and the end result is very buttery pancakes with a perfect buttered glazed finish.

Doubling The Recipe

I often double this recipe to make an extra large batch to save some pancakes for later in the week. You can literally double each ingredient and it comes out great. If you make this recipe as is it yields between 6 - 8 pancakes with an average diameter of 7 inches.

These pancakes hold up well in the refrigerator for up to four days and reheat well in the microwave. This is a great option for meal prepping breakfast for the week.

Pancake Syrups and Toppings

Because these pancakes have a buttery vanilla taste they pair well with all kinds of syrup flavors and toppings. In my house we love maple syrup with fresh cut strawberries. If I have blueberries I’ll throw those on top too.

You can also probably throw small cut pieces of fruit into the batter. I’ve never tried this because my picky eater toddler doesn’t like fruit chunks in her food. But I bet it tastes great!

Pancake Batter Ingredients List:

1 Cup Flour
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Cold Whole Milk
2 Tablespoons Melted Butter
1 Egg
1 Tablespoon Cooking Oil (I use avocado or olive oil)
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

*** This recipe makes 6 - 8 pancakes with an average diameter of 7 inches.

Pancake Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Mix All the Dry Ingredients

In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Stir until all the dry ingredients are throughly and evenly mixed.

Step 2: Start Melting the Butter

As I mentioned above in the introduction, these pancakes are made with a combination of both melted butter and oil. When this warm melted butter gets mixed in with the cold milk, it forms into little butter crystals which will help us achieve our butter glaze when we make the pancakes on the griddle. It sounds complicated but I promise it’s super easy!

Take the 2 Tablespoons of butter and put it into a saucepan on low heat. Make sure to maintain a low heat while it’s melting so it doesn’t burn. Once it’s completely melted take it off the heat immediately.

Step 3: Start Mixing the Wet Ingredients

Pour the cold milk into a bowl separate from the dry ingredients bowl.

Take the melted butter you put aside and slowly pour it into the milk. You’ll see an instant reaction where the butter hardens into a thin top layer circle. Take a whisk or spoon and break up the butter into small tiny crystals and stir to mix it up.

Next add the oil to the milk and butter bowl and mix again.

Step 4: Add the Egg

When it comes time to add the egg, this is how I do it. I crack the egg in a separate bowl and beat it with a fork or whisk to break up the yolk and mix the whites. Then I add it to the bowl with the milk, butter and oil.

Step 5: Add the Vanilla

Once you’ve got all the wet ingredients together, the final liquid ingredient to add to the bowl is 2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Extract. Sometime I go a little crazy and add a little more Vanilla for extra flavor but that’s up to you.

Mix all the wet ingredients together and don’t worry about the chunky butter crystals.

Step 6: Mix the Wet and Dry Ingredients to Build Your Batter

They key to achieving a smooth batter is by slowly mixing the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients, all the while consistently stirring.

Take your 1 Cup measurer and scoop up some wet ingredients and pour it into the bowl of dry ingredients. Mix with a whisk or spoon until all the liquid is absorbed. Keep doing this process until all the liquid ingredients have been added into the dry ingredients bowl. You can also reverse it and add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients using the same process.

By doing it in phases you have time in between to mix up the ingredients throughly. By the end you should have a semi-thick pancake batter with little butter crystals evenly distributed through the batter.

Step 7: Time to Grill the Pancakes!

Put your frying pan on the stovetop and grease the pan with butter. Put the heat on medium and let the pan warm up for a few minutes.

For each pancake I pour about half a cup of batter into the frying pan. After a few minutes you’ll start to see small bubbles forming. Once the majority of the pancake surface is covered in bubbles it’s time to flip it to the other side. Scroll up to see a photo example.

Once both sides of the pancakes have cooked to a golden brown color then remove it from the heat. Before I add another half cup of batter into the pan, I grease it up with more butter in between each pancake to prevent the batter from sticking to the pan.

Repeat all these steps until you’ve cooked up all your pancake batter. And the final step is to serve and enjoy!

Full disclaimer before you begin cooking, these are not the extra fluffy and thick pancakes that some prefer. The end result pancake from this recipe is smaller and thinner. But I promise they are delicious!