The Best-Ever fluffy banana pancakes

The Best-Ever Fluffy Banana Pancakes! Don’t know what to do with over-ripe brown spotted bananas sitting on your countertop? WAIT – don’t throw them away…just try these best-ever fluffy banana pancakes from scratch with this easy-to-follow step-by-step guide with useful info + tips. Thanks to the mashed banana and the secret ingredient (buttermilk) mixed into the batter, you can make these best-ever fluffy banana pancakes, in no time.

Buttermilk: the Secret Ingredient

Well! Now I am going to share with you my ‘secret ingredient’. If you’re serious about making super fluffy pancakes, you need to know it.

Buttermilk is the secret ingredient that helps you to make super fluffy banana pancakes. It has a thicker texture than plain milk, with a subtle tang that creates incredibly moist, light, and airy pancakes.

Try it once to find out, you might not make pancakes with regular milk anymore once you see the difference. Some of you right now might be wondering what buttermilk is and where to buy it.

What Is Buttermilk?

Well, now I have a confession to make; I didn’t know anything about buttermilk until I started making pancakes from scratch.

Many American pancake recipes call for buttermilk. so I was very inquisitive to know about it and then started to search through Google pages.

Buttermilk is a somewhat complicated term. To my knowledge, there are four types of buttermilk; traditional, cultured, powdered, and acidified.

Historically, it is the liquid remaining after butter is churned which is known as traditional buttermilk, a thin and slightly tart liquid.

But nowadays, the term buttermilk refers to soured milk known as cultured buttermilk that is thicker and has a characteristically sour taste.

The dried buttermilk version, just like powdered milk, is known as buttermilk powder. The one known as acidified buttermilk or buttermilk substitute is the one we use in this recipe.

I have used buttermilk powder in some of the recipes, but, in most of the recipes, I usually use a buttermilk substitute (acidified buttermilk).

how to make a buttermilk substitute?

The easiest and most convenient buttermilk substitute is to use regular milk and mix it with a little bit of acid. Yes, you just need 2 ingredients, milk, and lemon juice. You will get homemade buttermilk ready to use in a few minutes. You can also use lime juice or white vinegar.

With Cold Milk
Place lemon juice or vinegar in a bowl or measuring cup. Add cold milk and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes until the milk starts to curdle.

Quick Version with Warm Milk
Warm the milk in the microwave, in a small pot over low heat until milk is just warm. DO NOT boil. Place lemon juice or vinegar in a bowl or measuring cup. Add warm milk, it will curdle quickly.

useful tips

preparation

• Leave the eggs out on the counter for a half hour or place them in warm water (not hot) for about 5 minutes.
• Melt the butter in the microwave or directly on heat, and let it slightly cool.
• Use well-ripened or over-ripen bananas; they are easy to mash and give nice flavor and sweetness to your pancakes.
• Mashed bananas will likely become brown and discolored very quickly, so mash them just before using them.
• Why you should squeeze lemon in your mashed banana? Lemon juice prevents fruit from oxidizing and turning brown, then as a bonus adds extra flavor. You can also use lime juice or vinegar.

making Batter

• DO NOT over-mix. One of the secrets to making fluffy soft pancakes is in the mixing.
• You want lumps in your batter, seriously, so don’t mix away all the lumps, you will end up with flat rubbery pancakes instead of soft fluffy pancakes.
• You can prevent over-mixing by using two bowls to mix dry and wet ingredients separately.
• Pour the wet mixture over the dry (flour) mixture and gently mix with a rubber spatula or wire whisk, just until incorporated.
• Do not keep the batter idle for a long time after mixing.
• Add chopped walnut or your choice of nuts for a nutty flavor.

cooking the pancakes

• Pan heat is very important for making fluffy pancakes, so make sure to adjust the heat as needed.
• You can do a simple test to get the right heat for cooking your pancakes-Sprinkle a few drops of water on the hot surface of the pan or griddle. If the water bounces before evaporating, the pan or griddle is at the right temperature. If the drops sizzle away immediately, it’s too hot. When the drops just sit on the surface, it’s not hot enough.
• Grease the pan or griddle with oil if desired. I use coconut oil, you can use your choice of flavorless oil, butter, or margarine if desired.
• If you want to make pancakes with smooth surfaces without spots, wipe off all the oil with a folded sheet of paper towel.
• However, if you want to make pancakes with crispy edges, grease the pan generously with oil.

best-ever Fluffy Banana pancakes
(step-by-step Recipe)

Preparation time 15 mins
Cooking time 15 mins
Total time 30 mins
Yield about 6 pancakes (12cm)

ingredients

For Making Buttermilk
120ml milk
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

For Making Pancakes
120g all-purpose flour or plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 tablespoon sugar, adjust as needed
1 large ripe banana (about 150g flesh of banana)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Oil for greasing (I use coconut oil)
Sliced bananas, honey, and whipped cream for serving

Ingredient Substitution

Lemon juice (lime juice or vinegar)
All-purpose flour (plain flour)
Butter (margarine or flavorless oil)
Coconut oil (flavorless oil, butter, or margarine)

Instructions

Here are the ingredients for making a buttermilk substitute

Place lemon juice in a bowl or measuring cup. Add cold milk and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes until the milk starts to curdle.

The milk should be nicely curdled as you can see in the photo below.

Here are the ingredients for making banana pancakes

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. OR place them in a large bowl and mix them together.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg with sugar until a pale yellow with a wire whisk or hand-held electric mixer, and then stir in melted butter.

In a small bowl, mash the banana with a fork and mix in the lemon juice. OR blend only for a few seconds with lemon juice.

Whisk the mashed banana into the egg mixture.

Add buttermilk and mix gently.

Now, your dry & wet ingredients are ready.

Pour the wet mixture over the dry (flour) mixture.

Gently mix with a rubber spatula or wire whisk, just until incorporated. DO NOT over-mix.

Heat a non-stick pan or an electric griddle over medium and grease lightly with oil.

Drop the batter into your desired size onto the pan or griddle, spacing them about 4 to 5cm apart.

Cook until a few holes form on top of each pancake and dry around the edges for about 2 minutes. The underside of the pancake should be golden brown.

Carefully slide the spatula under each pancake and turn it over quickly. Cook until the bottom of the pancake is golden browned and the top is puffed.

Using the spatula, transfer the pancakes to a serving plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.

I prefer to keep pancakes on a wire rack for a few seconds before transfer to the serving plate. It is up to you.

Here comes the FUN part
SERVE & ENJOY!

Serve the pancakes while still hot with maple syrup/honey/toffee sauce, whipped cream, and sliced bananas. They are delicious even just plain.

Best-Ever fluffy banana pancakes
Printable recipe

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