Banana Pancakes
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Start your morning off right with fluffy banana pancakes, made with simple ingredients and packed with sweet banana flavor. Whether you’re craving a quick weekday breakfast or something special for a weekend brunch, these pancakes are the perfect way to kick off your day.
Photo by Alexandra Grablewski (Chronicle Books, 2018)
Fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and delicately flavored with bananas and vanilla—these are phenomenal banana pancakes. The recipe, believe it or not, is adapted from a Williams Sonoma children’s cookbook, which only proves how easy they are to make. I love them with a simple drizzle of maple syrup, but if you want to dress them up and hint at what’s inside, top them with fresh sliced bananas.
This banana pancake recipe is great year-round, but you can switch it up with seasonal variations—try pumpkin pancakes in the fall or blueberry pancakes in the summer. For a classic option, my basic pancake recipe is always a winner!
“SO good! I’m constantly making batches of these. The family devours them! Sometimes I add a handful of chocolate chips, but they’re lovely as is. Thanks Jenn!”
What You’ll Need To Make Banana Pancakes
- All-purpose flour: The foundation of the pancakes. For best results, scoop it into your measuring cup with a spoon and level it off with a knife.
- Sugar: Just enough to lightly sweeten the pancakes.
- Baking powder: Helps the pancakes rise so they turn out soft and fluffy.
- Salt: Balances the sweetness and brings out all the flavors.
- Banana: Adds natural sweetness, moisture, and that classic banana flavor. Use a very ripe banana–the riper, the better.
- Eggs: Hold everything together and give the batter some richness.
- Milk: Adds moisture and helps create a smooth batter.
- Vanilla extract: Adds a little warmth and flavor in the background.
- Melted Butter: Brings richness and moisture to the batter; also used for greasing the pan and adding flavor while the pancakes cook.
- Vegetable Oil: Used along with butter to cook the pancakes to a golden-brown without burning.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Make sure to whisk thoroughly to break up any lumps and evenly distribute the baking powder.
Step 2: Mash the banana and mix the wet ingredients. In a medium bowl, mash the banana until nearly smooth. Add the eggs, whisk with a fork, and stir in the milk and vanilla.
Step 3: Combine everything. Pour the banana mixture and melted butter into the dry ingredients and fold with a rubber spatula. Folding gently (instead of stirring vigorously) prevents overworking the batter, which can make the pancakes dense or tough. The batter will be thick and a bit lumpy—that’s totally normal.
Step 4: Cook the pancakes. Heat a little vegetable oil and butter in a nonstick pan or on a griddle over medium heat. (Using both oil and butter is kind of the best of both worlds: oil prevents burning, while butter adds flavor.) Spoon the batter onto the surface and cook until bubbles form on top and the bottom is golden and crisp.
Step 5: Flip and finish. Flip the pancakes and cook a few minutes more, until cooked through. (Resist the urge to press down on the pancakes—this squeezes out air and makes them less fluffy.)
Step 6: Serve with toppings. Serve warm with maple syrup and sliced bananas. You can also add chopped nuts or a dusting of cinnamon for extra flavor. Leftover pancakes can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Video Tutorial
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Banana Pancakes
Ingredients
For Pancakes
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 small over-ripe banana, peeled (the browner, the better)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For Cooking
- 1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
For Serving
- Maple syrup
- Sliced bananas
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- In a small bowl, mash the banana with a fork until almost smooth. Whisk in the eggs, then add the milk and vanilla and whisk until well blended. Pour the banana mixture and the melted butter into the flour mixture. Fold the batter gently with a rubber spatula until just blended; do not over-mix. The batter will be thick and lumpy.
- Set a griddle or non-stick pan over medium heat until hot. Put a pad of butter and one tablespoon vegetable oil onto the griddle, and swirl it around. Drop the batter by ¼-cupfuls onto the griddle, spacing the pancakes about 2 inches apart. Cook until a few holes form on top of each pancake and the underside is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook until the bottom is golden brown and the top is puffed, 1 to 2 minutes more. Using the spatula, transfer the pancakes to a serving plate.
- Wipe the griddle clean with paper towels, add more butter and oil, and repeat with the remaining batter. Serve the pancakes while still hot with maple syrup and sliced bananas, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Banana pancake
This recipe is delicious. I didn’t change a thing. The key is to use a spatula and fold the mixture together leaving lumps.
Very tender. I see many people beating the batter until it’s smooth which results in a flat, tough pancake.
Too often, people change the ingredients and then complain it was not good, lol.
Congratulations!
Outstanding! My bananas were really, really overripe, but you said the browner the better! And, of course, you were right. I had two bananas and about 1/2 of one was beyond redemption, so I had a little extra banana than called for. I added blueberries to half and chocolate chips to the other half. Within the first bite the family pronounced them the best. Needless to say I will be saving and using this often. Thanks for another winner!
Hi,
Can I make the batter the night before and use in the morning? Thanks
Hi Danielle, The pancakes will be much fluffier if you cook them right after preparing the batter, but it can be made in advance and refrigerated if necessary. Hope that helps!
These are fantastic and a hit with my family! I usually serve them with sliced bananas and fresh blueberries and strawberries, and a dollop of whipped Chantilly cream. Sometimes if I’m feeling extra decadent I’ll throw in some chocolate chips into the mix. Such a delicious dessert!
Wow! Absolutely fantastic recipe and they turned out perfect even for me, a disaster of a chef; my kids and I are in love! I’m going to be making these over and over again.
I truly loved this recipe. These are the best pancakes that I have ever made and eaten. Thanks for sharing.
Made these this morning and they were delicious. I used buttermilk and they were extra fluffy. I topped with sliced bananas and powdered sugar and just a touch of syrup.
Not very banana…an excellent pancake with just a mild banana flavour. I prefer to have banana as the main wet ingredient.
This didn’t work for me. Batter kept coming out way too thick, almost like a pizza dough.
Sorry you had a problem with the batter! Did you use the spoon and level method to measure the flour? Even a few extra ounces can make a big difference. This article/video explains it nicely.
I recently discovered I have a gluten allergy. I couldn’t find a GF banana pancake recipe that I wanted to try, but this one looked perfect, so I just swapped out the all-purpose flour for King Arthur Gluten Free blend and they turned out PERFECTLY. My batter was a little thick, so I put a lid on during some of the cooking to ensure they were cooked in the middle. But flavor and texture were phenomenal.
Question could I substitute gluten free baking flour? Thanks!
Sure, Jennifer, that should be fine. Please LMK how they come out!
It came out perfect for me and I followed the instructions as instructed. Maybe your measurements were off for the milk. I’m sorry to hear. Hope you try it again because my girls did it and it worked out.
Hello, I love all your recipes and they are definitely my go to’s when searching for something new. I’m wondering though how to get out the pockets of flour mixture in batters. I find that when I’m folding and combining to just mixed I get a lot of pockets of flour. Is there a trick to preventing this?
Hi Kim, so glad you like the recipes! When mixing batters that caution you not to overmix, there’s a delicate balance between getting out those pockets of flour and not overmixing. If you find that you still have pockets of flour in your batter, it means you may be a little too conservative with the mixing and should just mix a little bit more. Also, if a recipe (like this one) calls for a whisk, that can help to break up those little pockets. Hope that helps!
These are the best banana pancakes!
I used whole wheat flour because I didn’t have regular flour and they came out perfect and delicious! Definitely will make them again. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.