A fool-proof recipe for fluffy Sourdough Pancakes using sourdough starter or sourdough discard that can be made in just 30 minutes (or fermented overnight). Vegan-adaptable.
Thousands of you have been on the sourdough journey with us for the past few years, making your own starter and your own sourdough bread. It’s so exciting, isn’t it?
You’ve been asking for more ways to use up your sourdough starter discard and I thought I share one of the easiest ways I know. Make sourdough pancakes! After testing many variations, we landed on the perfect recipe. The flavor and texture are truly unparalleled!
But what I love BEST about this Sourdough Pancake Recipe is that the overnight rising is optional and the pancakes can be whipped up pretty quickly if need be! It’s nice if you are more of a spontaneous cook like myself. (I do have notes in the recipe card if you would prefer to let this rise overnight in the refrigerator to ferment the pancake batter.)
Sourdough Pancakes Video
Sourdough pancake ingredients:
- Sourdough starter (or sourdough discard) Use hungry starter or fed starter.
- Flour– feel free to experiment here! All-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, Spelt, Einkorn, Bread Flour, etc.
- Milk: use you milk of choice- regular milk, plant-based milk or even buttermilk.
- Eggs- or sub a flax egg for a vegan option!
- Melted butter or Oil (olive oil, avocado, melted coconut oil)
- Maple syrup– for sweetness.
- Vanilla Extract – use real for the best flavor!
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Salt
How to make Sourdough Pancakes
The recipe is so quick and easy!
Step 1. Mix the wet ingredients together in a large bowl, then whisk in the dry ingredients. Let stand 15 minutes (or make an overnight sponge -see recipe notes).
Step 2. Heat a cast iron skillet ( or use a hot griddle) over medium-low heat until very very hot. Add oil or a combo of oil and butter to the skillet and swirl.
Step 3. Ladle in a 1/2 cup batter (to make a 6-inch pancake). Flip when golden and small bubbles appear at the surface. Cook until middle puffs in the center, lowering heat if necessary.
Step 4. Keep the sourdough discard pancakes in a warm oven or cover with foil. Repeat with the remaining pancakes.
Sourdough Pancakes Recipe Tips
- If letting the pancake batter sit overnight in the fridge, wait to add the baking soda and baking powder until right before cooking.
- Wholegrain flours are typically “thirstier” than all-white AP flour, so feel free to add a little more milk if needed to loosen the pancake batter.
Optional Banana Pecan Topping
These maple-glazed bananas and pecans are one of my favorite pancake toppings- a tasty option if you’re keen. Fresh berries are always nice too.
To make the Banana Pecan topping, add butter to the same skillet. Add pecans and a pinch of salt. Saute for 3-4 minutes over medium heat until toasted. Move to one side. Add the bananas. Sear each side of the banana 2-3 minutes, or until golden.
Once the bananas are golden brown, pour the maple syrup over the bananas and pecans, give a stir, turn the heat off and remove the pan from the burner.
Serve the pancakes and top with a spoonful of the Banana Pecan Topping. To me, they taste heavenly!
Serving Suggestions and Storage
The sourdough pancakes can also be served very simply with maple syrup and a pat of butter. Add a sprinkling of cinnamon or nutmeg if you like. Or serve with fresh berries and vanilla whipped cream.
Leftover sourdough pancakes can be frigerated for up to 4 days and reheated in a toaster oven, or place them in the freezer for later.
Variations
Feel free to fold in fresh blueberries or chocolate chips to the sourdough pancake batter, right before cooking the pancakes.
More sourdough discard Recipes!
*See all our best sourdough recipes here!
Enjoy the sourdough pancakes and keep in mind, pancakes are for any time of the week, day or night. No rules! We just had them for dinner last night! So good!
Hope you are having a good week, staying well & staying grounded.
xoxo
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Easy Sourdough Pancake Recipe
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 pancakes
- Category: breakfast, sourdough,
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A quick and easy recipe for fluffy Sourdough Pancakes using sourdough starter or discard that can be made in just 30 minutes (or ferment overnight).
Ingredients
- 2/3 cups sourdough starter (bubbly or hungry, stirred down) 140 grams (room temp is easiest to work with here).
- 2/3 cup milk (or plant-based milk) 140 grams, add more to the desired consistency
- 1 large egg, beaten ( or sub a flax egg, see notes)
- 1 tablespoon oil or melted butter (10 grams)
- 1–2 tablespoons maple syrup (10–20 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (3 grams)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (120 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (4 grams)
- Butter or oil for skillet or griddle
- Maple syrup for drizzling
Banana Pecan Topping (optional)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup pecans
- pinch salt
- 1 firm banana, sliced
- 2–3 tablespoons maple syrup
Instructions
- Whisk wet ingredients together in a medium bowl.
- Mix dry ingredients together in a small bowl. (* see notes if fermenting overnight)
- Gradually add flour mixture to wet mixture, whisking until just combined. If the batter feels thick (wholegrain flours are “thirstier” than white flour), add a little more milk to thin to the desired consistency. (It should pour slowly out of the bowl. ) Let sit 15 minutes.
- Heat a dry skillet over medium-low heat until very very hot. Add oil or a combo of oil and butter to the skillet and swirl. Ladle in a 1/2 cup batter (to make a 6-inch pancake). Flip when golden and small bubbles appear at the surface. Cook until middle puffs in the center, lowering heat if necessary.
- Keep in a warm oven or cover with foil. Repeat with the remaining 5 pancakes.
Maple Banana Pecan Topping
- Add butter to the same skillet. Add pecans and a pinch of salt. Saute for 3-4 minutes over medium heat until toasted. Move to one side. Add the bananas. Sear each side of the banana 2-3 minutes, or until golden.
- Once the bananas are golden, pour the maple syrup over the bananas and pecans, give a stir, turn the heat off and remove the pan from the burner.
- Serve the pancakes and top with the Maple Glazed Bananas and Pecans.
Notes
Overnight: If you want to let the batter ferment overnight, simply leave out the baking soda and baking powder, and then add this to the batter in the morning right before cooking. I like to sprinkle them through a fine mesh strainer, (to prevent any clumps) over the batter, then whisk in. The batter will be light and airy.
Consistency: Depending on the flour you use, the batter can get overly thick. Feel free to loosen with more milk. If pancakes seem too thin, feel free to add a few tablespoons more flour. The batter should be thick-ish but able to pour out of the bowl slowly. It’s a pretty forgiving recipe.
Flax Egg: Mix 1 tablespoon ground flax seed with 3 tablespoons water.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 x 6-inch pancakes – without any toppings
- Calories: 418
- Sugar: 8.6 g
- Sodium: 657.2 mg
- Fat: 17.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 58.5 g
- Fiber: 7.2 g
- Protein: 11.2 g
- Cholesterol: 62 mg
These are very good sourdough pancakes!
So happy to hear this!
Puffed up nicely! I used a discard that’s fairly active. Single recipe nice for four adults, but will double the recipe next time so can freeze leftovers IF there are any! I’d like to try honey in lieu of maple syrup.
Glad you gave them a try! Honey does work.
I’ve made these several times and they are wonderful! Great with some mashed banana mixed in the batter and with blueberries added to the cakes once they’re poured. They’d be just fine plain I’m sure, but I like to enhance things. This was the first recipe I tried here, and it is so good I decided to try more and I’m certainly glad I did. Everything I have made from this site has been very good. Thank you again!
Thanks so much for writing in a review Jim! Thrilled to hear you are enjoying the site. And banana pancakes…yum!!
Unreal!! My go to pancake recipe from now on. I did need to add a smidge more milk and watch closely while they cooked to prevent burning. Will be on our weekend rotation from now on.
Awesome!
Amazing. OMG
Good to hear Mary. 🙂
So yummy these pancakes, will definitely be making again
Glad you liked these Sasha!
I’m obsessed with these pancakes. Definitely the. best. ever.
Best pancakes ever (sorry Mom).
Haha…Awesome, we won’t tell mom.😉
Absolutely THE BEST sourdough pancakes I’ve ever made! I used 1/2 AP and 1/2 bread flour, but I made one mistake; two eggs. Didn’t seem to be a problem, very light and fluffy. Thank you for publishing the recipe!!!
Thanks Sally!
wow, can’t wait to gain my sourdough skills for options like this one!
It uses up the discard from the starter. We have lots of fun and easy recipes with sourdough discard!
Hi. This sounds easy and delicious. One question. Normally I have to feed my sourdough starter and let it get bubbly over a few hours. If I want to make pancakes for breakfast how might I have the starter ready in the morning? ( keep my starter refrigerated and bake bread once a week )
Hi Yana, we give you a few options in the recipe card. It is very versatile- use hungry starter or fed starter or mix the night before. Check out the recipe card, at the bottom of the post for the details :).
Delicious. Have made them with whole wheat and blueberries mostly, a hit every time. The sourdough and the wheat together give them a hearty flavor. Anyone know if you can save some batter for a day or two in the fridge?
I have saved it for a day, and it was totally fine. 🙂
These pancakes were awesome! I used buttermilk. I also made the pecan banana syrup. Decadent!
Thanks Jennifer- happy you enjoyed these!
I have made these a couple of times. I like how simple they are to make. My kids love pancakes and I need to use my sourdough discard so this is a nice recipe to have on hand. I double the recipe and save a few extra pancakes for later. I also prefer 2 tablespoons of the maple syrup. 4 tablespoons made mine taste a little too sweet. Thanks for this recipe!!
Thanks Becky!
I made these today for my mom and sister. We loved them! So so good even though I didn’t see the “let sit for 15 minutes” part and I added another egg. Thank you so much for sharing! Will definitely be making these again – yum! 🥞💛
Great K.D. glad it worked out!
I don’t even typically like pancakes but these are now on my weekend rotation. They are SO GOOD.
Great to hear! Sourdough really adds flavor here!
Vegan adaption works really well. I made two side-by-side batches, one with chicken egg and one with flax egg. (1 flax egg equals 1Tsp ground flax plus 3Tsp water). We all agreed the vegan flax-egg version was MUCH BETTER! Enjoy!
Oh my goodness Claire! Great to hear. I will add this to the recipe notes. Thanks so much!
How long does discarded starter last in fridge?
I like to use it within a week.
Sourdough starter keeps for weeks and weeks in the fridge
Perfection! Simple recipe and great way to use up extra starter. Delicious, fluffy cakes.
Yay Kerry- Glad you are enjoying!