I have been making The Best Soft and Thin Pancakes for years! Even before we had any children. It is the perfect pancake in my, (and my family’s), opinion. I love pancakes, but I do not love the traditional, thick, pancakes that seem to sit in your stomach like a stone. These pancakes are halfway between a crêpe and a pancake. Since they are thinner, the edges crisp up slightly giving them an amazing flavour and texture! My kids ask for them for breakfast all the time!

An overhead look of The Best Soft and Thin Pancakes on a white floral plate with blueberries, strawberries and maple syrup

Where Soft and Thin Pancakes Originated

This recipe originated from when my husband and I, early on in our marriage, used to always have Wednesday mornings off of work together. We decided we wanted to make and enjoy a nice breakfast together, so we decided to make pancakes.

I think we were not fully satisfied with the recipe we had so we decided to experiment. Every Wednesday we would tweak the recipe, to suit our personal preferences. Finally, we landed on this recipe! We originally used to always use sliced bananas in it The banana slices when they touched the hot buttered pan would caramelize slightly and the sides of the pancake would crisp ever so slightly in the butter as well. Oh my! So delicious! Since, by the time the recipe was perfected, we had made so many pancakes, we started to call it Pancake Wednesdays!

The Current Version of Soft and Thin Pancakes

Since having children when have changed the original sliced bananas to mashed bananas. We often now substitute the mashed bananas with other purées, or add other purées along with the bananas.

Pancakes are super forgiving to make, especially this recipe. I usually don’t measure the ingredients at all. Since, over the years, I have made this recipe so many times, I can feel the change in thickness of the batter as I stir the flour into the wet ingredients, and know when I have added enough.

We always add a little something fun to our pancakes, applesauce, mashed bananas, blueberries, chocolate chips, really limitless choices. If you have any picky-eaters, it is a great way to sneak in healthy purées. I always add a fruit purée to ours. It also adds great flavour!

The Best Soft and Thin Pancakes with blueberries, strawberries, and maple syrup. In the background a jar of milk, a tin of maple syrup and an arrangment of flowers in a gold vase.

Serves	Prep time: 5 mins	Category
8	Cook time: 20 mins	Breakfast

Ingredients

2 cups milk

2 Tablespoons lemon juice (or vinegar)

1 egg

2 Tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 ¾ – 2 cups flour (depending on how thick you want them)

Add-ins (blueberries, bananas, chocolate chips, fruit purées)

Method

In a large bowl, add milk and lemon juice, stir.
While you are waiting for your milk to sour a bit, get the rest of the ingredients out and preheat your pans (or griddle) to med-low.
In a separate bowl, add all of the dry ingredients. Mix to combine.
In your soured milk bowl, add the egg and oil. Mix.
Combine your wet and dry ingredients, as well as your choice of add-ins. Mix until just combined. (Overmixing will create chewy, stiff pancakes)
To your preheated pans, grease the bottom lightly and add about ¼ to ½ cup of batter, depending on the size of pancake you would like.
When you see the edges starting to set, and bubble in the middle, flip to the other side. Continue to cook until just golden. The second side will cook faster.
Serve warm with maple syrup.

Cooking pancake batter with chocolate chips in it on a cast iron pan.

Do you like your pancakes plain or do you have a favourite ingredient you put inside?