Pumpkin Pancakes

Light, fluffy, and loaded with rich pumpkin flavor, these Pumpkin Pancakes are a great seasonal breakfast to welcome the arrival of fall!

Pumpkin season is upon us and here are lots of great ways to incorporate this classic autumn flavor into your cooking repertoire. But one of our favorite is pumpkin pancakes.

Pancakes have always been somewhat of a “blank canvas” for other more dominant flavors to express themselves (see: maple syrup!) By adding some pumpkin into the mix, you can transform your ordinary pancakes into an extraordinary pumpkin-themed celebration!

In this recipe we use a combination of pumpkin butter and pumpkin spice. These two ingredients are easiest to deal with and won’t leave you with a half can of leftover pumpkin puree. We have an amazing recipe to make your own pumpkin butter, but you can also use store bought as well.

So without further ado, let’s dive in and start making some pancakes!

Ingredients

Flour: Regular old AP flour

Sugar: A little white sugar gives these pancake a subtle sweetness, without going overboard.

Milk: We used extra creamy oat milk for this recipe, but have also tried it with whole milk. Either work fine!

Egg: The binder that holds it all together. You can also use Bob Red Mill’s egg replacement for a vegan substitute.

Baking Powder: Not soda. Baking powder will give these pancake a light and fluffy rise.

Pumpkin Spice: You can make your own, but it’s just easy to pick up a pre-mixed blend for all your pumpkin-y occasions.

Pumpkin Butter: We highly recommend making your own following our recipe, but you can also pick up a jar of store-bought. Pumpkin butter captures the raw essence of a pumpkin pie in a spreadable butter form.

How to Make Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Make the Batter

In a large bowl, add the egg and the pumpkin butter, and mix thoroughly! Really go to town here, you want to make sure these ingredients and completely combined. After, you can lightly mix in the milk.

Next, add in your dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin spice. Gently fold the batter until all the ingredients are combined.

Cooking the Pancakes

Start by preheating a large skillet over medium heat. We are a big fan of this square non stick skillet by GSI, which allows us to make 4 pancakes at a time. But a well-seasoned cast iron skillet work as well.

While we usually fry our pancakes with coconut oil, for pumpkin pancakes we like flavor of either clarified butter or vegan butter. Both will have a higher smoke point than actual butter.

The trick to getting crispy edges on your pancakes is go heavy on the oil or clarified butter. Use about 1 tablespoon per set of pancakes.

As for pancake size, we find it’s better to be on the smaller size. We scoop out about ¼ cup of batter. Medium heat seems to be the sweet spot for temperature. Too low and they’ll take forever to cook. Too high and they’ll burn before they cook through.

When to Flip

So, when is it time to flip? This eternal question has been debated throughout the ages. When bubbles rise in the middle? When the edges brown? When the cow jumps over the moon?

If you’re new to making pancakes, do yourself a favor and just lift up a corner with your spatula and peek once you see bubbles forming in the batter. If it looks golden brown, it’s time to flip.

There is a correlation between the bubbles and doneness, but the timing will depend on your skillet and heat source, so just take a sneak peek on your first couple and you’ll get a feel for it. Better to check and verify than to leave your pancake fate up to chance.

How to Serve

Your pumpkin pancakes will have a robust pumpkin flavor all on their own, but since you probably opened a jar of pumpkin butter, and it’s just sitting around, nobody will hold it against you if you spread a little extra on top of each of your pancakes before giving them a light drizzle of maple syrup.