Homemade Gluten Free Pancakes

These gluten free pancakes are light and fluffy, just like a proper pancake should be. The dry ingredients mix is perfect for everything from gluten free pancakes to breakfast bakes.

Assemble the dry ingredients ahead of time, add milk and eggs, and you'll have simple, classic pancakes in minutes. Plus, they freeze so well that you can make them ahead of time, wrap them tightly, and freeze—then defrost in the toaster for busy weekday mornings.

You can also modify the recipe to make extra fluffy diner style buttermilk pancakes, and add vanilla extract for more depth of flavor. It's time to ditch that box and D.I.Y. a better pancake!

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What makes these pancakes special

This is an all purpose gluten free pancakes recipe that begins with the simplest, well-balanced gluten free pancake mix. It doesn't need to be modified to make anything and everything you might make with Bisquick, but better.

You may even be able to find packaged gluten free Bisquick, but unfortunately it's just not very good. It's gritty, not smooth, which can only mean that their rice flour is not superfinely ground.

Before going gluten free, maybe you used a packaged pancake mix to make dumplings, cobblers, breakfast bakes, or even an easy funnel cake. Now, with this recipe, you can do that again!

Plus, of course, this mix makes the lightest, fluffiest, most tender traditional gluten free pancakes. If you're hoping for a heartier, more filling pancake, try our gluten free oatmeal pancakes.

You don't need a different gf pancake mix to make a gluten free breakfast bake, gluten free Bisquick-style apple coffee cake, classic light and fluffy pancakes, or miniature or standard sized pancake bites. This mix does it all!

Key ingredients

• Gluten free flour: A high quality gluten free flour that doesn't already have xanthan gum added to it is ideal here. You can either make one from rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch, or use Nicole's Best, which doesn't have any gum. Too much gum makes chewy, gloopy pancakes.
• Xanthan gum: Just a touch of xanthan gum added to the flour helps keep the pancakes from turning out too flat and the edges from feathering. You can leave it out, though!
• Baking powder & soda: Help give the pancakes lift and help them brown on the griddle
• Salt: brightens all the other flavors
• Granulated sugar: Sweetens the pancakes and keeps them tender
• Milk: Use your favorite type of milk, just avoid anything nonfat because fat is a tenderizer
• Egg: Adds lift and helps to bind the pancake batter together

How to make classic gluten free pancakes

Make the batter in a bowl

This is the classic way to make pancake batter, with a bowl, and a whisk:

• In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients (gf flour blend, xanthan gum, baking power, baking soda, salt, sugar)
• In a measuring cup or small bowl, whisk milk and an egg
• Pour milk and egg mixture in to the dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth.
• The batter will thicken a bit while you heat the griddle

Make the batter in a blender bottle (alternative)

If you'd like to try a cool little gadget to mix your pancake batter like you would a protein shake, try a pancake batter dispenser with blender ball.

• Secure the spout very well, and turn it over onto the base like a stand
• Whisk together the egg and milk, and pour into the wide open mouth of the dispenser
• Add the dry ingredients and the blender ball
• Reassemble, screwing the base back on very tightly and shake to blend

Cook the pancakes

Whichever way you've made the pancake batter, it's time to make pancakes!

• Let the batter sit and heat a griddle or pan on the stovetop. Grease it when it gets hot
• The batter should thicken a bit as it sits, so give it another shake or whisk
• Pour the batter onto the hot griddle about 1/4 cup at a time
• Let it cook until the top of each pancake has plenty of bubbles and the sides have begun to cook
• Use a wide flat spatula to cook, and press down a bit
• Let the pancakes finish cooking, and remove from the griddle
• Finish the remaining batter and serve hot!

How to make gluten free buttermilk pancakes

Real commercial buttermilk is thick, rich, and has a delightfully tangy taste. It's not at all like plain cow's milk, even if you add an acid like lemon juice to it. Since it's so much thicker, it also has quite a bit less moisture than cow's milk.

If you love the taste of buttermilk and like extra fluffy gluten free pancakes, you will need a different list of ingredients to make them. They are:

• 1 1/4 cups (175 g) basic gum-free gluten free flour blend, or Nicole's Best multipurpose gluten free flour
• 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons (24 g) granulated sugar
• 2 eggs (100 g, weighed out of shell) at room temperature, beaten
• 3/4 cup (6 fluid ounces) buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Here's how to make diner style gluten free pancakes with buttermilk, using these ingredients:

1. In a large bowl, place the flour blend, optional xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar, and whisk to combine well. Set the bowl aside.
2. In a large spouted measuring cup, place the eggs, buttermilk and butter, and whisk vigorously to combine well and beat the eggs completely.
3. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk and egg mixture in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly. Continue to whisk until the mixture is smooth. It will be thick.
4. Heat a griddle or lightly greased nonstick or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Grease it lightly,
5. Pour as many portions of about ¼ cup of batter onto the hot griddle as can fit comfortably, without touching.
6. When pouring the batter, don’t swirl it around; pour straight down. For extra thick pancakes, allow the pancakes to cook until the edges are beginning to set, and then add more batter right to the center of the pancake.
7. Allow the pancakes to cook until large bubbles begin to break through the top of the batter in each pancake and the edges are set (about 2 minutes).
8. With a wide, flat spatula, carefully flip over each pancake, and continue to cook until set (about another 2 minutes).
9. Remove from the skillet, and repeat with the remaining batter.

Which gluten free flour blend makes the best pancakes?

Gluten free pancakes are one of the few recipes that simply are better made with a super-simple 3-ingredient blend of gluten free flours (superfine white rice flour + potato starch + tapioca starch/flour). I like to add a touch of xanthan gum, too, so that the edges of my pancakes are round and smooth. If you omit the xanthan gum, they'll have slightly feathered edges, but they'll still taste great!

Since Nicole's Best, my own gluten free multipurpose flour blend, doesn't contain any added xanthan gum, you can also use it in place of the 3-ingredient flour blend here. Part of the reason Nicole's Best is, well, the best is because it's a perfectly balanced blend that can be used to make any baked goods you can imagine, but it doesn't contain xanthan gum.

Since xanthan gum isn't already in the mix, we can vary the amount of it that we use to create the perfect texture for each type of baked good. So we can use just a touch of xanthan gum here, but a full teaspoon of xanthan gum per cup of flour to make chewy gluten free bagels, for example.

Avoid using too much xanthan gum

You can make pancakes with one of the all purpose gluten free flour blends that already has xanthan gum in the blend, like Better Batter or Cup4Cup. I don't recommend it, though, since they both have way more xanthan gum than we need here.

That leads to a less delicate result than you'd expect from good pancakes—and pancake batter that is difficult to pour or spread into a round pancake shape.

Plus, the process of making pancakes with a lot of xanthan gum becomes a race against the clock. Xanthan gum absorbs lots of moisture and will continually cause the pancake batter to thicken as it stands. To keep the batter pourable and not gummy, you'll need to keep adding more milk. You'll still have delicious pancakes, though, so try not to overthink it!

How much xanthan gum to use

You have two choices:

1. Add 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum for every 1 1/2 cups of the 3-ingredient flour blend or Nicole's Best (technically, 1/6 teaspoon per cup of flour blend) for perfect fluffy pancakes with round edges; or
2. Leave out the xanthan gum entirely. Just reduce the amount of milk in a single recipe of pancakes from 1 1/4 cups to 1 cup, for thinner, slightly more delicate pancakes.

I prefer to make pancakes using option #1 above, adding 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum. That little bit of gum makes for the perfect, pourable pancake batter that isn't too thick and isn't too thin. The pancakes hold their shape with no “feathering” around the edges, and, like the batter, they're a bit thicker and more fluffy.

How to use the dry mix

A pancake mix like Bisquick is generally considered quite versatile, for all sorts of gluten free breakfasts. And this mix works just like the store-bought kind.

Bisquick does make a gluten free mix, actually, but it's quite gritty. I've tried nearly all the available gluten free pancake mixes and come up with a list of my favorite store bought gluten free pancake mixes.

How to make classic pancakes using this mix

Making pancakes from this mix is as easy as making pancakes using any mix. Just add milk and an egg to the dry ingredients, pour on a hot, greased griddle and wait to flip.

If you're adding a touch of xanthan gum to the recipe, as I prefer to do, you'll need a bit more milk as directed in the recipe instructions below. The recipe doesn't call for enough xanthan gum to thicken the batter so much that it's no longer pourable, but you'll still find that the batter thickens as it stands.

If you prefer slightly thicker pancakes, continue to whisk the batter and wait about 7 or 8 minutes before pouring the batter onto the griddle. For thinner pancakes like you see in the photo just above, have the hot, greased griddle waiting and begin to pour it soon after everything is fully combined.

Using the griddle or a pan

You can make these gluten free pancakes anywhere and any way you would have made conventional pancakes in the past. They don't behave any differently.

If you have a nonstick stovetop or electric griddle, by all means use that. A griddle is especially good for making big batches of pancakes at once.

If you don't have a griddle, any nonstick pan will work. But whether you use a pan or griddle, make sure it's nonstick or you'll end up having to use so much grease that you're basically frying the pancakes not just cooking them.

If your nonstick surface is new enough that it's still really nonstick, you don't have to grease it. You can just make lovely, fluffy pancakes with an even, golden brown color on both sides.

But if you'd like to make pancakes with the slightly darker edges, be sure to grease the nonstick pan. You can greasing it with some cooking oil spray, a pat of butter, vegan butter, or even coconut oil.

How to multiply the dry mix

The dry mix makes a total of 1/2 cups + 3 tablespoons by volume, or 235 grams by weight.  Multiply the recipe by 2, 3, or even 4 times, whisk it very well in a large mixing bowl, then transfer it to a sealed container stored in a cool, dry pantry.

When you're ready to make gluten free pancakes, measure out 235 grams of the dry mix, add the wet ingredients as directed, and voila! Perfect gluten free pancakes.

Looking for more gluten free baking mixes?

Did you know that my second book, GFOAS Quick & Easy, with a whole chapter on Make-Your-Own mixes for everything from gluten free cakes and cookies to muffins, scones, and brownies?

Here on the blog, we've made a Jiffy-style gluten free corn muffin mix that is super versatile, too. And the recipes for gluten free cupcake mixes, chocolate and vanilla, are also published here on the blog.

Freezing pancakes for hassle free mornings

If you have leftover pancakes, or you just want to make a big batch (or two!) ahead of time, this recipe is perfect! Just let the pancakes cool completely, and wrap them in stacks of 2 or 3.

If you use a freezer-safe wrap or container, and wrap them tightly or squeeze all the air out of the container, you can freeze them for at least 3 months. Defrost them at room temperature, overnight in the refrigerator, or in the microwave for about 20 seconds.

Then, separate the pancakes in the stack, and place them in your toaster. Toast them on low until they're warm and ready for your syrup!

Mix-ins and topping suggestions

Here's a list of my favorite toppings and mix-ins for the perfect, slightly fancier pancakes every child (and adult, let's be honest!) loves:

• Miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips mixed in or sprinkled on top as the first side cooks
• Thinly sliced ripe bananas on top or chopped ripe bananas mixed in gently
• Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to the milk and egg mixture for depth of flavor
• Chopped fresh strawberries on top or mixed in gently
• Granola on top or mixed in to the batter
• My favorite: place pure maple syrup in a squeeze bottle, and swirl some on top while the first side is cooking

Popular ingredient substitution suggestions

Luckily, this recipe only calls for a few ingredients: a simple gum-free gluten free flour blend, (optional) xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, granulated sugar (just a touch, but you can actually leave it out if you prefer), milk, eggs, and butter (if making pancake muffins/bites).

Here are my suggestions for how to replace some of those ingredients, if you have additional dietary restrictions:

Dairy free pancakes

In the pancake recipe, the only dairy is cow's milk. Simply replace the cow's milk with your favorite non-dairy milk from a carton (not a can). My favorite is unsweetened almond milk.

In the pancake bites, there is also some melted butter. That can easily be replaced with Earth Balance buttery sticks, Melt or Miyoko's Kitchen brand vegan butter, or virgin coconut oil, each melted and cooled.

Egg free pancakes

If you're egg-free, rather than trying to replace the eggs in this recipe, I'd actually recommend that you use a different pancake recipe entirely: our vegan gluten free pancakes recipe. You can of course still use the dry mix, as it's naturally egg-free, if you're only looking for a dry pancake mix.

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