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My chocolate chip pancakes are carefully crafted with hints of brown sugar and vanilla for an elevated flavor. They are simple to prep and make any morning feel special!
Perfect Chocolate Chip Pancake Recipe
What’s your go-to weekend breakfast? While my easy French toast recipe is a family favorite, we’ve been whipping up these chocolate chip pancakes as of late. Thick, fluffy, and sweet, they are ideal for days when you want something a bit more indulgent than classic buttermilk pancakes but aren’t quite ready for full-on chocolate pancakes!
Why This Recipe WORKS
- Not just a pancake recipe with chocolate chips added; the batter has been crafted around the chocolate chips to suit them perfectly. This includes adding extra vanilla and using brown sugar instead of granulated (gives them a slightly dessert-like feel without being cloying/overkill!).
- Resting the batter while your stove/griddle heats up will yield thicker, fluffier results. I do this with my blueberry pancakes for the same reason!
- Buttermilk adds serious depth of flavor and encourages a fluffier texture. The real, full-fat stuff is best, but I do include instructions on how to use a simple buttermilk substitute, if needed.
- Made without a mixer! In fact please don’t use one. It is very important to gently stir the batter together by hand, as over-mixing can lead to gummy, rubbery pancakes instead of light and fluffy pancakes.
Ingredients
Only 10 ingredients today, and most (if not all) will already be in your kitchen. Let’s go over the key players!
- Buttermilk. Real, full-fat buttermilk works best. If you can only find low-fat buttermilk or need to use a buttermilk substitute, you will need quite a bit less. I talk more about this in the recipe notes below.
- Brown sugar. Using light brown sugar instead of the usual granulated sugar takes these pancakes to the next level!
- Butter. Melt your butter, then let it cool a bit before using. I use unsalted butter; if you only have salted butter, simply reduce the salt in the recipe to a heaping ¼ teaspoon.
- Vanilla. A hefty amount of vanilla extract complements the chocolate chips nicely and gives the pancakes a bit more of a dessert vibe, which you’d be missing if you simply added chocolate chips to a regular pancake mix.
- Chocolate chips. You can use regular or mini sized depending on your preference. If I’m making larger (8″) pancakes, I’ll do regular, but I’ll usually go for the mini chips if I’m doing smaller pancakes (just like when I make mini muffins!).
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
Sam’s Tip
You can use either a neutral cooking oil or butter for greasing your pan; I tend to prefer oil (avocado oil, specifically) and use a pastry brush to do a light coating over my pan before each pancake. A non-stick spray would work too!
How to Make Chocolate Chip Pancakes
- Whisk your dry ingredients and sugars together in a large bowl, then set this aside.
- Grab a second bowl or large liquid measuring cup, and add your buttermilk. Whisk in the melted butter (some lumps may form), then whisk in the eggs and vanilla.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold until about 50% combined. Add the chocolate chips, then continue gently folding until the batter is just combined (lumps are okay, you just don’t want to see flour streaks!). Let the batter rest while you heat your stovetop/griddle.
- Grease your pan, then add batter for your first pancake. Let the first side cook until the edges are done and the bubbles form and pop.
- Flip the pancake and cook until the second side is done. Remove to a plate, re-grease your pan, and repeat until you’ve cooked all of your pancakes.
- Serve warm with your favorite toppings, and enjoy!
Sam’s Tip
If you need to keep pancakes warm while you cook the rest, place them on a baking sheet in your oven. Some ovens have a “keep warm” setting–if yours does, use that! Otherwise, set it to the lowest temperature (usually 170F).
Frequently Asked Questions
Flipping twice can deflate your pancakes, making them lose that fluffy texture we try so hard to achieve! Fort best results, only flip once, waiting for the edges to look cooked through and the bubbles to start bursting.
You could, but from-scratch pancakes taste a lot better than pre-made mixes (and are just as easy to make!). I’ve also tweaked this recipe to complement the chocolate chips (like adding brown sugar and extra vanilla!), which you won’t get if you simply add chocolate chips to a boxed mix.
Related Recipes
If you like this recipe, I also have recipes for banana pancakes, pumpkin pancakes, and even apple pancakes.
Enjoy!
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In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2 cups (g) all-purpose flour, 3 Tablespoons light brown sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon table salt
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Measure out the buttermilk into a separate mixing bowl or large measuring cup.
2 ¼ cups buttermilk
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Slowly whisk in melted butter until well-incorporated (it’s alright if the mixture gets a bit lumpy).
4 Tablespoons (g) unsalted butter
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Add eggs and vanilla extract and whisk well until well incorporated.
2 large eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
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Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and use a spatula to gently fold everything together until the batter is about halfway combined, then add your chocolate chips and continue to gently fold until batter is just-combined and no flour streaks remain. Set batter aside to rest while you prepare your pan.
½ cup (g) chocolate chips
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Warm a skillet over medium heat for several minutes, until you can feel the heat radiating from the pan if you hover your hand a few inches over the surface.
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Brush the pan with cooking oil or add a small pat of butter and allow it to melt/spread it around the pan.
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Scoop pancake batter into the pan (as much as you’d like, i typically do about ½ cup of batter per pancake but you can make them smaller or larger!).
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Allow pancakes to cook until the edges begin to look cooked and bubbles in the batter begin to burst. Carefully flip the pancake and continue to cook until cooked through and pancake is golden brown.
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Remove to a plate and repeat until all batter has been used, re-greasing the pan with oil or butter between pancakes.
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Serve warm, topped with butter and maple syrup, or whatever you’d like!
Buttermilk
If you don’t have buttermilk, instead whisk together 1 ⅔ cup milk with 1 ½ Tablespoons white vinegar or lemon juice and use this instead. If you only have low-fat buttermilk, I recommend using less (about 1 ⅔ cup).
Serving: 1pancake | Calories: 298kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 65mg | Sodium: 390mg | Potassium: 149mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 371IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 181mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.