Joanna Gaines’ Pancake Batter Trick Changed the Way I Make Pancakes Every Weekend (So Fluffy!)

My perfect weekend morning starts with diner-style breakfast of fried eggs, crispy oven-baked bacon, and pancakes. It’s a tradition in our house, and we rarely miss out on pancake day. I’ve been mixing pancake batter on a weekly basis for over 20 years, yet I’m still discovering tips that I want to try. 

For years I relied on a tip I learned from The Kitchn’s buttermilk pancake recipe. The key to those lofty pancakes was to fold egg whites into the finished batter. Then, The Kitchn’s executive editor, Lauren Miyashiro, shared her tried-and-true trick that involved adding an entirely different ingredient at the end, melted butter. But the tip that I’ve found that makes the biggest difference is also what makes Joanna Gaines’ fluffy pancakes the “best ever.” 

To make Joanna Gaines’ “Best-Ever” Fluffy Pancakes start by whisking the dry ingredients together. For her recipe, that includes all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, kosher salt, and hefty doses of baking powder and baking soda. The liquid ingredients include buttermilk, fat, and eggs, which are mixed together in a separate bowl. Gaines calls for a generous amount of fat, 10 tablespoons, for a tender pancake texture and says you can use vegetable oil, melted bacon fat, or melted unsalted butter. 

After you mix together the liquid ingredients and the dry ingredients separately, you’ll combine them. Then,  and this is the most important part, you set the batter aside for 20 to 30 minutes. Do not cook the batter off immediately. 

Heat a griddle or skillet over medium-high heat, and add 1/4-cup portions of the batter. Cook until the pancakes are light brown on the underside and bubbles form on the top. Flip and cook until light brown on the second side. Remove to a plate and continue to cook the pancakes until all of the batter is used, then serve with butter and maple syrup. 

Joanna Gaines’ go-to pancake recipe isn’t unlike many other buttermilk pancake recipes; the ingredients are the standard combination of flour, sugar, leavening, salt, buttermilk, and eggs. I appreciated how simple it is to make the pancakes, simply mixing the dry and wet ingredients separately before combining them. There’s no need to separate or whip the eggs and no gentle folding of airy ingredients. 

Gaines does call for a hefty amount of leavening — 1 tablespoon of baking powder and 2 teaspoons of baking soda. This is more than many other buttermilk pancake recipes call for, which contributes to the light and fluffy texture of the pancakes. Adding too much leavening can leave a lingering metallic flavor, but I didn’t notice any undesirable flavor. 

The technique that takes these pancakes over the top is resting the batter. This simple step is easy to overlook, but following the instructions can make a big difference when it comes to fluffiness and height of the pancakes. Resting the batter gives the flour time to hydrate, so you’ll notice the batter becoming thicker as it sets. The leaveners also start getting to work. Carbon dioxide gas bubbles form first when it comes in contact with liquid, and resting gives this reaction time to work. (Science!) The batter gets its second lift when it’s heated on the stovetop. 

Overall, these pancakes are slightly sweet with a flavorful buttermilk tang. They are light, fluffy, and just what I’m looking for in a morning stack of pancakes. 

• Use vegetable oil. Joanna Gaines lists melted butter, melted bacon grease, and vegetable oil as options in the ingredient list, but I think vegetable oil makes the best pancakes. If the buttermilk and eggs are still cold from the fridge, the melted bacon fat or butter can solidify into small clumps and not blend easily into the batter. The bacon grease also adds a distinctly savory of a flavor to the pancakes, especially when used in the quantity listed. 
• Let the batter rest. Joanna Gaines calls for resting the batter before cooking, and doing so makes a huge difference. She gives a range of 20 to 30 minutes for the rest time, but I found that 10 to 20 minutes is the sweet spot to start cooking. As the batter approaches 30 minutes of resting time, the air bubbles become bigger and more delicate, resulting in a pancake that can’t hold onto its height.