Packed with pumpkin and warming spices, these fluffy and perfect Pumpkin Pancakes might just be your new favorite fall breakfast.
If you’re subscribed to the Baking Mischief newsletter (and if not, join us, friend!), you might remember me talking about testing my first pumpkin recipe of the season back in August and feeling like fall had arrived early in my kitchen.
This is that recipe: fluffy, spicy, lovely Pumpkin Pancakes.
And I am so, so happy that it is no longer August so I can finally share them with you.
Say hello to your new favorite fall breakfast. These pancakes are everything good about fall: a brisk October morning, a worn-in slouchy sweater, a grande PSL, all served up in a beautiful heaping stack of carbs.
I’m not kidding when I say that you don’t even have to take a bite of the finished product, just get one whiff of that pumpkin-spiced batter, and it will be fall in your heart.
Plus, they’re completely delicious, perfectly fluffy, and really simple to make, so if you have a can of pumpkin puree in your pantry, you probably have the ingredients make them right now.
How to Make Pumpkin Pancakes
These pancakes use all your usual pancake ingredients, a quick buttermilk substitute, pumpkin puree, and fall spices. Then you just…
- Mix a little vinegar and milk together and let it sit to make a faux buttermilk while you measure your other ingredients.
- Mix together dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another, and then stir wet into dry until just combined.
- Drop heaping 1/3 cups of batter onto a greased griddle set to 350° or a skillet heated over medium heat.
- Cook until pancakes are cooked through.
That’s it. Totally easy and simple, right? Honestly, the most arduous part of making the pancakes is measuring out the separate spices, but if you happen to stock (or make your own) pumpkin pie spice, you can just use a little of that instead.
This recipe’s designed to serve two, so it will make exactly four large and fluffy pancakes. But if you’re serving the pancakes alongside a full breakfast or making them for kids/dainty eaters, you could definitely stretch the recipe to make six smaller pancakes and feed three.
Pumpkin Pancake Recipe Notes
- If making your pancakes in a skillet rather than a griddle, you will have to cook them two at a time. To keep your first batch of pancakes warm while the second cooks, set them on a plate inside your oven and turn your oven to warm or its lowest setting.
- Because of the added moisture of the pumpkin, these pancakes take longer to cook than regular pancakes, so don’t be worried if they seem to be taking a while. Just keep the heat at 350°F or medium (any higher and they might burn before they cook through), and check the centers by cutting into one before you remove them from heat.
- This recipe won’t use an entire can of pumpkin puree. For ideas on what to do with the leftovers, see this post: What to Do With Leftover Pumpkin Puree.
- Looking for more pancake recipes? Try these Pancakes for Two and Banana Pancakes for Two.
Amazing Pumpkin Pancakes for Two
Packed with pumpkin and warming spices, these fluffy and perfect Pumpkin Pancakes might just be your new favorite fall breakfast.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- Scant 3/4 cup milk
- 1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons (25g) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- Generous pinch of nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (122g) pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Instructions
- Before you start measuring out any of your other ingredients, add 1 tablespoon vinegar to a 3/4 cup measuring cup and fill the rest of the way with milk. Set aside to sour.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Whisk until well-combined.
- In a small bowl, whisk together soured milk, pumpkin puree, egg, and vegetable oil.
Pour liquid into the flour mixture and use a spoon to stir until just combined. Do not over mix.
- Heat a griddle to 350°F or skillet over medium heat and rub a stick of butter over the surface or grease with cooking spray. Drop heaping 1/3 cups of batter to the surface. If making in a skillet, you will need to make the pancakes in two batches.
- Cook until bubbles form on the top of the pancakes and flip, making sure to cook all the way through—these pancakes will take slightly longer to cook than regular pancakes because of the pumpkin.
- Top with butter and maple syrup, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*Spices (not the salt) can be replaced by one slightly heaping teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.
Ros says
This sounds like an amazing dish to welcome in fall! Will definitely give it a try!
xoxo Ros
Tracy says
Thanks, Ros. Hope you enjoy them!
Rebecca says
Hi Tracy. I would looove to try this because I am the only Pumpkin spice lover in my house. However, my attempts at making buttermilk with the vinegar method never go right. Would using regular milk really be that bad? I also have access to evaporated milk if that may also make a difference.
Thank you.
Tracy says
Hi Rebecca, sorry I didn’t respond right away, this comment got buried. I’m not sure regular milk would work with the recipe as written. The acidity of the vinegar helps activate the baking soda, so the recipe would have to be adjusted to accommodate that. What is it that usually goes wrong with the vinegar/milk mixture for you? The lumpy, “soured” milk isn’t pretty to look at, but I usually find that combo pretty fool-proof.
Rebecca says
Hi Tracy. No worries! Thank you for the advice.
I’m going to try again with your method and hopefully it comes out okay. I”m crossing my fingers so hard because these pancakes LOOK DELISH.
It’s simply that whatever I use the faux buttermilk mixture in never tastes any good/has a weird texture. Perhaps it’s the kind of vinegar I have in my country? Or the milk?
Tracy says
It’s probably not the vinegar/milk you have. The milk does have a really weird texture after it “sours”, and I definitely wouldn’t want to taste it in that state, but these pancakes have so much other flavor going on, you shouldn’t taste it at all.
Hope you enjoy the pancakes, and please let me know how they turn out!