These fluffy and perfect Pumpkin Pancakes are packed with pumpkin and warming spices and might just be your new favorite fall breakfast.
These pancakes are everything good about fall: a brisk October morning, a worn-in slouchy sweater, a grande Pumpkin Spice Latte, all served up in a beautiful heaping stack of carbs.
They’re completely delicious, perfectly fluffy, and really, really simple to make. If you have a can of pumpkin puree in your pantry, you probably have the ingredients make some pumpkin pancakes right now.
Pumpkin Pancake Ingredients
Buttermilk or buttermilk substitute: This recipe calls for buttermilk, which makes the pancakes soft and moist and just a little tangy. But if you don’t have buttermilk, you can make a quick buttermilk substitute with regular milk (dairy-free milk works too) and lemon juice or vinegar.
Baking staples: The bulk of the ingredients here are just baking staples, flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and an egg.
Pumpkin pie spices: These pancakes are spiced with cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg. You can use all those spices separately, or if you have pumpkin pie spice in your spice drawer, use 1 slightly heaping teaspoon pumpkin spice instead.
Pumpkin puree: Pumpkin puree is just pure, pureed pumpkin (don’t mix it up with sweetened pumpkin pie filling). You can usually find it in the baking aisle. This recipe won’t use up an entire can of pumpkin puree, so see my post What to Do With Leftover Pumpkin Puree for storage tips and recipe ideas for the leftovers.
Vegetable oil: Just a little vegetable oil in the batter helps keep the pancakes moist. If you don’t have vegetable oil, you can substitute the same amount of melted butter.
How to Make Pumpkin Pancakes.
- If you don’t have buttermilk, mix vinegar/lemon juice 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. Don’t over mix or your pancakes can end up too chewy and tough!
- Drop heaping 1/3 cups of batter onto a greased griddle set to 350° or a skillet heated over medium heat. 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.
- 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.
- Top with lots of butter and (preferably real) maple syrup, and enjoy!
FAQ
Can I freeze pumpkin pancakes?
Yes! Pancakes in general freeze pretty well. Freeze in a freezer bag with a small sheet of parchment paper between each pancake and reheat in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. Extend the time slightly for each additional pancake you’re reheating.
What goes with pumpkin pancakes?
These pancakes can be served on their own with just a side of fall fruits (apples, grapes, mangos, pears, and raspberries are what are in season right now). Or serve as part of a full breakfast spread with eggs, thick-cut bacon or sausage, and maybe some roasted potatoes.
More Pancake (and Waffle) Recipes
A Note on Recipe Yield
This recipe is 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.
If you’d like to double or triple the recipe, hover over the serving size below or click if you’re on mobile, and slide the slider.
Amazing Pumpkin Pancakes for Two
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!
Notes
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission if you make a purchase using them. There is absolutely no additional cost to you.
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!
Clare says
I made the pumpkin pancakes this morning, they were great!
Mine were probably a little thinner than in the recipe. I made 15 pancakes (five to a square griddle). Since I live alone, I eat five freshly made pancakes on Sunday, freeze the rest and heat up five in my toaster oven for the next two Sundays. Usually I make blueberry pancakes but will rotate them with this delicious recipe.
Tracy says
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed them Clare!! Thanks for taking the time to let me know!
Vee says
Made the recipe exactly as described…and it came out fabulous!
Absolutely delicious!
Will gladly make this again and again!
ps. did the milk and vinegar thing and texture is indeed weird but it works!
Tracy says
Thanks, Vee! So glad you enjoyed them!!
denise says
I made these this morning and they are great. Will definitely make again.
Tracy says
So happy to hear you enjoyed them, Denise!
Diiane says
Made pumpkin muffins last week so I had a heaping half cup of purée leftover. Added a bit of milk to get the pancake consistency I like as I used half whole wheat and half white flour. The pancakes were perfectly spiced. Thanks for the tip on longer cooking time. Yum!
Tracy says
So glad you enjoyed them!!
Karyn Kwiatkowski says
I made these and substituted Swerve Brown sugar. I keep lemon juice cubes in the freezer so I used that in place of the vinegar for the buttermilk. It still worked perfectly with 2% milk. Really nice portion too. They were light and fluffy and not too dense. These fit in my diet and will be a go to! Thanks.
Tracy says
Thanks, Karyn!! So glad you enjoyed them!!