These fully fermented sourdough pancakes are fluffy and tender with irresistible, crispy edges. Made with six simple ingredients, they are not only easy and quick, but also so delicious when topped with butter, maple syrup, raw honey, or fruit topping.
These fluffy sourdough pancakes are deliciously light and fluffy with a little bit of crispiness at the edges and the tangy, delicious flavor of sourdough. Our family is already a huge fan of pancakes, and it’s easy to see why this particular recipe is a family favorite. Add toppings like homemade blueberry sauce or homemade whipped cream with a sprinkling of chocolate chips or fresh berries to make an extra special weekend morning treat.
And while butter, maple syrup, and fresh fruit are always excellent options, you can even go for savory toppings, like an over-easy fried egg or crumbled sausage. Eggs, sausage, and pancakes all pair wonderfully with maple syrup!
If you’re familiar with sourdough, you’re aware that fermented sourdough recipes require some waiting to allow for the fermentation. Recipes like my English muffin recipe, sourdough cinnamon rolls, or sourdough Italian bread are pretty typical examples. It’s always worth the time invested!
If you’re not familiar with sourdough, I have plenty of resources on how to make your own sourdough starter from scratch, how to maintain your starter, and how to use sourdough starter.
However, this delicious recipe requires no waiting. There is no added flour, just the fed, fermented, active, and bubbly starter and a few other ingredients to make the perfect pancakes. As long as you have two cups of starter that was fed in the last 12 hours, you’re good to go!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Simple ingredients – With a mature starter and simple pantry staples, you have the tools for the best homemade sourdough pancakes.
Delicious sourdough flavor – The fed and fermented sourdough starter provides that subtle sourdough taste that works so well in baked goods.
Chewy, fluffy texture – These pancakes are thick and fluffy, perfect for absorbing butter and syrup. Sourdough also yields a chewier texture than regular pancakes.
Ingredients
Sourdough starter – Use a bubbly, active starter that has been fed within 4-12 hours of starting the recipe. While you could use leftover sourdough discard, the pancakes won’t be very fluffy.
Oil – Use a neutral oil or swap it out for melted butter. To make these pancakes dairy-free, stick to a neutral oil.
Honey – You can use sugar or brown sugar in place of honey, if you prefer.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How to Make Sourdough Pancakes
Step 1: Mix the sourdough starter, eggs, oil, honey, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the baking soda last and watch the starter foam up.
Step 2: To achieve those crispy pancake edges, preheat a tablespoon of oil or butter in a cast-iron skillet on medium heat. After it is hot enough to produce a sizzle, pour 1/2 cup of batter right onto the hot oil. At this point, turn the stove down to medium-low heat so that the pancake can cook through without the bottom burning. Remember the “flip only one time” rule.
Step 3: After the top is nice and bubbly and no more bubbles are being produced, give the pancake a flip. The first side may take 2 to 3 minutes. After flipping, cook for another 30 seconds to a minute on the second side, until cooked through and golden brown.
Step 4: Keep the cooked pancakes in a warm place as you finish the rest of the batter. You can use a heat-safe dish in the oven on the lowest heat setting. Serve warm with your favorite pancake toppings and enjoy! Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for several days.
Tips
- The key to those crisp edges is cooking the pancakes in a preheated cast-iron skillet or frying pan with melted oil or butter. Cook on one side for about 30 seconds, flipping only when the top is bubbled. You should only flip once!
- If you plan to add blueberries or chocolate chips, place them into the uncooked side while the cakes are cooking. I find that if the chocolate or blueberries actually make contact with the skillet, the pancakes tend to stick. This is why I don’t stir them into the batter.
- You can prepare this batter the night before, but I recommend waiting until the next morning, just before cooking, to add the baking soda. It’s a great way to get a jumpstart on a healthy and tasty breakfast.
- The first pancake rarely turns out well. No worries. This is the time to adjust the heat to make sure it is not too hot or too cool.
- You can tell a pancake is ready to flip when all the bubbles have popped and no more bubbles are forming.
- If you need a gluten-free option, try this recipe for sourdough buckwheat pancakes.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, just lay the cooled pancakes on a baking sheet in a single layer and freeze them for 1-2 hours. Stack the frozen pancakes and place them in a freezer-safe container or bag. Placing parchment paper between pancakes can be very helpful to prevent them from sticking. Freeze for several months, reheating in the oven, toaster oven, or toaster until warmed through.
Yes. You can make this batter the night before and keep it stored overnight in the refrigerator. However, I would recommend waiting to add the baking soda and whisking it in right before you start cooking. Overnight sourdough pancakes have an even stronger flavor and more fermentation benefits.
This is most likely an issue with the cooking process. Under-cooking the pancakes can cause them to be gummy, as well as the pan being too hot. If the pan is too hot, the outside of the pancakes will cook much faster than the inside.
Sourdough starter is perfect for baking sourdough bread, desserts, breakfasts, and more. Here are some of our favorite ways to use sourdough starter.
Pizza crust
Flatbread
Whole wheat bread
Chicken pot pie
Biscuits
Waffles or blueberry pancakes
Baked donuts
Sourdough discard is generally more runny in consistency, which results in flatter pancakes. When I make sourdough discard pancakes, I add flour to the batter, which changes the other ingredients, as well.
More Sourdough Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Sourdough Orange Cinnamon Rolls
- Sourdough Cinnamon Star Bread
- Sourdough Croissant Bread
- Sourdough Bundt Cake
- Sourdough Lemon Cake
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
The Best Sourdough Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups active sourdough starter
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup neutral oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- neutral oil for frying
Instructions
- Mix the sourdough starter, eggs, oil, honey, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the baking soda last and watch the starter foam up.
- To achieve those crispy pancake edges, preheat a tablespoon of oil or butter in a cast-iron skillet on medium heat. After it is hot enough to produce a sizzle, pour 1/2 cup of batter right onto the hot oil. At this point, turn the stove down to medium-low heat so that the pancake can cook through without the bottom burning. Remember the “flip only one time” rule.
- After the top is nice and bubbly and no more bubbles are being produced, give the pancake a flip. This may take 2 to 3 minutes. After flipping, cook for another 30 seconds to a minute, until cooked through and golden brown.
- Keep the cooked pancakes in a warm place as you finish the rest of the batter. You can use a heat-safe dish in the oven on the lowest heat setting. Serve pancakes warm with your favorite toppings and enjoy!
Notes
- The key to crisp edges is cooking the pancakes in a preheated cast-iron skillet with melted oil or butter. Only flip them once!
- If you plan to add blueberries or chocolate chips, place them into the uncooked side while the cakes are cooking.
- You can prepare this batter the night before, but I recommend waiting until the next morning, just before cooking, to add the baking soda.
- The first pancake rarely turns out well. No worries. This is the time to adjust the heat to make sure it is not too hot or too cool.
- You can tell a pancake is ready to flip when all the bubbles have popped and no more bubbles are forming.
- If you need a gluten-free option, try this recipe for sourdough buckwheat pancakes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I love Farmhouse on Boone and I love this recipe! My daughter and I made these this morning. They were perfect! Light and airy. We put mini chocolate chips in the batter and we were afraid they would stick but they didn’t. I can’t wait to try other recipes!
Great recipe as a base! I wanted to start making more use of my sourdough if it’s going to be hanging around the house indefinitely. I love the health aspect of using sourdough instead of plain flour. The first bite had a strong “tang” but after that it tasted just like our normal homemade pancakes. The one difference was that these were flatter – which I knew they would be working with just sourdough – but no one cared about that. These made about 15 muffin scoop sized cakes (about 1/4 cup each). Next time, if I want them fluffier I will try adding either flour or more leavening agent’s, but I just wanted a recipe to try for the first time, and Farmhouse on Boone is my go-to for easy, simple, and good sourdough recipes – just like the sourdough sandwich bread! Thank you for the time and sharing of this recipe!
I made one batch for my husband and daughter. They wanted more so made a second batch. Fantastic recipe! Thank you
These are probably the best homemade pancakes I have ever made, but I did feel the amount oil was a little too much. I will probably cut back a bit next time and see how they do.
Delightful pancakes, these made just enough 5-in pancakes for our family of five!
I did accidentally forget the salt, so I added it after and whisked the batter again and it completely exploded with bubbles and deflated and turned into a puddle. So my first pancakes looked like crepes, then I decided to add more flour until it was back to pancake batter consistency. This worked fine. I will make sure to make this in the proper order next time and probably add some cinnamon and nutmeg to the batter as well!
The recipe is good but I think my starter isn’t quite right. The pancakes were more like delicious crepes even though they foamed with the baking soda. I fed my starter last night at 6pm , stirred it again about 10 pm and then made the pancakes at 7:30 am.
I keep my starter in a jar in the counter with a cloth cover. I feed it twice a day either 1/4-1/2 cup flour and water.
In my experience sourdough does not rise and become fluffy (in pancakes, at least) like traditional cakes with more leavening agents. Had it not been for the baking soda these would have turned out like crepes. Sourdough “fluffy” is going to be a step above crepes, but not nearly as fluffy as traditional. Next time, I’m going to try baking soda and baking powder.
Wonderful yummy recipe. Thanks so much for all you do!
New to sourdough . And all of
Your recipes are so easy to follow, my family loved these pancakes , they are so good. I’ve booked mark this recipes for future. Thank you
Honestly, these are pretty flavorless. Other recipes are great but this is a miss altogether. It’s very wet and I assumed it would be with the 2C starter and nothing else so it makes the flattest pancakes ever…more akin to a crepe than a pancake both in texture and taste.
I had the same outcome in the 1st two I made. Then I added more flour untill I got the consistency I like for batter and the ey turned out fine. I also noticed that the pancakes are thinner in the pictures.
I had similar issue as you u tiki learned to make the starter very thick. I have learned to have the mix of flour amd water equal and then whatever volume those two are, add 1/5 the amount of starter. I also add vanilla for flavour. My family loves these pancakes. I suggest you try it again with this mix and you will be happy with the pancakes!
I had to make it once, then again, to get it right. The first time might also were more like crepes. I am thinking the amount of soda and also the condition of the starter are what helps. So, maybe try it when your starter is very active – fed just a few hours before and bubbly. And add maybe 1/2 tsp extra baking soda. The batter should get very bubbly when you add the soda at the end before frying. I hope that might help! They are worth another try.
Wonderful and easy recipe! Great for the Blackstone!