Buttermilk Strawberry Pancakes — These homemade pancakes are studded with diced strawberries and sprinkles. If desired, top a stack of these babies with homemade vanilla maple butter before digging in!
The BEST Buttermilk Strawberry Pancakes
I’m not really a pancake maker. My last blog recipe for pancakes was January 2010. But these buttermilk strawberry pancakes were so good and so easy that I won’t wait three more years to post another pancake recipe.
One of the reasons I’ve never been very into pancakes is because they require some babysitting. Standing at the stove, watching, waiting, flipping; repeating. Baking French toast in a pan, especially with an overnight-make-ahead option, is easier and more efficient. Throw it all in a pan and bake; no flipping or grease splattering on my forearms required.
But some spare buttermilk needed to be used and fluffy buttermilk pancakes came about.
These are the BEST buttermilk pancakes. They’re soft, tender, fluffy, and as light as a pancake that’s loaded with sprinkles and strawberries can be. The smell of strawberries being cooked is just scrumptious, and they add texture, flavor, and remind me of warmer weather and summer days.
Sprinkles go with everything and make everything taste better, even warm, buttery pancakes loaded to the max with strawberries and dripping in syrup.
Note to self: make pancakes again sooner rather than later.
What’s in Buttermilk Strawberry Pancakes?
These homemade pancakes contain the usual lineup of ingredients, plus a few extra special ingredients. For this easy pancake recipe, you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Buttermilk
- Egg
- Canola oil
- Vanilla extract
- Strawberries
- Sprinkles
How to Make Buttermilk Pancakes with Strawberries
To make the pancakes, combine the dry ingredients in one bowl. Pour 1 cup buttermilk in a large measuring cup, add 1 egg, oil, vanilla, and whisk to combine. Pour the wet over the dry and stir to just moisten.
The batter will be lumpy, but don’t over mix because this will develop the gluten, creating tough pancakes. The batter will also be quite thick, but if it’s too thick for your preference, add a small splash of buttermilk to thin it out.
Warm a large skillet over medium-low to medium heat, spray with cooking spray, and add 1/4 cup batter. I comfortably fit three pancakes in my skillet at once. The strawberry pancakes recipe only makes six pancakes so the total babysitting time isn’t much.
After the batter is in the skillet, add a small handful of diced strawberries to each pancake.
Allow the pancakes to cook for about 3 minutes on the first side. That old trick about looking for bubbles to appear as your clue that the pancakes are ready to be flipped didn’t work for me. I didn’t see many bubbles even when the underside had turned golden and was time to flip. Plus, with strawberry pieces covering a majority of the surface area, it’s tricky to really see if there were bubbles present. Maybe my kitchen is just too dark or I need glasses, which are entirely possible. But after 3 minutes, I’d check to see if the underside is golden and set and prepare to flip.
Right before flipping the pancakes, sprinkle each one with rainbow sprinkles. Then flip and cook on the second side for about 3 minutes, or until done.
Flipping pancakes is a scary job. The only thing that’s worse is omelets. I use two spatulas (flippers) and do my best to scoop each pancake up and then plop the raw side face down, without turning my nice round discs into raggedy-looking, oblong shapes that are folded into themselves. But in the end, the oddly shaped and perfectly shaped pancakes taste the same.
Before serving, I garnished my homemade buttermilk pancakes with a few more strawberries for an extra pop of color and taste before dousing them in Vanilla Maple Butter. It’s an infusion of melted butter and warm syrup, spiked with vanilla, and it’s my favorite thing to top pancakes, French toast, and waffles with. Strawberry Butter isn’t too shabby either.
Can I Use a Buttermilk Substitute?
Buttermilk is a workhorse when it comes to keeping baked goods soft, light, tender and fluffy. When buttermilk meets up with baking soda, carbon dioxide bubbles form, and the bubbles create lift and lightness, keeping banana bread light and cinnamon rolls soft and fluffy. It does the same for pancakes.
If you don’t keep buttermilk on hand, add 2 tablespoons white vinegar (or lemon juice) to 1 cup regular milk, let it stand for 10 minutes to curdle, stir, and you have homemade buttermilk. Or combine 3/4 cup milk with about 1/4 cup of yogurt and stir. Don’t use buttermilk shortcuts when you’re making a fancy cake or a fussy recipe, but for pancakes, cheat freely.
Should I Use Fresh or Frozen Strawberries?
I used 1 cup frozen whole strawberries that I diced into smaller pieces. If using frozen fruit, don’t thaw it first; just add it frozen. It won’t bleed, run, or be as hard to work with. If you have fresh berries, great. I don’t cook much with fresh berries. They get consumed as-is and I cook and bake with frozen because frankly it’s cheaper.
How to Freeze Pancakes
Go ahead and make a double batch of these easy pancakes while you’re at it, and refrigerate or freeze the extra. Reheating them on busy weekday mornings is a great timesaver. Not as perfect as fresh, but I’ve never met a kid who would turn their nose up at homemade pancakes if their choice was leftover homemade or an Eggo.
To freeze pancakes, simply let them cool to room temperature before carefully stacking them in a freezer baggie. If you’re afraid the pancakes will get squished, first freeze them on a baking tray and then transfer them to a bag once they’re hard enough to stack.
How to Reheat Pancakes
The easiest way to reheat frozen pancakes is in a toaster or toaster oven. You can also microwave pancakes for 30-second intervals, but microwaved pancakes tend to be a little rubbery.
Tips for Making Buttermilk Strawberry Pancakes
If you want to use blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, a mixed berry blend, peaches, nectarines, mangoes, or another favorite fruit, feel free. Sprinkling in coconut flakes, chocolate chips, or other favorite add-in’s to the batter are fun twists. But I had sprinkles on the brain!
And if sprinkles aren’t your thing, you can leave them out of this buttermilk pancake recipe. These will still taste amazing as classic strawberry pancakes.
Also note that if you decide to use frozen strawberries, you don’t need to thaw them before sprinkling them onto the pancakes. You can dice them with a sharp knife (they’re softer than you’d think!) and add them to the pancakes while still cold.
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
Buttermilk Strawberry Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- about 1 cup roughly chopped strawberries + additional for garnishing*
- about 1/3 cup sprinkles, divided
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, optional salt, and whisk to combine; set bowl aside.
- In a large measuring cup, add 1 cup buttermilk, egg, oil, vanilla, and whisk to combine.
- Pour wet ingredients over dry, and mix until just moistened. Don’t overmix! Lumpy batter is what you’re looking for and it’ll be quite thick. If it seems too thick for your liking, add an additional splash of buttermilk (1 to 3 tablespoons). I used 1 cup plus about 2 tablespoons.
- Spray a large, non-stick skillet with cooking spray, and heat over medium-low to medium heat. Once skillet it hot, using a one-quarter cup measure, scoop batter into skillet. I make 3 pancakes at once. Sprinkle on about a dozen strawberries pieces to each pancake. Cook first side for about 3 minutes, or until underneath is golden and set.
- Right before you’re ready to flip the pancake over to cook the second side, sprinkle generously with sprinkles, at least 2 tablespoons per pancake. Flip carefully and cook second side until done and golden, about 3 minutes.
- Repeat process with remaining batter. Serve pancakes immediately with butter, jam, syrup, confectioners sugar, Strawberry Butter, Vanilla Maple Butter, or your favorite pancake topping.
- Batch can be doubled or tripled and extra pancakes can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Reheat gently in the toaster, microwave, or over low heat in a skillet.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
More Easy Strawberry Recipes:
The Best Strawberry Banana Bread — I couldn’t get enough of this super soft, moist bread that’s bursting with juicy strawberries in every bite.
Crustless Fresh Strawberry Pie — Somewhere in between pie, cake, and blondies is what you get with this FABULOUS recipe! Take advantage of those FRESH strawberries!
Strawberry Cream Cheese Shortbread Bars — The easy bars consist of a buttery shortbread crust that’s topped with a cream cheese and an almond extract flavored filling before frosting the bars and topping with strawberries.
Strawberry Layer Cake with Strawberry Frosting — This is an easy recipe that starts with cake mix that gets doctored up with strawberry gelatin and fresh strawberries.
Strawberry Custard Bars — These easy, one bowl, no mixer custard bars are perfect for your fresh strawberries. There’s a shortbread crust, topped with diced strawberries, before a custard filling is poured over the the top.
Strawberry Lemonade Bars — These bars are what you’d get if you crossed a crumble-topped strawberry pie with a lemon bar. They’re sweet from the strawberries with some tart lemon flavor that peeks through.
Oh my goodness, what could be better?! I’m nuts for strawberries and sprinkles but have never thought to start my day with them both!
How fun! They’re like funfetti pancakes! If that doesn’t start your day off brighter, nothing will!
They are like funfetti – didn’t think of them that way but you’re right!
These are so fun, Averie!!! You come up with the CUTEST recipes!
Gotta try to re-invent pancakes somehow, right! :)
I don’t make pancakes very often unless it is just for me and/or my hubby. I don’t usually have the patience to make them in volume! Buttermilk is a must though, and my favorites are banana-blueberry (with maple syrup) or banana-chocolate chip with a smear of PB! I like the looks of the strawberries and sprinkles though–they are much more colorful and prettier than mine. I thought of Skylar when I saw these–I bet she loved both the appearance and taste!
Oh she did love these! And I was going to do blueberry-banana but along with the 2 million other blogger recipes for that combo, I figured, well, I better get a little more creative for a blog post. But if I wasn’t blogging about it, that combo is always a win!
I’m not a huge pancake fan but I love strawberries and of course sprinkles so I can totally get behind these pancakes :)
Pancakes are a top 3 fav food for me– I can’t believe anyone wouldn’t make them every chance they get! I love the babysitting, it’s the equivalent of cracking up the oven and smelling a cake or cookies for me. The addition of sprinkles is so cute! Makes it seem like an extra-special breakfast
Glad you like babysitting…me, meh, not so much! But these weren’t too bad!
Pancakes are a weekend morning staple in my house, my kids love them. I make “special pancakes” using sour cream instead of milk or buttermilk, they’re favorites around here. I also make Swedish pancakes from time to time, so simple and easy. (Sprinkles are often added to pancakes around my house as well.)
Swedish pancakes…not sure I know what those are. And I bet the sour cream acts like buttermilk – cultured milks like yogurt or sour cream or buttermilk can do no wrong with things like cakes and muffins and pancakes!
I guess the closest comparison to a Swedish pancake would be crepes. Swedish pancakes are just a combination of milk, eggs, and flour with a pinch of salt, they are really thin. My kids then put jam in them and roll them up with some whip cream on top.
Ahh, my guess was crepes but then I was thinking Dutch Baby (but some call that a German Pancake) so decided that wasn’t it. A Swedish rollup sounds great to me!
I never really thought about it before, but buttermilk truly is a workhorse – my refrigerator feels empty (and out of sorts!) without a bottle of the magic elixir. Don’t tell anyone, but I have never made pancakes from scratch! (My problem with pancakes is the fact that I end up eating too many.) I have a feeling that I’d be in big trouble with these beauties! :D They’re like edible versions of springtime!
You’ve never made them from scratch??!! Ok you amaze me sometimes with these little factoids. You can make yeast breads and layered cakes and all sorts of super fussy things but no pancakes…well, I can’t blame you, actually. Although I like pancakes, I will always love cookies, brownies, bars, etc more and tend to spend my time making those things!
I used to hate pancakes. Then I realized it was because I would pour maple syrup all over them. I’m so picky about when I have my sweets- for breakfast I prefer just a spread of butter and fruit. I’m eating frozen strawberries in my oatmeal as I type this :D
I’ll take your share of the syrup :)
Sprinkles go with everything and make everything taste better <—- SO true. And they make everything LOOK fun and festive. I am a sucker for a big stack of pancakes, but can't remember the last time I made them. Thanks for the reminder. :)
Sprinkles make everything taste better, don’t they? My daughter’s birthday is coming up next month, so I love the idea of making her these buttermilk pancakes with sprinkles. I’m sure she’ll love it!
And if she’s like my daughter, she’ll love those sprinkles!
They’re so pretty! I love how colorful these are, sure to perk up any morning! :)
Buttermilk pancakes are the only kind I know. :) They look so fluffy, soft, and will darn near melt in your mouth. I love that you added strawberries (and sprinkles!). I usually have blueberries or bananas in my buttermilk pancakes but the strawberries are SUCH a fun addition – remind me of spring or summertime, which I am desperately yearning for! I don’t make pancakes much here, but when I go home my dad is usually in charge of them. Now you have me craving a huge plate of them Averie! I’m so glad you linked to your baked peach nectarine/sprinkle donuts because I was thinking of them the whole time reading this post – so bright and cheery just like these pancakes. I love the colorful fonts you’re adding these days too!
They were going to be blueberry pancakes and I was going to use the strawberries for something else til I realized, whoa, out of blueberries. I had like 1/4 c left (frozen). Don’t even know why I save bags like that and confuse myself. I digress. Thanks for the compliments on these and the donuts were almost an afterthought but they have fruit + sprinkles + comforting carbs. Much like the pancakes! The fonts…well, I know you use color and I am trying to write less and what I do write, accentuate the main points. When I was a new blogger, I used to use Bold on everything. Now I never do it b/c people wrote to me complaining! But a little color won’t hurt :)
I a huge fan of pancakes, especially crepes (which are my husbands territory of cooking). These are so pretty and playful, too bad strawberries aren’t in season here yet…
I used frozen! Like I said in the post, I rarely cook/bake with fresh. Too expensive! I eat the fresh as-is and use frozen for everything else!
Helloooo, gorgeouses! I love pancakes. I must confess I am into the denser, thinner type, but that is if they are plain. This looks marvelous with the berries!
Since I don’t use buttermilk much my way to not waste is to keep a container of the powdered type in the fridge since it lasts forever-and in Baker’s Illustrated they say it is an sub for fresh!
And if you’re just looking to add a little oomph to pancakes or a quickbread recipe, a dollop of yogurt (even sour cream) is similar enough. It’s a cultured/soured milk so it’s going to give the gas bubbles and create the puffiness, by and large. But yeah, the tubs of dry powder last forever!
I LOVE pancakes, but I feel ya on the babysitting, so they are usually made on the weekends:) I hardly ever buy buttermilk now that I know the vinegar trick.
My favorite pancakes would have to be almond meal+banana+egg whites and topped with greek yogurt and maple syrup. They are definitely more dense than buttermilk pancakes, but still oh so good!
The vegan pancakes I linked to in this post that are from 3 yrs ago – they’re made with banana, flax, almond meal, coconut flour – not exactly light and airy but they’re good!