Perfect Banana Pancakes

Our easy banana pancakes with buttermilk and warm spices ready in under 30 minutes and loved by even the pickiest eaters. No buttermilk? No problem! We have a simple trick for making these delicious pancakes without it.

Easy Banana Pancakes

Related: We love these banana chocolate chip muffins!

How to Make the Best Banana Pancakes

If you’re anything like us, there are a couple of over-ripe bananas in your freezer. We are always throwing bananas into the freezer and before we know it, we’ve got too many to deal with. We’ve had to come up with different ways to use them up.

This banana bread usually does the trick, but if we’ve got buttermilk in the fridge, we make a batch of these spiced buttermilk banana pancakes. (By the way, if you don’t have buttermilk, we’ve got a trick down in the recipe below so you can make them, too!)

These pancakes are easy! Start with a simple pancake batter then add a mashed banana, cinnamon, and nutmeg for some spice.

Easy Banana Pancakes

If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, don’t worry! These will work with non-dairy or dairy milk or you can make “fake-out” buttermilk by combining milk with lemon (we shared how in the notes section of the recipe).

When making any type of pancake, it’s important to remember not to over mix things. For the fluffiest, lightest pancakes, you only need to stir things together – no whisks, no beating, nothing.

You’ll need two bowls. In the first bowl, combine flour, a little sugar, baking powder and the spices. In the second, combine an egg, buttermilk and the mashed banana.

Pancake batter

When you’re ready to cook the pancakes, add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture — remember, just stir until they come together. Then cook them on a griddle or in a pan and serve warm with extra banana slices, a few chopped nuts and warm maple syrup.

For more easy pancake recipes, take a look at these:

Perfect Banana Pancakes

  • PREP
  • COOK
  • TOTAL

These banana pancakes with warm cinnamon and nutmeg are perfect on a sleepy morning. They come together easily and if you’re like us, you get to use up a few of those over-ripe bananas you placed in the freezer a couple weeks ago. For the most banana flavor, use very ripe bananas.

Makes about 8 pancakes

You Will Need

1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pinch fine sea salt

1 cup (235 ml) buttermilk, see the notes section for alternatives

1 large egg

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 ripe banana, mashed with a fork

Warm maple syrup, sliced bananas, and chopped nuts for serving

Directions

    1In a large bowl, use a fork or whisk to combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and the salt. Mix well.

    2In another medium bowl, use a fork or whisk to combine the buttermilk, egg, melted butter and the mashed banana. Mix well. (If you a doing this ahead of time, cover flour mixture and buttermilk mixture then keep in the refrigerator until ready to make the pancakes. For the fluffiest pancakes, keep the two mixtures separate until you are ready to make the pancakes).

    3Heat a large skillet or griddle to medium heat. You know when the pan is ready if when you splatter a little water onto the pan surface, the water dances around the pan and eventually evaporates.

    4Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour in the buttermilk mixture and use a fork to stir the two mixtures until combined. It is okay if the batter has small lumps, in fact, you want that – it is important not to over mix the batter.

    5Lightly spray hot skillet or griddle with non-stick cooking spray or lightly brush with melted butter. Then, use a 1/4-cup measuring cup to spoon batter onto the skillet or griddle.

    6When you begin to notice the edges of the pancake look dry and little bubbles start to appear on the top surfaces of the pancake, turn over. This takes about 2 minutes. Once flipped, cook another 1 to 2 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked in the middle.

    7If serving right away, serve warm topped with sliced bananas, chopped nuts, and warm maple syrup. If you need to keep leftover pancakes warm, place into a 200 degree F oven up to 30 minutes.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

  • Buttermilk substitute: To make buttermilk in a pinch, combine 1 cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar. Let the mixture stand for 5 to 10 minutes then use in the recipe.
  • Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the Nutrifox recipe calculator to calculate approximate values. We did not include any toppings like syrup or banana slices.

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste

Nutrition Per Serving Serving Size 1 pancake / Calories 142 / Protein 3.9 g / Carbohydrate 19 g / Dietary Fiber 0.9 g / Total Sugars 5.1 g / Total Fat 5.8 g / Saturated Fat 3.3 g / Cholesterol 37.1 mg / Sodium 47.5 mg
AUTHOR:  Adam and Joanne Gallagher

Recipe updated, originally posted October 2012. Since posting this in 2012, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne

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24 comments… Leave a Review
  • Adriana February 14, 2023, 11:30 am

    Great Recipe! will gladly make these again.

    Reply
  • Sarah September 24, 2022, 1:13 pm

    These were great! I added a little whole wheat flour (.75 cup white,.25 cup w/w) and they were delicious. Light and fluffy. Thanks for a great recipe.

    Reply
  • Sue January 31, 2021, 4:41 pm

    These were absolutely delicious. In order to get a thinner more tender pancake I needed to add more buttermilk, about 1/4 to 1/3 cup for 1 batch. And I added a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Perfection!

    Reply
  • Tracey April 29, 2020, 6:25 pm

    Outrageously delicious. Had to use milk and lemon juice as an alternative to buttermilk. Recipe as is made 7 small to medium pancakes. Enough for the two of us 🙂

    Reply

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