Our family loves these easy buckwheat pancakes! Thanks to buckwheat flour, these delicious pancakes are fluffy, light, and tender, with a delicate, nutty taste. You’ll love them.
Watch the Video
Our family loves these homemade buckwheat pancakes! They’ve recently turned into a weekend tradition. I love serving them with berries, sliced banana, and maple syrup. My son loves these with apple butter and whipped cream.
This buckwheat pancake recipe is easily made gluten-free or vegan. See my tips below.
Key Ingredients
- Buckwheat flour: Buckwheat is a plant that produces grain-like seeds. These seeds are ground into a gluten-free flour with a rich, nutty flavor and dark color. I use Bob’s Red Mill buckwheat flour in the video.
- Flour (optional): Buckwheat is delicious but can be a bit heavy, so I love blending it with all-purpose flour or, for gluten-free pancakes, a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend.
- Milk and lemon juice: For tasty, fluffy pancakes, I make my DIY buttermilk mixture with milk and lemon juice (you can use non-dairy milk). You can also substitute with real buttermilk, which is delightful.
- Butter, sugar, and vanilla: These add delicious flavor to our pancakes. You can use plant-based butter if you are making vegan pancakes.
- Egg: One egg adds flavor and structure, so I love adding it. Replace it with a flax egg for vegan pancakes.
- Baking soda: Reacts with the milk and lemon juice to help our pancakes rise. It makes them so fluffy!
How to Make Buckwheat Pancakes
Making buckwheat pancakes is just as simple as making regular pancakes. The flour blend recommended in our recipe makes fluffy and moist pancakes with a delicate, nutty flavor. In this recipe, I like combining buckwheat flour and all-purpose flour (for gluten-free pancakes, use your favorite all-purpose gluten-free flour blend). I do the same when making whole wheat pancakes (In that recipe, I combine whole wheat flour and regular flour to keep the pancakes super fluffy).
To make buckwheat pancakes, you’ll mix the buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Then, whisk the milk, lemon juice, egg, and vanilla into another. Combine the two mixtures, and you have your buckwheat pancake batter!
As the pancake batter sits, the buckwheat flour absorbs the moisture in the batter, so you might notice that it gets a bit thicker than you’d like to pour into your skillet. If this happens to you, add a tablespoon (or more) of milk to thin it out again.
I cook pancakes in melted butter and love the extra flavor and crispy edges you get. You can use a quality nonstick skillet without butter, and your pancakes will still flip nicely. Consider a quick brush of olive oil.
Storing Buckwheat Pancakes
Buckwheat pancakes last in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze them. Line them up on a baking sheet for about 30 minutes. Then, put them in a freezer bag with parchment paper between each pancake to prevent sticking. They’ll keep for up to 2 months.
To reheat buckwheat pancakes, place them on a microwave-safe plate and cook for 20 seconds per pancake (add more time for multiple pancakes). Alternatively, wrap them in foil and bake them in the oven at 350°F for about 10 minutes.
More Ways to Use Buckwheat Flour
Buckwheat flour is versatile. You can often substitute it for all-purpose or whole-wheat flour in your favorite recipes. I’ve found the best success when replacing a portion of the flour called for in recipes with buckwheat flour (like I do in this buckwheat pancake recipe).
Buckwheat flour adds a delicate nutty flavor to muffins. Substitute 25% of the all-purpose flour called for in this blueberry muffin recipe or strawberry muffin recipe.
I love it with bananas and have successfully replaced up to 50% of the flour in our banana bread recipe with buckwheat flour. The bread will be moist, and the nuttiness from the buckwheat complements the banana nicely. I think it would be amazing in these banana muffins with chocolate chips.
Or, make more pancakes! Try substituting buckwheat flour for some of the all-purpose flour in our blueberry pancakes or these pumpkin pancakes.
Fluffy Buckwheat Pancakes
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
These buckwheat pancakes are light and fluffy and made entirely from scratch. They’re not too sweet and are scented with vanilla, making them extra delicious. I highly recommend our blend of buckwheat flour and all-purpose flour (or GF all-purpose flour). The blend will make fluffier, more tender pancakes.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 cup (120g) buckwheat flour
1/2 cup (65g) all-purpose flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour blend
1 ¼ cups (295ml) milk, dairy or non-dairy
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or white vinegar
4 tablespoons (56g) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for skillet
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
1Combine the milk and lemon juice, then set aside for five minutes. This mixture mimics buttermilk, which makes the pancakes fluffy when mixed with the baking soda later in the recipe.
2Meanwhile, whisk the buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
3Whisk the egg and vanilla into the milk mixture (it will be thicker now).
4Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour the milk mixture and melted butter into the well and use a fork to stir until you no longer see clumps of flour. It is okay if the batter has a few small lumps.
5Heat a large skillet (or griddle) over medium heat. The pan is ready if a little water splatters onto the surface, dancing around the pan and eventually evaporating.
6Lightly brush the skillet with melted butter. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to spoon batter onto the skillet. Gently spread the batter into a 4-inch circle.
7When the edges look dry, and bubbles start to appear and pop on the top surface of the pancake, turn over, about 2 minutes.
8Once flipped, cook another 1 to 2 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked in the middle.
9Serve immediately with warm syrup, butter, and your favorite pancake toppings.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Gluten-free buckwheat pancakes: Swap the all-purpose flour for your favorite gluten-free flour blend, or use 100% buckwheat flour (1 ½ cups (180g). 100% buckwheat flour pancakes are more dry and a bit more dense.
- Vegan pancakes: Use non-dairy milk, plant-based butter, and one homemade flax egg.
- Batter too thick: Buckwheat pancake batter becomes thicker as it sits. If it’s too thick, stir in an extra splash of milk to thin it out.
- Measuring your flour: Fluff the flour in its container, then gently scoop it into your measuring cup until slightly mounded. Level off the top with a knife for accurate measuring. Use a scale and measure the flour by weight (in grams) for even more accuracy.
- Buttermilk: Substitute 1 ¼ cups (295ml) buttermilk for the milk and lemon juice mixture. If the batter seems too thick, add an extra tablespoon.
- Substitute for baking soda: To use baking powder instead of baking soda, leave out the vinegar or lemon juice called for in the recipe and use one tablespoon of baking powder.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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Made per written. Very good. Chose this recipe because of the measurements in grams. Thank you for that!
Glad we could help, Jane! Thanks for coming back.
So good! I used almond flour in place of the wheat flour.
We are so happy that the almond flour worked for you! Thanks for letting us know 🙂
Nutritious and delicious. Love these pancakes! This is my new go-to pancake recipe. They are amazingly fluffy. I found the batter too thick and add 1/4 + cups more milk. I have used Casava flour for the 1/2 cup but will try almond flour next time for the added protein. I use soy or coconut milk and substitute in coconut oil for the butter. I like the delicate coconut flavor of the coconut milk and oil the best.
I remember eating buckwheat pancakes 5 decades ago and thinking bleach. But my friend likes them so I tried this recipe. Dee- vicious!!!
Wonderful, I’m glad you gave them another try 🙂
My husband said, “Those pancakes were delicious!” This from a guy who isn’t that fond of pancakes! I used coconut flour in place of wheat flour. The dough was awfully thick and I needed to smoosh them down to cook. Nevertheless, they were fluffy, cooked all the way through, and yummy.
I’ll definitely make them again. Next time I’ll sift the flours before measuring. While waiting for some to cook, I read the comments in this post. I added some water as suggested above and the pancakes were just as good.
Hi Cynthia, Coconut flour has amazing absorption properties, next time, I’d hold back on some of the coconut flour (I usually use 1/4 cup coconut flour substitute 1 cup regular flour).
Excellent recipe, so easy and used Bob red mills
GF flour & buttermilk . Topped with the Chokecherry syrup I made. PS. At Xmas, 4 yr old grandson helped make these. Yesterday he asked for pancakes,his dad said they didn’t have enough flour, reply was: no problem Dad use Buckwheat.
That’s amazing, Sheila! Thanks for coming back.
I was disappointed by this recipe. I’ve made many different buckwheat pancakes over the last 40 years and this one was not a good one.
Hi Craig, I’m sorry the recipe didn’t work as well for you. Our family loves these pancakes.
Could you substitute buttermilk for the milk/lemon juice mixture ?
Absolutely!