Thanks to buckwheat flour, these delicious buckwheat pancakes have a light and tender texture with a delicate, nutty taste. Our recipe is quick, simple, and makes the best buckwheat pancakes at home.
Watch the Video
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 a batch of buckwheat pancakes is just as simple as making regular pancakes. Simply swap buckwheat flour in for all-purpose flour and you are on your way.
Just like when we make whole wheat pancakes, for the best results, we prefer using a blend of flours. In this case, we like using a blend of buckwheat flour and all-purpose flour. To keep the pancakes gluten-free, you can swap the all-purpose flour for your favorite all-purpose gluten-free flour blend.
You can also use 100% buckwheat flour to make pancakes, but the texture will be a bit drier and the nutty flavor will be more assertive. The blend recommend in the recipe makes pancakes that are fluffy and moist with a delicate nutty flavor.
More Ways to Use Buckwheat Flour
Buckwheat flour is versatile, and you can substitute it for all-purpose or whole wheat flour in quite a few recipes. Just like when making pancakes, we find that replacing a portion of the flour called for in the recipe with buckwheat flour generates the best results.
Here are a few examples:
- Make muffins, like these blueberry muffins, but substitute 25% of the all-purpose flour called for in the recipe. The muffins will be light and take on a delicate nutty flavor thanks to the buckwheat.
- Make buckwheat banana bread by swapping up to 50% of the flour in our banana bread recipe for buckwheat flour. The bread will be moist, and the nuttiness from the buckwheat complements the banana nicely.
- Make different types of pancakes — try substituting some buckwheat flour for the all-purpose flour in these 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!