Pancake recipes for Pancake Day 2022

Today is Shrove Tuesday, known in some parts of the world as Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday – but here in the UK, we know it as Pancake Day!

Whether you prefer classic toppings like maple syrup or sugar and lemon, or you like to experiment with flavour combinations like chocolate chips and slices of banana, pancakes are a delicious treat for the whole family.

This tradition started as a way of using up some of the food in the house before the beginning of Lent. And as we’ve said on the blog before, making the most of leftover food is a great money-saving habit!

So whether you’re searching for tips on how to make healthy pancakes, recipe suggestions for low-calorie pancakes, vegan pancakes or gluten-free pancakes – or you just want to get a tried and tested recipe for a foolproof classic pancake – we’ve rounded up some of the best recipes on the web.

 

Basic pancakes

The Tesco website is a great source of classic recipes – and don’t forget, if you’re one of our DMP or IVA customers you can get 4% off the ingredients and the rest of your weekly shop using our app! Here’s what you’ll need to make Tesco’s perfect pancakes.

To make 12 pancakes:

• 150g plain flour
• 300ml semi-skimmed milk
• 2 medium eggs
• 1½ tbsp olive oil.

And here’s how to make them.

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Crack the eggs into the well and whisk, drawing in the flour from the sides of the bowl. Gradually add the milk and continue whisking, until you have a smooth batter. Leave to stand for 30 mins.
2. Meanwhile, line a baking tray with nonstick baking paper. Preheat the oven to gas 1/4, 110°C, 90°C fan.
3. Brush a 20cm frying pan with a little oil and warm on the hob, over medium heat. Add a tbsp of the batter to the pan, tipping gently until it coats the base in a thin layer. Cook for 1-2 mins, or until golden, then carefully flip the pancake over and cook the underside for 1 min more.
4. Transfer to the prepared baking tray and keep warm in the oven. Repeat to make 12 pancakes, adding a little more oil to the pan before each addition.

 

Dairy-free or vegan pancakes

It’s pretty easy to make pancakes dairy-free. You could just use the recipe above but replace the semi-skimmed milk with almond milk, or another non-dairy milk of your choice; and make sure to use coconut oil, or another vegetable oil, instead of butter when frying your pancakes.

But since vegans don’t eat eggs, to make a successful vegan pancake it’s best to choose a specifically vegan recipe.

There are lots of vegan pancake recipes online, but a lot of them are American, which means you’ll end up with a thicker, fluffier, more filling pancake – more like what we’d think of as a Scotch pancake, rather than the crepes-style pancakes we’re used to in the UK.

Both types of pancakes are delicious in their own very different ways, so we thought we’d include links to both! First, Waitrose has a super-easy recipe for UK-style vegan pancakes (and if you’re feeling posh, DMP and IVA customers can get 4% off there with our app too).

And if you’d prefer your vegan pancakes American-style, try this recipe from BBC Good Food:

Ingredients

• 300g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp sugar (any kind)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 400ml plant-based milk (such as oat, almond or soya)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil for cooking
• To serve (optional): banana slices, blueberries, maple syrup, vegan chocolate chips, plant-based yoghurt.

Method

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt in a bowl using a balloon whisk until mixed. Slowly pour in the milk until you get a smooth, thick batter.
2. Heat a little of the oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat, and add 2 tbsp batter into the pan at a time to make small, round pancakes. You will need to do this in batches of two-three at a time. Cook for 3-4 mins until the edges are set, and bubbles are appearing on the surface. Flip the pancakes over and cook for another 2-3 mins until golden on both sides and cooked through. Keep warm in a low oven while you cook the remaining pancakes.
3. Serve stacked with lots of toppings of your choice, or serve with bowls of toppings for everyone to help themselves.

 

Gluten-free pancake recipes

Making gluten-free (also known as gf) pancakes isn’t as hard as you might think: simply use gluten-free flour. We like this Sainsbury’s pancake recipe that uses spelt flour. (And there’s a whole 5% Sainsbury’s discount available to DMP and IVA customers through our app!)  Just make sure you don’t add brown rice syrup as one of your toppings because that usually contains gluten too.

 

How to make healthy pancakes

It’s actually quite easy to make pancakes healthy – vegan pancakes will already cut down on a lot of the cholesterol in a traditional pancake. The main thing to watch out for is the toppings: if you want low-calorie pancakes, swerve the sugar and syrup and stick to natural sweeteners like lemon juice and fruit.

 

We hope you’ve found at least one recipe here to keep you and your family happy and well-fed this Pancake Day. Now, if anyone has any tips for how to get pancake batter off the ceiling, we look forward to hearing them!