Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Thick, fluffy, and absolutely irresistible chocolate chip pancakes are loved by grown-ups and kids alike! Step-by-step photos help you make the best breakfast treat!

There is nothing quite like a stack of warm pancakes dripping in maple syrup. Especially when they are chocolate pancakes. This was the ultimate breakfast treat growing up. I have fond memories of my mom making these for us, if we were good.

Now as an adult I can still say that I adore chocolate chip pancakes. The beauty of pancakes is how quickly you can be enjoying them (unlike my favorite cinnamon rolls), and the ingredients are really just pantry staples, so most likely you can whip up some right now.

Let's get to the recipe.

What ingredients do you need to make chocolate chip pancakes?

You'll only need basics for this recipe, which makes this perfect for a quick Sunday morning treat!

• Flour. All-Purpose/Plain
• Sugar. Granulated Sugar provides sweetness to the batter but also helps crystallize and form the delicious edge of the pancakes.
• Baking Powder and Baking Soda. We use both here to ensure even browning and great lift.
• Salt. Just a bit helps balance everything and encourages the other flavors to shine through.
• Buttermilk. Using buttermilk provides acid in the batter which helps create great lift, aka fluffy pancakes, and also buttermilk helps create a tender crumb. The same concept when baking a cake, buttermilk is often used.
• Large Eggs. Eggs help bind the batter and also help in the pancakes rising.
• Unsalted Butter. A little bit of butter helps give moisture, flavor, and color to these hotcakes. Butter browns quicker than if you were to use oil so keep that in mind when cooking. This is why I recommend cooking low-medium heat nothing higher.
• Pure Vanilla Extract. Vanilla helps provide great flavor.
• Chocolate Chips. Like most of my recipes these days I've chosen to use chocolate callets which are little round buttons of chocolate and that's it. Chips have stabilizers in them to prevent them from melting but callets are just chocolate. Feel free to use chips. You can use semi-sweet, milk or dark.

How do you make pancakes?

I don't know about you but I do not keep buttermilk in my fridge. What I do always have on hand though are regular milk and white vinegar.

To make your own buttermilk all you have to do is pour one tablespoon of white vinegar into a bowl then fill the rest with milk until you reach 1 cup or 8oz. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes or up to 20.

So for this recipe, you'll need two tablespoons of white vinegar.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, melted butter and vanilla.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and gently fold in, when you are about halfway mixed add the chocolate chips.

Gently mix until the majority of the flour streaks have gone, a few are fine, but you don't want to overmix and overdevelop the gluten. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as well. Let the pancake batter rest for at least 10 minutes, no less. 

In a large saute pan or skillet or griddle over low-medium heat add a slither of butter, honestly too much and you'll burn the pancakes. Using a third cup measuring cup scoop one serving of the pancake batter into the pan.

If desired add more chocolate chips to ensure evenness but you must press the chocolate down so it's covered. If the chocolate is not covered it will burn and leave dark spots.

Depending on your pan and the heat your pancakes may cook a little differently, you will start to notice after the first one. Start by timing 1 minute 30 seconds, you should see air bubbles popping on top of the pancake, you want a few bubbles but not the whole pancake, if you wait until the whole pancake has bubbles you'll most likely have burned the bottom of the pancake. 

The real key is not too many bubbles if the whole top is filled with holes that have popped most likely the bottom is browning too much.

Heres another close-up- as you can see I use both stainless steel and non-stick pans for pancakes.

Another key is when you flip the pancake, use a plastic spatula and gently get it under the pancake then kind of shimmy it so it's all the way underneath then focus on using your wrist not your whole arm to flip the pancake- gently!! If you whack the pancake back down you'll lose some of the fluffiness.

Cook pancake for another minute and 30 seconds. You could use ½ cup and make larger pancakes I would let them cook for 2 minutes then flip, but again test your pan with the first pancake to see how warm it is.

Place the cooked pancakes on a wire rack and place it in a warmed oven (200F/93C) while you cook the remaining.

I like to serve my pancakes with a bit of butter and maple syrup.

How do you freeze pancakes?

Let the pancakes cool completely then place in a freezer-safe container, placing a piece of parchment paper between each pancake to prevent them from sticking together.

Or if you have a large enough freezer I place the pancakes on a sheet pan in a single layer then let them freeze there. Once fully frozen transfer the pancakes to a freezer-safe bag.

To reheat the pancakes place them on a sheet tray in a single layer and cover tightly in foil then bake at 350F/180c for 10 minutes, if you do not cover the pancakes in foil they will dry out.

To microwave pancakes place on a plate and microwave 45-60 seconds.

More breakfast recipes

For another breakfast favorite try my rhubarb muffins ( you can use frozen rhubarb) or chocolate chip muffins recipe!

And for some egg-based dishes try my easy Vegetarian Quiche Recipe or my Egg in a Hole Rolls!

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