Fluffy buttermilk pancakes with a quick salted caramel sauce and fresh strawberries. Weekend breakfast at its best.
Tall, fluffy buttermilk pancakes with a pour of warm salted caramel. The caramel takes five minutes and one saucepan, so this is less work than it looks.
Fluffy pancakes start with buttermilk
Buttermilk does two things here: it reacts with the baking soda to make the pancakes rise, and it gives them a slight tang that balances the sweet caramel. Stir the batter only until the flour disappears, then leave it alone for five minutes. Resting lets the flour hydrate and the bubbles form.
The easiest caramel sauce
This isn’t the kind of caramel where you watch sugar turn amber and hope for the best. Brown sugar melted in butter already tastes like caramel. Add cream, simmer for three minutes and finish with flaky salt and vanilla. If it gets too thick, stir in a splash of cream.
Tips for the perfect stack
- Medium heat is key. Too hot and the outside burns before the inside is cooked.
- Flip when the bubbles on top stop closing up again, not before.
- Keep the finished pancakes warm in a low oven while you cook the rest.
- Bananas or blueberries work just as well as strawberries.
Try it on this recipe card
- Kitchen Timer: Tap a time in the steps to start a timer, like the 3 minutes for the caramel or the flip after 2 minutes.
- Associating Ingredients with Instructions: The butter is split over three steps: the caramel, the batter and the pan. Each step lists its own share.
- Temperatures with Oven Symbols: The pan temperature shows a stovetop symbol. Hover over it to see a tip.
- Instruction Tips: A tip about lumpy batter sits between the steps.
- Adjustable Servings: Feeding a crowd? Use the 2x or 3x button and every amount, including the split butter, follows.
Caramel Pancakes
Fluffy buttermilk pancakes with a quick salted caramel sauce and fresh strawberries. Weekend breakfast at its best.
Serves: 4 people
Print Recipe
Ingredients
Salted caramel sauce
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ tsp flaky sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Pancakes
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter divided
To serve
- 1 cup strawberries halved
- ¼ cup pecans toasted and chopped
Equipment
- Small saucepan
- Whisk
- Large nonstick skillet or a griddle
Instructions
Salted caramel sauce
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and stir until it melts into the butter, about 2 minutes.4 tbsp unsalted butter, 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- Carefully pour in the cream: it will bubble up. Let it simmer for 3 minutes, stirring now and then, until it coats the back of a spoon. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the flaky salt and vanilla. The sauce thickens as it cools.1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/4 tsp flaky sea salt, 1 tsp vanilla extract
Pancakes
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt
- In a second bowl, whisk the buttermilk and eggs. Melt the butter and whisk it in.2 cups buttermilk, 2 eggs, 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir with a spatula until just combined. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes.
- Heat a nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat to about
375 °F and brush it with butter. Pour in 1/4 cup of batter per pancake.1 tbsp unsalted butter - Cook for 2 minutes, until bubbles form on top and the edges look set. Flip and cook for 1 more minute. Brush the pan with butter again for every batch.
- Stack the pancakes, pour the warm caramel over them and top with the strawberries and pecans.1 cup strawberries, 1/4 cup pecans
Stop stirring while the batter is still lumpy. The lumps disappear while it rests, and overmixed batter makes flat, tough pancakes.
