How to Make the World’s Best Yogurt and Buttermilk Pancakes

I stumbled across the recipe for these yogurt and buttermilk pancakes this morning purely by accident when I ran out of my intended ingredients, and the results have absolutely blown me away. These are the best pancakes I have ever made. Period. It isn’t even dinnertime yet and the entire batch has been devoured by everyone in the family. Now, let me share the brilliant story of their creation.

It all started when I woke up this fine Saturday morning with my precious little five month old who decided that 5:30 a.m. would be a fine time to start the day. While everyone else slept in and Julian played happily in his bouncy seat, I decided that I would waft the house with the delicious aroma of a pancake breakfast and fresh coffee.

After I had added two cups of flour to my bowl, hoping to next add the milk and my cup of sourdough starter for my Sort of Sourdough Pancakes, I realized that we were out of milk. “Rats!” I thought, as I slowly remembered that I knew that we were out of milk since it was milk day and we had plans to visit the farm and get our weekly eight gallons of fresh raw milk when everyone woke up. Come on brain!

As I scanned the fridge, I found one cup of buttermilk left over from making my Ranch Dressing. “Hmmmm, buttermilk pancakes sound good,” I thought. But after adding the one cup of buttermilk to my flour, I realized it wasn’t near enough liquid. So I scanned the fridge again and noticed some plain organic yogurt sitting way in the back. “I sure hope this isn’t rotten,” I thought, not remembering the last time I had even touched the stuff. “Phew!” it passed the smell test, and into the mixture it went!

Next, I had hoped to add 3 or 4 eggs to at least make some super protein pancakes that Scott and I could force down, but we only had one egg. So after adding it to the mixture, I only half-heartedly mixed in the rest of the ingredients (vanilla, cinnamon, aluminum free baking powder, and salt). I had pretty much accepted the fact that this recipe was a bust, and I was ready to toss the whole thing out. But after mixing everything together, I realized that, hey, it wasn’t half bad. “Maybe there’s hope!” I exclaimed to Julian who just looked at me with a big goofy grin.

So I heated up the skillet with some coconut oil and decided to give these my best shot. I spent the next hour cooking one pancake after another (they took a reeeeeeeeeeally long time to cook thanks to the yogurt) until I had one big stack of pancakes. I usually take pictures of just about everything I cook since I like to blog about my recipes, but I didn’t even think it was worth it to snap one single photo.

After all of my pancakes were complete, I finally decided to try one. I was prepared for the worst as I hesitantly lifted up one corner of a still warm pancake and took a little nibble. It was…good. I mean, wow, like, really good, and it didn’t even have any butter or syrup on it yet! So I smothered one with butter, cut it up into bite sized pieces (cuz that’s what you do when you’re a mom, even if there aren’t any kids around), and drizzled some fresh maple syrup on top. Then I poured a big glass of milk, and sat down to one of the best pancakes I have ever had in my life.

The texture was just so amazing. It was chewy and moist, and full of so much wonderful flavor. The way that the buttermilk and yogurt complemented each other, and how the vanilla and cinnamon accented this taste explosion was simply exquisite. When my husband and children finally awoke, they were all treated to the most amazing breakfast ever. Everyone devoured these pancakes for breakfast, and then we ate them again for lunch! I am happy (and sad) to say that they are now all gone!

We only go shopping every other week nowadays to help with our time and budget, so we’ll have to wait awhile to stock up on buttermilk and organic plain yogurt again, but you can bet your buttons that this will be a recipe I will make time and time again. Now, without further adieu, here’s the recipe.

Yogurt and Buttermilk Pancake

Ingredients

1 c. Buttermilk
1 ½ – 2 c. Plain Yogurt
2 c. Flour
1 Egg
1 T. Cinnamon
1 T. Vanilla Extract
½ t. Real Salt
1 t. Aluminum Free Baking Powder

Directions

Preheat your cast iron skillet at heat level of 3 (if that’s how you’re cooking) and plop in a huge dollop of coconut oil.
Mix together the flour, buttermilk, and yogurt. The mixture shouldn’t be too thick, but it shouldn’t be runny either.
Crack the egg and mix it in.
Then add the cinnamon, vanilla, salt, and baking powder, and gently mix everything together.
Turn the heat up to a 4, and pour in a ladle’s worth of batter.
Cover and cook for about 10-12 minutes.
Check to see when not just the edges, but the entire pancake starts to look a darker shade of brown and you can see little bubbles popping up before flipping.
Cover and cook for another minute or two. If you don’t cook these pancakes long enough, they will feel gooey in the middle. As they cool, they will firm up a bit.
This recipe should make about 6 medium sized pancakes.
Top with tons of butter, drizzle on some fresh maple syrup, and sit down at a real table with a big glass of milk to enjoy the best pancake you’ve ever had.
You’re welcome.