The easy way to make pancakes…

Judging by the pile of instant pancake mix in the supermarket yesterday it seems a lot of people don’t know how to make even the most basic dishes. Pancakes have literally three ingredients – flour, milk and eggs. I know some people may not be confident cooking so here is a dead easy pancake recipe that is ultra simple. Get a normal mug, fill it with plain flour, put the flour in a bowl, fill the mug again with milk, add it to the flour, then finally add one egg to the mix. Mix it up with a whisk or a fork and voila you have made your first pancake mix. If you have kids this is a good recipe to get them involved in cooking. This will make enough for 3 people if you need to feed more just double the quantities of ingredients.

Next, put a frying pan on medium heat and add a knob of butter, make sure to use butter, it tastes better. Pour the mixture into the pan, don’t add too much at one time as it will spread out. Give it a few minutes then turn over. You don’t need a fancy crepe pan, any frying pan will do. Remember to add a knob of butter for every new pancake. Flipping pancakes is harder than you might imagine. If you want to try it make sure to loosen the pancake first with a shake, but don’t feel bad if you end up with a floppy mess. View a guide to flipping here.

Serve with whatever you like. I normally go for sliced banana with peanut butter and some chocolate spread. You can even go savoury with some cheese, ham etc. Once you are have tried it, feel free to experiment. For example, I prefer to use wholemeal flour, it is healthier and I like its nutty flavour. You could also try adding a few dark chocolate chips into the batter (50p in Asda)

The above recipe is for your traditional flat/crepe pancake. If you prefer raised pancakes check out this great recipe for Banana oat pancakes. Serve with yoghurt and fruit for a healthy breakfast, I make this recipe myself every Saturday with the addition of some chocolate chips.

If I have still not convinced you to abandon your pancake mix then I suggest you compare ingredients. 9 ingredients (some dubious) in the premix vs 3 natural ingredients when you make it yourself. Making it yourself is a quarter of the price, tastes better, is healthier, and you get a sense of accomplishment – what’s not to like? If you are watching your weight making your own dishes lets you make healthier versions of the dishes you like but without all the crap that is in processed foods. Bon Appétit!

Photo by RitaE is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

Brian O'Neill

Managing Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.