Hack For Making Pancakes In 10 Minutes

The kids are officially back in school and that means lazy mornings spent making oatmeal cinnamon blender waffles or kefir coffee cake are officially reserved for Saturdays. That means having a back-up plan and a handful of super fast breakfast recipes to get me through the rest of the week. That’s where this sheet pan pancake recipe comes into play. Like waffles, my kids love pancakes. I mean, what kid doesn’t, Cover them with butter and real maple syrup and they’ll disappear in minutes. Which kind of stinks, considering pancakes can be time-consuming to make.

I usually make pancakes on our griddle (we have this one) and I can make 5-6 at a time. If I’m making one batch of pancakes, it means breakfast is ready in about 20 minutes. However, if you don’t have a griddle and make pancakes on a large skillet instead, breakfast will take significantly longer.

I only have two kids, but we’re at the point where I rarely - if ever - make just one batch of pancakes anymore. It’s not worth my time. If I’m mixing batter, waiting for the griddle to preheat, and dirtying the dishes that I’m going to have to wash, I might was well make a double - or triple or quadruple - batch of pancakes instead.

No additional time mixing, no additional time waiting for the preheat, and no additional dirty dishes to wash when I’m done. Learning how to maximize your time in the kitchen is actually one of the core lessons I teach in my course Grocery Budget Bootcamp! … but not if you cook pancakes in the oven.

Before you shake your head at me and say it’s heresy to cook pancakes in the oven, hear me out. Sheet pan pancakes don’t have the signature golden color that most pancakes have. And they’re not round. And they might not be quite as fluffy as you’d like (although some of that is because of your recipe and/or cooking technique, as we learned in the perfect scrambled eggs). But you know what,

The kids don’t care. Just the other day my son ate half a pan as an after school snack! What DOES matter is that they still taste like pancakes and they’re ready in less than 12 minutes. On a busy school morning, sheet pan pancakes can save the day. I have to confess though, that while I titled this post “sheet pan pancake recipe,” I’m not entirely sure you can really call it a recipe.

It’s more like a cooking method. Or really, a busy mom’s cooking hack. In either case, here’s what you need to know to make sheet pan pancakes a hit in your home. Use your family’s favorite pancake recipe. A few of our favorites include the very best high protein pancakes, strawberry pancakes, sourdough pancakes and soaked whole grain pancakes. This whole wheat pancake recipe looks delicious too. I’ve even used my cinnamon oatmeal waffle batter as a pancake - just reduce the butter to 3 Tbsp and you’re all set.

All pancake recipes will work here, so pick whatever you like most and start there. Don’t add fruit or nuts into the batter. Most pancake recipes will have you mix fruit or nuts into the batter at the very end. If you’re making this sheet pan pancake recipe, either add the fruit and nuts to the pan FIRST, or sprinkle the fruit and nuts on top of the batter LAST. This will ensure your fruit and nuts are distributed evenly among your pancakes.

Note: Once your batter is in the pan, you shouldn’t attempt to redistribute any fruit or nuts that got clumped together at one end. Call it an oops and just add more to where it’s missing. Then remember to NOT add your mix-ins to the batter. One pan of sheet pan pancakes will be ready in 10-12 minutes. If your oven is already going to be on, why not make plenty of extras, The last time I made these, I made a batch of blueberry vanilla (pictured) and cinnamon oatmeal.



The kids ate the blueberry vanilla pancakes for breakfast while I cut the cinnamon oatmeal pancakes into slightly smaller squares and froze them. I can definitely use these frozen pancakes for a fast breakfast later, but my real plan is to pull these out when I’m in a pinch for lunch ideas.

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