Easy Whole Wheat Cornbread Pancakes
These Easy Whole Wheat Cornbread Pancakes are simple to make, a beautiful golden color, lightly sweetened with honey, and are thick and filling. Using pantry staple ingredients, they come together quickly and are sure to become another favorite.
Praise for Whole Wheat Cornbread Pancakes
I’ve been making pancakes of all sorts on at least a weekly basis for the past decade, so I consider myself a bit of a pancake connoisseur. Now that I think of it, the first thing I ate after having my first baby was a big pile of pancakes. So yeah, pancakes are one of my things.
Out of all the pancakes being made around here, whole wheat cornbread pancakes are definitely a favorite.
These cornbread pancakes are a favorite because they’re:
- Thick and filling: using a 1/4 cup of batter at a time, this recipe makes 9 pancakes that are 4 1/2” wide and nearly 1/2″ thick (yes, I measured them)
- Perfectly sweetened: Like good cornbread, these pancakes are just slightly sweet
- Pleasantly speckled with cornmeal: Cornmeal gives these pancakes a pleasant crunch
- Easy to make: With less than 10 pantry staple ingredients and no special equipment, these pancakes are easy to make
- Consistently good: with the skillet heated up properly, even the first pancake turns out good with this cornbread pancake recipe
Whole Wheat Cornbread Pancake Ingredients
Pancakes are such a magical food. With a little bit of a few pantry staples, you can feed a crowd. And when making these specific pancakes, you’re feeding that crowd well (imho).
Here’s a rundown on the specific ingredients for these pancakes:
- White whole wheat flour: this type of whole wheat flour has a less pronounced flavor than the more common red whole wheat flour, but either can be used
- Yellow cornmeal: the addition of cornmeal gives these pancakes their cornbread vibes and delicious crunch
- Baking powder: the leavener in this recipe that puffs these pancakes up without leaving behind a metallic flavor (like baking soda does sometimes)
- Salt: salt brings out the flavor and makes food taste more like itself
- Avocado oil: this is one of the things that makes this recipe easier than a typical pancake recipe. Avocado oil doesn’t need to be melted and the other ingredients don’t need to be at room temp when using it
- Honey: The combination of corn and honey is just *classic* plus honey browns more than other common sweeteners, so it gives these pancakes a beautiful golden color
- Egg: The protein in the egg bind the ingredients together, making your pancake a cohesive cake instead of a pile of crumbs
- Vanilla extract: a little flavor boosty-boost
- Milk: you can use any type of milk you want or have on hand (I used whole cow milk, but again, use what you got)
Cooking Perfect Pancakes
There are 6 factors that contribute to cooking pancakes perfectly. These factors are the cooking surface, preheating the pan, batter placement relative to the heat source, knowing the signs to flip, a good spatula, and good recipe.
What you cook the pancakes on
For cooking perfect pancakes, a great nonstick surface is key. This can be in the form of a traditional nonstick skillet, a well seasoned cast iron pan, or a griddle.
Heated cooking surface
Make sure your skillet is thoroughly heated before you begin cooking your pancakes. You should start heating your skillet over medium low heat before you start mixing the batter. That way the skillet is hot enough by the time you’re ready to start cooking. You can check the temp by flicking a little water on the pan. If it immediately beads up, sizzles, and evaporates, it’s ready.
Pancake placement
Make sure to pour the batter centered above the heat source. Sometimes I’m impatient and cook multiple pancakes in my skillet at once. Since the pancakes aren’t centered above the burner, they don’t cook evenly. One side gets brown while the other side is undercooked. So, I advise cooking one at a time, with the pancake centered over the burner. If you want to cook more at once, use an electric griddle or have a skillet on each burner of your stove.
Read the signs for flipping cornbread pancakes
Flipping a pancake too soon can be *disastrous.* The two signs that a pancake is ready to be flipped are: 1. the edges look just slightly set, and 2: there are bubbles in the batter.
After making these whole wheat cornbread pancakes several times, I’ve found that 90 seconds on the first side and 30 seconds on the second side over medium low heat equals the perfect pancake every time (even the first pancake turns out great).
Good spatula
A spatula is key to flipping pancakes. I know there are special pancake spatulas, but my favorite type is a nylon fish spatula. It’s thin, so it gets under the pancake easily and it’s safe for nonstick surfaces.
Good pancake recipe
A tested pancake recipe that actually works is key to cooking perfect pancakes. Since you’re here looking at this whole wheat cornbread recipe, you’ve already found a good recipe. Good job.
Easy Whole Wheat Cornbread Pancakes
March 19, 2024Equipment
- Non-stick skillet
- Large Bowl
- Medium Bowl
- Whisk
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour (165 g)
- ½ cup yellow cornmeal (80 g)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder (6 g)
- ½ tsp kosher salt (3 g)
Wet ingredients
- 2 TBS avocado oil (24 g)
- 2 TBS honey (40 g)
- 1 whole egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (4 g)
- 1 ¼ cup milk (300 g)
Instructions
- Put a nonstick skillet over medium low heat. Let the skillet heat up while you make the pancake batter.
Mix dry ingredients
- In a large bowl, measure or weigh out the whole wheat flour. Add the cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Whisk the ingredients together until combined. Set aside.1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour, ½ cup yellow cornmeal, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp kosher salt
Mix wet ingredients
- In a medium bowl, add the oil. In the same measuring spoon that you measured the oil, measure out the honey. The residual oil will help keep the honey from sticking to the tablespoon.2 TBS avocado oil, 2 TBS honey
- Crack in the egg and add the vanilla extract. Whisk together until well combined.1 whole egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 ¼ cup milk
- Pour in the milk and whisk again until all the wet ingredients are combined.
Mix wet in with the dry
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, then pour the wet ingredients into the well. Gently fold the wet and dry ingredients together until no more dry flour is left.
Cook the pancakes
- In the heated skillet, pour a ¼ cup of batter into the center of the skillet.
- Cook the first side of the pancake for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Flip, then cook the other side for 30 seconds.
- Take the pancake off the skillet and repeat with the remaining batter.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- These pancakes are a beautiful golden color. If you find that they are getting too brown, lower the heat a tad.
- If not using a nonstick skillet, you may need to add a bit of oil or butter to the pan before each pancake to keep them from sticking.
