Banana Pancakes

Homemade Banana Pancakes made from scratch with mashed ripe banana, walnuts, and buttermilk are what family breakfasts are all about!

These fluffy homemade pancakes are perfect with a pat of butter and warm pure maple syrup. Don’t bother using a mix when it’s so easy to mix up a batch with ingredient you have on hand!

Why this recipe works so well:

When you take that extra 5 minutes to actually measure out the ingredients and make pancakes from scratch, you’ll be reminded of how much more wonderful homemade pancakes are.

There are two ingredients that really make these pancakes soft and fluffy: the buttermilk and the mashed banana. Both will make the inside of the pancake pillowy soft and moist and the melted butter gives a golden crisp outer layer.

The mashed banana is mixed right into the batter and gives a subtle and not overpowering banana flavor.

The chopped walnuts give an incredible crunch that makes the texture of the overall pancake more pleasing, but you can totally omit if you’re not a fan of nuts.

I don’t add much sugar to this recipe because the ripe banana adds all the sweetness you need!

Here’s how to make them:

1. Mix all of the liquid ingredients together including the buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, vanilla extract, and mashed ripe banana (photo 1).
2. Likewise, in a separate bowl whisk together all of the dry ingredients which include flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (photo 2).
3. Mix together the dry and wet ingredients just until fully incorporated (photo 3). It’s okay to have a few lumps. Just be sure to not overly mix the batter.
4. Fold in the walnuts, if using (photo 4).
5. Pre-heat your griddle over medium low heat, grease it with butter, and be sure it’s nice and hot before adding the pancake batter (photo 5).
6. When you start to see small bubbles form around the edge, flip the pancakes (photo 6) and continue cooking a bit longer until they have cooked through.

Cooking Tips for perfect results:

• Aside from finding a good recipe (ahem, like this one), there is a trick to properly mixing your pancakes. The trick is to not overly mix them. If you’re a good parent and let your kids stir the batter, just be sure to make them stop mixing as soon as all of the ingredients are fully incorporated.
• The perfect ripe banana is yellow with some brown spots.
• Make sure your griddle is nice and hot before you add the batter. This will allow them to start cooking instantly. Also, I like to use a medium low temperature that is slightly cooler than the temperature I use to cook eggs. This allows the center of the pancake to cook without burning the outside.
• Never flatten your pancake with your spatula! Only flip it once and let it rise to it’s airy fluffy glory.
• To prevent them from sticking, you can use a cooking oil, but I prefer to melt butter all over my griddle as well as on top of the cooked pancake. Mmmmm… butter.
• And for the love of God, please use real maple syrup! You’ll break my heart if you use corn syrup “syrup”.

What to serve with pancakes:

Whether you make these homemade banana pancakes or any kind of traditional pancake, here are some of my favorite ways to enjoy a good old fashioned pancake breakfast:

• Real butter and real maple syrup. You just can’t go wrong here.
• Bacon. Duh.
• Lately I’ve been adding hemp seed to the top of my pancakes. They add great texture, taste, protein, and all sorts of other nutrients. If you haven’t given them a try yet, you should!
• Cooked apples or pears. Any time we have apples or pears on the counter that are ripening faster than we can eat them, I peel and slice them and cook them down with some cinnamon and maple syrup. YUM!
• Sliced banana on top! That seems like a no brainer, but sometimes people forget how good that tastes.
• For extra tropical flavor, make a batch of homemade coconut syrup!

What else to make with ripe bananas:

If we have ripe bananas, I end up making things like Banana Bread Brownies, Banana Upside Down Cake, and Brown Butter Banana Bars.

They are also fantastic in things like a Strawberry Banana Smoothie or a Mango Pineapple Smoothie

Did you make this recipe? Please leave me comment below! I love hearing from my readers. 

This recipe was originally published in April 2018 and has been updated with more cooking tips, information, and updated photos. Don’t worry – I didn’t change the recipe!