Why Your Stack Of Pancakes Tastes So Bland, And The Chef-Approved Ingredients To Fix Them

Pancakes are a global favorite with unique recipes on every continent. Stateside, they're the fluffy stack of griddle cakes that we douse in maple syrup and butter. While pancakes' airy and light crumb is a huge part of their appeal, their flavor doesn't stand out as much. We interviewed Jeffrey Williams, Executive Chef at Willowsong, who admits, "The basic recipe is flour, sugar, a leavening agent, some oil, and a pinch of salt—so it's not heavy on flavor to begin with."

Consequently, he uses lemon zest and vanilla to jazz up the pancakes at Willowsong, providing an aromatic richness and bright zestiness to the mix. "I've also added cinnamon and bourbon in the past," he says. Spices are certainly the simple addition to take pancakes to the next level, and a pinch of cinnamon is the perfect pairing for vanilla.

Butter is another crucial ingredient that Chef Williams thinks no pancake batter should be without. We recommend adding melted butter to boxed pancake mix for an easy upgrade, but Chef Williams takes it a step further. "Butter typically doesn't impart too much flavor," he says, "but if you slightly brown the butter—meaning you toast the milk solids—it gives a really nice toasted, nutty flavor." Ultimately, Chef Williams' top three ingredients for pancakes are brown butter, vanilla, and sugar. However, he says, "The ingredient I'd use to bring it all together, though, would be a bit of flaked salt to enhance and brighten all of the flavors."

Brown butter may be the key to flavorful pancake batter, and we think the best type of butter to use both in the pancakes, on the pancakes, and even to grease the skillet is cultured butter. As the name implies, cultured butter has added bacterial cultures similar to buttermilk, giving your pancakes a unique tangy richness that's anything but bland. Our favorite butter brands, like Kerrygold, offer cultured butter. If you're new to browning butter, we consulted another expert for 7 tips you need for the most successful results. Brown butter is an ingredient that'll benefit more than just pancakes; we use it in everything from chocolate chip cookies to banana bread.

Chef WIlliams' ingredients are staples that most of us have in our pantries and refrigerators. But, mix-ins like fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, and purees offer more elaborate flavor and texture upgrades. Buttermilk is yet another way to bring both flavor and fluff to pancakes. You can bring mix-ins, buttermilk and Chef Williams' key ingredients together in this recipe for roasted berry buttermilk pancakes. In fact, these would taste delicious with lemon zest, too.

Now that you have some ideas on flavorful ingredients, you should also master texture. Some of our tips for making the most fluffy pancakes include adding other pantry staples like mayonnaise and whipped egg whites. Letting your batter rest and not overmixing the batter are two sure-fire ways to achieve the fluffiest stack.