Why Pancakes At Denny's Taste Better Than Homemade, According To Reddit

Although it is pretty easy to make pancakes at home, it's actually surprisingly difficult to make them fluffy, lofty, tall, and tender. You can use all kinds of tricks to improve them, such as adding in a bready ingredient to make them as fluffy as possible, but they still always seem to taste better when you are eating out — at Denny's, for example. According to Reddit, there is a good reason why the pancakes at Denny's taste better than the ones you make at home.

Posting on Reddit, former Denny's workers pointed out that everything at the restaurant comes pre-packaged, which ensures consistency across batches. The mix is then combined with liquid eggs, cold water, and buttermilk — the buttermilk in particular is key, as this helps improve the taste and texture of the pancakes. Tips and tricks suggested in another thread include using fresh baking powder and making sure to let the pancake batter rest. When it comes to cooking the pancakes, former workers also recommend using a non-stick or well-greased griddle at a high temperature — and keeping an eye on the pancakes to make sure they don't overcook. 

Additional tips and tricks you can use to make your homemade pancakes closer to the ones you get at Denny's include weighing out your ingredients instead of measuring them by volume (for better accuracy), remembering to not overmix things and to leave some lumps in your pancake batter, and adding in other ingredients such as seltzer water or mayonnaise to get fluffier pancakes. Some people also like to add a bit of vanilla, though it has been noted that such an addition is not in the Denny's recipe.

Beyond the cooking tips from Reddit and other online sources, another reason Denny's pancakes taste so much better than homemade are the different flavors they come in. Specialty pancakes at Denny's include Cinnamon Roll, Choconana, Double Berry Banana, and Hearty 9-Grain. Per former Denny's workers on Reddit, the Hearty 9-Grain pancakes are still made from a boxed mix, but a different one to the others, which are all buttermilk pancakes. The Cinnamon Roll pancakes at Denny's in particular have a lot of online fans. According to one Redditor, "Those cinnamon roll pancakes are insane!" later calling them, "God tier pancakes!" On a different Reddit subthread on the Cinnamon Roll pancakes, comments include "They're freaking fantastic!" and "They are the most amazing cinnamon rolls."