9 Discontinued IHOP Menu Items Customers Miss

There are many chain restaurants for burger lovers and for those who adore a crispy chicken sandwich. There are even plenty of chain restaurants designed for seafood enthusiasts, but if you're a breakfast person, there are only a handful of chains that cater to your taste. IHOP is one of them. The chain is best known for its fluffy pancakes, but it offers a wide variety of breakfast and lunch diner classics at affordable prices. However, if you're a regular at your local IHOP, then you've probably noticed that menu items come and go all the time. That's great when a new, interesting menu item is introduced, but when they take your favorites away, it can be a huge bummer.

Unfortunately, that's what's happened with all of the following IHOP menu items. Whether these were limited-time offers from the jump, or they were simply removed to make way for new dishes, customers were sad to see them go. We can still hope for them to come back someday — until then, we'll enjoy thinking back on these menu items with nostalgia.

Sure, pancakes are generally kind of dessert-adjacent in their most basic form, but these dark chocolate peppermint pancakes really leaned into that identity. The fact that they were made with dark chocolate made them taste especially rich and bold, but the pieces of crushed peppermint on top were the real showstopper. That combination of minty and chocolatey flavors might not be for everyone, but for real mint chocolate lovers, it was a glorious match. Add white chocolate chips and whipped cream (not to mention an extra drizzle of chocolate sauce), and it's clear to see why this dish made a splash on the menu.

You could find the dark chocolate peppermint pancakes on IHOP's menu in the winters of 2016 and 2017, and they reappeared again as a seasonal offering in 2024. After that, though, they disappeared. It's a dish that just makes sense during the colder months of the year, so we're not sure why it doesn't make a reappearance every time the temperature starts to drop.

Here's another treat for those who can't decide whether they want to eat breakfast or dessert: IHOP's Red Velvet Pancakes. Not only did they reportedly taste delicious, but they also offered a bold pop of color that you just can't get from a standard stack of pancakes. To add to the sweetness and create an even more beautiful color contrast, they were served with a drizzle of sweet cream on top. After they were introduced and removed from the menu several times, these colorful pancakes have been completely absent from the IHOP menus since 2020.

However, some IHOP fans are still holding out hope that they could someday come back again. There's an ongoing petition asking the restaurant to bring back the beloved dish, and at the time of writing, it had over 1,000 signatures, indicating that this was definitely a popular option. Customers have also taken to Reddit to literally beg IHOP to add them back to the menu.

If you ask us, cheesecake is one of the best desserts in the entire world. As a chain that's known for creating interesting pancake-dessert mashups, it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that IHOP has tried its hand at a cheesecake-stuffed breakfast option. It was the Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast that came in three different varieties: Oreo Cookies and Cream, Toffee Apple, and Strawberry Cheesecake, all featuring a decadent, dense, and creamy filling.

This French toast was rolled out in November of 2017, at which point IHOP-goers only had a few months to give it a try. By January of 2018, it was already gone. But even so, years later, some customers are still wishing that it would make another reappearance on the IHOP menu. One user recently posted on Threads asking IHOP if the chain would bring the cheesecake-stuffed French toast back once again.

Back in 2019, IHOP hosted a competition for kids to create signature pancake inventions. The winner was a six-year-old boy who made what he called Oreo Oh My Goodness pancakes. Not only were the pancakes filled with crushed Oreos, but they were also layered with creamy, sugary frosting. Then came a generous amount of whipped cream, and the stack was finished off with crushed Oreos on top. With both crunchiness and creaminess, it's a combo that's undoubtedly appealing for cookie lovers everywhere. However, it was a limited-time release, and these pancakes have since been nixed from the menu.

But customers didn't forget about these pancakes easily, as evidenced by a petition demanding that they be brought back. However, before the petition was eventually closed, it only racked up a little over 50 votes, so maybe there are fewer Oreo-loving IHOP-goers out there than we think. That number of people may not be quite enough to actually prompt IHOP to put them on the menu once again, but it was worth a try, at least. Until they come back, try these mouth-watering desserts for Oreo lovers.

Most menu items on this list are super sweet and extra decadent, but IHOP's now-discontinued Harvest Grain 'N Nut Pancakes offered an option that was a bit more restrained. These pancakes were packed with walnuts and almonds, along with a slew of seeds for an interesting, slightly crunchy texture and nutty flavor that worked well with the various syrup options available at IHOP. Although this menu item looks less like a dessert than many of the others on this list, it ultimately still seems like it was sugary enough to keep the attention of those with a serious sweet tooth.

Though it may seem like a menu option that would have pretty wide appeal, it was eventually discontinued, and fans still take to Reddit to reminisce over this iconic pancake stack. For the sake of all IHOP fans who love the nuttiness that these pancakes provide, we hope that we'll see them on the menu again.

If you follow a gluten-free diet, whether you have to avoid gluten for serious health concerns or you just prefer to limit your consumption, you know that it can be difficult to find gluten-free versions of your favorite foods. For a while, IHOP offered a stack of gluten-free pancakes that people with food sensitivities could enjoy. Obviously, this was a huge win for gluten-free eaters everywhere, but according to a Redditor who spoke to an IHOP employee, the gluten-free pancakes were taken off the menu, effective March 2026.

That's a huge bummer for those who aren't able to enjoy any other pancakes from the IHOP menu. That's probably why somebody created a petition to try to get them back on the menu. They wrote that their father, who has celiac disease, ate those gluten-free pancakes every weekend, and now, he's out of luck when he goes out to dine at IHOP. At the time of writing, this petition had over 300 signatures.

IHOP's Cupcake Pancakes are just another example of a breakfast-dessert hybrid that appeals to those with an intense sweet tooth. The pancakes themselves were dotted with multi-colored sprinkles for a fun, celebratory appearance. Of course, sprinkles don't add much in the way of flavor, but they're a great way to make your breakfast appear more festive. But that's not the only way in which these pancakes were made to look (and taste) like cupcakes. The recipe also featured cream cheese icing and whipped cream on top. Of course, it was all finished off with even more sprinkles — just for fun.

This menu item was discontinued in 2024, but some Redditors speculate that it could come back in the future eventually. Until then, you can always try making your own cupcake pancakes at home, since stirring some sprinkles into the pancake batter and spreading some icing on top is a pretty simple upgrade to a standard pancake recipe.

Although most of this list is focused on pancake dishes specifically, pancakes aren't all that IHOP sells. If you're looking for a slightly different IHOP experience, you can always try the chain's crepes. The thin, lacy breakfast pastries are pancake-adjacent, but offer a totally different textural experience. Perhaps the best crepes on IHOP's menu were the Banana Nutella Crepes – until they were unceremoniously removed back in 2020.

The decision was met by many disappointed fans expressing their discontent online. If you're craving crepes the next time you're at IHOP, though, there are actually still quite a few options on the menu. There are savory crepes with eggs, chicken, and cheese for those who are looking for a savory breakfast, as well as sweet versions, packed with fruit and icing, which are perfect for those who are looking for a sweet alternative to pancakes. However, those specifically looking for bananas and Nutella are bound to be disappointed until IHOP reverses its decision on this matter.

It's always a bummer when you find something you want to order on a restaurant's menu, only to realize that you're going to sound ridiculous when you say the name of the item. That was certainly the case for those who decided to order the Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity pancakes from IHOP back when they were still on the menu. It was first introduced to IHOP's menu all the way back in the '80s. Since then, it's been replaced by other pancake options. However, in 2023, the brand decided to bring back the iconic menu item as a combo — served with two eggs and either two bacon slices or two sausages — for a limited amount of time in celebration of the chain's 65th anniversary. You could choose to get the pancakes topped with the classic strawberry glaze or switch it up with blueberry, seasonal mixed berry, or cinnamon apple topping. A similar promotion, also available for a limited time, appeared at the beginning of 2024.

Considering that some reference it as a menu item they wish that IHOP would revive, it only makes sense that the chain would roll it out again sometime in the future. Until that moment arrives, though, you'll have to patiently wait for these fruit-topped pancakes.