The kids are officially back in school and that means lazy mornings spent making oatmeal cinnamon blender waffles or kefir coffee cake are officially reserved for Saturdays.
Of course, anytime I spend a good bit of time in the kitchen I make extras and freeze for quick breakfasts later, but at the rate at which my family eats waffles, I’m lucky to have enough to make it to Tuesday!
That means having a back-up plan and a handful of super fast breakfast recipes to get me through the rest of the week. That’s where this sheet pan pancake recipe comes into play.
Like waffles, my kids love pancakes. I mean, what kid doesn’t? Cover them with butter and real maple syrup and they’ll disappear in minutes.
Which kind of stinks, considering pancakes can be time-consuming to make.
I usually make pancakes on our griddle (we have this one) and I can make 5-6 at a time. If I’m making one batch of pancakes, it means breakfast is ready in about 20 minutes.
However, if you don’t have a griddle and make pancakes on a large skillet instead, breakfast will take significantly longer.
I only have two kids, but we’re at the point where I rarely – if ever – make just one batch of pancakes anymore. It’s not worth my time.
If I’m mixing batter, waiting for the griddle to preheat, and dirtying the dishes that I’m going to have to wash, I might was well make a double – or triple or quadruple – batch of pancakes instead. No additional time mixing, no additional time waiting for the preheat, and no additional dirty dishes to wash when I’m done. Learning how to maximize your time in the kitchen is actually one of the core lessons I teach in my course Grocery Budget Bootcamp!
However, there is additional time cooking if you use a griddle or a skillet…
… but not if you cook pancakes in the oven.
Before you shake your head at me and say it’s heresy to cook pancakes in the oven, hear me out.
- Sheet pan pancakes don’t have the signature golden color that most pancakes have.
- And they’re not round.
- And they might not be quite as fluffy as you’d like (although some of that is because of your recipe and/or cooking technique, as we learned in the perfect scrambled eggs).
But you know what? The kids don’t care. Just the other day my son ate half a pan as an after school snack!
What DOES matter is that they still taste like pancakes and they’re ready in less than 12 minutes. On a busy school morning, sheet pan pancakes can save the day.
Sheet Pan Pancake Recipe
I have to confess though, that while I titled this post “sheet pan pancake recipe,” I’m not entirely sure you can really call it a recipe. It’s more like a cooking method.
Or really, a busy mom’s cooking hack.
In either case, here’s what you need to know to make sheet pan pancakes a hit in your home.
Use your family’s favorite pancake recipe.
A few of our favorites include the very best high protein pancakes, strawberry pancakes, sourdough pancakes and soaked whole grain pancakes. This whole wheat pancake recipe looks delicious too.
I’ve even used my cinnamon oatmeal waffle batter as a pancake – just reduce the butter to 3 Tbsp and you’re all set.
All pancake recipes will work here, so pick whatever you like most and start there.
Don’t add fruit or nuts into the batter.
Most pancake recipes will have you mix fruit or nuts into the batter at the very end. If you’re making this sheet pan pancake recipe, either add the fruit and nuts to the pan FIRST, or sprinkle the fruit and nuts on top of the batter LAST. This will ensure your fruit and nuts are distributed evenly among your pancakes.
Note: Once your batter is in the pan, you shouldn’t attempt to redistribute any fruit or nuts that got clumped together at one end. Call it an oops and just add more to where it’s missing. Then remember to NOT add your mix-ins to the batter.
Make extras!
One pan of sheet pan pancakes will be ready in 10-12 minutes. If your oven is already going to be on, why not make plenty of extras?
The last time I made these, I made a batch of blueberry vanilla (pictured) and cinnamon oatmeal. The kids ate the blueberry vanilla pancakes for breakfast while I cut the cinnamon oatmeal pancakes into slightly smaller squares and froze them.
I can definitely use these frozen pancakes for a fast breakfast later, but my real plan is to pull these out when I’m in a pinch for lunch ideas.
- Have you ever needed to pack your kid a disposable lunch because they’re going on a field trip?
- Or when you went to make lunches, you realized you didn’t have enough bread?
- Or someone already ate what you planned to put in the lunchbox? (We LOVE this lunchbox, by the way)
Enter cinnamon oatmeal sheet pan pancakes. The “plain” flavor of cinnamon oatmeal makes a great PBJ sandwich – just ask my kids because that’s what they took on their second day of school!!
- 1 batch of your favorite pancake recipe (see post for my favorites)
- parchment paper
- 9x13 sheet pan*
- Preheat the oven to 425F.
- Meanwhile, prepare your pancake batter as directed. Line the sheet pan with parchment paper.
- When the oven is ready, pour your batter into the lined sheet pan. If necessary, tilt the pan or spread the batter with a spatula to get the batter to the ends of the pan.
- Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the center of the pancake is no longer jiggly.
- Remove and allow to cool slightly before cutting and serving.
I combine the dry ingredients in a jar ahead of time (6 or 8 batches at a time) to expedite things at cooking time. Also, the fastest, easiest, most popular breakfast I know is a banana-oatmeal-nut cookie recipe that uses maple syrup or honey to sweeten and applesauce in place of butter. They freeze well and I’m happy to let the kids eat them all day!
Great idea to make these even faster Kitchen Fairy! Do you have a link to those cookies? They sound good!
I’m not Kitchen Fairy, but here’s the recipe I use (that sounds similar to hers) for easy and super-healthy cookies: http://approachingfood.com/my-raw-food-saga-and-taras-awesome-energy-bites/. So super-healthy! 🙂
Thank you Margaret! I have bananas that need to get used up ASAP – I’ll make this today!!
Just checking…. what size sheet pan? Mine is huge, so I don’t want to end up with a crepe (although that may not be so bad lol)
Hi Lynn! 9×13 for a single batch of pancakes. If you make 1 1/2 batches or even a double batch, go for a bigger sheet pan or split the batter between two smaller ones. 🙂
I made this over the weekend and I love it! It’s hard making pancakes with toddlers yelling at your feet! They do not understand that breakfast isn’t ready even though a few pancakes are already out of the pan! Thanks again Tiffany! I did mix my banana very thoroughly with my wet ingredients before adding to the pan and everything turned out great for me!
I’m so glad everyone loved these Rebecca! You’re very welcome!!
How many cups of batter make a batch?
Hi Susan! I tested this with a recipe that used 1 1/2 cups flour and 1 1/2 cups of milk – so about 3 cups of batter is one batch for a 9×13 pan.
Thanks! My recipe came to 3.5 cups and it worked great! It took about 12 minutes.
Thanks sooo much for the tip! My family loves baked oatmeal, so I’m quite sure this would be a winner. Can’t wait to try this!
Btw, we’ve made your Leftover Oatmeal Chocolate Cake more times than I can count, always with great results.:)
Thanks for sharing that with my Sophy! You just made my day! ♥
I tried this the other day for the first time and have to say it worked quite well! Not like a regular pancake at all (more like american pancakes than the ones we have here – that are more crêpe like – which I already figured going into it even though we used our regular recipe and just made a bigger batch). Only “problem” was it formed a very noticeable skin on top which made it firmer (which is fine) but also more chewy and less fluffy (which isn’t as great). Any thoughts on why this would’ve happened? But all in all definitely a way of making them I’ll be trying again and tweaking as I go for when I don’t want to create more dishes or the frying pan is busy. Neat!
Hi E! I never noticed a “skin”, but these definitely aren’t going to be as fluffy as you’d like (which I mentioned in the post). It as to do with the leavener (usually baking soda) and how it reacts to heat (usually does best with instant high heat, like a griddle, rather than slow heat in an oven). To prevent chew, make sure not to overmix the batter. Just fold dry & wet together until JUST combined, and even a few spots of dry are okay. That will prevent the gluten in the flour from forming strands (which is great for bread, but not great for pancakes). You can also try whipping the eggs separately, yolks with wet and whipping the whites into meringue, and then folding that in too for additional fluff. Let us know if your tweaks work E!!
Oh they were plenty fluffy for the most part, just not on top because of the “skin” (they looked nothing like your photos). I’m not sure what caused it. Could be because I used an egg-free recipe. I will definitely report back if I figure out a good way to “fix” it 🙂
My batter only used 1 c milk and 1 c flour, still turned out great! Took out at 10 minutes and I actually got to eat warm pancakes for once with the family since I was glued to my griddle! Thanks for the idea.
This is wonderful news Sarah! I know exactly what you mean about eating cold pancakes. Side-effect of being the mom! 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. Tried this the other day and loved it!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Beth!
Didn’t like this recipe or method at all, pancakes where rubbery and seemed undercooked, cooked a little longer and they just dried out. But I substituted buttermilk for the acid and half and half. Do you think that could have had messed it up?
It may have Shana – I’ve only made this recipe as written. I shared how it’s slightly different than normal pancakes, but if you made substitutions and cooked longer than I suggested, then I’m not sure the recipe is to blame. 🙁
Hi Tiffany,
I made Apple Cinnamon pancakes a couple weeks ago using your sheet pan method and they turned out pretty good!
Does a pancake mix like Bisquick Original Pancake mix work for this method as well?
And if 2 sheet pans are needed, can you bake them at the same time in oven and how would this affect the total baking time/ temperature?
Please let me know and thank you much!
Hi Caitlyn! A pancake mix should work well, but I have a homemade version of Bisquick that I’d recommend over the box: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2016/05/homemade-bisquick/ 🙂
Yes, you can bake both at the same time! You *might* need to add 1-2 minutes, depending on your oven. I put them on the same rack and rotate halfway through and the same cooking time works for me!
Thank you! This makes cooking for a big family easier, and I get to sit down with everyone instead of keeping track of the griddle all morning.
We made these last night with gluten free Bisquick. I made a triple batch and used two large sheet pans.
Glad you mentioned they wouldn’t look the same. I warned the kids ahead of time. They were delicious, though!! I plan on making more to keep in the freezer.
You’re most welcome Polly!
As I nurse my 3-week-old baby and find this post, it sounds genius. Absolutely genius! Can’t wait to try it with our favorite sourdough pancake recipe. I was thinking we might have to wait a few months before pancakes would be on the menu, but not so. 😋 The other two children will be delighted!