Eggless Pancake Recipe • 5★

Updated April 6, 2025

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

This breakfast startles in the best way: It tastes like cozy, steaming porridge, but looks and feels like delightful buttermilk pancakes. Tiny quick oats soaked in buttermilk, along with flax and honey, lend a unique tenderness. Biting into a round, crackly with butter and caramelized from honey on the outside, reveals the pleasant, familiar creaminess of oatmeal in the center. Flax meal softens alongside the oats, amplifying their nutty flavor and binding the batter, eliminating the need for eggs. The pancakes are flavorful enough to enjoy on their own, but also taste great with toppings like fresh berries.

Featured in: The Secret to Great Pancakes Has Been in Your Pantry All Along

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1 ¾ cups/395 grams buttermilk

⅔ cup/75 grams quick-cooking or plain instant oats (see Tip)

2 tablespoons ground flax (see Tip)

2 tablespoons honey, plus more for serving if desired

½ teaspoon fine salt

2 tablespoons canola or other flavorless oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

⅔ cup cup/95 grams all-purpose flour

Salted butter, for cooking and serving

Step 1Mix the buttermilk, oats, flax, honey and salt in a large bowl. Let sit for at least 10 minutes and up to an hour. The longer the mixture sits, the creamier and more tender the pancakes. This is a good time to make coffee, eggs, bacon or to get ready for the day.

Mix the buttermilk, oats, flax, honey and salt in a large bowl. Let sit for at least 10 minutes and up to an hour. The longer the mixture sits, the creamier and more tender the pancakes. This is a good time to make coffee, eggs, bacon or to get ready for the day.

Step 2Heat a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-low until hot.

Heat a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-low until hot.

Step 3While the skillet heats, stir the oil into the wet ingredients until fully incorporated, then stir in the baking soda until dissolved. Add the flour and stir very gently until no traces of it remain.

While the skillet heats, stir the oil into the wet ingredients until fully incorporated, then stir in the baking soda until dissolved. Add the flour and stir very gently until no traces of it remain.

Step 4Swipe a large pat of butter over the hot pan to coat it generously. (Sizzling the batter in lots of butter gives the pancakes a rich flavor.) Scoop in generous ¼ cups of batter, spacing them 2 to 3 inches apart. Cook until the bottoms are deeply browned and the tops bubble, 2 to 3 minutes, then carefully flip the rounds and cook until browned outside and cooked through inside, about 2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining batter, buttering the pan between each batch.

Swipe a large pat of butter over the hot pan to coat it generously. (Sizzling the batter in lots of butter gives the pancakes a rich flavor.) Scoop in generous ¼ cups of batter, spacing them 2 to 3 inches apart. Cook until the bottoms are deeply browned and the tops bubble, 2 to 3 minutes, then carefully flip the rounds and cook until browned outside and cooked through inside, about 2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining batter, buttering the pan between each batch.

Step 5Serve hot, with honey and more butter if you’d like.

Serve hot, with honey and more butter if you’d like.

Quick-cooking oats are slightly flatter and cut smaller than old-fashioned oats, and instant oats are even smaller and thinner. If you have only old-fashioned (rolled) oats, pulse them into tiny bits to replicate the lighter texture that quick-cooking oats deliver.

Ground flax, also known as flax meal, binds this batter together and accentuates the nutty taste of oats. You can substitute 2 large eggs for the flax, beating them well and adding to the soaked oats along with the oil in Step 3. The pancakes will taste more like classic buttermilk ones.

I'm going to be That New Englander and ask if maple syrup will work in place of the honey.

@Kat I do it all the time--just a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or white vinegar to your oat milk and let it sit for 10 minutes to make it a buttermilk substitute!

A couple of additional tips. When cooking pancakes, flip once and only once. Once flipped, do not press them with the spatula. Multiple flips and pressing leads to tough pancakes.

When to flip? I flip once the tops stop bubbling. At that point they will be nice and brown.

I used regular oats because I lost access to a food processor during a breakup (the relationship was definitely not worth it). I soaked them for the longer end of the range, as someone suggested. We really like them this way, though I'm sure they are very different from what G.Ko intended. Expect a moist, not fluffy, center and you'll be more likely to enjoy them!

They were very chewy. Not for me.

These just didn’t work for me with the egg substitute. Made them twice, both times they were very wet, needed to add almost a half cup of flour extra.

Source: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1026644-oatmeal-pancakes