If you’re a fan of things with tiny proportions, you’re going to flip for these Mini Pancakes. Made with just 7 staple ingredients, these adorable bite-sized griddle cakes are tiny enough to be TikTok cereal pancakes but have all the flavor of full-size flapjacks.
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About This Recipe
I can't explain it, but I have a serious penchant for oversized and undersized things. So, when I heard about the TikTok easy recipe trend for making homemade cereal out of miniature, small pancakes, clearly I had to get in on the fun. These fluffy mini pancakes are about the size of a fingertip — just ¾ of an inch across — making them ideal for drowning in milk and eating with a spoon.
Since they’re still the much beloved breakfast treat, these petite homemade pancakes are also much fun stacked up with your favorite toppings like butter and maple syrup or topped with whipped cream and fruit.
Looking for more mini recipes to try? Try these Cherry Chocolate Mini Cakes, Mini Baked Donuts With Sprinkles, Crumb Topped Mini Blueberry Muffins or Mini Spiced Bundt Cakes!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Making this mini pancake recipe requires the same simple ingredients as regular pancakes, full-sized flapjacks or silver dollar pancakes. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Milk - I tend to keep whole milk in stock at our house, but feel free to use whatever dairy or plant-based milk you prefer.
- Butter - Cultured, organic, and grass-fed are all excellent butter attributes.
- Egg - Make sure to let it come to room temperature for easy mixing.
- Granulated Sugar - Just a bit of sugar helps to encourage even browning.
- Baking Powder - Remember that baking powder starts to work as soon as it comes in contact with liquid. As such, don’t make the batter until you’re ready to be griddle master!
- Salt - A touch of salt wakes up all the other flavors and provides a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of maple syrup.
- All-Purpose Flour - While I haven’t tried it, you *should* be able to make these mini pancakes with a gluten-free AP flour blend.
- Maple Syrup & Fresh Fruit - To serve.
Equipment
You’ll only need a few pieces of equipment to make this little pancakes cereal recipe. Here’s what to grab:
- Mixing Bowl & Whisk - I love how easy it is to whip up a batch of pancake batter.
- Squeeze Bottle - The secret to making a perfectly tiny pancake? A squeeze bottle! It's truly the easiest way to get perfect little pancakes. Feel free to repurpose an old ketchup bottle for the purpose, or shift to using a piping bag, freezer bag or ziplock bag!
- Offset Spatula - An offset spatula is great for frosting cakes and making tiny little breakfast bites. Alternatively, feel free to use a pair of chopsticks to help you flip.
- Skillet or Griddle - Surprisingly, you don’t need a special mini pancakes pan to make these fun-size flapjacks. Use a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet, a non-stick pan, or an electric griddle for the best results.
How To Make Mini Pancakes
As you might imagine, making cereal pancakes follows the same process as making normal-sized ones. They’re just smaller, so they’ll cook a bit faster with a fluffy texture and crispy edges for the whole family to enjoy!
Step 1: Make Batter. Combine wet ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Add dry ingredients to the wet and continue to mix until no lumps remain.
Step 2: Squeeze Batter. Using a squeeze bottle, add small ¾-inch drops, the size of a quarter, of pancake batter to a hot pan or hot skillet with melted butter over medium heat. These drops are about a half tablespoon of batter.
Step 3: Cook until you start to see bubbles rise to the surface of the pancake then flip and cook until the second side also turns golden brown.
Step 4: Serve in a bowl with maple syrup or whipped cream and top with fresh fruit!
Optional Variations
While these itty bitty mini pancakes are pint-sized perfection, there’s plenty of room to riff. Here are a few ideas to try:
- Consider Add-Ins. Mini chocolate chips pancakes, mini banana pancakes, blueberry mini pancakes, or mini confetti pancakes (with sprinkles!) are all excellent options. Just make sure the add-ins are appropriately sized by chopping them (or mashing them) up.
- Make Them Silver Dollar-Sized. Mini pancake cereal is no doubt as adorable as can be, but the effort to make that many individual pieces is a real time commitment. Feel free to make life a little easier by bumping up the size to about 2 inches across.
- Make Them Dairy-Free and/or Gluten-Free. Swap in your favorite plant-based milk and butter and/or use your favorite cup-for-cup gluten-free flour blend to make an allergen-friendly breakfast.
Expert Tips
- Preheat the pan. If you’ve ever made pancakes in the past, chances are you’ve experienced what I call “the curse of the first pancake.” If you don’t let your pan preheat well enough, the first side takes what feels like forever to cook and never gets the proper golden hue. It can also sometimes stick! To avoid this, make sure to preheat until the butter gets foamy and bubbly.
- Be orderly. Whether you go from left to right or add your mini pancakes in a swirl pattern, make sure you work in FIFO (first in, first out) fashion. The first pancakes to hit the pan should be the first ones you flip.
- Make the dry mix ahead to save time in the morning. Whisk together all the dry ingredients up to 6 months in advance. When it’s time to make your tiny pancake breakfast, just add the egg, butter, and milk!
Frequently Asked Questions
After making the miniature pancakes, you can keep any leftover pancakes in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to a month. To reheat, dry toast them in a pan or toaster oven. You can also microwave them in a single layer in 20-30 second bursts until heated through.
“Healthy” is both a subjective and a loaded term that can mean a great many things to a great many people. I’m not a registered nutrition professional, but what I can say is this: these tiny pancakes are made using real, easy to pronounce ingredients, so I’m perfectly satisfied that they are good enough for me and my loved ones to eat!
More breakfast recipes
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Mini Pancakes
Equipment
- Skillet or Griddle
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup + 2 Tbsp (344 g) Whole Milk
- ¼ cup (57 g) Unsalted Butter, melted
- 1 Egg, large
- 3 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 ½ cup (180 g) All purpose flour
- Maple syrup & Fresh Fruit to serve
Instructions
- Combine wet ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Add dry ingredients to the wet and continue to mix until no lumps remain.1 ⅓ cup + 2 tablespoon Whole Milk, ¼ cup Unsalted Butter, 1 Egg, 3 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar, 2 teaspoons Baking powder, ¼ teaspoon Salt, 1 ½ cup All purpose flour
- Using a squeeze bottle, add small ¾ inch drops of pancake batter to a skillet with melted butter.
- Cook until you start to see bubbles arise to the surface of the pancake then flip using a fork or butterknife until the second side also turns a golden brown.
- Serve in a bowl with maple syrup or whipped cream and top with fresh fruit!Maple syrup & Fresh Fruit to serve
Notes
Expert Tips
- Preheat the pan. If you’ve ever made pancakes in the past, chances are you’ve experienced what I call “the curse of the first pancake.” If you don’t let your pan preheat well enough, the first side takes what feels like forever to cook and never gets the proper golden hue. It can also sometimes stick! To avoid this, make sure to preheat until the butter gets foamy and bubbly.
- Be orderly. Whether you go from left to right or add your mini pancakes in a swirl pattern, make sure you work in FIFO (first in, first out) fashion. The first pancakes to hit the pan should be the first ones you flip.
- Make the dry mix ahead to save time in the morning. Whisk together all the dry ingredients up to 6 months in advance. When it’s time to make your tiny pancake breakfast, just add the egg, butter, and milk!
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