These Butter Pecan Pancakes are everything that your weekends need this fall. The pancakes are super fluffy, made with brown butter and buttermilk, perfectly spiced, and full of crunchy pecans. I drizzled them with some of the Salted Toffee Butter Sauce I made a few weeks ago, and they were just fantastic. Find out how to make these, and get my best pancake making tips, or just go straight to the recipe!
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When the evenings are cooler and the leaves hint at the glorious color that’s to come, I start thinking about my fall cooking and baking plans. Of course, there’s pumpkin things, and apple things. There’s coffee and maple and caramel and nuts. And butter pecan. All the best flavors of fall.
I love butter pecan ice cream, with that great salty-sweet, creamy-crunchy goodness it has going on. And over the years, I’ve made quite a few various butter pecan recipes. My own homemade ice cream, a butter pecan cake, cookies (which will be coming to my blog soon), and now these butter pecan pancakes. They’re cozy, sweet, comforting – all the things that weekends in the fall should be.
How to Make Butter Pecan Pancakes
Make some Brown Butter.
Making brown butter is as easy as melting butter on the stove. Once the butter has melted, you cook it for a few minutes longer until nutty brown solids form at the bottom of the pan. It has a toasty, rich flavor that’s much deeper and more aromatic than plain melted butter, and it really takes these butter pecan pancakes to the next level.
Combine the Dry Ingredients.
While you’re browning the butter, you can measure and sift your dry ingredients together. This recipe uses all-purpose flour, dark brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. The dark brown sugar and the spices perfectly complement the flavor of the brown butter, while the salt helps to balance the sweetness and add those salty-sweet notes that butter pecan recipes are known for.
Add the Liquid Ingredients.
Once the brown butter is ready, you can mix up your batter. Pour the butter into the bowl of dry ingredients, and add the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Whisk briefly, just to incorporate all the dry bits without over-mixing, then fold in the chopped pecans. I reserve some of the chopped pecans to sprinkle on top of the pancakes as garnish. Now you can heat up your griddle and start cooking!
Pancake Making Tips
Use a Moderate Temperature on the Griddle.
We make pancakes pretty often on the weekends, and my biggest tip would be to cook your pancakes slowly over a moderate temperature. Now, I know some people like to get their pan searing hot, melt some butter in the pan, and then drop in the batter. This method essentially fries the pancakes so the edges get browned and crispy.
This method isn’t for me. Waffles should be crispy with soft, fluffy interiors, but a pancake isn’t supposed to be crispy. I like a pancake that’s evenly golden brown, soft and cake-like in texture. So I set the temperature on our griddle to 300 F, and no higher. And because our griddle is non-stick, I rarely use any butter on it, because I find that the butter darkens the color of the pancake too quickly. All of this is totally personal preference though, and this is just my way. The pancakes cook slowly, so that the outside doesn’t get too dark before the inside cooks through, making a very light, fluffy pancake that’s so soft and tender.
Give the Pancakes Room to Spread.
Nothing is more annoying when making pancakes than when the pancakes spread out, all the edges touching, and you barely have any room to flip them. So give them space.
Now, that said, this particular recipe doesn’t spread much. It’s a very fluffy batter, and when I dolloped it onto the griddle, I actually had to use a spoon to spread it out a bit. You can see how fluffy and tall each pancake is! I usually make fairly small pancakes (since I have two toddlers), so I measure mine out with a 1/4 cup measuring cup. For adult-sized pancakes, use a 1/2 cup measuring cup, making sure to allow for more room on the griddle.
Keep the Pancakes and Toppings Warm.
Unless your family is eating the pancakes hot off the griddle as fast as you can cook them, keep the first batch warm while you cook the rest of the batter. I like to line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper and set the pancakes on there to keep warm in a 150 degree oven.
And don’t forget to warm up your toppings! Butter should be soft and spreadable, and the maple syrup, honey or jam should be warm, not cold from the fridge.
What to Serve with Butter Pecan Pancakes
I have pretty classic tastes, usually, when it comes to pancakes. A little butter and pure maple syrup makes me happy. But to really enhance the flavor of the brown butter and the pecans, I decided to serve these with an easy Salted Toffee Butter Sauce.
A few weeks ago, I made a batch of this toffee sauce, and since we still had some left, I thought it would be perfect on these butter pecan pancakes. The sauce is quick and easy to make, only taking five minutes and five ingredients. It’s made from butter, dark brown sugar, salt, bourbon and cream, and it was absolutely delicious on the pancakes. Finished with more chopped pecans, they were simply perfect.
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Butter Pecan Pancakes
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp cloves
- 1 ¼ cups whole buttermilk
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup pecans, finely chopped
- salted toffee butter sauce, for serving (see note)
Instructions
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter for about 5-7 minutes, swirling the pan occasionally, until nutty brown solids form at the bottom of the pan. Immediately remove from the heat, scrape the solids off the bottom of the pan with a spatula, and pour the butter into the batter.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.
- When the browned butter is ready, pour the butter into the bowl of dry ingredients, and add the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Whisk briefly to combine. Fold in 1/2 cup of the chopped pecans. The batter will be thick and fluffy.
- Preheat a griddle to 300F and lightly grease with butter. Use a cupcake scoop, or a 1/4 cup measuring cup, to portion out the batter, leaving several inches between each. The batter is very fluffy and won't spread on its own, so immediately after scooping it onto the griddle, use a spatula to gently spread it out a little.
- Cook the pancakes until golden brown underneath, and they can be easily flipped. Flip over, and cook the other side until they are cooked through.
- Serve with the toffee butter sauce and the rest of the chopped pecans.
They are gorgeous and so are your pics!
You mentioned you live at 5000 ft. Any suggestions for 6500 ft altitude adjustments for any of your recipes? Do you think I can just follow your measurements? All of your recipes look tempting to make, but I don’t know if I should make adjustments or not. Your advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance. Lynne
Lynne, it’s possible you might need to make some very slight adjustments, but honestly, I would think you could make most of my recipes without adjusting anything. The rule of thumb is to make adjustments for every 1,000 feet, and I’m in Denver, which is 5,280 feet to be precise. I’d suggest just making my recipes as written the first time, and then making adjustments the next time, if needed. My guess is that they’ll work just fine at your altitude! This article by King Arthur Baking has some good guides on the subject: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking