Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Chocolate Chip Pancakes are like dessert for breakfast! These crisp-edged pancakes with soft insides have melty pools of chocolate throughout! Seriously delicious!

We love Chocolate Chip Pancakes for breakfast! To make an entire breakfast spread, serve them alongside this Egg Skillet or these One-Pan Breakfast Potatoes and Bacon.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Pancakes, Waffles, and French Toast are all favorites at my home — we make at least one of them every Saturday for breakfast. My kiddos go nuts for Saturday morning breakfast! 

While we typically stick these plain Homemade Pancakes, it’s fun to change up the flavors — sometimes adding overripe bananas (like in these Banana Pancakes) or fresh, juicy blueberries (like in these Blueberry Pancakes).

Today though, we’re going for a total breakfast treat — Chocolate Chip Pancakes! These pancakes are sweet, light, fluffy, and completely crave-worthy. Add a splash of good maple syrup (or our homemade pancake syrup) for the perfect finishing touch! 

Make your own Buttermilk

I’m a huge fan of buttermilk in pancakes; it gives them a wonderful lift, texture, and flavor. 

If you don’t have buttermilk, you can still make Chocolate Chip Pancakes! They do have slightly less lift with DIY buttermilk as opposed to regular, but it still works great (I’ve tested both). Here are the instructions:

Pour 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of distilled white vinegar or lemon juice into the bottom of your liquid measuring cup. Fill up the rest with whole milk and give it a quick stir. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes before adding it to the recipe. This DIY buttermilk procedure can be increased or decreased proportionately.

For this pancake recipe, I add 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon vinegar to a liquid measuring cup and add milk until reaching the 1 and 1/4 cup line.

Toppings for Chocolate Chip Pancakes

The best thing about making your own pancakes–chocolate chip or otherwise– is that you get to pick exactly how you want them topped! Below are some ideas:

• A pat of butter
• A drizzle of peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, etc.
• Pure maple syrup
• Vanilla Sauce
• Buttermilk Syrup (great way to use up leftover buttermilk)
• Whipped Cream
• Fresh berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc.)
• Toasted coconut
• Jam (any flavor would be delicious!)
• A sprinkle of powdered sugar
• A drizzle of Nutella® (or similar chocolate/hazelnut spread)

I hope you enjoy these syrup-drenched, chocolate-studded, absolutely perfect pancakes!

Tips for the Best Chocolate Chip Pancakes

• Let the batter stand at room temperature for about 5-10 minutes before adding to the griddle. This gives the flour a chance to absorb the liquid and allows some of those stubborn lumps (that you didn’t overmix!) to take care of themselves.
• Pay attention to the temperature: Really pay attention while you cook the pancakes. If they’re browning too quickly, turn the heat down a bit and cool the pan for a minute. Sticking a lot? Add a bit more butter to the pan. As long as you keep monitoring and adjusting the temperature as needed, your pancakes will turn out fine.
• Invest in a griddle: If you make pancakes often, and have space, I highly recommend an electric skillet or griddle; we use ours a couple of times a week! A griddle makes pancake-making so much easier!
• Before your pancake batter hits the hot pan, run a cold stick of butter on the pan to grease it. This gives the pancakes an evenly distributed layer of fat to cook in. 
  • I like to hold the stick of butter with tongs to keep the heat away from my fingertips. Use the tongs as an extension of your hand, and run the butter across your skillet or griddle.
• Use your favorite type of chocolate. We like miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips best in these pancakes — they disperse more evenly which means there’s chocolate in every bite! That said, you can use whatever chocolate chips you have on hand or like best — dark, milk, semi-sweet, or even white chocolate!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes FAQs

More easy breakfast recipes

• Quiche Lorraine with bacon
• Healthy Breakfast Cookies no baking required
• Dutch Baby also called German pancakes
• Strawberry Scones with Greek yogurt
• Soft-Baked Oatmeal Breakfast Bars with chocolate chips

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5 from 1 vote

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

By Chelsea Lords

Delicious Chocolate Chip Pancakes are made with mini chocolate chips and buttermilk, balance perfectly between crisp and soft.

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 pancakes

Equipment

• Large pan non-stick, or electric griddle

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

Wet Ingredients

• ▢ 8 tablespoons unsalted butter divided, see note 1
• ▢ 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• ▢ 1 cup + 3 tablespoons whole milk room temperature
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 large egg room temperature

Dry Ingredients

• ▢ 1-1/4 cups flour
• ▢ 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
• ▢ 1 teaspoon cornstarch optional
• ▢ 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• ▢ Syrup see note 2

Instructions 

• Start by melting 5 tablespoons of butter in the microwave. Once melted, set aside to cool to room temperature. Make sure milk and egg are at room temperature otherwise the butter will clump.
• Pour white vinegar into a liquid measuring cup. Pour milk on top up to the 1-1/4 cup line. Stir. Set aside for 5 minutes to slightly curdle. Add in egg and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
• In a very large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Pour the milk mixture and melted butter right on top of dry ingredients, scrape with a spatula to get every bit. Whisk no longer than 30 seconds; some lumps are ok! Add chocolate chips and gently fold in. Let batter sit 10 minutes.
• Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. Or heat an electric griddle to 300℉. Once hot, grab the remaining 3 tablespoons butter with tongs and rub across the griddle. Use a paper towel to gently wipe off some of the butter.
• Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop batter and pour onto griddle. It should spread to a 4-inch circle. You can coax it with a spoon if it doesn't. Cook until you see bubbles spread across the pancake. Use a thin metal spatula to flip and cook on the other side. Pancake should be nicely golden brown on each side. If pancakes or butter is burning, lower heat.
• Wipe down the pan or griddle with a paper towel. Rub the butter across the pan again and repeat until the batter is all used up. To keep pancakes warm while cooking, see note 3.
• Serve pancakes as soon as possible with toppings of choice.

Recipe Notes

Note 1: This recipe calls for 8 tablespoons of butter. 5 tablespoons are melted for the batter. The remaining 3 tablespoons can be used to grease the pan for cooking the pancakes. If your butter comes in stick form, this is easier to divide out.

Note 2: To make my favorite syrup, combine 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup light brown sugar, 1/2 cup heavy cream, and a pinch of salt in a medium pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until butter melts and syrup slightly thickens, about 5–8 mins. Remove from heat, stir in 1 tablespoon vanilla extract.

Note 3: Place a cooling rack on a large pan. As soon as you take a pancake off the skillet or griddle, place it on the cooling rack in a single layer. Put pan in a 200℉ oven as you continue to cook more pancakes.

Storage: Let pancakes cool, then stack with wax paper between each. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat in the microwave or toaster.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 156kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 37mg | Sodium: 227mg | Potassium: 23mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 296IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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