Looking for the perfect balance of zesty and sweet to start your day off on the right foot? These Fluffy Lemon Pancakes bring bold lemony flavor to perfectly textured pancakes for a mood-boosting breakfast the whole family can enjoy!
This pancake recipe is a riff off my go-to brown sugar pancake recipe, which is requested weekly in my household!
In this recipe, you will learn how to make lemon sugar to easily and effectively infuse lemon flavor into your pancakes and how to make a quick at-home buttermilk mixture to yield the fluffiest pancakes.
You’ll also learn how to tell when the pancakes are ready to flip and some of my favorite ways to serve up these delicious homemade pancakes.
Plus, you’ll be left with your new favorite fluffy homemade pancake recipe, that comes together in less than 30 minutes and utilizes both the juice and zest of a fresh lemon to infuse tons of zesty flavor!
Because as a busy mom who loves bold flavor, easy, efficient, and elevated is the name of the game!
Lemon Pancakes Ingredient Highlights
You should be able to get enough lemon zest from one large lemon. Adding the zest to the sugar will infuse the sugar with bold lemon flavor, so you can seamlessly integrate it into your pancakes.
You’d be surprised how much rubbing the zest with the sugar impacts the flavor! I tested this recipe with just adding the lemon zest and with taking the extra step to infuse the sugar with the lemon zest, and the lemon flavor was much more prevalent in the latter.
You can typically use bottled lemon juice in place of fresh lemon juice when baking and have success. That being said, lemon juice cannot replace lemon zest.
In a recipe that calls for both lemon zest and lemon juice, it’s best to grab a fresh lemon and use it to it’s fullest!
Adding the lemon juice to the milk will transform it into a thick acidified buttermilk and makes for the fluffiest pancakes. You should be able to get enough lemon juice from half of a large lemon.
If you have buttermilk on hand, you can use that in place of the milk + lemon juice.
Lemon Pancakes Tips and Tricks
How to Make Homemade Pancakes with Fresh Lemon
First things first! We’re going to whip up lemon sugar to extract the most flavor out of the lemon zest and infuse it into the sugar so that it seamlessly integrates into your pancake batter.
Rinse your lemon and then zest it right into the bowl of sugar.
When you’re zesting your lemon, simply use a sharp cheese grater to grate the outer layer of the lemon directly into the sugar. We’re aiming for the yellow part, not the pith (the whiten part) as the pith can be a little bitter and unpleasant.
Use clean hands to massage the zest into the sugar. The act of massaging the zest releases the oil (hint: the flavor is in the oil!) and infuses the sugar.
While this may seem like just on extra step, it’s definitely worth it! While testing this lemon pancake recipe, I made one batch using this technique, and one batch with just adding the sugar and zest to the batter separately.
The results? The batch with the lemon sugar had a significantly stronger lemon taste.
This recipe calls for acidified buttermilk, which will give you a thicker pancake batter and thus, fluffier Lemon Pancakes. Just stir the lemon juice into the milk and set aside to curdle.
Whisk together the flour, lemon sugar, baking powder, and the salt.
Then, add the egg, vanilla extract, and the buttermilk concoction into the dry ingredients. Whisk again until you’re left with a thin, bubbly batter.
Melt the butter in the pan over medium heat and let it get nice and hot. Then, pour your batter into the pan, leaving about an inch or two in between each pancake.
Look for little air bubbles popping up in the pancake batter. These will indicate that it’s time to flip them.
Pro tip: For thicker, perfectly round pancakes, use these pancake molds!
Cook until the pancakes are golden brown on each side.
How to Properly Store and Reheat Pancakes with Lemon
These lemon pancakes will stay fresh in the fridge for up to 3 days when store in an airtight container. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months.
To reheat, you can either re-fry them in a pan or heat them up in the oven at 350°F for about 5 minutes until they’re warmed all the way through.
The microwave is always an option, but it may impact the texture. Start with just 10-15 seconds and heat more as needed.
If you want to save the raw batter instead to fry up fresh pancakes, just place the batter in the fridge and use within 3 days.
25-Minute Fluffy Lemon Pancakes
SAVE RECIPE TO COLLECTION PIN PRINT RATEIngredients
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (or raw cane sugar)
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest (zest of 1 lemon)
- 1 cup milk (dairy or plant-based)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (½ lemon = approx. 2 tbsp juice)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter for frying (dairy or plant-based)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, add the granulated sugar and lemon zest. Use clean hands to massage the zest into the sugar, to extract the most lemon flavor from the zest and infuse it into the sugar.1 tablespoon lemon zest, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- In a measuring cup or small bowl, add the lemon juice to the milk, stir, and set aside to slightly curdle to make acidified buttermilk.1 cup milk, 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, lemon zest sugar, and salt.1 cup all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- Add the egg, vanilla extract, and your buttermilk mixture, and whisk until smooth, careful not to overbeat. You want a bubbly mixture that is thin enough to run off your spoon, but not too thin that it spreads too flat on the pan. If the mixture seems too thin at this point, you can add up to 2 more tablespoons of flour to the batter.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add butter to your griddle or frying pan and allow it to heat up on medium-high until the butter is melted.3 tablespoons unsalted butter for frying
- For the fluffiest, most perfectly round pancakes, use pancake molds. Pour batter into your molds or freeform circles onto the pan and cook over medium heat.
- When it's ready to flip, the batter on the uncooked side will start to form little air bubbles. Use a spatula to flip the pancakes, and allow them to cook on the other side for 2-3 minutes.
- Continue to fry the pancakes, 2 or 3 at a time, until all of your batter is used up, adding butter when necessary. Serve warm with maple syrup or this 2-Ingredient Lemon Icing!
Pro Tips
- You can use cooking spray instead of butter for a lighter version, but these pancakes taste really good with a little crisp on the outside. Please note, you may have to leave them on your pan or griddle a bit longer to get them golden-brown if you’re using the spray.
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