Pancakes Lab802 recipes
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What goes into pancakes

The main ingredient list of all 802 recipes, with names merged so one choice counts once: unsalted and salted butter are butter, light and dark brown sugar are brown sugar, kosher and table salt are salt. Different flours stay apart. Frosting, glaze and other extras are counted on their own at the end.

In short

  • Most pancake recipes use butter (54%); 24% use oil.
  • For sugar, 65% use white sugar alone, 15% maple syrup or honey (with or without sugar), and 8% brown sugar alone.
  • For leavening, 53% use baking powder alone, 41% baking powder and baking soda together, and 3% baking soda alone.
  • For dairy, 49% use milk alone, 25% buttermilk alone, and 5% milk and yogurt together.
  • 33% add fruit, 23% spice and 7% chocolate; 53% add none of these.

The main choices

Each block sorts every recipe into one group by a single decision. Amounts are the median among recipes in that group, scaled to 250 g of flour, the size of a typical batch. The recipe named under each group is the one in it closest to the typical batch on every ingredient.

Butter, oil or both

Each recipe counted once, by the fats in its main ingredient list.

Margarine and vegan butter count as butter (1 recipe). Oil includes coconut oil (1%) and olive oil (2%).

White, brown or a syrup

Each recipe counted once, by the sweeteners in its main ingredient list.

  • White sugar only

    median 38 g sugar · closest to typical: Buttermilk Pancakes (livewellbakeoften.com)

    65%529 recipes

  • With maple syrup or honey

    median 60 g sugar · closest to typical: Peach Buttermilk Cornmeal Pancakes (daringgourmet.com)

    15%128 recipes

  • Brown sugar only

    median 44 g sugar · closest to typical: Pumpkin Pancakes (twopeasandtheirpod.com)

    8%70 recipes

  • No sugar

    closest to typical: American Pancakes (uitpaulineskeuken.nl)

    7%64 recipes

  • Everything else

    1%11 recipes

White sugar includes powdered sugar, in 3% of recipes. Coconut sugar counts as brown (1 recipe). "With maple syrup or honey" means any liquid sweetener (maple syrup, honey, molasses and other syrup), with or without dry sugar. Coarse and cinnamon sugar are usually sprinkled on top, so they do not count here.

Baking soda, baking powder or both

Each recipe counted once, by what it relies on to rise.

  • Baking powder only

    median 13 g baking soda and powder · closest to typical: Pumpkin Pancakes (twopeasandtheirpod.com)

    53%432 recipes

  • Baking powder and baking soda

    median 15 g baking soda and powder · closest to typical: Buttermilk Pancakes (livewellbakeoften.com)

    41%330 recipes

  • Baking soda only

    median 7 g baking soda and powder · closest to typical: Cracker Barrel Pancakes (amiraspantry.com)

    3%31 recipes

  • Everything else

    1%9 recipes

Which dairy

Each recipe counted once, by the dairy in its main ingredient list. Butter is counted with the fats.

Yogurt includes Greek yogurt (4%). Evaporated milk counts as milk.

Whole eggs, yolks or whites

Each recipe counted once, by the parts of the egg it uses.

  • Whole eggs only

    median 100 g egg · closest to typical: Buttermilk Pancakes (livewellbakeoften.com)

    89%721 recipes

  • No egg

    closest to typical: Eggless Pancakes Recipe (spiceupthecurry.com)

    7%62 recipes

  • Everything else

    2%19 recipes

A large egg is about 50 g out of the shell, a yolk about 18 g, a white about 32 g.

Add-ins

Share of recipes that add at least one of each. A recipe can add several, so the shares do not sum to 100%. 53% add none of these.

  • Fruit33%

    banana 10% · blueberries 8% · pumpkin 6%

  • Spice23%

    cinnamon 19% · nutmeg 5% · ginger 4%

  • Chocolate7%

    chocolate chips or chunks 6% · bar chocolate 1%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 802 recipes that list it at least once, for every ingredient in 5% or more of them. The median amount is among recipes that use it and give a weighable amount, scaled to 250 g of flour; for a flour, it is that flour's share of all the flour in the recipe.

  1. Baking powder95%

    762 recipes · median 10 g

  2. Eggs90%

    725 recipes · median 100 g (about 2 large eggs)

  3. All-purpose flour87%

    700 recipes · median: all of the flour

  4. Salt83%

    668 recipes · median 3 g

  5. Granulated sugar70%

    564 recipes · median 38 g

  6. Milk62%

    501 recipes · median 324 g

  7. Butter54%

    436 recipes · median 56 g

  8. Vanilla51%

    417 recipes · median 6 g

  9. Baking soda45%

    361 recipes · median 6 g

  10. Buttermilk30%

    241 recipes · median 435 g

  11. Vegetable oil20%

    163 recipes · median 40 g

  12. Cinnamon19%

    153 recipes · median 2.6 g

  13. Brown sugar10%

    87 recipes · median 41 g

  14. Banana10%

    85 recipes · median 295 g

  15. Maple syrup9%

    76 recipes · median 52 g

  16. Blueberries8%

    70 recipes · median 221 g

  17. Whole wheat flour8%

    65 recipes · median: all of the flour

  18. Pumpkin6%

    55 recipes · median 245 g

  19. Chocolate chips or chunks6%

    50 recipes · median 146 g

  20. Nutmeg5%

    45 recipes · median 0.9 g

  21. Honey5%

    43 recipes · median 50 g

  22. Water5%

    43 recipes · median 165 g

Toppings and extras

32% of recipes (260 of 802) list something beyond the main recipe: a frosting, glaze, filling, crumb topping, a boiling bath or a sprinkle on top. None of it is counted above. The most common extra ingredients, as a share of all recipes:

  • Maple syrup10% (83)
  • Butter9% (76)
  • Powdered sugar3% (25)

How the ingredients are counted

A recipe uses an ingredient when any line of its main ingredient list names it. Names are merged by the words in them, so “1 cup unsalted butter, softened” and “salted butter” are both butter, and a line that offers a choice (“walnuts or pecans”) counts as the first one named. Canola, vegetable and other neutral oils are one oil; coconut and olive oil are listed on their own.

Lines only for greasing the pan are left out (7 of them). Lines for brushing, sprinkling or serving, and lines that belong to a frosting, glaze, filling or topping, count as extras.

Amounts come from the grams on each recipe page: printed by the source, or converted from cups and spoons with standard densities. Scaling them to 250 g of flour lets a small recipe and a double batch line up. Percentages are rounded down.