Fluffy Pancakes With Pancake Mix

Have you ever made pancakes with pancake mix and were not satisfied with the way they turned out? Did they miss fluffiness and some quality flavor? That is what usually happens with pancake mixes, regardless of who manufactured them.

What’s in Pancake Mix?

Boxed pancake mix is made with:

• Enriched bleached flour (the flour is enriched with niacin or vitamin B3)
• Partially hydrogenated soybean oil
• Leavening agent (baking soda and/or baking powder)
• Dextrose
• Salt

At first glance, some of the ingredients may have weird names and sound scary, so let’s dive into these ingredients to see what is going with them.

Dextrose is just a form of glucose, which is a simple sugar. The dextrose is added to make the pancakes a bit sweet, but you can adjust the level of sweetness by adding some sugar.

As a counterpart, the salt is added just to keep the flavor in balance. 

The one ingredient none of us wants is partially hydrogenated soybean oil. It is basically a form of trans fats and we all do know how trans fats are bad for us. If possible, try to find a pancake box mix without partially hydrogenated oil of any kind.

How to Make Pancake Mix Fluffy

First of all, please make sure you start with a quality pancake mix. I found this one a while back on Amazon and it is by far the best pancake mix I’ve ever tried.

Here are some useful tips on how to turn the box pancakes into the real delicacy:

• Sift the pancake mix – the first thing you want to do when making any kind of pancakes is to sift the dry ingredients. By sifting the dry ingredients, you are aerating them, which will result in fluffy pancakes.
• Use melted butter – although box pancakes may contain hydrogenated palm oil, some mixes are completely fat-free. If you find one, make sure you use melted butter. Besides giving flavor, the butter will give some fluffiness to the pancakes. 
• Use milk or buttermilk – when using pancake box mixes, sometimes you will see “just add water.” Of course, you do not have to always follow these instructions, and you can add milk or buttermilk instead. By adding these ingredients, the pancakes will get more fat content and therefore become softer and fluffier. 
• Add eggs – some pancakes already have powdered eggs in them, but an extra egg will give the pancakes a better texture, flavor, and fluff-factor. In this recipe, I have beaten egg whites separately, and this really gave some extra fluff. 
• Use more leavening agents – this is also something I have personally tried. The box pancakes have the leavening agent, but it can get weak after time. This is so obvious with the box pancakes that are near the expiration date. Feel free to add extra baking powder or soda to make fluffy pancakes from a box. 
• To get Japanese style pancakes, use dessert molds – Place the mold on a skillet and fill up to a half with the pancake batter. Cook for a minute and then remove the mold. Flip the pancake and cook for another minute. 

Mistakes to Avoid for Fluffy Pancakes

Although pancakes are easy to make, sometimes we do get carried away and turn the pancakes instead of a gourmet treat to a complete failure.

Here are a couple of tips to prevent your pancakes from going flat:

• Do not overmix the batter – the pancake batter should be mostly lump-free, but if you overmix it, you will destroy the air bubbles and the pancakes will deflate. 
• Make sure your pan is hot – a pan that is not hot will not activate the ingredients and start the needed reactions within the batter. At the same time, make sure your pan is not too hot as the pancakes may burn.
• Don’t use poor quality mix – Make sure you use a high-quality pancake mix, like my favorite from Augason Farms.

How to Make Fluffy Pancakes With Pancake Mix

Step 1

Gather your ingredients.

In a mixing bowl, beat egg, butter, and buttermilk.

Step 2

Add pancake mix to the eggs, butter, and buttermilk. Whisk until combined. 

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with lemon juice until stiff peaks form.

Step 3

Gradually fold the egg whites into the pancake mixture.

Step 4

Heat the skillet over medium-high heat.

Drop ¼ cup of the batter onto the skillet.

Cook the pancake for 1 minute. Lift and flip the pancakes and cook for another minute.

Serve pancakes warm.

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