• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Joy the Baker
Joy the Baker
  • New Magazine!
  • Bread
  • Cookies
  • Cakes
  • Pies
  • Recipes
    • All Recipes
    • Biscuits
    • Muffins
    • Cupcakes
    • Drinks
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Fruit
    • Nuts
    • Buttermilk
    • Chocolate
    • Vanilla
    • Holiday
    • Healthy
    • Gluten-Free
    • Vegan
  • Blog
    • Baking 101
    • Tips
    • Beyond the Kitchen
    • Let It Be Sunday!
    • New Orleans

Dad’s “Clean Your Plate” Buttermilk Pancakes

August 17, 2008 by Joy the Baker 102 Comments

My Dad has the hands that feed. My Mom can make a bundt cake that might make you want to slap your Grandma, but Dad has the love for cooking. You can tell whether or not someone loves cooking by observing a few simple movements: the way they look at ingredients and the way they stir a pot. My Dad will look at an unrolled pie crust like he’s looking at a newborn baby. He stirs a pot of his famous spaghetti sauce like he’s melting down gold. Not one ounce of that affection for food was lost on me growing up in his kitchen.

But there’s a problem. As much as I adore sitting down to a plate full of food, I rarely if ever finish everything on my plate. I always leave at least a bite or two untouched. Why? I have a theory. It’s solid.

My love for food is rivaled only by my father’s love for food. Let’s face it, the man can eat circles around me. Sitting to the left of my Dad at the dinner table for 18 years was a heroing (ok, I’m totally exaggerating) task. Without fail, I would get down to my last few bites of food, I might take a moment, set down my fork, relax, have a sip of juice, all perfectly normal dining practices. In those moments, my Dad would look over, with an irresistible smile on his face and say, “You need help finishing that?”

Whether of not I ever needed assistance finishing the food on my plate, I don’t remember, but my Dad always, always ate the last few bites on my plate. After a few years of this sort of training, I suppose I just started leaving food on my plate for him to finish. There were exceptions of course, anything involving french fries, ice cream or pancakes were mine all mine.

Don’t get me wrong. I certainly didn’t go hungry. I simply learned to put more on my plate than I could eat, knowing my Dad would eagerly finish my scraps.

These days, I don’t get to share a dinner table with my parents every night, but I still manage to leave a few bites on food untouched on my plate. I do love to talk my Dad into making Saturday morning pancakes. By the time I make the spontaneous call and drive the 30 minutes to their house, the pancakes are already half way to the skillet. One thing is for sure, on pancake mornings, I finish my plate all on my own, and sometime even cast a longing look at my Dad’s plate. Funny how that works.

Dad’s “Clean Your Plate” Buttermilk Pancakes

Print this Recipe!

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

4 teaspoons light brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Whisk together milk, eggs and vegetable oil in a medium bowl, then whisk in the butter.

Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in another medium bowl. Whisk in egg mixture until combined.

Spray a griddle or skillet with nonstick vegetable spray. Working in batches of 3 (or 6 if your griddle will allow) pour 1/3-cup measures of batter onto skillet and cool until bubbles have formed on the top and sides of the pancakes and broken, about 2 minutes. Flip pancakes with a spatula and cook until undersides are golden, about 1 minute more. Lower heat if pancakes brown too quickly. Serve with maple syrup or molasses.

I think it’s amazing that so many of you have fond memories of this salt shaker. I know that it’s been in our family kitchen for as long as I can remember. Funny what fond memories you share with strangers!

Previous PostNext Post

Filed Under: Breakfast, Buttermilk, Recipes

Previous Post: « Crispy Toasted Coconut Cookies
Next Post: Oh! My! God! Doughnuts! »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. jody s

    July 5, 2013 at 10:51 am

    We just made these with some added strawberry chunks and they were devoured. Yum!

    Reply
  2. Renee @ Awesome on $20

    June 12, 2013 at 12:16 am

    I just had to say that my dad’s pancakes are my favorite thing. I hardly ever get to see him, but every time we get together, I have to have his pancakes. It’s one of my favorite memories.

    Reply
  3. Rumi

    September 8, 2012 at 7:43 pm

    Hi Joy.. I’m a long time reader of your blog, and first time commenter.

    I just made these and they turned out AWESOME! This was my first time making pancakes from scratch, and I only reduced the butter a lil bit (ran out to be honest) and increased the buttermilk by 1/4 cup…

    Also beat the egg whites separately and folded them in at the end, and they came out perfect!

    Thanks so much :-)

    Reply
  4. Erin Fulks

    September 3, 2012 at 7:32 am

    OH MY!!!!! I was craving pancakes this morning, but sadly found no milk in the fridge… I drove to the store and was thinking, I doubt the pancakes are gonna be worth getting dressed, brushing my teeth, and driving to get milk….. Boy was I wrong. These pancakes are FANTASTIC. There is no reason to look for another recipe or tweak this. I can’t wait to make them again!

    Reply
  5. Whitney

    August 12, 2012 at 7:02 am

    I made this recipe yesterday. My husband mentioned for the first time that my pancakes have always been good, but not great. I’ve been making him pancakes for over three years and had no idea he though they where just ‘good’. Then I made this recipe and he, including myself cleaned our plate and wanted more even though our stomachs were plenty full. My husband said, ‘these are awesome’ with a mouth full over and over again. I should mention that I did add blueberries because it’s summer and I think blueberry pancakes should be eaten as often as possible in the summer. :) Thank you for a lovely recipe and a lovely story about your dad.

    Reply
  6. Andrea

    May 3, 2012 at 3:48 pm

    Joy, I just made these with my soon to be 4 year old daughter – and yes we are eating them for dinner! Sooooo yummy. My daughter is on her second helping!

    Reply
  7. Kayleen

    March 20, 2012 at 12:56 pm

    This was my third recipe of yours that I’ve tried! The first was the apple pie which was my very first homemade pie. The second was the apple crisp and third was these!! Everything has turned out yummy and my family/boyfriend has loved everything. :) The next thing I’m going to bake is your blueberry-blackberry pie for my boyfriends family!

    Thank you for these awesome recipes :)

    Reply
  8. Jordana

    August 4, 2011 at 12:02 pm

    I made these for my fam this morning and they were a massive hit! Thank you thank you thank you.

    Reply
  9. Monica Hunsberger

    June 19, 2011 at 12:23 pm

    First, we too have the same salt shaker and what a lovely memory to see it! Second, you father’s pancakes sound buttery delicious. The dietitian in me said, “an entire stick of butter with a little oil and buttermilk too”… wow!

    Reply
  10. Aurora

    May 21, 2011 at 8:09 am

    Hey Joy made these this morning! And they were really good, even though I made one change( only ONE! yay:) I reduced the butter to 4TB total- 3 in the batter and 1 to cook all the pancakes in. It was a good decision- I would reduced it further to 2 TB next time. I added an extra TB of buttermilk to compensate for the loss of moisture from the butter. These pancakes were not super fluffy, but fairly thin and very buttery, which of course made them delicious. Powdered sugar was the perfect topping because of the buttery-ness of the pancakes- it provided a foil in texture. Would make these again! And it fed the 4 of us perfectly btw.

    Reply
    • Zoe

      May 28, 2011 at 1:20 am

      Loved the pancakes, Joy!!! Loved your great ideas, Aurora – I made the recipe as per your changes, and added 1/4 cup bran to the pancakes, and they were scrumptious!! Perfect winter morning Saturday morning food to treat us with!! :)

      Reply
« Older Comments
Newer Comments »
Comments Page 6 of 7
« Previous 1 … 4 5 6 7 Next »

Trackbacks

  1. Roasted-Almond Thumbprint Cookies | Dough my Dear says:
    April 2, 2014 at 3:12 am

    […] breakfast, I skim through blogs and just like that, 30 minutes later, I have a plate stacked with golden brown pancakes on my table. The word amazing doesn’t quite cut […]

    Reply
  2. Chocolate and Coconut Pancakes with Coconut Cream Chocolate Sauce | Scarletscorchdroppers says:
    March 1, 2014 at 6:29 am

    […] year i’ve made coconut and chocolate pancakes. The basic pancake mix is adapted from Joy The Baker’s ‘Clean your plate’ Buttermilk Pancakes. The desiccated coconut gives them a little texture and bite, and the chocolate chips melt into […]

    Reply
  3. Buttermilk Seed Pancakes - Apples Under My Bed - A food diary. says:
    November 29, 2013 at 1:04 pm

    […] inspired by Joy and […]

    Reply
  4. Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes | Stomach Rumblings and World Travels says:
    November 3, 2013 at 9:27 am

    […] Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes (adapted from Joy the Baker) […]

    Reply
  5. Sweet Corn Hash and other Dad-friendly Foods — Joy the Baker says:
    June 17, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    […] Buttermilk Biscuits & Dad’s Buttermilk Pancakes & Dad’s Perfect Sweet Potato […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

RELATED POSTS IN Breakfast

Baked peach scones stacked with butter.
Easy Peaches and Cream Scones

Friends, hi!  I’m sneaking into your summer weekend with a simple offering: peach scones. There’s not a fussy bit about this invitation.  I simply cannot bear formalities (or bras or any clothing that touches my body) this time of year.  The offering is to take a single ripe peach (you likely have one languishing in…

Read More

Gluten-Free Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

It was supposed to rain last Wednesday, as it’s always supposed to rain every summer afternoon down south.  The rain is a welcome relief to the blanket of humidity we lie under unless, of course, you planned to be outside picking blueberries during said torrential downpour.  I’ve quickly learned to just get out in the…

Read More

Glazed small batch muffin recipe on wire rack.
Small Batch Muffin Recipe: Lemon Poppy Seed

I could argue that the very foundation of Joy the Baker is this recipe for Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins. Taking it aaaalll the way back to 2009 when I stumbled upon the wonder’s of browned butter and juicy baked blueberries.  You loved them. I loved them so much they made it into my first cookbook…

Read More

Primary Sidebar

Fresh baked emails, delivered to your inbox

Jump to Recipe

Receive recipes from Joy the Baker and updates on events at The Bakehouse.

HI! I’M JOY!

Jump to Recipe

Welcome! This has been my little corner of the internet since 2008!

I’m a baker, photographer, cookbook author and teacher.  I live laugh love in New Orleans. 

MORE ABOUT JOY AND THE TEAM

BOOKS + Magazines

Jump to Recipe

JOY THE BAKER 2022 SUMMER MAGAZINE

JOY THE BAKER 2021 HOLIDAY MAGAZINE

JOY THE BAKER 2020 HOLIDAY MAGAZINE

HOMEMADE DECADENCE

OVER EASY: SWEET AND SAVORY RECIPES FOR LEISURELY DAYS COOKBOOK

JOY THE BAKER COOKBOOK

Jump to Recipe

Joy the baker with dyed bandana around neck

HOW TO MAKE DYED BANDANAS

as seen in JtB Magazine!

Jump to Recipe
joy the baker on facebook joy the baker on twitter pinterest-social instagram-socialbloglovin-social

JOY @ WILLIAMS SONOMA

Jump to Recipe

SHOP THE CAKE LINE OF CAKE MIXES!

DRAKE ON CAKE

Jump to Recipe

Passionate from miles away since 2015.

Check it out on Instagram

Drake on cake instagram.

 

FAVORITE FRUIT RECIPES

Baked peach scones stacked with butter.

Easy Peaches and Cream Scones

Gluten-Free Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

strawberry sheet cake on a plate with strawberries on top.

My Favorite Super Easy Strawberry Sheet Cake

POPULAR CAKES

strawberry sheet cake on a plate with strawberries on top.

My Favorite Super Easy Strawberry Sheet Cake

Slice of coconut cake on small white plate with coffee.

My favorite Coconut Cake is actually made with cake mix

A slice of lemon blueberry gooey butter cake held on a cake slicer.

Lemon Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake

Footer

Instagram

joythebaker

📚Baker and author of books and magazines
🎂Creator @drakeoncake
💁🏻‍♀️Classes with me @thebakehousenola
🍰 Products with @williamssonoma

joythebaker
Your weekend baking sorted! 🫠 Just add peanut b Your weekend baking sorted! 🫠 Just add peanut butter and marshmallows to the grocery list. ⁣
⁣
Also, if you snuck some 🍫🍫 in with the marshmallow you’d have a lil peanut butter cookie s’more and no one would be mad. ⁣
⁣
Recipe linked in the profile! xo.
Our no-bake, 🍒🍋 dreams come true thanks to @ Our no-bake, 🍒🍋 dreams come true thanks to @theboywhobakes! ⁣
⁣
This perfect summer recipe is linked in the profile! xo
🤝🫠💓🍅 to July 2022. 🤝🫠💓🍅 to July 2022.
Just when you thought Peanut Butter Cookies couldn Just when you thought Peanut Butter Cookies couldn’t get any better - add a marshmallow, 🫠. Recipe inspired by @thecozyplum and linked in the profile! xo
I have the cutest 🍒 treat for you, friends! ⁣ I have the cutest 🍒 treat for you, friends! ⁣
⁣
I’ve collaborated with the good people @delicacies_jewelry to bring you your new favorite necklace! Cherries are the darling of summer and this sweet pair will help us savor the moment all year!⁣
⁣
Choose between rose gold, sterling silver, and gold necklaces.⁣
⁣
$10 of every 🍒 necklace purchase goes to @2ndharvestgnoa food bank and will provide 40 meals for the food insecure in South Louisiana. Use code cherryjoy15 for a discount through Sunday! Don’t let this slip past you! ⁣
⁣
Jewelry linked in the profile! Grab yours as they’ll definitely sell out! I hope you love these little darlings as much as I do!
⏰ for a GIVEAWAY! We’re giving away 🔟 per ⏰ for a GIVEAWAY! 

We’re giving away 🔟 personalized copies of Joy the Baker Summer Magazine! I can’t be the only one making this 🍌🍌 Malt Ice Box Cake!

To enter, like this post and comment below with the best part of your summer so far! Giveaway open to all and ends Sunday July 31st at midnight ct. 

Joy the Baker magazine is on magazine shelves until August 15th or you can grab your copy online (linked in the bio). It’s my best yet and I hope you love it! 

📸 with @emferretti for the magazine.
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2022 · Joy the Baker
All rights reserved. Violators will be whupped and sent to bed with no dessert · Privacy Policy

Scroll Up