These British pancakes are easy to make with only a few ingredients. While they're traditional for Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras), they make a delicious snack or dessert any time.
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It's almost that time when Lent is about to begin. Here in the US, most people call it Mardi Gras, in Germany it's called Karneval, and there are many more names elsewhere.
In many places that celebrate the period, it's a time of festivities like parades and often rich foods alongside (I talk more about some of the traditions in my Mardi Gras food post).
In the UK, though, it means one thing: pancakes.
Pancakes are so key to this time that Shrove Tuesday, the British name for Fat Tuesday, is often called "pancake day". The reason pancakes are such a traditional food isn't completely random. Since Lent is about to start, it's a final excuse to use up eggs and butter which would traditionally be given up.
While these days restaurants are more likely to serve you American-style pancakes, Shrove Tuesday is an excuse to have traditional British ones.
To be honest, as I was growing up, I think this was the only time of year we had these, but they were so good, I'd eat lots of them. I have distinct memories sitting in the kitchen and eating them almost as fast as my mum could cook them. I suspect I just ate these for dinner more than once, or I could be overly hopeful in that memory.
How do American and British pancakes differ?
The main difference is that American-style pancakes generally have a raising agent in them while British do not. As a result, American pancakes fluff up as they cook, making them thicker and lighter.
British pancakes are closer to French crepes, but they tend to be a bit smaller and slightly thicker. With crepes, you usually have a very thin dough and swirl it around the pan (or use a special tool, if you are like the street vendors, to make it really big and thin). With these, you tip the pan slightly to spread the batter but not too much.
How do you serve these?
Some people might add jam, or Nutella and fruit as you might've with crepes, but the traditional way is much simpler.
You just sprinkle over some sugar and drizzle with lemon juice. In the UK, I would use caster sugar, but in the US, the regular granulated sugar is fine enough. We would always roll them up, but you can also fold them in quarters. Either way, you want to make sure the filling doesn't escape as you eat.
It's a very simple filling, and may seem unusual if you haven't tried it, but believe me it's so good.
These British pancakes are such a fixture of pancake day/Shrove Tuesday, but to be honest you should really make any excuse you like to make these. Easy to make, simple ingredients and so delicious. Give them a try soon!
Try these other pancakes from around the world:
- Dutch baby pancake with roasted berries
- Kaiserschmarrn (Austrian torn pancakes)
- Hotteok (Korean sweet stuffed pancakes)
- German pancake soup (flädelsuppe)
- Plus get more British recipes in the archives.
British pancakes
Ingredients
- ¾ cup all purpose flour plain flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 eggs (large)
- ½ tablespoon butter for cooking (approx)
Instructions
- Sift together the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the milk and eggs and whisk well. The batter should flow but not be overly thin. Set aside for a few minutes.
- Warm a wide skillet/frying pan or crepe pan over a medium-high heat. Melt a little butter and spread around the pan - I usually just use the end of the stick on the pan and melt and spread it at the same time.
- Reduce the heat slightly and add around ¼ cup (60ml) of the pancake batter to the pan. Tilt the pan slightly as you add the batter and swirl a little so the batter spreads out a bit, but it doesn't need to be as thin as a crepe typically is.
- Let the pancake cook until the edges start to curl up and the top is dry - a couple minutes. If you lift up the edge, you should see a slight browning on the bottom. Flip the pancake over and cook a minute more on the other side. You may need to press the top down slightly with a spatula if it puffs up.
- Remove the pancake from the pan once the other side gets a few brown spots and keep warm while you cook the rest. Sprinkle each pancake with sugar, squeeze over some lemon juice, then either fold in half and again (ie so in quarters), or roll up. Best served warm.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Valencia
loved these! first time making them and they were perfect thank you xx
Caroline's Cooking
So glad to hear you enjoyed them!
Jo
Yummy
Caroline's Cooking
Glad you enjoyed!
Alyson J Long
I'm British, I grew up on pancakes similar to this. I normally guestimate the batter, but my son wanted to make them this morning and doesn't have the experience to guess a recipe. These came out great. Part water part milk is my preferred way, and making the batter in advance is preferred but not essential. They are always, always served with sugar and lemon. Sometimes my mum put raisins in them too. But normally pancakes were just for pancake day, Shrove Tuesday. We don't have the tradition of eating sweet things for breakfast as you do in the US. Or we didn't, until cereal and flavoured yoghurts flooded the market.
Caroline's Cooking
Glad to hear these came out well for you. I, too, as a Brit grew up with just having these for Shrove Tuesday and not really any other time. And yes, always the lemon and sugar (though I know some friends would sometimes have jam).
Dee
1st time to make these. I have wanted to try pan-crepes! Lol
I mixed this up last night to blend! Then took the batter out 15min before started making.
Follow instructions on ingredients. Poured about 1/4c in pan, cooked up no problem, browned some but came out no issues. I put cinnamon sugar on them & tasted good!
Now going to finish up the rest & leave plain to freeze! I will try the lemon juice & then get creative with cherries or apples or blueberries or jams…
Thank you for posting this easy recipe!
Caroline's Cooking
Great, glad to hear you enjoyed! And definitely, it can be fun to try different toppings too.
Stevie
My mums British and always made these for me as a child and I never knew they were “English pancakes”, I have now taken over and perfected them and always called them pancrepes haha. I agree with another poster about not using water, also the best tip I can offer is to make these the night before or rest for minimum 10 mins to allow the flour to soak up the milk and rest, otherwise you get a tough pancake. Thanks for sharing!
Caroline's Cooking
Well now you know! Yes, I can definitely understand some wanting to just use milk and have updated the recipe having tried both ways and based on reader feedback. I agree, resting helps lead to a smoother pancake and so have updated to make this clearer a little longer can help.
Stefano
Dear Caroline, your recipe is perfect! Made them for breakfast this morning and absolutely loved the taste. By the way, I tried that filling of lemon juice and caster sugar, and it quickly became my new favorite. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Greetings from the rainy Rijeka, Croatia! 🙂
Caroline's Cooking
So glad you enjoyed them, and love that you enjoyed the lemon and sugar too - it's simple but tasty and for me, brings back childhood memories.
Jack
The rest of the recipe is fine but you really dont need to add water to the mix just add a bit more milk. The water can dull the flavour.
Caroline's Cooking
Yes, you can certainly add some additional milk if you prefer. The water is partly to make it lighter (some use semi-skimmed/part-skimmed milk rather than whole milk).
Michael
I think Scotch pancakes have a raising agent, Ike American ones.
Caroline's Cooking
Yes they do, they are generally smaller though.
Ben
The flour to milk ratio isn't right on this. You'll want 1/4 - 1/2 cups more milk to get it authentic.
Caroline's Cooking
I'm afraid I'd respectfully disagree. There is more than one way to make them but this proportion is relatively typical. Adding an additional 1/2 cup liquid is closer to crepe consistency rather than British pancake (and as I mention above, I am British and grew up eating these).
Jacky
Now that it's the holidays, I find myself craving these often and making them every week. I like how they are very simple and quick to make, yet delicious. I personally swap the whole milk for oat milk and use vegan butter instead of regular butter, and they taste great.
Caroline's Cooking
So glad to hear you have been enjoying, and can imagine those swaps works well too.
Isaac
Delicious, easy to make. Would highly recommend!!
Caroline's Cooking
Thanks, glad to hear you enjoyed!
JOSEPH
To the letter I made my shrove Tuesday batter and it resulted in failure. I'm not satisfied with this recipe because the batter was too thick.
Caroline's Cooking
Sorry to hear they didn't work out for you but it's something that is easy enough to fix. If you used cups rather than weight measure, then the amount of flour can vary and so would make the batter thicker if you use more. Also, I always use large eggs so if yours were smaller, this would also lead to a thicker dough. Flours can also vary in how much they absorb - unfortunately even with a few ingredients, there can be a few variables. Either way, as I say this is easily resolved - if the batter seems a little too thick, just add a little bit more milk and stir it in. I will update the notes in the recipe to help others in case they are also unaware of this way to resolve.
marsha williams
Anything this easy and tasty is on my list!!
Caroline's Cooking
Hope you give them a try, they're delicious!
Alexandra
Such a great recipe! I love pancakes - this is my favourite weekend breakfast!
Caroline's Cooking
We're big pancake fans too, these are so easy and tasty.