Pumpkin Pancakes
These pumpkin pancakes are light, fluffy, and the perfect way to ring in the fall season. Serve them for breakfast, brunch, or even dessert with the rest of your favorite breakfast menu items.
It’s Not Fall Without a Stack of These Pumpkin Pancakes!
Hot, indulgent breakfasts have always felt like a treat. Growing up, I preferred a simple bowl of cereal or some toast with peanut butter and jelly for breakfast instead of fussing over a hot oven or stove. I still eat the same way, but love to make special breakfasts every once in a while consisting of pancakes.
Pumpkin pancakes are one thing that had been missing from my cold-weather breakfast repertoire. After two straight mornings of waking up to a blanket of frost on the grass, I thought now would be as good a time as any to whip them up!
Why I Love These Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes
Like most pancake recipes, this one is quite simple and can be mixed together in less than 10 minutes. Even better, I had everything I needed in the kitchen already.
I love how prominent the pumpkin flavor is in these pancakes, and along with the combination of spices, they taste like fluffy pieces of pumpkin pie. (Next time, I might top them with whipped cream instead of butter and syrup!)
These would make a great Halloween breakfast treat, or even a breakfast-for-dinner meal to fuel you for trick-or-treating.
Do you have any special breakfast traditions for different times of the year? I’d love to hear all about them in the comments!
Key Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Pumpkin pie spice (or individually ground cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg)
- Light brown sugar (or dark if that’s all you have)
- Milk (I prefer whole or 2%, but you can use plant-based milk if you’re dairy-free.)
- Canned pumpkin puree (100% pure pumpkin; not pumpkin pie filling)
- An egg
- Pure vanilla extract (always over the imitation stuff!)
How To Make These Pancakes
- Make the Pancake Batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, pumpkin, egg, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients over the flour mixture and whisk gently until completely combined. Set aside for 5 minutes to let them meld together.
- Prep the Griddle: Preheat a griddle to medium heat. Once the griddle comes to temperature, drizzle with vegetable oil and wipe off excess with a paper towel.
- Cook the Pancakes: Ladle â…“-cup of the batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the edges are set and the bubbles around the edges are open and set. Flip and cook on the second side for an additional 2 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve immediately, or transfer to an oven-safe dish and keep warm in the oven at a low temperature until ready to serve.
Serving Suggestions
Make these pumpkin pancakes as an accompaniment to your other favorite breakfast or brunch recipes to make them a complete meal!
- Homemade Iced Coffee
- Perfect Quiche Lorraine
- Easy Homemade Granola
- Oven-Baked Bacon or Bourbon Brown Sugar Bacon
- Cheesy Zucchini and Sun-Dried Tomato Scones
- Overnight Chilled Plum Oatmeal
- Cheesy Bacon, Mushroom, and Spinach Strata
- Homemade Greek Yogurt
- Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Casserole
- Bacon or blueberry jam
Storage, Freezing, and Reheating Instructions
- Store: These cooked and cooled pumpkin pancakes can be stored at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container or plastic bag.
- Freeze: You can freeze these pumpkin pancakes for up to 1 month in an airtight, freezer-safe container or plastic bag.
- Reheat: From chilled or frozen in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, or until warmed through.
More Fall Recipes To Try
- Pumpkin Blondies
- Homemade Caramel Apples
- Perfect Pecan Pie
- Classic French Apple Cake
- All-American Beef Chili
Watch the Pumpkin Pancakes Video:
Pumpkin Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups (156.25 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) ground nutmeg
- â…› teaspoon (0.13 teaspoon) ground ginger
- â…› teaspoon (0.13 teaspoon) ground cloves
- 1 cup (244 ml) milk, whole or 2%
- ½ cup (122.5 g) canned pumpkin
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat a griddle to medium heat.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, pumpkin, egg, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients over the flour mixture and whisk gently until completely combined. Set aside for 5 minutes.
- Once the griddle comes to temperature, drizzle with vegetable oil and wipe off excess with a paper towel.
- Ladle â…“-cup of the batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the edges are set and the bubbles around the edges are open and set. Flip and cook on the second side for an additional 2 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve immediately. Leftover pancakes can be frozen for up to 1 month.
Notes
- Pumpkin Puree: Be sure to purchase 100% pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling.
- Store: These cooked and cooled pumpkin pancakes can be stored at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container or plastic bag.
- Freeze: You can freeze these pumpkin pancakes for up to 1 month in an airtight, freezer-safe container or plastic bag.
- Reheat: From chilled or frozen in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, or until warmed through.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Absolutely delicious. I had to sub in almond milk, and used half AP flour and half oat flour, turned out just fine. I served them with maple syrup whisked with a little cream cheese, for a cream cheese drizzle. So good.Â
Could I use in regular pancake mix and omit the flour ?
Hi Jamie, Pancake mix also includes leaveners; I wouldn’t be able to advise on whether or not the remaining add-ins (pumpkin, oil, egg, milk, etc.) are the right amount for a mix.
Can you replace the pumpkin with sweet potato?
Yes, I don’t see why not! Let me know how they turn out!
I think these would be good with orange spice butter and syrup. Â Orange spice butter:Â https://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/recipe/orange-spice-butter
That sounds amazing!!
Yummy, fluffy and cooked well-through! I will definitely make these again! Always have mine with 100% Pure Maple Syrup.Â
These are perfect! Fluffy and tasty. I had a hard time getting one, as they were claimed as soon as they came off of the griddle. A total hit with the whole family. I didn’t have all of the spices on hand so I subbed 1tsp pumpkin pie spice + a couple shakes of cinnamon. Thanks for a great recipe. I will definitely put this one in the dinner rotation!
Outstanding recipe. Â Top your hot pancakes with Irish butter and hot maple syrup. Â
Just made these for breakfast-for-dinner tonight. So good! Exactly what I was hoping for out of a pumpkin pancake!
These are absolutely gorgeous!
Hi Michelle! Do you think you could substitute oat flour for the AP flour? I usually make this recipe with the AP and love it but wanting a GF option. Thanks!
If I have left over pumpkin pie filling and I want to make pumpkin pancakes…. can I use the pre-made filling plus some butter or oil and add it to flour, baking powder, and sugar to make the “panckes”?
Hi Bonnie, That SHOULD work, but I haven’t tried it, so couldn’t say the exact quantities you would need to use.
These turned out great! Â Fluffy and moist, flavor is just perfect. Â We quadrupled your recipe for our family of 6 and for my five year old to share in a Show and Tell. Â Thanks for the fall treat!
I made these tasty pancakes this morning! I love pumpkin….surprise surprise :)
They came out really good. The only thing was that the pancake was a little soft throughout the entire pancake. The spice was delicious and it had a strong flavor of pumpkin, which I enjoyed. I would totally make these again but possibly keep them on the griddle longer or thin out the amount poured onto my griddle?
Thank you for your recipe :)
I made these tasty pancakes this morning! I love pumpkin….surprise surprise :)
They came out really good. The only thing was that the pancake was a little soft throughout the entire pancake. The spice was delicious. I would totally make these again but possibly keep them on the griddle longer or thin out the amount poured onto my griddle?
Thank you for your recipe :)
These were easy and delicious. Love everything pumpkin! I used white whole wheat flour and made eight 4″ pancakes. I ate two ( I do try to control myself, sometimes) and froze the rest. Just warm in the microwave for yummy fast breakfast.
I saw this recipe last night and tried it out this morning, and they are the best pancakes I have ever had!. This was my first time making pancakes too, and it was definitely a success! Great recipe!
Quick tip: I modified this recipe substituting 1 cup of eggnog plus 1/4 cup of water as I had it sitting in the fridge. Wonderful recipe!
Very gooey and doughy in the middle. Tried everything to make them light and fluffy but nothing worked. Will not try again. Yuk.
I swear I followed the recipe, with the exception of subbing coconut milk for the dairy milk…and my batter turned out like waffle batter! Any idea why the sub caused this? I will try it later with a lower fat nondairy milk… Really bummed! Otherwise the taste was great! :(
Hi Maggie, I’m actually not sure what you mean because most pancake and waffle batter is very similar in terms of texture. What was wrong with the resulting pancakes? And yes, if there was an issue and you followed the recipe except for using coconut milk, that is most definitely the culprit.
Best Pumpkin Pancake recipe I have found. Â Yummy
This recipe was great!! Family loved the pancakes.
I made them this morning and they were delicious!
We woke up today, Halloween morning, wanting something … Halloweeny. I googled pumpkin pancakes, read through a LOT and decided yours sounded the best. Wow, I was right! Our family voted that it’s a keeper. Easy to make, so light and fluffy, and so delicious! Right balance of pumpkin flavor and the spices, and not too sweet but sweet enough. It’s now going in our morning rotation :) Thank you!
Excellent recipe for moist and fluffy pancakes – thank you.
I just made these for breakfast, and they were delicious. I used 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour and skim milk (it’s all I buy or have in the house) and they tasted fine to me. The amount of spice is not overpowering, and the pancakes were moist and fluffy.
I just made these, and WOW! Even the ones I burnt were delicious. I doubled the recipe and it still won’t be enough for my family. Thank you!
Is there a particular reason that whole or 2% milk is needed? I only have skim milk, would the result still be the same? Thank you so much! I am a HUGE fan of your blog!!
Hi Juliana, Skim milk doesn’t have enough fat in it for the recipe as written.
They look absolutely superb!
These were sooo delicious! :) Thank you for a great recipe!
Could I just use 1 full cup of puree instead of half and maybe take out half the milk instead of a full cup of that? Thank you for the recipe, and your photos are amazing too :) looks delicious.
Hi Stephanie, If you cut the pumpkin and milk, you should reduce all of the other ingredients by the same amount. I would not recommend changing the ratios of the recipe.
Whoops! A correction to my earlier post. I used 1/2 cup chocolate chips and it was plenty.
I’m sorry I waited a year to make these pancakes. Your recipes never (ever) disappoint and this was no exception. They cooked up beautifully — no lumps, perfect thickness for batter, and they were easy to flip!). They were completely perfect. I used a 1/4 C. measure, and they were the just the right size for me and my fellow pancake snarfer — making about 8 pancakes in all. I added 1 cup of chocolate chips (with some reserved from that cup for sprinkling on the pancakes, pre-flip) and because I added the chocolate, I decreased the sugar to 1.5 Tbs. I made these with your oven-cooked bacon recipe (actually, I cooked the pancakes in some of the grease from the bacon) and we feasted (glasses of milk and coffee strongly recommended). Thank you for another great recipe!!
I just try to make this recipe. And Its really wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
I’d made these a few times so far and just made a triple batch to use up some pumpkin and stock up my freezer! Delicious pancakes. Thanks for the great recipe!! I used 1/2 all-purpose flour and 1/2 whole grain flour with soft and fluffy results.
just made this recipe and the pancakes came out AWESOME!!! thank you!!!
These pancakes were so easy and so delicious. I served them for a Sunday morning breakfast with warm real maple syrup and butter. I did make a mistake in reading the recipe–I didn’t have my glasses on and put in 1/4 tsp. ginger instead of 1/8. It didn’t matter. They were great!
Just tried this recipe out this morning and I have to say, absolutely heavenly! You weren’t kidding about the light and fluffy nature of these and they have a great density to them. The spices and pumpkin flavor all compliment each other perfectly. This recipe is definitely bookmarked and will be used again!
I made these this morning, my kids loved um! Thank you for sharing!! We put “Fluff” on top instead of syrup, yummy!!
These were wonderful!! A big hit with my family for the day after Thanksgiving breakfast. I made a simple glaze of powdered sugar, milk and vanilla to use instead of syrup and everyone raved over it.
I am pretty proficient in the kitchen and I can for sure follow a recipe. These, after still being on the griddle for nearing 15 minutes, are still gooey and gummy in the center and don’t taste like much. Bummed! Any idea what I did wrong?
Hi Kate, Oh no! I’m sorry you had some trouble with the pancakes. I’m not sure why they would not be cooked after so long! Mine only took about 5 minutes.
Same thing happened to me. I realized too late that I forgot the baking powder. So, for the second half of the batter I added about a teaspoon to the leftover batter. It helped very little, but I’m wondering if the problem lies within how well the ingredients are  is mixed together? Going to try and give it another go.Â
Love, love, love these pancakes! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Made these yesterday – delicious! Even the cold leftovers were great – tasted like a little cake or muffin.
One question – I can set the degree of heat on my griddle. What temp do you recommend for these? I think (?) I used about 325, usually I cook pancakes at 350 but 325 seemed like more of a “medium” heat.
Hi Pat, Yes, I used an electric griddle as well and used 325 on mine.
These were great! Very fluffy and moist. The only changes I made were by using plantain flour and unsweetened almond milk :)
I made these for our breakfast for dinner meal. They were very good…easy to make. A definite keeper!
This pancake recipe is sooo yummy. The perfect amount of fluffiness and pumpkin-y goodness. Such a well balanced pancake. Thanks for the recipe!
I had pumpkin pancakes recently at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant with apple cider syrup. I just googled the syrup and am heading for the kitchen to make some:) This is a winning combo.
I made these last weekend and they were fabulous. My kids loved them! Will definitely make them again this Sunday. Recipe is a keeper.
Do you think buttermilk would be good in place of the milk? I always make buttermilk pancakes and think they are so light and fluffy, but I wonder if it would work in this recipe.
Hi Toni, I haven’t tried it, so I can’t tell you definitively how it will turn out, but I don’t think it could hurt to try!
Target was actually playing Christmas music as I was buying my Halloween candy! It was very surreal.
Pumpkin pancakes sound amazing! I love having pancakes or eggs for dinner especially in the fall or winter. So comforting!
These look SO fluffy and perfect!!
These are on my list to make but what’s a half can o pumpkin? Cans are all different sizes. How many cups or teaspoons etc. would be more helpful. ty
Sorry read it wrong. Im making these tomorrow morning!
love these! my 3 yr old did too!
Oh, these pancakes look so GOOD – I can just imagine their aroma!
I simply won’t get enough of pumpkins! Thats a delicious stack :)
Yum! Makes me wish I hadn’t had a bowl of Golden Graham’s for breakfast!
I made these for my kids this morning and they loved them! I added a few chocolate chips, for the kids of course, and they were delicious!
I will never be pumpkin’d out — these look fantastic!
Im sure I can use pumpkin pie spice in substitution of the cinnamon etc but do you have any suggestions of how much to use?
Hi Tanya, I would use about a ½ to 1 teaspoon, depending on how spiced you’d like them.
I made pumpkin-white chocolate popcorn & tonight I’m baking a Pumpkin Streusel Coffeecake. http://blog.williams-sonoma.com/todays-recipe-pumpkin-coffee-cake-with-brown-sugar-pecan-streusel/ My co-workers are going to be so happy tomorrow! Happy Halloween to all!
We love these pancakes! thanks for the recipe!
These look fantastic – pancakes are my all time favourite breakfast treat. I have never seen canned pumpkin here in Scotland, I must check if I can get it. Looking forward to trying (and more importantly) eating these!
Pumpkined out? No such thing!!! I’ll eat pumpkin pie in the middle of April. Bring it on!!
I am definitely not all pumpkin’ed out yet! We do pancakes pretty often here and I love pumpkin pancakes!
My daughter was just diagnosed with mono and has a sore throat so bad she hasn’t been able to eat for a week. I think I’ll make these for her as soon as she can swallow again since she loves pumpkin.
I love breakfast for dinner with a capital L. And honestly, I really can’t think of anything better at the moment than pancakes with syrup. The pumpkin makes them perfect, and satisfies that little Autumn is here! leap that happens inside me every time I step outside and breathe in. Thank you for such a cool idea!
Yum! Sounds like the perfect breakfast for tomorrow!
These look great! Love adding pumpkin to different things.. I think pancakes go to the top of the list now :)
These look so fluffy and delicious! I’m mainly a cereal eater for breakfast myself, but I would definitely not complain if I woke up to these :).
Delicious with warm Pecan syrup. I’m never tired of pumpkin. I am definitely not in the Christmas mode yet. I need to get started on my Fall baking.
I am getting pumpkined out but these look delicious!
I just made these recently and actually found the recipe on Two Peas and Their Pod blog – I saw that this is an adaptation from their recipe. They really are very good, and even better with a bit of butter and maple syrup. My kids and husband ate them up! Just a note, Two Peas made these with a streusel topping – so good but over the top sweet. I made these plain last time (as shown in your recipe) and liked them better without the topping. Thanks for sharing!
No way, I am not sick of pumpkin yet. Not sure that could ever happen! These pancakes look so delicious – I love how fluffy they are!
Yum! This looks perfect for this cold morning!
I have been craving these since I had them in a restaurant. These look lighter and fluffier so I have to try these! Thanks!
These pancakes look too delicious to resist. I guess I will have to break open the can of pumpkin I just purchased yesterday.Thanks for sharing.
I laughed when I read your comment about Christmas candy. In my neck of the woods, the Halloween candy appeared in late August and Christmas candy has been on the shelves at the grocery stores for a month.The rest of the holiday stuff is also now appearing. I am old enough to rememebr when most Christmas stuff didn’t appear until after Thanksgiving. I remember how fun it was to go into stores and see them magically transformed the weekend after Thanksgiving. Christmas has lost so much of its magic these days. Everything is focused on the material and spending, presents and bigger , bigger , bigger and more, more , more. It kind of sad, I think.
Oh just lovely. As soon as I saw the beautiful pictures of these pancakes…I knew that I have to try them, and I thought how perfect they would be for tomorrow nights dinner!! We love breakfast for dinner, and since it’s Halloween, how perfect pumpkin pancakes would be! :-)
Could you substitute whole wheat flour?
Hi Janice, In the original recipe, Maria used 3/4 cup all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour. I don’t often use whole wheat flour in my baked goods unless making something like whole wheat bread, so I converted it to all AP. You could start with that much, and then try doing more if you’d like. The protein amounts in the flours are different, so there might be a bit of a difference in texture.
So fluffy! Such a perfect fall treat. :D
these look really lovely, a perfect way to sneak pumpkin into my fiance’s diet! He doesn’t like pumpkin, but loooves pancakes! I am unable to find canned pumpkin here in Australia, can I just use cooked & pureed fresh pumpkin instead?
Hi Sally, Yes, you definitely can! Enjoy!
pumpkin pancakes are soooo good! This version looks awesome!
These look really tasty and they´d be perfect for the weather we´re ecperiencing today here in Gran Canaria, Spain :-) Xx
These are perfect for chilly fall mornings!
Oh. my. goodness. These look amazing! I hope I get a chance to try them.
Just look at the colour! Looks gorgeous :)
They look amazing! Never tried a pumpkin pancake before. And I know what you mean, as excited as I am about Christmas, I am not ready to let go of autumn yet!
They’re so pretty. Light, fluffy, moist, the color is great and yes to ” We still have a whole month before Thanksgiving! Let’s keep rolling, shall we?” – I agree. Because of some 4th qtr posts I have to turn in well in advance, it’s been Christmas-ey in my kitchen the past 2 weeks but it feels weird. And it’s 80F in San Diego on top of it…even more weird. Pinning these pretty pancakes!
What leftover pancakes? :)
I live in Canada so we have already had our Thanksgiving and I am almost in full fledged Christmas mode! I love the holidays!
That is one gorgeous stack of pancakes!
I absolutely LOVE everything pumpkin! I’ll definitely have to try this out in the morning:)