Sour cream pancakes are the perfect pancake: ultra fluffy, lightly tangy, and so delicious! You’ll never need to buy buttermilk again.

What’s the ultimate pancake? You might think buttermilk. But here’s a secret: sour cream pancakes are the best out there! They’re ultra fluffy, with a tangy flavor and a delicious texture. Even better: they’re made with a more common refrigerator ingredient. (At least, it is for us.) You never have to buy buttermilk again! These pancakes have whole wheat flour for a healthy spin, and taste incredible topped with maple syrup and a dollop of…you guessed it! Sour cream.

What can you use instead of buttermilk in pancakes? Sour cream.

Yes, it’s a wonderful miracle of nature! Sour cream works in a similar way to buttermilk in pancakes. Adding sour cream to pancakes makes them tender, moist, and fluffy, with a richness and a light tang. How does it all work? The sour cream helps activate the baking powder in the batter, making them ultra light and fluffy. Move over buttermilk: sour cream is the new kid on the blcok!

What’s in these sour cream pancakes?

Want to make the very best pancakes? Alex and I usually have sour cream our fridge, left over from dolloping everything from tacos to sheet pan dinners. So we were delighted to find that you can use up leftover sour cream by making pancakes! It’s much more likely that we’d have that on hand than buttermilk, which is more of a specialty ingredient. Here’s what you need to have on hand to make pancakes with sour cream instead of buttermilk:

• Whole wheat and all purpose flour
• Egg
• Milk
• Sour cream
• Neutral oil
• Maple syrup
• Baking powder, cinnamon & salt

You might already have these ingredients in your pantry and fridge! Then you just need to mix the wets, mix the dries, and stir them together. Easy as that! It comes together into an easy breakfast for a special day, or a lovely brunch recipe. (Alex and I save pancakes for special occasions: on the regular we’re oatmeal breakfast type of people!)

Sour cream pancakes toppings!

Pancake topping is an art form. Here are all the best sour cream pancake toppings to take them over the top:

1. Dollop of sour cream (our favorite!)
2. Nut butter
3. Greek yogurt swirled with maple or honey
4. Raspberry compote
5. Whipped cream (for a little decadence)
6. Peanut butter & strawberry jam
7. Quick blueberry sauce
8. Berries & coconut bacon (surprisingly good!)
9. Sliced bananas & rum-infused whipped cream
10. Baked strawberries

Homemade sour cream: it’s a thing!

Did you know you can make homemade sour cream? It’s actually easy to make and a fun kitchen experiment! And it tastes incredibly rich and satisfying. All you need is 24 hours, heavy cream, and buttermilk. Let the two sit in a warm place for a day and it will thicken into a homemade version that tastes even better than the real thing. Go to How to Make Sour Cream!

Now of course, we know that you probably don’t have buttermilk and heavy cream lying around…unless you bought them for a baking project! So making sour cream at home is more of an interesting project to try. It’s magic how it thickens into delicious sour cream!

More sour cream recipes!

What else uses sour cream? Here are some of our favorite sour cream recipes to use up leftovers:

• Wild Rice Casserole Instead of making a cheese sauce, this easy wild rice casserole is mixed with shredded cheese and sour cream. Yum!
• Loaded Sweet Potato Rounds These sweet potato rounds are nothing without a dollop of sour cream!
• Vegetarian Chili Perhaps the perfect use for sour cream…the best ever chili.

More pancake recipes

Here at A Couple Cooks, we love pancakes! Here are some of our favorites:

• Easy Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes Fluffy, tangy, moist, and tender, featuring fresh blueberries. Also try our Vegan Blueberry Pancakes.
• Banana Oatmeal Pancakes These deliciously easy banana oatmeal pancakes are made in a blender using oats and bananas: no flour! They’re naturally gluten-free and totally delicious.
• Chocolate Brownie Spelt Pancakes They sound rich, but they’re a whole grain breakfast with no refined sugar, featuring spelt flour and maple syrup.

This recipe is…

Vegetarian. For gluten-free, use 1 for 1 gluten-free flour.

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A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes