Most British households make the same pancake on Shrove Tuesday: thin, lacy at the edges, rolled with lemon and sugar, and built from flour, eggs and milk. It is a very good pancake, and it is the place to start if you only make one.
The rest of this page is what else the batter can do - tall American stacks for a family breakfast, French crepes you can fold around anything, Japanese souffle pancakes for a weekend project, savoury pancakes for supper, and dessert pancakes for when the evening is the occasion. Community recipes cover specialist needs and less usual settings, from baby-led weaning to campfire cooking. Every recipe carries metric and imperial quantities, timings, and dietary labels, so you can find one that suits the cook, the clock and the cupboard.
Making them ahead? Batter keeps overnight. Feeding a crowd? Set up a topping bar and let everyone build their own.
Pick a style
Classic British
Thin, lacy, lemon and sugar. Best for: traditional pancake day, weekday breakfast, simple desserts.
11 recipes
American Stack
Fluffy, tall, drenched in syrup. Best for: weekend brunch, kids, pancake day breakfast.
14 recipes
French Crepe
Thin, foldable, sweet or savoury. Best for: brunch, dessert, dinner - sweet or savoury.
5 recipes
Japanese Souffle
Tall, jiggly, cloud-like. Best for: a weekend project, pancake day showpiece, dessert.
3 recipes
Savoury
Lunch, dinner, supper - pancakes savoury. Best for: lunch, dinner, brunch, leftover-clearout cooking.
9 recipes
Dessert
Indulgent, rich, properly sweet. Best for: pudding, pancake day evening, special occasions.
10 recipes
Community
Specialist, seasonal, and off-the-beaten-track. Best for: specific occasions, dietary needs, and adventurous cooking.
3 recipes
All 55 recipes
Pancake Day recipes - questions
What is the 123 rule for pancakes?
It is a mnemonic for the classic British batter: 100g plain flour, 2 eggs, 300ml milk. The numbers are easy to remember and easy to scale, which is why they spread. Our own version uses 125g flour, one egg and 300ml milk - a little more flour makes the pancake easier to flip without tearing.
Classic British pancakesWhat is the 321 rule for pancakes?
There is no agreed version of it. It is usually quoted as three parts flour to two parts liquid to one part egg, but it circulates on social media rather than in any standard reference, and the numbers shift from post to post. For thin British pancakes, the 1-2-3 ratio above is the one that matches what people actually cook.
What the ratio actually doesWhat are some good fillings for pancakes?
Lemon juice and caster sugar is the traditional British answer and still the most common one. Beyond that: maple or golden syrup, chocolate spread, jam, stewed apple, or banana and cream. For a savoury supper, try ham and Gruyère with an egg baked in the middle, smoked salmon with crème fraîche, or mushrooms fried with garlic and spinach.
Eight savoury fillings worth makingWhat is a cowboy pancake?
It is an American term rather than a British one, and a loose one. It usually means a thick pancake raised with sourdough starter and cooked on a griddle, in the chuckwagon tradition, though some recipes simply mean a large pancake with bacon or cornmeal in the batter. It has no connection to Shrove Tuesday.