Banana Pancakes Recipe with Caramelized Banana Slices
Fluffy buttermilk banana pancakes with sweet mashed banana in the batter and thin banana slices pressed into each pancake on the griddle, where they caramelize golden brown. Cooked through and ready in 45 minutes.
Drop the heat, give it more time, and the whole problem disappears. The other change here is where the banana goes: most of it gets mashed into the batter, but thin slices get pressed into each pancake on the griddle, where they caramelize instead of vanishing.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- The banana slices on the griddle side go jammy and golden, so you get actual banana in every bite rather than a general sweetness.
- Buttermilk and a mix of baking powder and soda keep the stack tall despite all the fruit.
- It uses up two or three bananas that were about to become another loaf.
- Batter to plate is about 45 minutes, and most of that is cooking time while people wander into the kitchen.
Do not put all the banana in the batter. Ladle the pancake onto the griddle, then immediately press five or six thin banana slices into the wet surface before it sets.
They sink just below the top, cook gently in the residual heat, and land face down on the griddle when you flip, where the cut faces caramelize into something close to a banana tarte tatin.
Mashed banana past a certain point only adds moisture and gumminess, and the flavour flattens into generic sweet. Slices give you distinct banana, browned edges, and a pancake that looks like it has banana in it.
The timing matters: press them in within the first 20 seconds, while the batter is still wet enough to close around them.
Read Before You Start
Cook these cooler than plain pancakes, and longer. A standard buttermilk pancake likes a griddle around 375°F. Banana pancakes want closer to 325°F, which on most stoves is medium-low. The first side takes about three minutes instead of two. If your butter browns the second it hits the pan, the pan is too hot.
Use two different bananas for two different jobs. The mash wants heavily spotted, almost black fruit, because that is where the flavour is. The slices want a firmer, evenly yellow banana, because a black one collapses into mush the moment it touches heat. Buying a bunch at mixed ripeness sounds fussy and takes about ten seconds at the shop.
Ingredient Deep Dive & Notes
Very ripe bananas for the mash: Three quarters of a cup, about two small bananas. Heavily spotted or black peels. The starch has converted to sugar by then, which means more flavour and a softer crumb.
A firmer banana for the slices: One medium, evenly yellow, sliced about an eighth of an inch thick. Thicker than that and the slices stay raw in the centre while the pancake finishes.
Buttermilk: One and a quarter cups. It provides the acid that the baking soda reacts with, and it tenderizes. No buttermilk? Stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into 1 1/4 cups of milk and leave it 10 minutes.
Baking powder and baking soda together: Two teaspoons of powder, half a teaspoon of soda. The soda handles the acid from the buttermilk and the banana and gives the initial lift. The powder keeps working in the pan. Banana batter is heavy, and one leavener alone does not carry it.
Sugar: Only 2 tablespoons, which is less than a plain pancake batter uses. The bananas bring plenty. Adding more sugar makes the browning problem worse rather than making them taste better.
Melted butter: Three tablespoons, cooled slightly before it goes in. Hot butter poured into buttermilk and eggs will start cooking the eggs.
Vanilla extract: One teaspoon, alcohol-free, consistent with the other banana recipes on this site.
Do not substitute all-purpose flour with a nut or coconut flour: You can swap in a gluten-free blend or go half whole wheat. Alternative flours absorb liquid at completely different rates and this batter is already carrying a lot of fruit moisture, so the result is either soup or paste.
For the plain buttermilk version, see our Fluffy Pancake Recipe. If you have more bananas on hand, bake our classic Moist Banana Bread or Moist Banana Muffins Recipe.
Equipment Needed
- Flat griddle or a wide nonstick skillet: A griddle holds an even, lower temperature far better than a thin pan, which matters more here than in most pancake recipes.
- Wide, thin, flexible spatula: Banana pancakes are heavier and more delicate than plain ones, and a narrow spatula folds them.
- Quarter cup scoop or ladle: Consistent size means consistent cooking time.
- Fork or potato masher: Not a blender. Smooth banana purée makes the batter wetter and the flavour duller.
Ingredients for banana pancakes: ripe bananas, firm banana, buttermilk, eggs, flour, melted butter, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda
Detailed Step-by-Step Cooking Guide
1. Whisk the dry ingredients
2. Mix the wet ingredients
3. Combine, barely
4. Rest the batter 10 minutes
5. Heat the griddle to 325°F (medium-low)
6. Cook, pressing the slices in
Pressing fresh banana slices into wet pancake batter on a hot cast iron griddle
7. Flip and caramelize
Flipped banana pancake on griddle showing golden caramelized banana slices baked into the surface
Getting the Stack Right
Troubleshooting heat, rise, and banana caramelization on the griddle:
The heat was too high. Ripe bananas are full of fructose and glucose, which brown at roughly 230°F. Cook at medium-low, around 325°F, for about 3 minutes on the first side.
Either too much mashed banana went in, or the batter was overmixed. Measure the mash to three quarters of a cup.
Old baking powder, or the batter sat too long before cooking, or it was stirred so much the structure collapsed.
They were pressed in too late, after the batter surface had set. Get them in within the first 20 seconds.
Griddles creep hotter as they sit. Turn the burner down a notch halfway through and wipe the surface between rounds.
Fork holding a bite of fluffy banana pancake dripping with maple syrup showing a cooked-through crumb
How to Use This Batter
How to Serve, Store & Reheat
Butter and maple syrup is the default and it works. Beyond that, toasted pecans or walnuts, a spoonful of Greek yoghurt, or a spoon of warm peanut butter thinned with a splash of milk all suit banana pancakes better than fruit compote, which competes rather than complements. If you're assembling a balanced weekend breakfast spread, pair these warm cakes with chilled make-ahead jars of thick and creamy chia pudding.
Cool completely on a rack, then refrigerate in an airtight container up to 3 days. Layer parchment between them so the banana slices do not stick.
Toaster on a low setting is best and gives you crisp edges again. Oven at 300°F for 8 minutes works for a batch. Microwaving turns them soft and slightly rubbery.
Yes, and they freeze well. Cool completely, freeze in a single layer on a tray for an hour, then bag them with parchment between layers for up to 2 months. Reheat straight from frozen in the toaster.
Two plates of golden banana pancakes with butter, maple syrup and coffee on a morning breakfast table
Dietary Variations & Adaptations
A cup-for-cup gluten-free blend containing xanthan gum works directly. Extend the batter rest to 20 minutes so the starches hydrate, which stops a gritty texture.
Replace the buttermilk with 1 1/4 cups unsweetened plant milk plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and use a neutral oil or plant butter in place of the melted butter. The acid is doing real work here, so do not skip it.
Swap 1 cup of the all-purpose flour for white whole wheat. Add 2 extra tablespoons of buttermilk, since whole wheat absorbs more, and expect a slightly denser stack with a nuttier flavour.
Sugars do not all brown at the same temperature, and that single fact explains almost every burnt banana pancake. Table sugar is sucrose, which needs roughly 320°F before it starts to caramelize.
Fructose begins breaking down and browning closer to 230°F, and glucose is not far behind it.
As a banana ripens, its starch converts into exactly those two sugars, which is why a black banana tastes so much sweeter than a green one.
So when you put ripe banana into a pancake and cook it at normal pancake heat, the surface is running well past the point where the banana's own sugars start to scorch, while the inside is still a wet batter that needs several more minutes.
Lowering the griddle by about 50 degrees does not just slow the browning. It moves the surface back into the range where the banana caramelizes instead of burning, which is where that jammy golden colour on the slices comes from.
Allergen Notice: This recipe contains milk, eggs and wheat. Substitutions: a gluten-free flour blend for the wheat, plant milk and plant butter for the dairy, and one mashed banana in place of the eggs, which works here because the recipe already contains banana. Brand formulations vary and change over time, so read labels yourself when cooking for someone with an allergy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Recipe Visual Gallery (6 Full Photos)
Recipe Card & Steps
Ingredients Checklist
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- 2 cups (250g)all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp (25g)granulated sugar
- 2 tspbaking powder
- 1/2 tspbaking soda
- 1/2 tspfine salt
- 2 largeeggs, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml)buttermilk, room temperature
- 3 tbsp (42g)unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 tspalcohol-free vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (170g)mashed very ripe banana (about 2 small bananas)
- 1 mediumfirm yellow banana, sliced 1/8 inch thick
- 1 tbspbutter, for cooking
Step-by-Step Instructions
Follow along and mark each step complete as you cook
Whisk dry ingredients
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl.
Whisk wet ingredients and mash banana
In a second bowl, whisk the eggs, then the buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla. Mash the ripe bananas with a fork until mostly smooth with a few small lumps, and stir into the wet mixture.
Fold wet into dry
Pour the wet into the dry and fold with a spatula 10 to 15 strokes, just until no dry flour remains. The batter should be thick and lumpy.
Rest batter and slice firm banana
Let the batter rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile, slice the firm banana 1/8 inch thick.
Heat griddle to 325°F (medium-low)
Heat a griddle or wide nonstick skillet over medium-low (around 325°F / 165°C) for 3 to 4 minutes, then add a small knob of butter. It should foam steadily and stay pale for at least 10 seconds. If it browns immediately, the pan is too hot.
Ladle batter and press banana slices
Ladle 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. Within 20 seconds, press 5 or 6 banana slices into the wet surface of each. Cook 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles form and stay open, the edges look matte, and the underside is deep even gold.
Flip and caramelize
Flip once and cook 1 1/2 to 2 minutes more, until the banana side is caramelized and the centre springs back. Wipe the griddle and add fresh butter between batches. Hold finished pancakes in a single layer on a rack in a 200°F (95°C) oven.
Recipe Card Notes & Tips
- Cook these cooler than plain pancakes, around 325°F. Ripe banana sugars brown far below normal griddle heat, which is what causes dark outsides and raw middles.
- Use heavily spotted bananas for the mash and a firm yellow one for the slices. Black bananas turn to mush when sliced.
- Press the slices in within the first 20 seconds or they will not hold when flipped.
- Do not rest the batter longer than 15 minutes. The baking soda reacts with the buttermilk immediately.
- Stacking hot pancakes on a plate steams the banana slices soft. Use a rack.
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