You are going to love serving up stacks of these fluffy 3-Ingredient Pancakes made with sweetened condensed milk, egg, and self rising flour. So delicious, you won't believe it's only 3 ingredients!
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In the great pancake vs waffles showdown these 3-Ingredient Pancakes just might take the title! Using just self rising flour, sweetened condensed milk, and eggs, they're almost too easy. Bonus: you can waffle these too!
No seriously, there is a real debate in our house for which is the greater breakfast - pancakes or waffles. I prefer my thick and crispy belgian waffles, with built in blueberry and syrup pockets, while my family prefers fluffy pancakes. This new 3-ingredient pancake recipe though, it has my vote for being fluffy, delicious, and so darn easy!
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❤️ What you'll love about this recipe
- Pantry friendly - How crazy is it that you are only 3 ingredients away from fluffy delicious pancakes, only one that needs to be kept in the refrigerator?!
- Easy - This simple batter comes together all in one bowl!
- Quick - You can go from thinking "pancakes sound good" to eating so good pancakes in less than 30 minutes!
- Kid friendly - Find me a kid who doesn't love pancakes with syrup... I'll wait.
- Crowd friendly - This recipe can easily be doubles (or tripled!) to feed a crowd. Perfect for large families or Holiday brunch buffets.
Minimal ingredients/Maximum flavor If you are looking for another quick recipe that uses self-rising flour and Greek yogurt, try my Easy English Muffin Recipe. They cook up light and fluffy on the stovetop with all the nooks and crannies you crave!
Ingredients
No, you aren't missing anything. There really are only 3 things in this picture. There would be 4, but I'm not counting water.
See recipe card below for precise quantities.
Go small My Vegan Biscuit Recipe requires only 3 ingredients, including self-rising flour, yet they give you so much flavor, flakiness, and fluffiness. Vegan biscuits. Who knew?!
Self rising flour tips
Self rising flour is quite common in the American South, where we use it to make cornbread and biscuits, and just about everything else, but apparently not everyone keeps self rising flour in their pantry.
If you don't have self rising flour, no problem. I've got you covered. For every cup of self rising flour that you need combine 1 cup of all purpose, flour and add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of kosher salt. If you don't have kosher salt, use ¼ teaspoon of table salt. You can also use 1 cup all purpose flour + 1 teaspoon cream of tartar + ½ teaspoon baking soda + ½ teaspoon kosher salt.
If you really want to duplicate the light texture of self rising flour, use cake flour in place of the all purpose flour. It has a lower protein content, and makes for a more precise duplication of the texture of self rising flour.
Looking for an even easier morning: Try making my Sheet Pan Pancakes that bake all in one pan, for easy cleanup, and no stove time!
Substitutions
My only goal is to get you eating delicious easy pancakes. Here are some ways to make it work:
- Self rising flour - If you don't have self rising flour, you can easily make your own! All the information and tips are in the special self rising flour note, seen above.
- Gluten free - While I haven't, I asked a friend who has celiac disease to try a gluten free self rising flourand she said that it worked great for these sweetened condensed pancakes.
- Sweetened condensed milk - If you don't have this on hand, try making my fluffy buttermilk pancakes instead, or you can use evaporated milk, if you have that. They won't be sweet, so you might want to either add a few tablespoons of sugar to the batter or really lay on the syrup!
Self-rising flour to the rescue! If you're looking for another great recipe to use up your self-rising flour, you've gotta try my 3-Ingredient Stuffed Bagel Bites! Or make my Grandma's Sweet Milk Biscuits made with self-rising flour and whole milk!
Variations
Playing with your food is a fundamental part of being a human, right? We all want to follow a recipe, but then put a spin on it. With baking, and pancakes follow baking rules, the measurements have to stay the same, but...
- Pure decadence - If you want rich, decadent pancakes, try adding ¼ cup (½ stick or 56 grams) of melted and cooled butter and a teaspoon of vanilla extract to your wet ingredients.
- Chocolate - Please, for the sake of the children (me), add some chocolate chips to these!
- Fruity - Stay with me here, instead of diluting the sweetened condensed milk with water, what if we used orange juice or apple juice? 🤯
- Waffley - I did it. I put this batter, with the above addition of butter, into my waffle maker, and now I can please everyone, especially myself. Back pats for meee 👋
- Fall vibes - Make them into Pumpkin Spice Pancakes by adding 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice into the dry ingredients, so I guess they'd be 4 ingredient pancakes? Serve them with the perfect Starbucks copycat pumpkin spice latte!
Thin batter vs thick batter
Some people like a thin, pourable pancake batter. This will give you pancakes that spread out in the pan a little bit more. They are still delicious, I am not a thin batter person. Thin batter is just not going to give you fluffy pancakes. In my opinion, for fluffiness to exist, there must be some thickness to the batter.
The texture of this condensed milk pancake batter tells you right away that you're going to get tall, fluffy pancakes. Using self rising flour, and leaving your batter just a touch on the thicker side, will lead you to pancakes that bake up tall, light, and airy without being heavy or dense.
Hint: Due to the thickness of this pancake batter, I use a large scoop, like an ice cream scoop, to portion my batter onto the pan or griddle. If you still prefer a thinner batter, you can add a couple more tablespoons of water, up to ¼ cup, until you get the consistency you prefer. But try it my way. Tall and fluffy is a lifestyle.
Equipment
When making any kind of pancakes (but especially these 3 ingredient pancakes 😉) getting the temperature of the pan just right is the real challenge. It ensures that the outside of the pancake is done to perfection at the same time that the inside is fully cooked and fluffy. Although I have successfully used a nonstick pan for pancakes for years, I am a recent convert to the electric griddle world of pancakery.
Most griddles have a temperature dial that allows you to select an exact temp, some have a low-medium-high scale, while still others have a 0 to 10 scale. With my Black and Decker electric griddle, 300°F gets me perfect pancakes every time. You'll need to find the temperature sweet spot for your individual griddle, but once you do, you may never look back!
Instructions
It takes longer to say 3-ingredient pancakes than it takes to make 3-ingredient pancakes. Okay, that's a lie, but they are really, really fast!
Step 1: Place sweetened condensed milk and eggs in a large bowl. Fill the sweetened condensed milk container with water and add half of it to the bowl to the bowl. Whisk.
Step 2: Sprinkle the self rising flour over the top of the wet ingredients and then whisk. Check the batter's consistency. If you want it a little bit thinner, add more water, a couple of tablespoons at a time, up to the rest of the can, or until you get it the thickness that you prefer. Let batter rest for 15 minutes.
Step 3: Heat nonstick skillet, or electric griddle to medium-low heat. Add a little butter to the pan and let it melt. Scoop or pour ⅓ to ½ cup of batter into the pan (or whatever size you want. I'm not the pancake portioning police.)
Step 4: Cook until bubbles start to appear and burst on the surface and the edges appear dry, about 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and continue to cook until the underside is browned, another 2 to 3 minutes.
Place cooked pancakes in a pancake or tortilla warmer, or on a plate with a large bowl turned upside down over the top, to keep them warm. Keep pancaking.
Serve with fruit and warm maple syrup or however you prefer to pancake.
Looking for more simple and delicious recipes? Try making my 2-Ingredient Yogurt Bagels. They use Greek yogurt and self rising flour to make incredible quick and easy bagels!
Recipe FAQs
You wouldn't think so, but pancake and waffle batter consistency is a very personal thing. People definitely have opinions! If you want your batter to be thinner, just add a little more water. Try a couple of tablespoons. If it still isn't thin enough, try a couple more, up to ¼ cup, until you get the consistency you like.
Store any leftover 3 ingredient pancakes in an airtight container, or ziptop bag in the fridge for up to 3 days.
These 3-ingredient condensed milk pancakes are best reheated in a pan over medium heat with a little melted butter until warmed. You can also microwave them for 15 to 20 seconds, but I find that, due to their lower fat content, the microwave can dry these pancakes out.
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-Cynthia
📖 Recipe
3-Ingredient Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 g) self rising flour
- 2 eggs
- 14 ounces (396 g) sweetened condensed milk 1 small can
- Enough water to fill the empty condensed milk container about 1 cup, see note
Optional add-ins
- 4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine 2 eggs and the contents of a can of sweetened condensed milk. Fill the sweetened condensed milk container with water and add half of it to the bowl to the bowl. Whisk.
- If desired, whisk in melted and cooled butter and some vanilla extract.
- Sprinkle the self rising flour over the top of the wet ingredients and then whisk. Check the batter's consistency. If you want it a little bit thinner, add more water, a couple of tablespoons at a time, up to the rest of the can, or until you get it the thickness that you prefer.
- Let batter rest for at least 15 minutes, to allow the flour to hydrate.
- Heat a large non-sticking frying pan, or electric griddle, to medium-low heat. Add a little butter to the pan and let it melt.
- Scoop or pour about ⅓ to ½ cup of batter into the pan. Cook until bubbles start to appear and burst on the surface. Flip over and continue to cook until the underside has browned.
- Place cooked pancakes in a pancake/tortilla warmer, or on a large plate with a bowl flipped over too keep the pancakes warm while you finish making the rest.
- Serve with sweetened whipped yogurt, or warm maple syrup, and fruit.
Save This Recipe! 💌
I'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later, plus you'll get great new recipes from me every week!
Barbara says
Can I give this recipe 10 stars?! My criteria for perfect pancakes is "Can I eat them plain?" because I'm not a fan of dousing them in honey or maple syrup. These pancakes were a dream come true for me! Not only could I eat them plain, straight from the griddle,
but they are made with minimal ingredients! I will make them forever and ever!!
Cynthia Christensen says
What an amazing amazing review! I am so glad that you’re as thrilled about these pancakes I am!