Chocolate Chip Pancakes

The best chocolate chip pancakes! Homemade light, fluffy buttermilk chocolate chip pancakes with sweet milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips. These easy chocolate chip pancakes make the most decadent breakfast!

I think we should all be able to eat chocolate for breakfast…with zero guilt. If you are a chocolate lover, then buttermilk chocolate chip pancakes make the most heavenly breakfast.

We are pancake snobs in our home. I grew up eating pancakes every single weekend at the very least.  My Mom was known for making breakfast for dinner weekly and we loved it. To this day, my kids will say that no one makes better scrambled eggs and breakfasts than Grandma. She has the touch!

Of course…homemade buttermilk pancakes are amazing on their own. But when you sprinkle in milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips then the chocolate completely transforms the pancakes. You don’t even need the butter and syrup because the pancakes are so spectacular on their own. 

What ingredients are in Homemade Chocolate Chip Pancakes:

Buttermilk: Buttermilk gives pancakes its height and fluffiness, while simultaneously providing a tangy flavor. It creates a tender texture that can only be achieved by the creamy acidic elements found in buttermilk. Buttermilk really is the magic ingredient in pancakes and makes them taste gourmet!

Melted Butter: Gives the pancakes depth, flavor, and structure. Melted butter is what gives the pancakes its moisture and its rich flavor.

Eggs: Like the melted butter, eggs keep the pancakes moist. Too many eggs make the pancakes dense, more like a custard, so follow the recipe exact and you’ll get the perfect height and texture in each pancake.

Chocolate Chips: The star of the show! The chips that you use are really based on personal taste. If you prefer a sweeter pancake, add milk chocolate chips rather than semi-sweet, which will be a more bitter sweet.

Sugar: Gives moisture to the pancakes. Sugar also provides a delicious and subtle sweetness to the pancake batter, which compliments the chocolate chips well.

Flour: The structure of the chocolate chip pancakes! If you want healthier pancakes, you can substitute whole wheat flour instead of all purpose.

Baking Powder + Baking Soda: These give the pancakes their magic poof. Working with the buttermilk, it reacts and creates bubbles in the batter so that the pancakes are light and airy.

How you make make the Best Chocolate Chip Pancakes:

• Start off by combining the dry ingredients — flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar, and stir until combined. Add eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter and whisk to combine. The batter should have some lumps. Embrace the pancake batter lumps.

• Stir in the chocolate chips being careful to just gently fold them into the batter. What type of chocolate should you use in chocolate chip pancakes? It depends on how sweet you like them! If I am using milk chocolate chips, I reach for Guittard milk chocolate chips. If I want to use semi-sweet chocolate chips, I reach for Ghirardelli. 

• Heat skillet over medium-low heat. Test for readiness by sprinkling some water on a pan and if it spatters off the griddle, it’s hot enough. Make sure not to get the pan too hot or the pancakes will become too brown on the outside without fully cooking on the inside. 

• Coat skillet with butter or spray with non-stick cooking spray. I always say “everything is better with butter.” It creates golden edges and gives the pancakes more flavor.

• Using a 1/2 cup, pour pancake batter onto pan.

• When bubbles appear on top of the chocolate chip pancakes, flip to cook the other side. Watch carefully as pancakes can brown quickly. Keep it at a lower heat to ensure that the inside gets cooked through without the outside getting too brown. Serve warm.

• Top with extra chocolate chips, strawberries, bananas, berries, whipped cream, and real maple syrup.

FAQ

If you love pancakes, check out these favorite pancake recipes:

Goldie’s Buttermilk Pancakes
Healthy Banana Oatmeal Pancakes
Blueberry Pancakes
Sweet Cream Ricotta Pancakes