I Tried 3 Surprising Pancake Recipes, and Now This Is the One Ingredient I’ll Add Every Time

I can’t imagine a life without pancakes. They’re the breakfast food I crave no matter what time of day it is. In the morning, I love them topped with berries and a sprinkle of powdered sugar. For a snack, I roll them with some peanut butter and sliced bananas. And for dinner, I pile them high, top them with butter and maple syrup and enjoy them alongside eggs and bacon.

There are a variety of ways not just to top them and serve them, but to prepare them as well. Many are obvious additions or swaps, like adding chocolate chips or fruit to the batter, but there are a few “secret ingredient” options that completely change the pancake game.

Secret Ingredients for Pancakes

Replacing sugar with malted milk powder, swapping in ricotta cheese for milk and adding a bottle of beer! Intrigued? So was I—so I gave these secret ingredients a try and I found a favorite!

Beer

Adding beer to pancake batter sounds like a weird idea, but when you consider the science, it makes a bit of sense. The carbonation acts as a leavener, helping the pancakes stay light and fluffy. It also contributes to the texture, giving the pancakes a tender interior, but a crisp exterior. Finally, beer adds flavor, and depending upon the type you use, can yield a stack of pancakes that taste of hops or even malt. But does adding beer make for the best pancakes?

Let’s just say it wasn’t my favorite. I agree that replacing milk with beer for pancakes is a fun (and dairy-free) idea and worth a try, but I’ll admit my first attempt was unsuccessful. Perhaps it was the recipe, but I found these pancakes way too sweet. The ½ cup of sugar was likely added to balance any bitterness from the beer, but it was too much. I liked the appearance and texture of the pancakes, but the sweetness and the odd beer after-taste made this my least favorite of the three I tried. 

Will I try it again? Yes, but I’ll slash the sugar to 1 or 2 tablespoons and try a heavier stout beer instead of the lite one I used.

Ricotta Cheese

I’ve added ricotta to cookies and cheesecakes with great success, so I figured adding it to pancakes would yield delicious results. The full-fat version is often used in baked goods for both moisture and flavor—pancakes are no different. 

It was easy to make the swap for some of the milk in our favorite pancake recipe. I added one cup of whole-milk ricotta to replace one cup of milk, the maximum amount recommended. The batter was a bit thick, so I added some additional milk for a thinner, more pancake-esque batter. After watching them puff and turn golden in my skillet, I gave them a try.

They were delicious and as promised, incredibly pillow-soft and tender on the inside. Unlike traditional pancakes, these felt rich and indulgent, the result of the additional fat provided by the ricotta. Overall, this is a delightful swap, but just not my favorite. They were flavorful and moist, but felt a bit heavier than my usual pancakes. I’d make them again, but reserve this swap for a fun brunch or when I’m after some additional protein in my pancakes.

Malted Milk Powder

I’ve enjoyed plenty of pancakes from a variety of pancake houses and brunch spots, but I only just learned the secret to why their stacks are so good. It turns out that many of them use malted milk powder in the batter. It’s made by combining malted barley with milk powder and wheat flour and it’s used to add a sweet, toasty, and nutty flavor to baked goods. It also contributes to browning, boosting that golden glow that’s not just beautiful, but also deliciously crunchy.

Adding it is a simple swap too—just add about ¼ cup of it in place of the sugar in your recipe. When I used it in our Good Old Fashioned Pancake recipe I was rewarded with fluffy, golden-brown pancake after fluffy golden-brown pancake. They were gorgeous and tasty—and I couldn’t stop “sampling” them. 

This is by far my favorite secret ingredient and since I am now the proud owner of a large jar of malted milk powder, I will be adding it to all of my future batches of pancake batter.