These Fluffy Lemon Blueberry Pancakes are crazy fluffy and light! AND they’re a make ahead batter so you can sleep in and still get an amazing breakfast on the table in no time flat! Fluffy pancakes are our family favourite and the lemon blueberry combo cannot be beat.
We’re SO in love with these fluffy pancakes! While recipe testing I asked my kids if they wanted these or chocolate chip pancakes and every time, these pancakes won out.
They’re an easy blueberry pancake recipe with the option of making the batter ahead of time so momma can get a few extra minutes of sleep.
As one of my friends likes to say “my future self will thank me if I do this ahead of time”.
Pancakes are a classic family weekend breakfast. Or special occasion breakfast as well.
For my twins last birthday I made these pancakes, stacked a few up, put a candle on top of each plate and we got to sing a fun happy birthday to them at breakfast time! They loved it.
We’ve tried this recipe with lemon and blueberry as well as other fruits such as lemon raspberry, but truthfully, lemon blueberry is by far the tastiest in our opinion.
The blueberries can be used from fresh or frozen making this a delicious year round breakfast!
There’s very little sugar in this recipe and 3 out of 5 of us don’t use syrup with them. The lemon blueberry combo shines through that we can enjoy these with any added sweetener.
What makes pancakes fluffy and rise?
As I mentioned above, these fluffy pancakes use a batter that is make ahead. The night before I plan on making these fluffy blueberry pancakes I mix the batter with the blueberries being the exception and are reserved until use immediately before baking.
The effect is that the baking powder has a bit of time to work even more air bubbles into the batter creating that diner pancake height everyone loves in this recipe.
Do you have to use this batter as a make ahead? Nope. BUT, as a mom I love those few minutes extra of sleep I get in the morning.
A few more easy make ahead breakfasts like these fluffy pancakes we love:
- Quinoa Frittata Muffins
- Tropical Chia Pudding
- Portobello Mushroom Baked Eggs (3 ways)
- Peaches and Cinnamon Granola Yogurt Panna Cotta
Why are my pancakes not fluffy?
The answer lies in either the batter was over-mixed OR there wasn’t any (or enough) of a rising agent, such as baking powder, used.
Fluffy pancake batter should have small lumps left in it. I know it feels like the batter should be mixed until smooth, however this will result in thinner pancakes (which if that’s what you’re going for then have at the mixing.
Rising agents are needed in pancakes and usually take the form of baking powder. Baking soda is also a rising agent and can be used, however it requires an acid ingredient to “activate”, buttermilk, lemon juice, etc.
What makes pancakes fluffy milk or water? Milk, but only slightly because it is a thicker liquid. See paragraphs above for full details on how to make your pancakes ultra fluffy!
Light and Fluffy Pancakes!! These Lemon Blueberry Pancakes are sure to become a breakfast staple loved by kids and adults alike!
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2-3 tsp lemon zest (packed), from approx. 1 large lemon
- 1 cup milk or milk alternative
- 2 large eggs
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1-2 tbsp unsalted butter or oil alternative for cooking the batter
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In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Set aside.
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In a medium bowl whisk together milk, eggs, butter, and fresh lemon juice (reserving blueberries until moments before cooking batter).
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Quickly and with only a few strokes of a wooden spoon or a spatula add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. (Batter can be quite thick and should be lumpy). Cover the batter and keep in fridge until ready to cook the pancakes (up to 24 hrs.)
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When you’re ready to make the pancakes, heat a large skillet over medium heat with about 1/2 tbsp of butter in it and mix the blueberries carefully and quickly into the batter.
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Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, drop batter into skillet and cook for 2-4 minutes or until bottoms are browned. Flip and cook the other side.
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Add more butter to the pan as need and repeat until remaining batter is used up.
Enjoy! xo
Cherry Crumble
These were delicious! My kids weren’t a fan but one doesn’t really enjoy blueberry and the other follows whatever his sister does but these were exactly what I was craving. I’m new to this flavor combo. The older the get the more lemon I like. Recently I have been mixing Noosa’s bluberry and lemon yogurt together. I just made mine all in the morning. They came out super fluffy and light. This is def going into my favorite recipes folder.
So glad you loved them!! The recipe is quite adaptable. Feel free to swap out the lemon and blueberries for say maybe vanilla extract (1 tsp) or a mushed ripe banana and a handful of mini chocolate chips. The base recipe will always result in fluffy pancakes 🙂
These were AWESOME! I swapped the sugar for an overripe, thawed banana to avoid sugar, AND winged the ratio a bit of the blueberries and lemon (slightly less blueberries and bit more lemon). My 12yo who does NOT like blueberries said “these are actually good! Because the lemon cancels out the blueberry taste”… That’s I high compliment LOL
Great idea with the banana! So glad everyone loved these fluffy pancakes.
This was the best pancake recipe out of the dozen I’ve tried this year. The texture was perfect and the lemon flavor was delightful. They were so delicious, my family and I ate them without any toppings or syrup.
I’m so glad you loved it! I too, don’t add any additional toppings or syrup and find it well balanced.
I’m wondering if I could substitute buttermilk for the milk or if it might overpower the flavors or change the consistency too much? Thanks!
Usually if buttermilk is used, you’d need to sub out the baking powder for baking soda. The buttermilk needs to baking soda to make the pancakes fluffy. I don’t think the buttermilk would overpower the lemon or blueberry flavours.
Outstanding. Full zest of one lemon and then full juice of that lemon plus the blueberries made me wanting more, more, more.
These are incredible! I’ve already made them twice within the past few days.
Great news! I love the lemon blueberry combo too.
Great! Easy and festive! Wonderful birthday breakfast:)
Love the birthday pancakes idea!
Very delicious. Almost lost the blueberry flavor, but I love the lemon. Very light.
So great you enjoyed it 🙂
These fabulous, delicious pancakes have become a staple of both brunch and camping trips around our house! They’re easy, beautiful, and a total crowd pleaser, and I just couldn’t make them one more time (prepping for our first camping breakfast tomorrow) without finally leaving a sparkling review 😉
The only changes we make are:
Dropping the blueberries into the wet batter on the pan during cooking instead of mixing them into to the batter, which allows for even berry distribution, and
Topping with a lemon cream cheese syrup and lemon curd for an extra pop of citrus deliciousness!
Thank you for your lovely recipe!
Oops, wrote a lovely review, but forgot to tick off the stars! Fabulous, wonderful, delicious, you won’t regret making them!
Thank you! So glad you loved them.
Tried a handful of recipes. Settled on this one to treat my love almost every weekend.
I’m so glad to hear that. Thanks for the note!
Hi Sam,
I too am a Vancouverite, and in my quest for nutritious, fresh food that tastes great your pancakes are a good start with real lemon juice and blueberries. I reduced the vegetable oil I used by one-half, and substituted one-half whole wheat flour and they still came out fine. Thanks for the breakfast treat!
Good to know that those substitutions worked well, I’ll give them a try myself next time these pancakes are on the menu. Thanks for the comment!
These were very delicious! I made these today and it was a hit! I’m also a twin & singleton (twingle) mom 🙂
Hello fellow twingle mom! Glad the pancakes worked out!
Very best lemon and blueberry pancake recipe I have tried! Really light, fluffy and delicious. I also like that they are sweet enough without any extra sugar !
Yes! I’m in the same boat with the sweetness level, they don’t need maple syrup for most of us in my family. So happy you enjoyed the flavour.
Delicious! Can the batter be frozen for later use?
Glad you think so 🙂 I’m unsure about freezing the batter as I have never done that. I’d make the pancakes and then freeze those (I reheat in the toaster).
I’ll never be able to eat regular pancakes again! These pancakes are AMAZING! My family loved them. I switched avocado oil for the butter in the recipe, but used a tad of butter in the pan for cooking. DELICIOUS. Thank you for the amazing recipe!
Pleasure! Happy to hear that they were a success.
A half batch gets made every week in our house. I make a double batch every time we go to visit my in laws. I use sweetened soy milk instead of the dairy milk and sugar because that’s what I have in. Somehow seems to need a touch more milk, likely because I am sloppy with measuring flour.
Thank you!
We love to eat blueberry pancakes, but have never tried lemon blueberry pancakes. I love lemon blueberry bread, so I am sure that I would love these pancakes!
This is easy to make and does not take a big chunk of your time, it is delicious and healthy. The sweetness and tartiness of it is what makes this an awesome dish!
The sweet / tart combo is definitely a good one in these fluffy pancakes!