Pancakes for One: Because Sharing is Sometimes Overrated

Welcome, breakfast lovers who don’t want to share! Here you will learn the secrets of making self-rising flour pancakes for one. Namely, yourself.

This no egg pancake recipe is scalable and you can make it to feed a crowd. The nice thing about this recipe is that the proportions are easy to remember and you can also vary it in many ways.

Made with self-rising flour, vary them however you like by adding citrus zest, spices, blueberries, etc.

If you do feel like sharing, I recommend my yeast raised chocolate chip pancakes.

For ease of browsing, here are all of my breakfast recipes in one place. Enjoy!

A stack of 3 pancakes for one on a blue plate with a pat of butter and fresh blueberries.

Watch my pancakes for one recipe web story here.

Deee-licious! Easy recipe and still oh so fluffy without the eggs.

Pinner Sheri

Making pancakes using self-rising flour

Why use self-rising flour in this pancake recipe?

If you happen to have self-rising flour, it makes it really easy to whip up these guys quickly.

Self-rising flour, sometimes called self-raising flour, already contains leavening and salt, so you only need to measure 1 ingredient rather than 3.

And the self-rising flour already has the perfect amount of leavening in it so you don’t have to guess. Sweet!

What You Need to Make Pancakes for One

Barring a box of mix or a frozen brick of pancakes from the big box store in your freezer, here’s what you’ll need. You probably own most of this stuff already.

Ingredients and Substitutions

A photo collage of the ingredients needed to make pancakes for one on a white background.
  • self-rising flour Self-rising flour is a great shortcut to have in your pantry. If you don’t have any, substitute 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and a heavy pinch of salt
  • sugar (granulated sugar, brown sugar, or even a sugar substitute like Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener, which I sometimes use to partially offset all the syrup I pour on them)
  • milk: I use whole milk. 2% will work fine, and you can also substitute your favorite nut milk or other plant-based milk
  • spice: I often add a touch of cinnamon or nutmeg. Cardamom would also be nice in these
  • vegetable oil I recommend a neutral oil that doesn’t have an assertive flavor. It serves to tenderize the pancakes just a bit, but not so much that they won’t hold together without eggs. I don’t recommend you use melted butter unless your milk is at room temperature or the butter will just re-solidify in tiny blobs
  • butter: this is for topping the pancakes. You just can’t beat the flavor.
  • real maple syrup (yes, it is worth it)

Can you really make pancakes without eggs?

Yes, you can!

In fact, sometimes using eggs can make your pancakes almost rubbery.

Making pancakes without eggs and mixing just until the ingredients come together yields fluffy, tender pancakes.

It’s my preferred way to make pancakes. No eggs, thanks very much.

You may now consider this your go-to no egg pancake recipe!

Equipment you’ll need

  • a well-seasoned cast iron skillet or griddle (an electric fry pan works here too)
  • one bowl
  • one whisk
  • one spoon (a regular teaspoon will do)
  • a half-cup measure (or use a kitchen scale if weighing your ingredients)
  • a pancake turner or other thin spatula-type Item

How to make these small-batch pancakes

A stack of 3 pancakes with a bite cut out. Melted butter, syrup and fresh blueberries on top.
3 perfect pancakes you don’t have to share. Pancakes for one can be our little secret!

Perfect every single time!

Pinner Marsha

Here’s how it’s done. Follow these steps To The Letter, and you, too, can be enjoying a fresh, peaceful and delicious meal of pancakes without eggs in about 20 minutes. All by yourself.

Note that pancake batter is best made using The Muffin Method.

  1. Heat your griddle or skillet. You want your pan to be nice and hot, so go ahead and give it a head start on medium-high heat while you mix your ingredients. (If you make a lot of pancakes, having an electric griddle or an electric skillet is a nice luxury that will help them cook evenly.)
  2. Whisk together dry ingredients. In this case, dry ingredients include self-rising flour and a little sugar. If you don’t have self-rising flour, you can still make these. See the recipe notes. You can also whisk in some spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, or cardamom if you’d like.
  3. Whisk wet ingredients together. You’ll need milk (I like whole milk, but you can make these dairy-free by using your favorite nut milk.)
  4. Whisk in some neutral vegetable oil and any extract. If you’re using citrus zest, you can whisk it in with your milk and oil.
  5. Mix wet into dry. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and stir until it just comes together. A few lumps are just fine.
  6. Cook. Add a bit of butter or a spritz of pan spray to your pan and cook your pancakes, 1/3 of the batter at a time. Once you pour the batter into the pan, that’s when you can add fruit or chocolate chips. Let them cook until set and dry around the edges. Flip and cook an additional couple of minutes.
  7. Plate and Enjoy. I like to put butter on my plate, add a pancake, add more butter, add a pancake, add butter, then top with a pancake. But I like butter! You can just add a pat of butter on top, douse in syrup, and enjoy your pancakes for one. You deserve them.

Visual How-To

Here are a few photos so you can see how easy it is to make this batter.

I weigh my flour and eyeball the spice. If weighing, you’re going for 70 grams/2.5 oz/ 1/2 cup, give or take a tiny bit.

Then, I whisk the flour and spice together.

I add my milk to a pitcher (75 grams/2.7 oz/ 1/3 cup) along with the oil and vanilla.

Then, the wet goes into the dry and gets a quick whisk to combine.

A collage of 4 images showing how to measure and put together the ingredients for small-batch pancakes.

Here’s a photo of what the pancakes will look like right before it’s time to turn them. You’ll notice they have bubbles all over the top that have popped but not filled in, and the edges are dry.


A closeup of pancake batter in a cast iron skillet. The batter is wet on top but set around the edges. This is how you can tell it is ready to flip.

I flipped that pancake as soon as I took this photo, and here it is, all lovely and perfect.

Close-up of a pancake in a cast iron skillet after it has been flipped. The pancake is an even, deep golden-brown.

Tips for Success

If cooking one pancake at a time, put them in the toaster oven or oven on “warm.” They’ll be fine for the amount of time it will take you to cook the rest.

If your pancakes sit out too long, or you leave them too long in the oven, they may get a little crisp on top. To soften and heat them back up, wrap in a damp paper towel and microwave them for about 20 seconds.

Recipe Variations

  • Add lemon zest to the batter and add fresh or frozen blueberries to each pancake while the batter is still wet and before you flip them
  • Add orange zest and add mini chocolate chips to each pancake (as above)
  • Spice with cinnamon and add a sprinkling of chopped, spiced or candied nuts to each pancake
  • Add minced, crystalized ginger to each pancake and top with spiced peaches
  • For a fun dessert variations, add cinnamon to the batter and then top with whipped cream and spiced pumpkin caramel sauce.
  • You really are only limited by your imagination, so please have fun with this basic recipe and use your favorite flavor combinations

Pancakes for One Q & A

How do I make pancakes without a mix?

Once you realize that mixes are mostly just pre-mixed dry ingredients with a few artificial ingredients added in for good measure, you’ll realize that with self-rising flour alone, you have gone a good way to making your own pancake mix. Plus no weird ingredients.

How do you make pancakes rise?

In this case, it’s the chemical reaction between the leaveners present in self-raising (self-rising) flour and liquid and the heat of the griddle.

Can I make small-batch blueberry pancakes?

Of course. Add a little lemon zest to your batter. Once you pour some into your skillet, allow it to set up a minute, and then sprinkle on a handful of blueberries. When the pancake is ready, flip it over and continue cooking. The berries will cook right into your pancakes.

Can I make small-batch chocolate chip pancakes?

Absolutely. There are tons of ways to vary this basic recipe. Add vanilla to the batter, and use the same procedure as for blueberry pancakes. Add batter to the skillet, top evenly with chocolate chips, then flip and finish cooking. The chocolate chips will definitely be melty. You may have a little burning/sticking where the chocolate touches the skillet, but otherwise, you’ll have lovely, chocolate chip pancakes.

Other pancake recipes to enjoy

A close shot of stack of three pancakes on a blue plate topped with a pat of butter and fresh blueberries.

If you’re a fan of this pancake recipe, here are a couple more from my site and from some of my friends. Enjoy!

If you have questions about this post or recipe, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can leave a comment on the post and I will get back to you within about 24 hours.

If your question is more urgent, please shoot me an email, and I will respond within 4 hours, unless I’m asleep.

A Note About Measurements

NOTE: Most of my recipes are written by weight and not volume, even the liquids.

Even though I try to provide you with volume measurements as well, I encourage you to buy a kitchen scale for ease of measuring, accuracy, and consistency.

This is the scale I use, love, and recommend. If you’re unsure, please read my post about how to use a food scale.

If you make this recipe and/or have enjoyed or learned from reading this post, I’d appreciate it if you could share this!

I have Convenient share buttons that float to the left on desk top and on mobile which invite you to share on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter or Yummly.

If you make the recipe, please consider rating it a rating and a review. You can do this via the recipe card in the post.

5 golden stars for rating recipes

Reviews really help sell the recipe, and negative reviews help me tune into what people really want to have explained better, so any ratings and reviews are helpful!

Also feel free to tag me on Instagram at @onlinepastrychef with #pcorecipe so I can find your creation. Thank you!

Pancakes for One

Pancakes for One

Yield: 1 serving
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

When you want an indulgent breakfast or breakfast-for-dinner on those days you're home alone, turn to this easy recipe for pancakes for one. No egg recipe for tender pancakes. You're going to love them!

Ingredients

For the Pancakes

  • 70 grams (2.5 oz or 1/2 cup) self rising flour
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar or sweetener of choice
  • 75 grams (2.7 oz or 1/3 cup whole milk)
  • 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil, I use avocado oil
  • a sprinkle of cinnamon or other pancake-y type spice, optional
  • splash of vanilla/citrus zest/chocolate chips--whatever, optional

For Serving

  • 1 Tablespoon butter
  • Real maple syrup

Instructions

The Procedure

  1. Preheat the skillet over medium/medium-high heat. Set the timer for five minutes.
  2. In your bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients, including zest, if using. Do not mix in any "chunky" mixins here--only spices or zest
  3. Stir oil into milk, and add vanilla, if you're using it.
  4. Pour over dry ingredients and whisk slowly until just incorporated.
  5. Let the batter sit until the timer goes off.
  6. Rub a little butter onto your skillet.
  7. Pour 1/3 of your pancake batter into the skillet. (I use 1/4 cup measure, and I get three same-sized pancakes every time)
  8. While your pancake cooks, heat up the maple syrup so it's ready to go.
  9. Let pancake cook until the bubbles around the edges pop but don't fill back in with batter, about 3-4 minutes. If using blueberries, cinnamon chips, chocolate chips, etc, sprinkle on a few evenly over the top of the pancake before flipping.
  10. Flip pancake and cook about 2 minutes.
  11. While the second side of the pancake cooks, put a wee pat of butter on your plate.
  12. Place this pancake onto plate on top of butter.
  13. Make 2 more pancakes the same way you made the first.
  14. Put a wee pat of butter on top of your first pancake.
  15. Pile on the other 2 pancakes as they finish cooking, adding a small pat of butter in between each pancake.
  16. Turn off stove.
  17. Pour syrup on top of pancakes.
  18. Eat.

Notes

Rather than plating each pancake before plating the next, you can keep the cooked pancakes warm in a toaster oven and then plate everything all at once.

As a special treat, rather than using plain maple syrup, try some of the Bourbon barrel-aged maple syrups that are out now. Very good! It's pricey, but these are pancakes for one, and that means you're not sharing with your kids or your husband. Indulge!

Nutritionals calculated without the butter (or syrup) for serving. Just so you know.

I made my pancakes for one with lemon zest in the batter and fresh blueberries sprinkled on top of each pancake as they cooked.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nutrition Information
Yield 1 Serving Size 3 pancakes
Amount Per Serving Calories 442Saturated Fat 13gCholesterol 8mgSodium 36mgCarbohydrates 61gFiber 1gSugar 16gProtein 10g
© Jennifer Field
Cuisine: American / Category: Breakfast
Head shot of Jenni in white shirt and multi-colored jacket.



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Thank you for spending some time here today. Enjoy your pancakes that you don’t have to share with anyone! Take care, and have a lovely day.

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