When it comes to outstanding effort-to-reward ratios, breakfast can hardly be more satisfying than a big, puffy Oven Pancake.
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Also known as a Dutch baby pancake, German pancake, puff pancake, and pannekoek, an oven pancake is made of a simple egg, flour, and milk batter that is poured into a skillet with hot butter, then baked.
- In the oven, the pancake puffs SKY HIGH.
- The edges rise up and turn golden and lightly crisp at the ends.
- The texture is custardy and somewhere between a crepe and a popover (looking for a true crepe? Try these Strawberry Crepes and Savory Crepes).
When I set out to make an oven pancake, I didn’t think it would be difficult.
I just had no idea it would be this easy.
Or that it would taste this good.
I don’t mind standing at the stove to flip traditional pancakes, like my dad’s Fluffy Pancakes and my healthy Oatmeal Pancakes, every now and then.
When you want to make the easiest-possible pancake with the best-possible payoff (or if you need to make pancakes without a stove), this puffy oven pancake is the recipe you choose.
Dutch Baby Vs. German Pancake
What’s the difference between a Dutch baby and a German pancake? Well, there isn’t really any difference. A Dutch baby and German pancake are basically the exact same thing. The only difference is that sometimes a German pancake is baked in a rectangular baking dish instead of an ovenproof skillet. A German pancake may also be called a Danish oven pancake, Swedish oven pancake, or Finnish oven pancake.
5 Star Review
“Made this! It was DELICIOUS! Thank you for sharing!!!”
— Sarah —
How to Make an Oven Pancake
Or how to make a Dutch baby or German pancake.
Pick your favorite name. They are all fluffy, puffy, easy, and scrumptious.
Don’t let the simplicity of this oven pancake recipe fool you.
A look at the short ingredient list (flour, butter, milk, eggs, vanilla) and process (mix batter; dump batter into skillet; bake) will lead you to suspect that nothing remarkable is happening here.
After all, how can a recipe that takes only five minutes to prep be anything special?
The truth is, I am still not sure how the magic happens.
All that I can tell you is that every bite I took of this oven pancake was more heavenly than the one before.
It’s simple and exquisite.
The Ingredients
- Flour. I used a blend of white whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour. The blend keeps the pancake light and airy while sneaking in a bit of extra nutrition.
- Eggs. A critical ingredient for our oven pancake. The eggs give the pancake its structure and help it rise.
- Milk. You can use any milk you have on hand. For a richer-tasting pancake, use 2% or whole milk.
- Honey. Honey adds sweetness to the pancake without the need for any refined sugar.
- Vanilla. A classic warm and cozy pancake ingredient.
- Lemon Zest. Adds a hint of lemon flavor and brightness to the pancake.
- Butter. Coating the skillet in melted butter helps keep the pancake from sticking and creates an exceptionally delicious flavor.
The Directions
- Whisk the wet ingredients together.
- Add the flours and salt, whisking gently (the batter will look lumpy).
- Pour the batter into a preheated oven-safe skillet coated with melted butter.
- Bake at 450 degrees F for 9 to 11 minutes. Add desired toppings and DIG IN!
How to Top a Dutch Baby Pancake
Here are some of my favorite oven pancake toppings (mix and match as you please):
- Fresh Fruit. Fresh berries are delicious on this pancake!
- Baked Fruit. Baked Apple Slices and Baked Peaches (a nod to Peach Pancakes) are scrumptious toppings.
- Jam. Try my 3 Ingredient Strawberry Chia Jam.
- Nut Butter. Top your pancake with your favorite nut butter.
- Caramel. I always have some of my Vegan Caramel Sauce on hand.
- Chocolate. For a decadent chocolate oven pancake, add a drizzle of melted chocolate or some chocolate hazelnut spread.
- Honey or Maple Syrup. The sweet and sticky classics.
- Whipped Cream or Greek Yogurt. For a cool and creamy finishing touch.
- Nuts. Chopped pecans, almonds, or walnuts would add a nice crunch.
Storage Tips
- To Store. Cover and refrigerate leftovers for up to 4 days.
- To Reheat. Gently rewarm the pancake in the oven at 350 degrees F or in the microwave.
- To Freeze. Freeze leftovers without toppings in an airtight, freezer-safe storage container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
What to Serve with an Oven Pancake
Recommended Tools to Make this Recipe
- Oven-Safe Skillet. Perfect for this oven pancake recipe.
- Whisk. My favorite whisk! The small size makes it easy to handle.
- Citrus Zester. An easy way to zest lemon for this recipe.
Pop one of these simple pancakes into your oven this weekend, and watch the magic happen!
Frequently Asked Questions
Certainly! While I love the skillet for presentation purposes, you can bake an oven pancake in a 9-inch pie dish.
If you’d like to make a larger Dutch baby for a crowd, double the recipe, then cook the pancake in a 9×13-inch baking dish, instead of a skillet.
While I’ve never tried this myself, I think you can make mini pancakes in the oven by melting butter in the wells of a standard muffin tin, then pouring a little batter into each of the wells. The mini pancakes will cook more quickly, so keep an eye on them.
Once removed from the oven, your Dutch baby will deflate a little. This is a normal reaction as it sits and cools. However, if your oven pancake never rose at all, then your skillet or oven was likely not hot enough.
Oven Pancake
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Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup milk (I used non-fat—use 2% or whole for a richer pancake) or swap almond or soy milk to make dairy free
- 1 tablespoon honey or pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 small lemon about 3/4 teaspoon
- 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour (regular whole wheat flour will result in a denser texture)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Powdered sugar
- Serving ideas: fresh berries; honey and/or pure maple syrup; jam; whipped cream; Greek yogurt
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of your oven (make sure there isn't another rack close above it, or the pancake will rise and hit the rack as it bakes). Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Place the butter in a 9, 10, or 11-inch ovenproof skillet. A few minutes before you are ready to bake the pancakes, place the skillet in the oven as it preheats so that the skillet gets hot and the butter melts. You want this skillet to get nice and hot and the butter to melt, but don’t let the butter sputter too much or burn.
- In a large bowl, briskly whisk together the eggs, milk, honey, vanilla, and lemon zest.
- Add the whole wheat and all-purpose flours and salt. Very gently whisk just until the flour disappears. The batter will look lumpy at this point, which is just fine.
- Remove the skillet from the oven and swirl to coat the pan with the melted butter. Working quickly, pour in the batter.
- Return the skillet to the oven and bake the pancake for 9 to 11 minutes, unit it is puffy, dark golden brown at the topmost edges, and the center is set. It will be super puffy when you first pull it out, then settle as it cools. Dust with powdered sugar. Slice and serve warm with desired toppings.
Notes
- For a smaller pancake, reduce the batter by 3/4 and bake in an 8×11-inch baking dish or reduce by half and bake in an 8×8 inch pan. Watch the baking time carefully, as it may need to be reduced. This oven pancake tastes best the day that it is made. It can be reheated, but the texture will not be as soft and delicate.
- TO STORE: Cover and refrigerate leftovers for up to 4 days.
- TO REHEAT: Gently rewarm the pancake in the oven at 350 degrees F or in the microwave.
- TO FREEZE: Freeze leftovers without toppings in an airtight, freezer-safe storage container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
Nutrition
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I love the sound of this and you’re right–at first sight it seems like it might be complicated, but after reading through the recipe it seems TOO easy. I may just have to try something like this myself!
Can you find a way to make this in your hotel room for me next moth? I love the blueberry lemon combo.
Mmmm….I love me some pancakes. And the fact that these are oven ready makes me so happy!
I’m SO terrible at flipping pancakes on a griddle- they’re either raw in the center or burnt. I love how easy this oven pancake is to throw together :)
So crazy but I only had a dutch baby for the first time about two months ago. I don’t know what rock I’d been living under but man was it fantastic! I need to try making one myself now! This sounds awesome with the blueberry / lemon combo!
I love Anthony Bourdain’s quote in this post. So true! Have you read his book Kitchen Confidential? I’m part way through it and LOVE it. It’s a very honest account of his experience in the restaurant industry.
And what what what is an oven pancake/German pancake/Dutch baby/puff pancake? I’ve made regular pancakes before but I’ve literally never even heard of those terms! My boyfriend and I were going to make pancakes tomorrow morning but I’m going to try and see if he will go on an oven-pancake-adventure with me. haha :) He doesn’t really like blueberries, so I might substitute strawberries instead!
I’ll let you know how it turns out if we make it. It sure looks yummy!
I was thinking of using strawberries in this recipe instead; that should be fine right? I just bought a ton of them and have been looking for recipes to use them in!
Alexis, I’ve never tried this recipe with strawberries, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t be delicious! I would suggest hulling and quartering them. I hope you love it, and if you do try it with the berries, I’d love to hear how it turns out.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!! Looks amazing! So, is that a specific brand of blueberries? All I can ever find are the small,average sized berries (boring!). ;(
Marsha, I honestly couldn’t tell you! Our grocery store usually carries a few different brands, and I rotate and pick whichever ones look the best. If the fresh ones at your store don’t look good, you can always substitute frozen.
I love German pancakes because they are so easy to make and you can put in whatever you want! Love that line too as I also have a tendency to over complicate things!
Pancakes are like crack to me. This looks so damn good!
Girl, you just get me. Thanks Sarah!
Why yes, I DID spill my coffee on my shirt when I saw this recipe hahaha. It looks THAT good! In other words, I’m making this ASAP! :)
hey girl- this looks so divine!
Hello there! Thank you for this recipe! It turned out great. It was 100% gone soon! A few comments: 1) I added 1/2 cup of coconut at the end, along with the blueberries. That was a nice flavor booster. 2) I split the batter, blueberries and coconut in two 9.5 inch glass pie pans. 3) I like the trick of buttering the hot baking dish(es). This definitely made the result easier to not stick to the baking dish. 4) I would be interested to try a savory version of this recipe. Example leave out the sugar, blueberries, and coconut and try a vegetable, like asparagus, with savory cheese or sauce. 5) to get the amount of lemon zest needed, the recipe should probably specify the number of lemons which seems to be two
This looks like a heavenly breakfast! Love lemon and blueberry together!
Made this for dinner last night! Used almond milk because that’s what we had on hand. It was DELICIOUS! Thank you for sharing!!!
Sarah, I’m so so glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much for letting me know how it came out. I really appreciate it!
if you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour, just AP flour can be used? or am i reading that incorrectly? thanks!
Yes Lara! You can use all all-purpose flour, versus part whole wheat pastry and part all purpose.
HALLELUJAH!! I’M MAKIN’ THIS TODAY!! THANK YOU!!!
Beautiful and SO easy for a brunch!
I made these a couple nights ago. I didn’t want to add that much butter so I added 1 tablespoon to the batter and sprayed the pan with oil liberally instead of using butter. They did not stick and tasted pretty good!
Thanks for sharing your tweaks, Renee. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe!
Is there a way to make this egg-free? Or are they essential to the texture?
Hi Kimberly, the eggs are essential to the texture, so unfortunately there isn’t a way to make this recipe egg free. You might try doing an internet search for vegan oven pancakes (also called dutch babies) to see if any recipes pop up!
So delicious and quick on a lazy Sunday morning:
I used whole wheat flour in place of whole wheat pastry flour and yes denser but still delish.
My 7 year old loved it:
Thank you for sharing this kind review, Mer! I’m so happy the recipe was a hit!
Under Ingredients it says 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour – or substitute additional all-purpose flour. What does it mean by “additional”. It makes it sound like you would have to use extra if using all-purpose flour.
Hi Kathy! Since the recipe already calls for all-purpose flour, you would be using additional if you were to also swap it in for the whole wheat flour. I hope this helps!
I made this recipe a few months ago and recall blueberries being included in it initially, and also some notes about when to add them. Am I misremebering, or have you changed the recipe recently? I also made it in an 8×11 pan but don’t remember needing to reduce a recipe with 3 eggs down to 75%. I may be remembering this incorrectly?
Hi Victoria! This recipe was recently updated to using a skillet and not an 8X11 pan. You can easily double it and make it in a 9×13 pan. Hope this helps!
So easy to make and everyone loved it! The hint of lemon with the powdered sugar is perfect.
Hi Jill! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Amazing! My family loved it, and it’s so easy to make. Thank you.
Hi Jennifer! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
I had a recipe for pannekoek several years ago but lost it. Then I got the idea it is called pandowdy which was confusing when I tried to look it up.
This afternoon my son was looking around on Google and he found your site. We made several batches of your Oven Pancakes with Strawberries and peaches (separate and together). It was a fun project and delicious.
This time I’ll keep better track of the recipe. Thank you for sharing it with us!
Hi Russ & Tyler! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!