Are you team pancakes or team waffles? If you're on team pancakes but are bored with traditional pancakes, this cornmeal pancake recipe would be the perfect breakfast treat to make for the next long weekend.

Most mornings, I feed my kids oatmeal or something that is quick, and easy and will keep them moderately full until lunchtime. The day I made this fluffy cornmeal pancake for them, they were beyond happy. Of course, they usually are asking for a snack by 10am, but I digress...
It only takes a couple of minutes to whip up the pancake batter, so if you are serving them with bacon or sausage, be sure those are prepared before you start cooking the pancakes.
The coarse cornmeal gives this cornmeal pancakes recipe a wonderful texture and a subtle corn flavor. Top them with butter, fresh berries, maple syrup or my homemade blueberry sauce and they are sure to become a family favorite.
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🛒Ingredients
You may already have all of the ingredients you need to make these cornbread pancakes.
- yellow corn meal- use fine ground cornmeal. Yellow cornmeal adds a distinct flavor and texture to these unusual pancakes
- boiling water- helps soften the cornmeal to make the texture less gritty
- egg adds structure to the pancakes
- baking powder-helps the pancakes puff to become light and airy
- salt-enhances the corn flavor
- butter- I use unsalted butter. If you only have salted butter, use that and just reduce the salt in the recipe by half
- melted butter- helps keep the cooked pancakes soft
- sugar-adds a slight sweetness to the batter
- buttermilk-reacts with the baking powder to help the pancakes rise
- all-purpose flour
See recipe card for quantities.
🥣Instructions
Put the yellow cornmeal in a medium bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let the cornmeal absorb the water for about 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, then whisk until combined, but be careful not to overmix the batter. Small lumps are ok.
Cook the pancakes on a hot griddle or in a large skillet lightly coated with vegetable oil over medium heat. Repeat the steps with the remaining batter.
🎥Cornmeal Pancake Recipe Video
👩🏾🍳Substitutions
- Buttermilk - instead of buttermilk, you can use almond milk. You will need to add a tablespoon of vinegar to get mimic the acidity of buttermilk.
- All-purpose flour- if you don't want to use white flour, use a gluten-free flour blend to make sure all of the dry ingredients are gluten free. Cornmeal is naturally gluten-free but double-check your packaging to make sure it's processed in a gluten-free environment if that is a concern for you.
- Sugar- You can swap out the white sugar for brown sugar.
🍽️Variations
- Kid friendly - pour smaller dollops of batter on the griddle to make silver dollar sized pancakes that you can eat with your fingers!
- Deluxe - add sliced strawberries, bananas, fresh blueberries and plenty of butter to the top of the pancakes.
- Breakfast Board- Let these breakfast pancakes with amazing flavor be the star of your next breakfast board! In this post I used french toast as my main item, but you can easily use these cornmeal pancakes for a morning time treat the whole family will love. Don't forget the orange juice and plenty of maple syrup.
🍳Equipment
Skillets on the stovetop can be a bit tricky to get even heating. If you can invest in an electric griddle, that would be my top choice for making the best cornmeal pancakes.
I can fit 6-8 pancakes at a time on my griddle so no one has to wait and everyone can eat at the same time.
I also love the square griddle for making pancakes on top of the stove. You can typically fit 4 pancakes at a time and the sides are lower so the pancakes are easier to flip than if you cooked them in a round skillet.
❄️Storage
If you have any of these easy cornmeal pancakes leftover, store them in the fridge in an airtight container. You can reheat them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.
If you want to make a double batch and freeze these pancakes for longer-term storage, you can use coffee filters in between the pancakes so you can easily separate them later. Place the separated pancakes in a freezer bag and try to get as much air out as possible without squishing the pancakes.
🍽️What else to serve with these cornmeal pancakes
You can serve the pancakes with blueberry syrup or homemade buttermilk syrup. Cornmeal pancakes go great with brown sugar bacon, air fryer kielbasa and air fryer potatoes. You can also serve this fruit dip with fresh fruit on the side.
If you need an easy drink to serve with these cornmeal pancakes, try this iced blonde vanilla latte or this chai latte.
👩🏾🍳Top tips
If you want to double this recipe you can. Just use a large bowl.
Make sure the pancakes are dry around the edges and have bubbles on the surface before you flip them. This is how you can ensure that the pancakes are completely done in the center.
📖Printable Recipe Card
Cornmeal Pancakes
Equipment
- 1 electric griddle you may also use a large skillet or a square skillet
Ingredients
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 each large egg
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespooons melted butter
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Add cornmeal to a mixing bowl and stir in the boiling water. Let the cornmeal absorb the water for about 5 minutes.1 cup cornmeal, 1 cup boiling water
- Add the egg, baking powder, salt, melted butter, sugar, and buttermilk to the softened cornmeal mixture. Stir until the mixture is smooth and lump free.1 each large egg, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 Tablespooons melted butter, 2 Tablespoons sugar, ¾ cup buttermilk
- Add the flour and stir until just combined and there are no more streaks of flour.1 cup all-purpose flour
- Pour the batter onto a hot skillet and cook for 2 minutes on each side.
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