Fluffy and light, these overnight sourdough pancakes are so easy to make and they taste amazing! They are the perfect use for your spare or discarded sourdough starter.
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Overnight sourdough pancakes
Mix the main pancake batter for the sourdough pancakes the evening before you want to eat them. This way the bacteria in your sourdough starter can begin breaking down the starches in the flour.
This helps with digestibility and the acid in the starter also creates a fluffy and tender pancake.
You can make the pancake batter up to 24 hours in advance and store it in the refrigerator. It makes breakfast so simple the following day, as the main batter is already done!
Same-day sourdough pancakes
The fermenting time can be shortened to 2-4 hours at room temperature instead. If you want to skip this step entirely you can but the fermenting time creates a lighter pancake.
The starter
There are three reasons to use sourdough starter in pancakes. Firstly, the acid in the starter will help create a super fluffy pancake as it reacts with the baking soda. Secondly, the sourdough starter is left to ferment the batter overnight first, which can help with digestibility.
Thirdly and most importantly! Flavor. The sourdough starter brings more flavor to the pancakes.
The best starter to use is a discard starter that hasn't been recently fed, so it's runny and acidic.
If your starter is not very acidic or you are shortening the fermenting time, you can add ½ tablespoon white vinegar or apple cider vinegar to the batter along with the baking soda to enhance the reaction between the acid and baking soda. This makes an extra fluffy pancake.
Ingredients
Find the ingredient amounts at the bottom of the post in the printable recipe card. Here is a run down of what you will need. 🙂
- Flour - all-purpose flour
- Milk - Use cow's milk or plant-based milk.
- Sugar - This can be substituted for another sweetener of your choice.
- Sourdough discard starter - The addition of the starter helps to break down the flour and make these pancakes easier to digest. The acid in the starter helps to create a fluffy pancake too.
- Eggs, salt - Eggs add structure, salt adds flavor.
- Baking powder and baking soda - The baking powder and baking soda add lift and it is the baking soda that reacts with the acid in the sourdough starter to create an extra fluffy pancake.
Step by step instructions
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, milk, sugar, sourdough starter, eggs, and salt. Cover the bowl with a plate or a lid and pop it into the refrigerator overnight (or up to 24 hours.)
This gives the sourdough starter time to do its work, breaking down the flour and making it much easier to digest.
In the morning, whisk in the baking powder and baking soda.
Preheat a cast-iron or non-stick pan over medium-high heat, then grease the pan with butter.
Ensure the pan is hot, and the butter is sizzling, then pour in around ⅓ cup of batter for each pancake. If the pan gets too hot, turn down the heat a little once you've poured in the batter.
The batter will spread out in the pan, and won’t rise just yet. Bubbles will start appearing on the surface of the pancake. Once bubbles cover the whole area (about 2-3 minutes), flip the pancake over and finish cooking the other side for another minute or 2.
Transfer the pancake to a plate and continue with the rest of the batter until it is all used up, stacking the pancakes in a pile as you go.
Serve the sourdough discard pancakes warm with plenty of butter and maple syrup (or apple syrup), or cream and raspberry sauce.
This recipe is written using grams as the main measurement.
If you don't have a kitchen scale US* cup equivalents are also included, however, using a kitchen scale to measure grams will give the best, and most consistent results. *US cup sizes are smaller than metric cup sizes.
Related recipes
Want them a little more special? Try sourdough blueberry pancakes instead or sourdough pumpkin pancakes. If you love berries in pancakes, you might like these strawberry banana pancakes. They're so light and tender.
There are plenty of ways to use up sourdough starter! Try sourdough chocolate banana bread, Pumpkin Sourdough Muffins or sourdough cheese scones.
Full Recipe
Overnight Sourdough Pancakes
Fluffy and light, these overnight sourdough pancakes are so easy to make
Ingredients
The evening before
- 375g ( 1 ⅔ cup) milk
- 225g (1 ¾ cup + 1 Tablespoon) all-purpose flour
- 200g (1 cup) discard sourdough starter
- 25g (2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 45g (3 tablespoons) melted butter (plus more for frying)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- ¼ teaspoon salt
In the morning
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, milk, sugar, sourdough starter, eggs, butter and salt. Cover the bowl with a plate or a lid and pop it into the refrigerator overnight (or up to 24 hours.)
- In the morning, whisk in the baking powder and baking soda.
- Preheat a cast-iron or non-stick pan over medium-high heat, then grease the pan with butter.
- Ensure the pan is hot, and the butter is sizzling, then pour in around ⅓ cup of batter for each pancake. If the pan gets too hot, turn down the heat a little once you've poured in the batter.
- The batter will spread out in the pan, and won’t rise just yet. Bubbles will start appearing on the surface of the pancake. Once bubbles cover the whole area (about 2-3 minutes), flip the pancake over and finish cooking the other side for another minute or 2.
- Transfer the pancake to a plate and continue with the rest of the batter until it is all used up, stacking the pancakes in a pile as you go.
- Serve with butter and maple syrup or berries and cream
Notes
The cup sizes given are for US cups. Note that these are smaller than metric cup sizes. For best results, use grams.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 480Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 124mgSodium: 721mgCarbohydrates: 73gFiber: 3gSugar: 11gProtein: 15g
Holly says
I wasn't sure when to add the melted butter, so I added it as part of the batter, step 1. Fabulous pancakes! I've been making a different sourdough recipe and kept modifying it because it was too dense. Yours is wonderful. Thanks!
Elien says
Yes that’s exactly when it needs to go in! I will add it in to the instructions, thanks for letting me know!
So happy you enjoyed them! 😄
Erica T. says
These were seriously so good. So easy. A little crispy and perfectly fluffy and not too thick, but also not too runny. And the slight hint of that tangy sourdough flavour... WOW! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Erica T. says
These were seriously so good. So easy. A little crispy and perfectly fluffy and not too thick, but also not too runny. And the slight hint of that tangy sourdough flavour... WOW! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Elien says
Yay thank you Erica!!
Don KOeneke says
When do you take out starter for the future breakfasts?
Elien says
Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean with this question?
Risa says
Can you use this to make waffles?
Elien says
Yup you could 🙂
Chefwannabe says
I don't think the starter has to be at room temperature. Just use it directly out from the fridge.
Chassidy Johnson says
I'm making this for the second time. Fantastic recipe! I have sourdough coming out of my ears so this is great for using it up. My question is can I dump this into a 9x13 pan and do a pan bake pancakes. It's becoming more popular to do that and I have other pancakes recipes that I do use to do that but none are sourdough. Just curious if you think it would work?
Elien says
Hey yes I think that would work great! 😀
Meg says
I very rarely comment but these were SO good I just had to! My kids are pretty picky about new recipes but they cannot get enough of these. They have that sweetness and depth of flavor you want in a pancake but struggle to figure out at home. Also, I have mixed them up and left them for up to 48 hours and still delicious, so the recipe is flexible. Thanks so much for sharing!
Elien says
Yay Meg this makes me so happy reading this! Thank you so much for commenting.
Mariel says
Hi!!! If I add fruit to the batter, when would I do it? Step 1? Thx!
Elien says
Hey I would add it in at the end to stop it bleeding into the batter 🙂
Morgan Hall says
I don't have vanilla paste can I use vanilla extract and if so same measurement?
Elien says
Yup the same measurement 🙂
Ruth says
Hello, this is the second time I make your recipe and have loved it. I used goat’s milk and it worked very well. Also EVOO instead of butter, as I am not buying regular cow’s dairy anymore, I don’t do well with it. I had two pancakes with two poached eggs and some very natural ham and maple syrup, of course. What a breakfast! Thank you for sharing your recipe. Regards from Madrid!
Elien says
Thank you for this lovely comment Ruth! I’m so happy you like the pancakes ☺️
Mary says
Love this recipe! But I'm curious if you can do more than one set of stretch and folds before the overnight rise? Will it change the outcome?
Elien says
Hey Mary, could you maybe have commented on the wrong recipe? There are no stretch and folds in this one 🙂
Claire says
Holy cow! My picky kids loved this and my nephews and niece devoured it! Soooo good!! Definitely a keeper!
Elien says
Awesome! So stoked you loved them!
Liz says
A staple in our Home. Seriously, I use this recipe three times a month at least.
Elien says
Yay so happy to read this!
Sheila Martin says
I also added 1/2 cup sourdough starter and 1/2 cup flour in th morning to make them fluffier.