Light and Fluffy Soufflé Pancakes
These soufflé pancakes without baking powder are impossibly light and airy! Whipped egg whites replace the baking powder in the pancakes and create an incredibly fluffy texture.
Souffle Pancakes Overview
- Skill Level: Beginner
- Techniques Used: Easy Meringue
These pancakes are my definition of the perfect pancake. Why? Because they are super light and tender and impossibly fluffy. I have a feeling once you make pancakes this way you may not go back!
Over the years I have been asked many times how various baking recipes could be made without baking powder or baking soda. A few years ago I set out to tackle pancakes that were fluffy as all pancakes should be but made without chemical leavener.
My idea was to whip the egg whites before folding them into the pancake batter. I thought I was brilliant.
Fast forward a few years and I’m now fully aware I didn’t invent this technique. But souffle pancakes, my invention or not, are a must-try for any pancake lover out there!
Whipped Egg Whites: Baking Powder Replacement in Pancakes
The process of making souffle pancakes requires very few steps. The one step that is the most crucial is whipping the egg whites and folding them into the batter.
The air that is beaten into the egg whites is what will lift the pancake batter and create fluffiness.
Step 1: Separate the Eggs
To create souffle pancakes you need to separate your egg whites from your egg yolks. The egg whites will not whip up and hold air in them if fat is present, therefore the yolk must be separated from the white.
Step 2: Combine Ingredients for the Base of the Batter
In a large bowl, combine the flour, milk, salt, vanilla, and egg yolks. This is the base of the pancake batter and what the egg white mixture will be folded into.
Step 3: Whip the Egg Whites with the Sugar
In a separate bowl, use a hand mixer or a stand mixer to whip the egg whites on medium speed.
Once the whites are starting to hold shape, gradually stream in the sugar while continuing to beat the egg whites. You want to beat the whites until they almost, but not fully, form stiff peaks.
Note: Your egg whites need to be holding stiff peaks like the picture below. If they are not, keep beating.
Step 4: Fold the Whites into the Pancake Batter Base
Take about one quarter of the whipped egg whites and stir it completely into the pancake batter base. This will lighten the batter slightly and make it easier to fold in the rest of the egg whites.
Next, add half of the remaining whipped egg whites and gently fold it in, making sure not to deflate the air out of the whites. Fold in the remaining whipped egg whites into the batter.
Step 5: Cook the Pancakes
Be sure to cook the pancakes immediately. Because these pancakes rely on the whipped egg whites for their lift, they need to be cooked right after mixing.
You will be so amazed at how tall and fluffy these babies get!
And that is it! It really is that easy!
If you don’t have baking powder on hand or even if you do and you just want the fluffiest pancakes you’ve ever made, this is your recipe!
Souffle Pancakes (Pancakes without Baking Powder)
These souffle pancakes without baking powder are impossibly light and airy! Whipped egg whites act as a replacement for the baking powder in the pancakes and create an incredibly fluffy texture. This recipe can be whipped together in minutes!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (4.25 oz, 119 gr) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 2/3 cup (6 fl oz, 160 ml) whole milk ( can sub skim, 1%, 2%)
- 1 tsp vanilla (optional)
- 3 large egg yolks, room temperature (*see note)
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature (*see note)
- 1/4 cup (1.75 oz, 49 gr) sugar
Instructions
- Separate your egg whites from the egg yolks. Set the whites aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, milk, vanilla, and egg yolks just until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites with a hand mixer or a stand mixer on medium speed. Once the egg whites are beginning to thicken, slowly stream the sugar into the egg whites with the mixer still running. Beat the egg whites until they are just starting to hold stiff peaks. They will still look glossy at this point. Note: The egg whites MUST be holding stiff peaks like the picture in the above post. If they are not, you need to whip them longer. This is ESSENTIAL for this recipe. But don't go too far with it. The whites will start looking dry and a little crumbly then you have gone too far with your beating.
- Add about one quarter of the egg white mixture into the pancake batter and stir it in completely using a rubber spatula. This will lighten the batter and make it easier to fold in the rest of the whites. Add half of the remaining egg whites into the batter and gently fold the whites in, using the rubber spatula, being careful not to deflate the air out of them. Add the remaining egg whites and fold in again gently until there are no visible white streaks. If you are unfamiliar with how to fold egg whites into a batter, watch this tutorial.
- Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat. Pour about 1/4-1/3 cup batter per cake onto the greased skillet and gently spread the batter out to a circle with the back of a spoon or measuring cup. Bubbles will still form on top even though there is no baking powder. Flip the cakes once, when the bubbles pop and the bottom is lightly browned. Cook until lightly browned on the other side. Keep warm in a 200F oven if not serving immediately.
Notes
About egg temperature: If you do not have time to let your eggs come to room temperature naturally, place them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes before cracking and separating them. Egg whites whip to stiff peaks much more quickly if they are at room temperature. It is absolutely essential that you whip the egg whites long enough to reach stiff peaks for this recipe. Cold egg whites will eventually whip to stiff peaks, but it will take much longer.
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Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 0
341 Comments on “Light and Fluffy Soufflé Pancakes”
Hi, I attempted to make this but was disappointed. The eggs were at room temp. but it took well over an hour to beat egg whites to reach to stiff peaks. I started with a whisk but after 30 minutes of hand whisking, I switched over to hand mixer thinking it’ll be just a few more minutes. Wrong! I set it on high speed and finally well over an hour the stiff peaks finally appeared! I Did the cut, fold and turn method into the batter as instructed in the tutorial video but when I finally got the batter cooking in the pan; the pancakes did not fluff/rise up like I had expected and saw on the video. I learned how to whip eggs but sadly that is all ! 🙁
Where did I go wrong and why did it take forever ? How can I correct this?
Thanks!
Hi Walter, I suspect an issue with your egg whites. Whipping egg whites to stiff peaks should only take a few minutes by hand and even less with a mixer. You egg whites must have been over whipped which caused them not to rise when you tried to cook your batter. This article might be of help when whipping egg whites: https://bakerbettie.com/how-to-make-easy-meringue/
Hi, I tried whipping egg whites again but sadly without success 🙁
… I left the eggs in room temp for hours; use a hand blender (aka emulsifier)
… I stood there blending for over 30 minutes; even the motor was getting hot and still did not get them the whip into stiff peaks. I finally gave up.
It should be simple but I am at a loss as to why this is not working. Any ideas – Help!
3 issues could affect the egg whites getting stiff enough.
1. There is some oil or residue on your bowl or egg beater
2. You did not start at the right speeds. With a hand mixer start slow, then a bit higher and then higher still. Also if you add in the sugar too fast it breaks the eggs – you must add little by little.
3. Lastly sometimes one’s location can affect these things – too much humidity being the usual suspect.
I had the same issue. Used this recipe because I was out of baking powder. Would’ve taken me less time to go to the store to buy baking powder than it did to whip the egg whites.
Woooow!!! They came out so perfect!!!
Hello Miki, How did you do it?? Does adding some sugar make a difference?
It took well over 45 minutes to whip egg whites! Used a hand mixer one time then on another occasion I used a hand blender with each time taking forever! 🙁 …. the motor on the hand blender was overheated!
…. the eggs were left outside for 4 hours and were at room temperature.
Still don’t know why could not get egg whites to whip 🙁
The egg whites are whipping me ! 🙂
Hi Walter, the only reason egg whites might not whip up is if any fat is present. Make sure you don’t get any yolk into your whites and make sure your bowl and beaters are grease-free.
Hey Walter,
Contrary to the recommendation in this blog, my personal experience with whipping egg whites over 20years is that you NEVER, EVER leave eggs at room temperature – colder the better (if warm they will still thicken but are almost never stiff – usually just lightly frothy). I take them right out of the fridge, separate the whites and using an electric egg beater, beat them on the highest setting immediately and within 30-60 seconds there are very stiff peaks. You can also add a pinch of cream of tartar to help if needed. Also, unless you are making meringue I’d omit the sugar (if you do, FOLD it in, do NOT mix it as its too heavy and will collapse the tiny air bubbles in the egg whites…powdered sugar would be better…but I’d just omit it entirely since the pancakes will be drenched in syrup anyways haha)… or add it to the BATTER before you fold in the egg whites. The less you disturb the whites once whipped the better. Just my experience though…maybe its where I live or the eggs I use?
I’m so glad! Great job!
We have no baking powder but felt like pancakes so I searched online and came across your recipe. It was delicious!! Thank you.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Wow, at our cabin and didn’t have Baking Soda so I tried these. YUM !!! Keeping this recipe to use at home as well. Thank you.
Wonderful!
Thank you for this recipe, my husband has heart failure and it’s so hard to find recipes with no salt, baking soda or baking powder. The pancakes were wonderful. The pancakes were light and fluffy. Excellent.
I’m so glad you both enjoy them! You’ll want to look for recipes that use egg whites as the leavener.
Do you have any other recipes for people with heart failure that can’t have salt, baking soda, or baking powder.
Thanks,
Teri Frederick
You can try my meringue cookies, angel food cake, or fudgy brownies. They don’t contain baking soda or powder and you can leave out the salt.
Hi, I have a Sausage recipe that is good with ground beef or pork. Would be glad to share. My Mom is also on Sodium restrictions due to heart. Let me know Baker Bettie if you would like it. I am going to try these pancakes this Saturday morning. Thank you
Thanks! I used my usual sourdough pancake recipe and just eliminated the baking soda, relying upon the beaten egg whites. It worked perfectly this weekend. Twice!
The kids loved it!
Wonderful! I’m so glad!
Made these for our Christmas morning pancakes, and they were AMAZING! I used half the sugar, and mixed in 2 medium sized bananas, left a tad bit of the milk out to account for the increased liquid from the bananas. What a wonderful addition! They turned out fluffy yet chewy and creamy, with just a hint of sweetness. Thank you for this wonderful recipe, I think this will become a new holiday tradition 🙂
What a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing!
I made these for my family. I didn’t wait for the egg white to get to room temp and they still came to a perfect glossy meringue in around 8 min. So fun to try a new recipe! The texture is light, fluffy and creamy and my family loved them.
Awesome!
I usuallt don’t leave a comment but this recipe works real good. When I saw Meringue.. I almost gave up because i don’t want to make an effort! Believe me guys. It is worth to try! Even my eggs were not in perfect RT and I used brown sugar, still fluffy pancakes were out!
So glad you liked it!
This is not a beginner recipe. Separating eggs takes practice.
That’s a good point!
Whatchu doin separating eggs at 4 am maybe get some sleep try again tomorrow
We used a regular whisk for the egg white and sugar mix. With some man power, they whisked until perfectly. Exactly as described with firm peaks. I loved the soufflé effect with these pancakes! So delicious!
Wonderful!
Not bad. I didn’t have an issue with the egg whites, so I’m assuming previous commenters had yolk in theirs. I added cinnamon sugar and shredded carrots to mine, to sneak some veggies into my kids’ diet. They liked them too! The only issue I had was deciding if they were done cooking or not.
Great flavor ideas!
This is a great recipe. I love pancakes, and the hint of egg beats the chemical flavor of baking powder any day!
Smart putting all the sugar in the marange.
I was able to get firm peaks with a couple forks, but I might invest in a little hand mixer to make these again.
I imagine some fantastic lemon cakes next, now that I don’t have to add TWO chemical leveners to counter the acidity.
These were extremely sweet- is 1/4 cup of sugar a typo? They were otherwise nice and fluffy
It’s not a typo. You are welcome to cut down on the sugar in the recipe!
Best recipe I have tried without baking powder and there super fluffy!I read the reviews saying that the egg would not make stiff peaks but I used cold eggs and I had absolutely no problem with them this is my new favorite recipe thank you so much for this recipe I enjoyed it!
These remind me of “Fruffy” Japanese Pancakes. The directions are very much the same but I had to use a lid while cooking them to “fruff” them. They also had to be eaten right away or else, they would become flat.
Can i omit sugar n sub with honey? Where do i add the honey if can? Thank you
Sure! Add in to your flour and milk mixture.
My new favorite recipe! First time to try egg whites in pancakes and we loved them! Wonderfully light with slight sweetness. They do take a bit longer to cook but worth it. Great step by step. I will try eggs at room temp next time.
Glad you liked them!
These are so good! Every Monday I make pancakes for breakfast, and today, I saw that we didn’t have any baking powder, and then I found this recipe, and it is so good! The eggs took about 5-10 minutes to turn into stiff peaks. I am really happy I found the recipe. My family loved it. Thank you for posting!
So glad you liked them! It’s handy to have a backup recipe when you run out of something 🙂
Interesting article, not sure if i fully agree. Will reaserch more
I hope you try them!
Very good a little challenging yo cook
These came out amazing! The flavor is great and my family loved them. Not sure how others are failing to whip their egg whites, my fluffed perfectly!!
So glad!
Did not work at all. I followed every step and it did not work. Worst recipe ever!
I’m so sorry it didn’t work for you. What went wrong?
Make it better then
If you follow this recipe correctly it’s perfect it does t take too long to whip the egg whites so I’m not sure what everyone is on about. I find this recipe easier than normal American pancakes which I find hard to get right. But these are pereverytime! So fluffy in the inside and crisp on the outside thanks for making my pancake day more fun <3
I’m so glad you liked them! Thanks for sharing!
Will the incredibly fluffy texture be retained if a batch is put into the freezer for another breakfast or do they have to be eaten immediately??
It would be nice to save time by freezing a batch of soufflé pancakes and reheating them.
Really good surprisingly for a internet recipe
Just wanted to reiterate what Betty Crocker, sorry, I mean Bettie Baker (or was it Baker Bettie?) said.
DO NOT GET FAT IN YOUR EGG WHITES. NOT A SINGLE DROP, or else you’ll never get the soft peaks you need or you will, but they will deflate within less than a couple of minutes, and or your pancake WILL NOT RISE. I let the tiniest amount of egg yolk get into my Egg white mix the first time and over 10 minutes in, couldn’t get to the stiffness I needed to. Started overs, clean, fresh bowl, pure EGG WHITE in and voila, within somewhere between 6 – 10 minutes, I got to where I needed to. I also decided this time to SLOWLY pour in my sugar as I mixed (electric basic mixer, not some giant kitchen aid thing!) I also saw a video right after doing this, and it says you can actually just throw the sugar all in at the beginning and you’ll end up with the same result so idk but yeah. It works, it’s beautiful, and it smells just barely of a beautiful scrambled egg lol. Thanks for this recipe. It’s amazing.
Wow! This has become my go to recipe for pancakes, and can’t imagine going back to the classic way of making them. I used oat milk and subbed dome of the flour with whole wheat and turned out delicious as well! Thank you !
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing your substitutions. I’m sure other readers would like to do the same.
The egg whites whipped me. Never got to the consistency after 30 minutes using a hand whisk. Pancakes did not turn out great.
Girl cook it better then.
Made these and they were delicous!! Accidentally added the sugar to the batter instead of the egg whites, but they still came out great! Thank yooou!
This is my go to recipe now for any pancakes! Light and fluffy, the leftovers never last more than a day in our house! Have doubled the recipe and it always turns out great!
I will say the pancakes have been more fluffy now that I have a stand mixer vs the old hand held one.
I’m glad you like them! They’re my favorite way to make pancakes too 🙂
I found these super easy to do. I didn’t blend the egg whites into peaks, but I did blend them so that the consistency was thick and airy, and I did fold it into my mixture and tried to make one, but it was kind of flat so I mixed it in with a spoon to combine more evenly and they came out perfect. Fluffy American pancakes, yum. N.b I have never kept my eggs in the fridge. They don’t keep them
In the fridge at the shop. It is simply not necessary. Hope this helps, good luck!
I didn’t have baking powder and ended up on this site. These pancakes turned out great! I made the meringue according to the instructions and it turned out perfect – my first time.
Pancakes were sooo fluffy and light and delicious. I did notice some of the pancakes had a bit more “egg” taste but that’s probably because I didn’t make sure all the egg white mixture was blended in properly to the batter. This will probably be my go-to pancake recipe from now on.
I’m so glad you liked it! It’s definitely handy to have when you run out of baking powder. Sometimes meringue based bakes can taste a bit eggy when they’re warm.
This turned out beautifully. I used eggs right out of my fridge. This only took me a minute to get thick egg whites. Thanks so much for this recipe
I love not having to add baking powder. Definitely making this again
Even though I messed up at the folding technique(I forgot to mix in the quarter egg whites before folding in the rest!), these turned out really good! I was out of baking soda and baking powder, and despite my folding in technique fail, the texture and taste was perfect! I also added a small smashed banana in the mixture and it went so well, tasted better than cafe pancakes. I usually follow a different recipe when making pancakes but this will now also be in my staple list 🙂
P.S – I bought my eggs to room temperature by putting them in very warm water for like 2 minutes. I had no issue whipping the egg whites into meringue with a hand mixer, only took a couple of minutes.
Amazing. Just had some with little blueberries mixed in. Tummy smillin’
Yum! Great idea.
Can these be frozen? and reheated later?
Hi, yes they can. Freeze them flat on a sheet pan. Once frozen, they can be moved to a sandwich bag with parchment paper in between.
Loved this recipe!!!
Time consuming and end product was not good. Avoid.
Great recipe. Made it with no hiccups. For those struggling with achieving stiff peak, here are some tips.
I take out the eggs cold and separate them. Add 1 tsp of vinegar/or lemon juice(adding this is foolproofed). Then add a little bit of sugar at a time then mix on medium then quickly shift to high. I pretty much continue to mix on high then about 6-10 mins, I get stiff peak. I’ve always achieved stiff peak this way and it’s much faster too.
Can I add Blueberries to the batter or will they collapse?
O would like to have them on the batter but they can just be sprinkled on top.
Thanks so much for this recipe. I am trying to make nice food for my 81 yo mother.