A Dutch pancake, or pannenkoek, is a relatively thin pancake that can be served either sweet, or savory, or both (Yes! Yes! Yes!). Dutch pancakes are thicker than French crêpes, but not quite as thick as American pancakes, but they are usually significantly bigger than both, which is why they’re often eaten for lunch, or dinner rather than breakfast (but they’re good any time of the day). 

Dutch pannenkoeken are made with a plain, simple batter made with flour, eggs, milk and a pinch of salt. It’s basically a foolproof recipe, as almost any mixture of flour, eggs and milk will make a pancake – as with most Dutch recipes, the amounts of ingredients are not that precise – as long as the batter is somewhat runny, but neither too thin nor too thick. The perfect Dutch pancake is slightly soft, but not soggy and undercooked and has got slightly crispy edges and light brown spots all over.

While these pancakes can be eaten as is, they are much better with a topping. Popular and traditional toppings include: schenkstroop (Dutch sugar beet syrup), powdered sugar, sugar and cinnamon, apple cinnamon, cheese, gerookt spek (smoked bacon/speck), and combinations of either cheese and/or spek with onions and mushrooms. My favorite? The sweet and savory combination of cheese, spek and syrup. Don’t yuck my yum. Try it!

Print

Dutch Pancakes / Pannenkoeken

0.0 rating

• V

Simple recipe for traditional Dutch pancakes

• Difficulty:Easy
• Prep Time:5 mins
• Cook Time:20 mins
• Freezable:No

Nutrition per portion

Ingredients

• 250g plain wheat flour (or substitute half with buckwheat flour)
• Pinch of salt
• 2 large eggs
• 500ml milk
• Butter, as needed
• -
• Optional toppings such as: schenkstroop (Dutch sugarbeet syrup), powdered sugar, sugar and cinnamon, apple cinnamon, cheese, gerookt spek (smoked bacon/speck), mushrooms, honey, or fresh fruits.

Method

Yields: +/- 10 pancakes

1. Add the flour and salt to a bowl.
2. Add the eggs to the same bowl together with 1/3 of the milk. Beat until everything is well combined. Add another 1/3 of the milk and combine. Keep adding milk until the batter has the consistency of a smoothie, or drink-yoghurt (adding all the milk listed is fine, but sometimes the consistency changes depending on the size of the eggs).
3. Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is very hot, add a knob of butter.
4. With a soup-ladle, ladle the batter into the hot pan and quickly swirl the pan to spread the batter across the whole bottom of the pan.
5. When you see little ‘holes’ forming on the top of the pancake, flip it. Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute more.

  Note: for topping such as bacon, mushrooms and apple, add them to the pan and cook them before ladling in the batter so that they are incorporated into the pancake itself. Add cheese after flipping the pancake, to allow it to melt before taking it out of the pan. All other toppings can be added whilst serving the pancakes.