German Pancakes Recipe (Dutch Baby)

But we got poor reviews. Charlotte refused to try it. Valentine left most of it in her bowl. Truman said, “I like this cereal the way that Edison (the baby) likes his cereal. I eat it at first…and then I want to throw it on the ground.”

Welp. I guess there’s just no hope for them. I’ll shake my fist at the cereal gods one last time for not blessing me with children who will eat the fastest, easiest-to-prepare (albeit nutritionally worthless) breakfast there is.

What are German Pancakes?

This is a long way to say that I have to get creative in the kitchen when it comes to breakfast.

Enter these German Pancakes! Have you tried them? This is one of those recipes with a hundred names. German Pancakes. Puffy Pancakes. Dutch Babies. Hootenanny. Hootin’ Annie. Dutch Puff. Bismarck. What do you call them? Is this a regional thing?

My mom never made these growing up but we are obsessed with them now. They are so so easy to make, and a quick way to feed the whole family without flipping pancakes for an eternity.

We like to serve these with maple syrup and berries! Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, etc. A dusting of powdered sugar through a sifter is a must! It’s also really good with a simple squeeze of lemon and powdered sugar.

What is the difference between a German pancake and a regular pancake?

German pancakes are basically a giant popover. They’re much more eggy than a regular pancake, and they’re baked in the oven rather than cooked in a skillet or on a griddle. They also take less hands-on time, standing in the kitchen sweating over flipping dozens of pancakes.

How to make German Pancakes

Here’s a quick overview of how to make German pancakes – scroll down to the recipe card for complete instructions.

1. Add butter to a casserole dish and melt in the oven.
2. Whisk flour, salt, and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
3. Add milk, vanilla, and eggs to the stand mixer and beat until well combined.
4. Pour the batter into the hot melted butter and return the dish to the oven. 
5. Bake until browned and puffy.
6. Serve immediately with syrup, berries, and/or powdered sugar.

This recipe is like a fun science experiment. Turn on the oven light and let your kids watch them puff up in the oven. Free entertainment right there! There are only 7 ingredients in this recipe. So easy.

First you start off by melting some butter in a casserole dish. I like to do this right in the oven as it preheats.

Now add some flour, salt, and sugar to a large bowl. Whisk it together, then add in some milk, vanilla, and eggs. Beat it for a while. I like to use an electric beater for this step. In fact, I like to add the eggs one at a time and beat for at least 30 seconds before adding the next egg. This is how you get ultra fluffy German pancakes!

It’s kind of annoying cracking an egg, washing your hands, beating for a while, and then repeating the process, so I decided to just crack all the eggs into one bowl and add them one at a time.

You can also make this recipe in the blender! Dump all the ingredients in except the eggs and blend to combine. Then, add the eggs one at a time and blend for a while before adding in the next one. This makes for the fluffiest pancakes!

Then pour the batter into the hot hot butter from the oven. Swirl it around a bit so the batter gets lots of contact with the butter!

And that’s it! So so easy!

How to make this recipe for German Pancakes EVEN FLUFFIER

I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about pancakes. I’m a little picky. I searched high and low to find The Best Pancakes I’ve Ever Made. (that title still stands!) The thing that sets that recipe apart is separating the egg whites and beating them a little bit before adding them to the batter.

My favorite waffle recipe includes a separate-the-egg-whites-step. Beating the egg whites is the only way to get magically fluffy waffles that are still crisp on the edges.

Can you see where this is going?

I just had to find out what happens to German pancakes if I separated the egg whites and beat them.

The result? SO. SO. FLUFFY.

Can you see how puffy the center is? Normal German pancakes are flat in the center and puffy on the edges of the pan. This version is puffy all the way through. The finished pan looks more like a cake than a traditional German pancakes. All the ingredients are exactly the same; I just beat the egg whites before adding them in. Isn’t it crazy what a difference it makes?

Look at the puff!! Anyway, I know it’s not traditional, but it is a fun variation you might want to try sometime. I like both versions and know I will be making it both ways for my family from here on out! The instructions for how to make it this way is in the notes section of the recipe where it says “How to Make FLUFFY German Pancakes.”

German pancakes would be a super easy breakfast option for Christmas morning! Make the batter the night before! Refrigerate over night, beat the heck out of it in the morning (again), and then bake. If I were doing it I would use the blender, stick the whole blender pitcher in the fridge overnight, and then blend again in the morning before pouring into the pan.

Even if you forget to do it on Christmas Eve, these are so easy to whip up it would still be a cinch to do on Christmas morning! Or heck, any random Tuesday. Who can say no to Dutch Babies??