Brighten up your family’s day with these colorful rainbow pancakes! Serve just for fun or on St. Patrick’s Day and maybe you’ll find that pot o’ gold. With the great taste of homemade pancake mix, you’ll be the lucky one either way!
These rainbow stacks are a fun twist on traditional buttermilk pancakes.
Rainbow Pancakes
One reason I love holidays so much are the traditions. Doing something unique on special days is what makes them so significant. These traditions can be big or small, but they’re always dear. And for me, they almost always center around food.
When I was a child, my mother used to make cinnamon rolls for Valentine’s Day breakfast. She is not a yeast-baker, so she always baked canned cinnamon rolls and we loved it and looked forward to this every year. It was a sweet start to a day filled with Valentine Jello Hearts, Guava Pastelitos and other memorable practices.
As I was thinking about St. Patrick’s Day, I thought making breakfast with or for your family would be a fun way to start the day. Why wait until lunchtime (when I’m sure you’ll be making a rainbow grilled cheese!) to get the party started? And so these lucky rainbow pancakes were born.
I used Amanda’s homemade pancake mix to whip up these colorful hot cakes. All the convenience of a box mix with all the taste of homemade! As an extra mix in, I added a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the batter.
Once you’ve mixed the batter, you’ll need to evenly portion it into six bowls, about 1/3 cup per bowl. Add your food dye to each bowl creating red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Follow the formula on the dye packaging to create non-primary colors if your dyes only include red, blue and yellow. Since every brand varies, you’ll need to add a small amount at a time until a vibrant color is reached.
Ingredients you need:
- 2 cups master mix
- 1 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Food dye
- Whipped cream, for serving
Helpful tools:
- Nonstick griddle or frying pan
- Spatula
- Small mixing bowls
- Large mixing bowl for making batter
You can make these rainbow pancakes any size you like, but since six pancakes equal one serving here, I like to make them dollar-sized. They’re so cute and remind me of the coins found in the pot at the end of the rainbow! Tip: cook these on a dry nonstick pan over medium-low heat so they don’t brown and ruin the colors. I served them with fluffy clouds of sweet whipped cream.
Rainbow Pancakes
IMPORTANT - There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Rate ItIngredients
- 2 cups master mix*
- 1 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Food dye
- Whipped cream for serving
Before You Begin
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together master mix, milk eggs and vanilla until combined. Divide batter among 6 small mixing bowls.
- Stir in food dye to each bowl, starting with a couple drops until a vibrant color is achieved. Repeat until you have red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
- Heat a nonstick frying pan or griddle over medium-low heat. The pan is ready when a sprinkle of water lightly sizzles on the pan.
- Pour 2 tablespoons of batter per pancake. Cook for about 45-60 seconds or until the bubbles begin to pop. Flip and cook for an additional 45-60 seconds. Remove from pan and repeat until all the colors have been used.
- Pancakes can be kept warm in a 200°F oven until ready to serve.
- Stack the pancakes in the color order of a rainbow and serve with whipped cream clouds.
Nutrition
This post originally appeared on this blog on Dec 28, 2016.
Amanda Davis
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Anya says
Does it need oil?
Amanda Formaro says
I used a non-stick pan (no oil). If you need a bit of oil just use a light spray. And be sure your heat is not too high! Medium-low is the sweet spot. Flip pancakes after about 45 seconds. Hope that helps!
Vicky says
What food coloring did you use?
Amanda Formaro says
A gel food coloring is best :) We usually use Wilton.
Serra says
How do you cook them all so that the color stays true without browning??
Rebekah Garcia says
I used a non-stick pan (no oil). If you need a bit of oil just use a light spray.
Rebekah says
And be sure your heat is not too high! Medium-low is the sweet spot. Flip pancakes after about 45 seconds. Hope that helps!
Ava says
Could we use frosting food dye to color them?
Amanda Formaro says
Yes that will work, assuming you mean gel food coloring?
cakespy says
I’d totally eat these if I were a unicorn (and honestly, I sort of am). Beautiful!