Dairy Free Fluffy Homemade Pancakes (made with water instead of milk).
(Updated photo, finally)
I didn’t know if it was possible to make dairy free pancakes. All of the recipes I found had weird ingredients in them with milk substitutes like almond milk & I couldn’t use any of them because the person I wanted to make them for had bad food allergies. So I made up this recipe that uses water instead of milk & vegetable oil instead of butter. They turned out light & fluffy & tasted just as good as my regular homemade pancake recipes. I served them with maple syrup & they were delicious.
So if your dealing with a milk allergy or perhaps you’ve ran out of milk at your house, you can still make fluffy pancakes from scratch. If your pancake batter is too thick add a little more water, you want it to be the same consistency as regular pancake batter. I find that sometimes I have to add an extra tablespoon of water to mine to thin it out.
You will have to forgive my bad pictures, it was dark out when I made these & I used my phone to take the photos, I will update the pictures when I get a chance. Recipes makes 1-2 servings, double recipe if you want more pancakes.
Dairy Free Pancakes made with water.
- 1 egg
- ¾ cup water
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 2½ Tablespoons oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Add egg to mixing bowl & whisk really well. Add water, sugar, oil, & vanilla & stir. Add in flour, baking powder, & salt. Mix just until everything is combined. If mix is too thick you can add a little bit more water. You want it to look like normal pancake batter.
- Let sit for a few minutes.
- Heat up a non-stick fry pan or griddle to about medium heat or less. You can add a teaspoon of oil to pan to prevent sticking.
- Once its warmed up you can test by pouring one pancake onto pan. Wait until bubbles start to form on top then flip over. Cook both sides until they are golden brown.
- Serve warm.
I’m always looking for new pancake recipes because I’ve never made a batch I loved! Can’t wait to give these a go!
Do not use salt it will ruin it ?
Hello Eden, Did you try making it? ALL pancake recipes call for salt in them.
Crazy me used baking soda instead of powder by accident. Not a good mistake to make! I will try again with baking powder next time thank you for a great dairy free recipe.
Mixing baking soda up with baking powder is an easy mistake to make, I’ve done that too! These pancakes definitely taste much better with baking powder, hope you get the chance to try them again. :)
Baking soda and cream of tartar will make a single acting baking powder, I use it all the time
Recipe is PERFECT! Super fluffy and delicious! <3
Hi Erica, I’m so glad you liked the recipe! Thanks for taking the time to comment, we appreciate it!
Delicious! Thank you for this recipe. I was recently diagnosed with a milk allergy and this is by far the best milk free recipe I’ve found. I substitued Splenda and they still came out great!
Hi! I’m so glad the recipe worked out for you! Thanks for commenting!
I’ve been making fluffy buttermilk pancakes for 30 years. My daughter has developed Lactose Intolerance and these are a wonderful solution. Lower calorie too.
Hi Matt, I’m glad this recipe works for your daughters lactose intolerance. I also use this recipe to make waffles.
I made banana pancakes using this recipe. I used Stevia instead of sugar, cake flour, and coconut oil as well. They are delicious!
Hi Lori, Banana pancakes sound delicious! I’m glad your alterations worked out.
This are great light and fluffy. I used almond milk
Hi Rose, I’m glad using almond milk worked! :)
Found your recipe this morning looking for a pancake recipe for when you have almost no milk left (1/4cup). Wife and I loved it, we will use in the future, with or without milk! I added a bit more salt, my personal preference, but they come out beautifully. A double batch makes about 12 – 4″ pancakes. Thanks for a delicious Sunday morning!
Hi Robbie, I’m so glad you both liked the recipe! It definitely comes in handy when your out of milk. :)
Hey Katie I made your pancake receipe, it did not come out as good as I hoped. I don’t know if it is because I use Blue Agave instead of sugar or not. My pancake did not rise ar all and the inside didn’t cook either, it was disappointing but I don’t think all is lost with the receipe. Anyway I hope you are having a great day.:)
Hello Elnoa, The problem was probably that you did not use sugar. Agave might have made the batter too dense. As long as you whipped the eggs really well they should have been light & fluffy.
Hi Katie! I used blue agave also, but I also decreased the water based on the amount I used to keep the liquid ratio the same. They turned out great! I also used rice and almond flour since I can’t have gluten and everyone loved them!!
Hi Sarah, I’m glad the alterations you made to the recipe worked out! Thanks for sharing the info!
Honestly I never comment on anything….but my little brother loved these so so much it made me proud. Greatly recommend these….thanks and have a swell day ;)
Thanks for commenting we appreciate it! I’m glad your brother liked the recipe!
I just made these and they are delicious. I am out of milk AND sugar. I used brown sugar and also added a dash of cinnamon. So good!
Hi Darla, I’m so glad you liked the recipe! I’ve never tried using brown sugar, sounds good!
Thank you so much for a great recipe. I ran out of box mix but I wanted pancakes. The skim milk was in the freezer frozen. So I searched for a recipe that I could make without milk. So so perfect!!! So much so that I decided to no longer buy the box mix as I am moving further and further away from boxed foods. Again, I thank you.
Hi! I’m so glad the recipe worked out good for you! This recipe works well if your all out of milk. :)
I had a breakfast emergency this morning when I realized I was out of milk. After a bit of research I found this recipe. The instructions were well written and easy to follow for a novice chef like myself. I also added a dash of cinnamon. The pancakes were epic, thanks for posting this recipe :)
Hi Tim, Glad to here the pancake recipe came in handy for you!
Made these a few days ago and here I am at 5:14 am craving some more, they’re delicious and I don’t even like pancakes!
Hi Joey, I’m so glad you liked the pancake recipe. :)
Hey was wondering how many calories each serve contains, thanks
Hi Bella, I’m not sure but you could try using a nutrition calculator like this one: https://www.verywell.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4129594
Thanks – these are so great. I am GF, so substituted 1 cup flour for 1/2 cup rice flour and 1/2 cup buckwheat if that helps anyone :)
Thanks for sharing the info about how to make them gluten free. I’m glad it worked!
How many pancakes does this make
Hi! The recipe makes 1-2 servings depending on how big you make your pancakes. I make 5-6 smaller sized pancakes with the recipe. If you need more you can double the recipe.
Hi Jenniffer, Sorry to hear you did not like the recipe. I have had nothing but positive feedback from people about this recipe until yours. I’ve made this recipe so many times & my family absolutely loves it. I’ve never had a problem with them not staying together. Perhaps the batter was too thin or thick. This can be easily fixed by adding more water or more flour to the batter. Also whipping up the egg with a whisk is a very important step for this recipe to turn out.
I made waffles with the no milk recipe using self rising flour. They turned out great! Thanks!
Hi Tina! I’m so glad they turned out great for you!
These are AMAZING! My new favorite recipe even if I have milk in the fridge!
Great! I’m glad you like it!
We had no mil at home so I resorted to this I added 6 tablespoons of sugar because I LOVEEEE sweet pancakes and only 3 more tablespoons of flour because it seemed a bit waterie lol (By The Way I’m 12 and I love baking!!)
Hope you liked it! :)
I ran out of milk and searched for a recipe. So glad I found this!! My kids and I really loved them!! I will make these from now on. Thank you.
Hey Selena, I’m so glad you liked this recipe! It comes in handy when your out of milk.
My son asked for waffles, we were out asked him if he wanted pancakes instead only to realize the mixture in the cupboard was expired. Then ……… remembered we were also out of milk anyhow glad we were cause these pancakes were greatttttt I did them about the size of the frozen pancakes you buy from the store and he ate 3 of them!
Hi Danielle, I’m glad you liked this recipe! This recipe comes in handy when your out of milk. Thanks so much for commenting!
This has become o or go to pancake recipe thank you!! Works great as waffles too.
I’m so glad you like the recipe! I’ve used it for making waffles too. Thanks for commenting!
I don’t know what happened. I followed the recipe using margarine instead of oil and brown sugar. But I felt like I was eating sweet glue. But good sweet glue LOL
Hi Brett, Sorry your pancakes didn’t turn out. You may have better luck if you use vegetable oil with the recipe, most pancake recipes use oil. Using regular sugar instead of brown sugar may help too, brown sugar is usually much stronger in flavor & contains molasses.
Thank you some much! I made these because I didn’t have milk and they were delicious light and fluffy! My only problem is that I doubled the recipe and it only made around 14 small pancakes
Hi Jo, You are welcome! I’m glad you liked it. I know the recipe makes a small batch, I usually only cook it for 1-2 people.
I tried these with Pillsbury’s gluten free flour blend and added 4 crushed thin style Oreos to the batter (per my son’s request). They came out great!
Hi Heather, I’m glad the recipe turned out with gluten free flour. Adding oreo style cookies sounds like a delicious idea!
Wonderful recipe! Thank you! Made these today and they were delicious :).