Pancake Day 2021: Recipes from five top chefs tested head to head

Spatulas at dawn

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

With Shrove Tuesday upon us once more, it’s time to whip up some batter, flip up a feast and tuck into a huge stack of pancakes.

While you might think it’s just a case of whisking together milk, flour and eggs, there are endless recipes out there, meaning it can be hard to know where to start.

Fortunately, we’ve done the hard work for you: the hard work of making and eating a ludicrous amount of pancakes.

Forty-six pancakes to be precise. It was a strenuous task, but someone had to do it.

Accompanied by a willing band of hungry pancake-fans, we made our way through five top chefs’ most popular pancake recipes - and one ready-made supermarket mix - in a bid to find out which was the best.

While I got flipping in the kitchen, my team of eaters were kept in the dark about whose recipe they were being served.

Who would rise to the top? Read on.

Nigella’s American breakfast pancakes

(Rachel Hosie (Rachel Hosie)

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 2½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 2 large eggs (beaten)
• 30 grams butter (melted and cooled)
• 300 millilitres milk
• 225 grams plain flour
• butter for frying

Recipe:

1. The easiest way to make these is to put all the ingredients into a blender and blitz. But if you do mix up the batter by hand in a bowl, make a well in the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar, beat in the eggs, melted butter and milk, and transfer to a jug: it's much easier to pour the batter into the pan than to spoon it.
2. Heat a smooth griddle or pan on the stove.
3. When you cook the pancakes, all you need to remember is that when the upper side of the pancake is blistering and bubbling it's time to cook the second side, and this needs only about 1 minute, if that. I get about 16 silver-dollar-sized pancakes out of this.

(Rachel Hosie (Rachel Hosie)

How they went down:

I couldn’t be bothered to use the blender because life is too short quite frankly, but Nigella’s tip to use a jug worked really well. The pancakes were fluffy and absorbed maple syrup well (an essential trait in a pancake), but they were on the dry side.

As they are, there isn’t much flavour to the pancakes, but this just means they’re a good base for toppings.

Score: 7/10

Jamie Oliver’s easy crêpe-style pancakes

(Rachel Hosie (Rachel Hosie)

Makes: 8

Ingredients:

• 3 large free-range eggs
• 125 g plain flour
• 250ml milk
• unsalted butter

Method:

1. Crack the eggs into a blender, then add the flour, milk and 1 pinch of sea salt, and blitz until smooth.
2. Pour into a bowl and leave to stand for 15 minutes.
3. Melt the butter (or a drizzle of oil if you want to be a bit healthier) in a large non-stick frying pan on a medium heat, then tilt the pan so the butter coats the surface.
4. Pour in 1 ladle of batter and tilt again, so that the batter spreads all over the base, then cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until it starts to come away from the sides.
5. Once golden underneath, flip the pancake over and cook for 1 further minute, or until cooked through.
6. Serve straightaway with your favourite topping.

(Rachel Hosie (Rachel Hosie)

How they went down:

These pancakes weren’t mindblowing, but they’re fine. The texture was a bit floury (and not actually crêpe-like enough for my French friend). “They taste like McDonald’s pancakes,” another person remarked - and that was not meant to be a compliment.

However they were fun to flip, so that’s something.

Score: 6/10

Gordon Ramsay’s peanut butter and raspberry jam pancakes

(Rachel Hosie (Rachel Hosie)

Ingredients:

• 250g peanut butter, smooth or crunchy
• 5 eggs
• 4 tbsp natural yoghurt
• 3 tbsp Raspberry Chia Seed Jam, plus extra for serving
• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil, for frying
• 4 bananas, peeled and sliced
• Maple syrup, to serve (optional)

Method:

1. Mix the peanut butter, eggs, yoghurt and raspberry jam together in a bowl until well combined. The mixture should be a thick dropping consistency.
2. Place a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the rapeseed oil and heat, swirling around the pan to coat. Add a heaped tablespoon of the mixture to the pan and spread until it is the thickness of a Scotch pancake. Cook for 2–3 minutes, until lightly coloured, then turn over and repeat on the other side.
3. Keep the pancakes warm in a low oven or wrapped in a tea towel while you cook the rest of the mixture.
4. Serve with the sliced banana and extra dollops of jam, as well as a drizzle of maple syrup, if desired.

(Rachel Hosie (Rachel Hosie)

How they went down:

I scaled down the quantities in this recipe and the batter was still never-ending. I also used strawberry jam because, well, that’s all I could find.

Flour-free and packed with peanut butter and yoghurt, this recipe might appeal to the more health-conscious pancake fans out there. And they were certainly a far cry from your classic pancake.

The flavour was nice and they were particularly tasty when topped with banana, but the texture certainly wasn’t like a traditional scotch pancake - they were dense but also slightly eggy. We rather liked them though.

Score: 7.5/10

Mary Berry’s easy pancake recipe

(Rachel Hosie (Rachel Hosie)

Makes: 12 thin pancakes

Ingredients:

• 125g plain flour
• 1 egg and 1 yolk
• 300ml milk

Method:

1. Sift 125g plain flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle. Whisk together one egg, one egg yolk and a little milk taken from the 300ml, then pour into the well. Whisk with a little of the flour.
2. Gradually whisk in half of the remaining milk, drawing in the rest of the flour a little at a time, to make a smooth batter. Stir in the remaining milk. Cover and leave to stand for about 30 minutes.
3. Heat the frying pan and brush with a little oil.
4. Ladle two or three tablespoons of batter into the pan and tilt the pan so that the batter spreads out evenly over the bottom.
5. Cook the pancake over a medium-high heat for 45-60 seconds until small holes appear on the surface, the underside is lightly browned and the edge has started to curl. Loosen the pancake and turn it over by tossing or flipping it with a palette knife. Cook the other side for about 30 seconds until golden. Slide the pancake out of the pan.
6. Heat and lightly grease the pan again before making the next pancake. Serve the pancakes as they are made, or stack them on a plate and reheat before serving. (If the pancakes are hot when you stack them they will not stick together; there is no need to interleave them with greaseproof paper.)

(Rachel Hosie (Rachel Hosie)

How they went down:

The simplest of the bunch with just three ingredients, I had high hopes for Mary’s recipe. Two ladles of batter per pancake seemed like a lot to me, and it was, so I decided to do one ladle per pancake. It was only afterwards I realised she'd written tablespoons not ladles. Oh well.

The pancakes, were, by all accounts, practically perfect. “A classic delicious pancake for pancake day,” one friend remarked. “This is what it’s about,” another agreed.

My French guest still thought they were too thick but that’s the French for you, isn’t it? I also clearly used too much batter per pancake (blame the ladle) as I didn't get 12 out of the recipe.

The pancakes weren’t dry, they browned nicely and had just the right amount of texture - they were perfect with lemon and sugar.

Score: 9/10

Martha Stewart’s best quick pancakes

(Rachel Hosie (Rachel Hosie)

Makes: nine 4-inch pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus 1/2 teaspoon for griddle

Method:

1. Heat griddle to 375 degrees or griddle pan over medium-high heat. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in bowl. Add egg, milk, and 2 tablespoons butter; whisk to combine. Batter should have small to medium lumps.
2. Heat oven to 175 degrees. Test griddle by sprinkling a few drops of water on it. If water bounces and spatters off griddle, it is hot enough. Using pastry brush, brush remaining 1/2 teaspoon butter onto griddle. Wipe off excess.
3. Using a 2-ounce ladle, about 1/4 cup, pour pancake batter in pools two inches away from each other. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around the edges, 2 1/2 minutes, flip over. Cook until golden on bottom, 1 minute.
4. Repeat with remaining batter, keeping finished pancakes on heat-proof plate in oven.

(Rachel Hosie (Rachel Hosie)

How they went down:

Cups? Griddles? An oven? Deciphering this American recipe was a slight struggle, but the resulting pancakes were good.

They smelled and tasted deliciously buttery, and the texture was fluffy at first but then melted in the mouth, which divided eaters.

The addition of salt and sugar certainly gave the pancakes a lift, but the general consensus was that they were too salty.

Score: 8/10

Sainsbury's Pancake Shaker

(Rachel Hosie (Rachel Hosie)

Makes: 6

Ingredients:

• 1 bottle of pancake mix
• Water

Method:

1. Gently shake the bottle to loosen the mix and remove the cap. Add 290ml of cold water - the water should be in line with fill line. Replace cap, ensuring it is on tightly and shake bottle for 2 minutes or until the mixture is smooth.
2. Pre-heat a 7" frying pan over a medium heat. Add a small amount of oil ( around 1/2 teaspoon) - just enough to coat the pan. Pour enough pancake batter into the pan to form a thin pancake (approx. 5 tablespoons). 
3. Cook for 1-2 mins - then using a spatula gently loosen the pancake from the sides of the pan. The pancake will be ready to turn when the batter moves freely from the base of the pan. Turn or flip and cook the other side until golden brown. Repeat the stages 1-3 with the remaining batter.

(Rachel Hosie (Rachel Hosie)

How they went down:

When I first poured the pancake mix into the pan, it resembled a lumpy mess. I did not have high hopes. That said, as it cooked, the pancake started looking better. It took a while to be done though - the edges were crunchy and brown but the middle was still slimy. I ended up getting four rather than six pancakes out of the batter.

The taste was good and you can’t argue with the convenience, but the texture just wasn’t quite right. As a friend pointed out: “It doesn’t withstand a vigorous tossing.” Which says it all really.

Score: 5.5/10

The results

Oh, Mary, you never let us down. Yes, Mary Berry has emerged as the queen of pancakes as well as queen of the nation’s hearts. Go forth and indulge.