This Viral Pancake Hack Is the Breakfast Shortcut Your Busy Family Needs

Pancakes are one of our kids’ favorite breakfasts. These fluffy, griddled cakes are the ideal vehicle for maple syrup or fresh strawberries and whipped cream, but they do require standing over the stove for about 30 minutes to cook an entire batch—something we usually only have time for on weekend mornings.

So when we saw a trick for freezing pancake batter in silicone trays so that they could be cooked in small batches during the week, we had to give it a try. 

This viral pancake hack seems to be everywhere on Instagram and TikTok, but we first saw it on Feel Goodie Foodie’s account. In the video, Yumna Jawad uses her basic pancake recipe and a Souper Cube freezer tray to freeze the batter for later use.

The idea is as simple as it sounds—make pancake batter, freeze in one-ounce portions until solid, then cook the frozen cubes as you normally would. You could even use this technique for leftover pancake batter, cooking just what your family eats one morning and freezing the rest for another day. 

We Put the Viral TikTok Pancake Hack to the Test

We tried this tip using a classic buttermilk pancake recipe, freezing the batter in both one-ounce squares and slightly smaller rounds, both from Souper Cubes’ line of silicone trays. We froze the batter overnight before cooking in a nonstick pan the following morning. 

Our first round of pancakes was kind of a disappointment—the exterior got very dark before the interior cooked all the way, resulting in burned, soggy pancakes. A quick reset of the pan and lowering of the temperature yielded far better results and we were able to cook four pancakes at one time. The pancakes tasted like they were cooked from a made-that-day-batter. They were light and fluffy with crispy edges.

Here’s Who Will Love This Tip

One downside to this technique is that the one-ounce trays produced small, silver dollar-sized pancakes, ideal for feeding one or two kids or a toddler quickly, but less so for a hungry sleepover crowd or growing pre-teens or teens. (We can confirm they easily eat an entire dozen of these small pancakes.)

Could you freeze the pancake batter in larger portions? Of course, but we suspect that you’d lose the time you saved in mixing the batter to a slightly longer cook time. 

If you try this tip, be sure to pick a pancake recipe with a more liquid batter since thicker batters thaw more slowly, and adjust your pan's heat to slightly lower than your usual pancake cooking temp. All in all, this tip is perfect for small families with young kids, especially ideal for parents using baby-led weaning.

Our Favorite Pancake Recipes

Buckeye Pancakes

Easy Banana Pancakes

Zucchini Pancakes