Nearly every pumpkin recipe calls for one cup of puree from a can that holds almost two. The rest sits in the fridge, slowly turning into a science experiment until someone decides to just throw it out. We rescued ours and turned it into pumpkin pie spice pancakes. We love pancakes and pumpkin pie is one of my favorite fall desserts, so the math was hard to argue with.

Want To Save This Recipe For Later?

Enter your email to have this recipe sent to your inbox.

By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Casual Epicure.

Under all that spice, this is a classic buttermilk pancake batter with some rescued puree, a spoonful of brown sugar, and our own blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Jim’s review was short and to the point. They tasted like pumpkin pie. Think pumpkin pie pancakes, minus the crust and the hours of waiting for a pie to cool.

Key Ingredients and Substitutions

In the printable recipe below, you can find a complete list of ingredients and measurements.

• Pumpkin puree: Use plain canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. Pie filling comes pre-sweetened and pre-spiced, and our spice blend doesn’t need backup. The recipe only calls for ½ cup, so this is a good home for whatever’s left in the can. The recipe calls for only ½ cup, leaving the rest of the can for a batch of our pumpkin cream cheese muffins.
• Spices: Our blend is cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves, measured out individually. If you have a jar of pumpkin pie spice, swap in 2 teaspoons for the individual spices. Brands mix their ratios differently, so the flavor may shift a little.
• Sugar: A tablespoon each of granulated and brown sugar. The granulated sugar helps the pancakes brown, and the brown sugar adds a hint of molasses to make them taste more like pumpkin pie. The pancakes stay lightly sweet, which leaves room for syrup.
• Buttermilk: Adds a little tang and keeps the pancakes tender. No buttermilk? Stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into a measuring cup, add regular milk up to the 1-cup line, and let it sit for 5 to 8 minutes.
• Baking powder and baking soda: Pumpkin weighs the batter down, so we use both. Baking soda reacts with the acid in the buttermilk, and baking powder adds extra lift.

How to Make Pumpkin Pie Spice Pancakes

Here are the quick, step-by-step instructions with visuals; you can find the full instructions, including the exact ingredients, in the recipe card below.

Pro-tip: This batter won’t spread on its own. Use the back of your ¼-cup measure to nudge each pancake out to 4 to 5 inches. Thinner pancakes cook through in the center without burning on the outside.

1. Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, granulated and brown sugars, and all five spices. Whisk thoroughly, so no one bites into a pocket of cloves.

2. Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg, pumpkin puree, vanilla, and melted butter until smooth, with no streaks of egg left.

3. Combine and rest. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently fold until just combined. A few lumps are fine, and overmixing leads to tough pancakes. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes so the flour can absorb the liquid. Expect it to be thick. That’s normal with pumpkin in the mix.

4. Cook the first side. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-low heat with no oil. If you’re using cast iron, brush it with butter or oil first. Scoop ¼ cup of batter into the pan and spread it into a 4- to 5-inch round with the back of the measuring cup. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the edges look dry and the bubbles on top start to pop. Note: Cast iron may make the pancakes darker. If you use it, brush the pan with butter or oil before each batch.

5. Flip and finish. Flip and cook the second side for 1 to 2 minutes, until golden brown. Medium-low heat gives the thick batter time to cook through in the center before the outside gets too dark. We’ve made these in both nonstick and cast iron. The only difference is color, since cast iron browns them a little deeper.

6. Keep warm and serve. Move the cooked pancakes to a baking sheet in a low oven, about 160°F or your oven’s lowest setting, until the rest are done. Then stack them up and add your toppings. We mix and match maple syrup, whipped cream, powdered sugar, chopped walnuts or pecans, and a sprinkle of extra pumpkin pie spice.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Make-Ahead: Mix the dry ingredients ahead of time and store them in an airtight container. When you’re ready to cook, whisk the wet ingredients together, combine, and let the batter rest as usual.

How to Store: Let the pancakes cool completely, then refrigerate them in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Freeze cooled pancakes in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.

How to Reheat: For the best texture, reheat them in a toaster or a warm oven. Skip the microwave, which tends to make them soggy.

Recipe Tips and Notes

• Keep the heat at medium-low. It’s tempting to turn it up when you’re hungry, but thick pumpkin batter needs the extra time to cook through.
• Treat the first pancake as a test run. It tells you whether your heat is right before you commit the rest of the batter.
• Flip only once. Flipping more than once deflates the pancakes and leaves them dense instead of fluffy.
• Use a thin spatula. We like a metal fish spatula. It’s long enough to get all the way under a 4- to 5-inch pancake, and the thin edge slides underneath without tearing it.

Frequently Asked Questions