A delicious breakfast is the best start to the day! Especially, when it involves delicious pancakes, prepared with love... If you keep a sourdough starter and bake lots of bread, we encourage you to put it to good use and surprise your loved ones with these fluffy Sourdough Blueberry Pancakes that can be made with fresh or frozen blueberries - making them a great breakfast recipe all-year round!
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Why Make Sourdough Blueberry Pancakes?
- These blueberry sourdough pancakes is a delicious twist on your average pancake - it's a great recipe for special occasions, like Valentine's Day, as you can shape hearts out of the blueberries for your loved ones.
- If you are making lots of sourdough bread, this is a great way to use up a lot of sourdough discard.
- The acidity in the sourdough discard makes these extra fluffy pancakes - the discard acts in a similar way as buttermilk would.
- Sourdough blueberry pancakes can be cooked in a non-stick skillet, cast-iron skillet or electric griddle, as we show in our Sourdough Pumpkin Pancake recipe.
- And to be honest, this is the best sourdough pancake recipe in our repertoire! Especially if you like our Lemon Blueberry Sourdough Bread!
Want to do all the work the night before and then cook the pancakes the next morning? Try our Overnight Sourdough Discard Pancakes or Sourdough Banana Pancakes!
Ingredients and Substitutes
Here are all the things you'll need for these easy sourdough starter pancakes. Find the ingredient quantities and a full recipe in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- sourdough starter discard (100% hydration): this is your unfed starter, that you would discard before feeding it again. You may also use active sourdough starter in this recipe.
- milk: can be replaced with milk kefir or buttermilk.
- all-purpose flour: you may replace up to ⅓ of white flour with whole wheat flour.
- honey: can be substituted with sugar.
- butter: melted and slightly cooled. Ghee or even odourless oil may be used instead.
- egg: medium in the UK, large in the US.
- baking powder: you may replace it with baking soda (bicarbonate of soda), but make sure to follow the tips below.
- blueberries: fresh or frozen (not thawed): note that adding frozen blueberries will make the pancake batter cook slower than adding fresh blueberries.
- oil and/or butter, for frying: I always use a mixture: butter for flavour and oil for colour. Vegetable oil and coconut oil work best.
Method
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the sourdough discard, milk and honey.
Once combined, whisk in the egg, melted butter and a pinch of salt.
In a separate large bowl mix the flour and baking powder together.
Whisking continuously, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until you have a cohesive batter with no lumps remaining. Let the batter rest for 20 minutes on the kitchen counter (or in a warm place in your kitchen).
Preheat a large non-stick pan (or two) with a little oil or butter over medium heat. One small ladle per pancake, pour the sourdough pancake batter into the pan(s) and let it spread out naturally. Make sure you don't overcrowd the pan and keep them apart, so they don't merge.
Arrange the blueberries on top of the batter of each pancake and cover them with a very thin layer of pancake batter (as shown in the photo below).
After about 2-3 minutes, bubbles cover most of the surface of the pancakes. It's a cue to flip them over and fry again for 1-2 minutes on the second side. Repeat with the remaining batter until you have a batch of golden brown pancakes!
Video
Tips for Best Results
Whilst this Sourdough Blueberry Pancake recipe is quite easy even for beginners to make, if it's your first time making them, read through our tips to ensure the best pancakes you'll ever make.
- Take your sourdough discard out of the fridge 30 minutes before mixing the batter. Room temperature starter will be easier to incorporate with other ingredients.
- You can add ¼ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda instead of baking powder to your pancake mix if you wish. Pancakes with bicarbonate of soda turn out even fluffier, in my opinion. But for perfect pancakes, make sure to mix the baking soda with a drop of white vinegar (like apple cider vinegar) or lemon juice, otherwise, you may be able to take baking soda.
- The longer it's been since you last fed your sourdough starter, the more tangy flavour your pancakes will have. We like a bit of tang from sourdough. So we make our fluffy sourdough pancakes with a starter that hasn't been fed and kept in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Best Topping For Pancakes
Fluffy sourdough pancakes can only be made better with toppings. And there are plenty of things that go well with these delicious sourdough blueberry pancakes!
- Blueberry Sauce (that we use in this Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake recipe)
- Stewed Apples or Stewed Pears
- Caramelised Pears (that we use for our Gingerbread French Toast Recipe)
- A small pat of butter and pure maple syrup! Lots of it!
- Fresh fruit and berries!
What Else Can I Do With Sourdough Discard?
If you have enough sourdough discard to make multiple recipes, you are in the right place. We love sourdough granola, sourdough Dutch Baby and sourdough crepes for breakfast!
We hate food waste and have a bunch of sourdough discard recipes for you to try.
Recipe FAQs
How To Store and Reheat Leftovers?
You may store cooled pancakes in an airtight plastic container in the fridge for a couple of days. To reheat, place them in the preheated oven for a couple of minutes. Whilst reheating them in a toaster oven may seem like an easy way, the moisture from the blueberries is likely to leak out and make a bit of a mess...
How To Keep The Pancakes Warm If I Am Making A Large Batch?
If you are only making a small batch of these pancakes, use a couple of large frying pans and make all the pancakes at roughly the same time. But if you are feeding a crowd, you may need to keep sourdough pancakes warm whilst you work through the batter.
A great way to keep pancakes warm is to preheat your oven to a low temperature, around 200°F (95°C). As each pan of pancakes is cooked, place them in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with a sheet of parchment paper and keep them in the oven. This ensures they stay warm without losing moisture.
Will My Pancakes Have Sour Flavor?
No, they will likely taste like regular pancakes, unless you have a very old and acidic sourdough starter. Whilst sourdough discard does add an amazing flavor or a signature sourdough tang, it is not very noticeable, so don't worry. These pancakes taste much like buttermilk or kefir pancakes.
Christmas Sourdough ebook
Celebrate the holiday season with a unique twist this year with our 24 Christmas Sourdough recipes! Discover the magic of using active sourdough starter, sourdough discard, and leftover baked sourdough bread to create a memorable and flavoursome Christmas feast.
Other Pancake Recipes To Try
If you loved these delicious sourdough pancakes, maybe we can tempt you to try a few more of our fluffy pancake recipes below or our extra thin Sourdough Crepes:
Sourdough Blueberry Pancakes
Ingredients
- 100 g (0.42 cups) sourdough discard 100% hydration
- 80 ml (0.34 cups) milk
- 50 g (0.4 cups) flour
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 15 g (1 tablespoon) butter melted and slightly cooled
- 1 egg medium
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 150 g (1.01 cups) blueberries fresh or frozen
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the sourdough discard, milk and honey.
- Once combined, whisk in the egg, melted butter and a pinch of salt.
- In a separate bowl mix the flour and baking powder together.
- Whisking continuously, pour the wet ingredients into the dryin gredients and mix until you havea cohesive batter with no lumps remaining.
- Preheat a large frying pan (or two) with a little oil or butter. One small ladle per pancake, pour the batter into the pan(s) and let it spread out naturally. Make sure you don't overcrowd the pan and keep them apart, so they don't merge with each other.
- As soon as the pancakes hit the pan, arrange the blueberries on top of the batter, and cover them with a very thin layer of pancake batter.
- After about 2-3 minutes, bubbles cover most of the surface of the pancakes. It's a cue to flip them over and fry again for 1-2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining batter.
Video
Nutrition
Steph says
Hi, I'm excited about trying some of your sourdough bread recipes! Already planning to do the dill pickle one.
I was wondering if you forgot to include salt in these pancakes? They lacked flavor and I did end up adding some. They were very fluffy though!
Ieva Greber says
Thanks so much for your comment — and I’m very excited for you to try the dill pickle loaf too! 😊 I’ve never personally found these pancakes bland, mostly because the blueberries pop in every bite and I usually pile on toppings too, but that’s really helpful feedback. I’ll definitely pay extra attention next time I make them — maybe even do two batches, with and without salt, just to compare properly. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!
Steph says
Maybe it’s just me! I just ate a pancake plain while cooking the batch, so maybe with toppings I wouldn’t have thought they needed the salt.
I’ve already tried the hot honey focaccia and I’m baking the rosemary focaccia today. The hot honey was so good for a salmon BLT, and my kids have liked it too