Lucky Charms Pancakes
Make your St. Patrick’s Day extra special with these Lucky Charms pancakes! This buttermilk pancake recipe with green food coloring provides a fluffy, fun and delicious green breakfast for your holiday!
I love making red waffles for Valentine’s Day, so I knew I needed a great green breakfast option for St. Patrick’s Day. Having buttermilk pancakes as a no-brainer because they are so light, fluffy and have a delicious buttery flavor. This green pancakes recipe will be a perfect start to your lucky day! 🍀If you are looking for another fun Lucky Charms recipe, try my Lucky Charms Cookies!
Why This Recipe Works
- Perfect green pancakes for the holiday. Growing up, we would do green meals for St. Patrick’s Day! Green pancakes were always a hit because they are easy to make and are a great way to make the holiday feel extra fun.
- Light and fluffy. These St Patricks Day pancakes are super light and fluffy thanks to the beaten egg whites folded into the pancake batter.
- 30-minute breakfast. These pancakes only take 10 minutes to whip up and then the time to cook them up on your pancake griddle. We like to cook the pancakes as people are eating them so they are hot and fresh off the griddle!
Ingredient Notes
Luckily, you only need basic pantry ingredients for these pancakes!
- Baking Soda: When combined with the buttermilk (an acid), baking soda reacts and bubbles, which gives us beautifully fluffy pancakes.
- Baking Powder: Baking powder is a bit different than baking soda. When combined with heat and liquid, the baking powder reacts and gives a rise to the batter.
- Granulated Sugar: Don’t worry, there isn’t a bunch of sugar in this recipe! We just want a little bit of sweetness to add a nice sweet flavor.
- Eggs: We’ll use the yolks in the batter and then beat the egg whites to soft peaks to make these Lucky Charms pancakes extra fluffy!
- Buttermilk: This is an acid which will react with our rising agents, giving not only a delicious flavor and moistness to the pancakes but a perfect fluff.
- Green Food Coloring: Feel free to use liquid food coloring or gel food coloring, which ever you have on hand.
- Lucky Charms Marshmallows: These are added on top of the green pancakes to make this a fun and festive breakfast your entire family will love!
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Combine dry ingredients. Whisk all the dry ingredients together until well combined.
- Combine wet ingredients. Combine the wet ingredients (minus the egg whites) until well combined. This includes the green food coloring!
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix until partially combined. You can use a whisk or a fork.
- Beat egg whites. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, mix the egg whites into the green pancake batter until mostly combined. A few flour streaks here and there are OK! Lumpy pancake batter is a good thing.
- Let the batter rest. Let the batter sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to rest. This allows the gluten to relax and also gives time for our baking soda to work its magic.
- Cook the pancakes. Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup (can make the pancakes smaller or bigger by using a different sized measuring cup), spoon the batter onto a buttered 300°F griddle. Cook on each side for approximately 2-3 minutes until golden. Serve warm with lucky charms marshmallows on top with a drizzle of syrup and/or powdered sugar.
Recipe Tips
After flipping the pancakes, don’t press down on them with your pancake flipper. I see it happen frequently and this will inhibit your pancakes from getting fluffy since it forces them to be flatter. The pancakes will cook just fine and will be delicious and fluffy!
Don’t over mix your batter! Lumpy pancake batter is our friend. You want to have some pockets of flour and/or egg whites that aren’t perfectly mixed in. Over mixing pancake batter will reverse all your effort to get the pancakes nice and fluffy!
You can put some marshmallows inside the pancakes if you’d like. The colors may spread as the marshmallows melt while cooking.
Variations:
Since you can’t dye maple syrup green, I love using Uncle Bob’s Butter Country syrup — their original buttermilk or coconut flavors — and dying those green for some green syrup!
I love homemade whipped cream on my pancakes, too. Try my Greek yogurt whipped cream recipe, and hey, why not dye the whipped cream green too! If you opt for the coconut syrup from Uncle Bob’s, pair it with my coconut whipped cream recipe.
Add mini white chocolate chips to the Lucky Charms pancakes while they are on the griddle for an added flair in your St Patricks Day pancakes recipe.
Add a green smoothie for a drink and your St. Patrick’s Day breakfast is complete!
Make Ahead, Storing, and Freezing
I wouldn’t recommend making the pancake batter ahead of time and letting it sit. While we do want the batter to rest for 10 minutes to let the gluten develop and the baking powder and baking soda to work, we don’t want to let it sit too long.
Store these pancakes in a ziplock bag in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or the toaster (if you want a little bit of a crispy exterior).
Freeze these pancakes by wrapping them individually in plastic wrap and storing in a ziplock bag. They will last in the freezer up to 3 months. Let thaw and pop in the toaster or microwave before eating.
Recipe FAQs
You need an acid element (buttermilk is the best option) to react with the baking soda, creating a nice lift in the pancakes. Then, be sure that you don’t over mix your batter! Separate the eggs and whip up the egg whites to soft peaks. Fold in the egg whites at the very end. Be sure to fold in the egg whites gently or else it won’t really have an effect if you’ve flattened the egg whites while mixing them in. It’s completely fine and actually preferred if you have pockets of egg whites and/or flour. Lumpy pancake batter is the best kind of pancake batter! Finally, Don’t press down on our pancakes after you’ve flipped them. This forces your pancakes to be flatter and inhibits their ability to rise and get fluffy.
Lucky Charms are manufactured by General Mills, which is an American company. Even thought they aren’t Irish, they are still fun to have to make St Patricks Day a bit more festive for your family!
Yes you can! These Lucky Charms pancakes are delicious with the cereal on top and inside if you’d like! Just note that the marshmallows will most likely melt while the pancakes are being cooked. So the colors will spread and the marshmallows will lose their shape. That’s why I like to add the marshmallows to the top of the pancakes so you can see all the colors and shapes better! You’re welcome to do both if you’d like!
St. Patrick’s Day Recipes
- Crumbl Mint Chip Ice Cream Cookies
- Key Lime Pie
- BYU Mint Brownies
- Virgin Mint Julep
- Mint Chip Cake Box Cookies
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Lucky Charms Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 eggs - separated
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter - melted
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- green food coloring - liquid or gel (gel will give a more vibrant color)
- Lucky Charms marhsmallows for topping - optional
Equipment
Instructions
- In a large bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar until combined
- In a medium sized bowl add the egg yolks, buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla and several drops of green food coloring. Whisk until combined.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until partially combined. You can use a whisk or a fork.
- In a medium bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Using a rubber spatula mix the egg whites into the green pancake batter until mostly combined. A few flour streaks here and there are ok! Lumpy pancake batter is a good thing.
- Let the batter sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to rest. This is a great time to preheat a griddle or pan to cook the pancakes on.
- Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup, spoon the batter onto a buttered 300°F griddle. Cook on each side for approximately 2-3 minutes until golden. Serve warm with lucky charms marshmallows on top with a drizzle of syrup and/or powdered sugar.
Notes
This recipe was originally published on March 8, 2021. It was republished on March 12, 2022, to include additional information and photos.
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