Sourdough Banana Pancakes

Hello friends! Today we are making Sourdough Banana Pancakes! They are super easy to make, and a great way to use up your sourdough discard!

Sourdough Banana Pancakes topped with almond butter and blueberries

Do you have a sourdough starter? Well if you do, you know one of the best practices of having a sourdough starter and keeping it healthy and alive, is to feed it frequently.

I keep my sourdough starter Roxy in the fridge for the most part, and feed it about once a week or so.

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However, sometimes I’m in a bit of a bread baking kick, and when that happens, I keep Roxy on my counter, and feed her everyday, sometimes twice a day, depending on the weather, on how fast the starter is activating and collapsing.

banana sourdough pancakes with drizzling syrup

Whenever I am feeding my starter everyday, I end up with a lot of sourdough discard. And it can be really fun to come up with different sourdough discard recipes.

These Sourdough Banana Pancakes are some of my favorite things to make with my sourdough discard.

They are super easy, they use up a fair amount of discard (1/2 cup, which is about 100 grams), and I don’t feel so bad for throwing out the starter whenever it’s feeding time.

Sourdough Pancakes topped with chocolate drizzle and raspberries

Here is what we need to make these Sourdough Banana Pancakes.

Sourdough Banana Pancakes

Flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, melted butter, eggs, milk, and of course, banana and sourdough starter.

You may notice my sourdough was actually active and bubbly when I photographed these pictures. Which means you can use inactive starter, or the discard.

mashing banana with a fork

Here is a tip about the banana. The riper the banana, the more banana taste, and sweetness it will provide to your pancakes.

I made this with an almost green banana and my husband couldn’t even taste the banana. So I recommend using a very ripe banana if you are searching for a very pronounced banana taste.

mixing wet ingredients to make banana pancake batter

The method is very simple. Mix the wet ingredients together. And mix the dry ingredients together. Then pour the wet into the dry ingredients and voila.

I’ll confess for the longest time I did the opposite and added the flour to the wet ingredients instead, and it worked fine. But the flour will be better mixed if adding the wet to dry instead.

Use a scoop or a measuring cup to pour the batter on a heated non-stick skillet.

You can use some cooking spray or a dab of melted butter in the pan to help the pancakes not stick.

Also, if you want the very round pancakes you can see on my almond butter topped pancakes, use a cookie ring to fry them. Do make sure to spray some cooking oil on the ring so that the pancake won’t stick to it.

Sourdough Banana Pancakes made with a cookie ring to form round pancakes

If you want to make round pancakes, I heard a small egg frying pan will also work.

And if you notice on the picture above, if I am making thicker pancakes, I like to cover the pan with a lid, so this way it will help the middle of the pancakes cook faster without burning the outside.

Sourdough Banana Pancakes topped with almond butter and blueberries

Tips for making Sourdough Banana Pancakes

  • The riper the banana, the stronger the banana taste in the pancakes.
  • Make sure to mash the bananas really well before adding to the batter.
  • Pour wet over dry ingredients.
  • Keep the heat controlled so the pan doesn’t get too high and cooks the outside of the pancakes too much leaving the middle uncooked.
  • These pancakes can be frozen, between layers of parchment paper. Simply re-heat them in a non-stick skillet, or toaster oven.
  • They can be made with active sourdough starter or with sourdough discard.
banana sourdough pancakes with drizzling syrup

There are many ways you can top these pancakes, as you can see I have several different ways here in this blog post.

Some of my favorite ways to top my Sourdough Banana Pancakes are:

  • Almond butter and blueberries
  • Caramelized bananas and Nutella drizzle
  • Berries
  • Chocolate drizzle and raspberries
Banana Sourdough Pancakes topped with caramelized bananas and nutella

And here are some more Sourdough Recipes:

banana sourdough pancake stack with fresh fruit

And here are some more Breakfast Recipes to accompany these lovely pancakes:

Sourdough Banana Pancakes topped with chocolate drizzle and raspberries

This Sourdough Banana Pancakes post was initially published in 2018, and I pretty much eliminated the whole text of the blog post rambling about my sourdough baking journey, so I could add more useful information regarding the recipe itself. However, I will leave this bit here that I had written years ago:

“The true secret to baking sourdough, cooking a stunning meal, making a drop-dead gorgeous cake, is simply using your intuition. Connecting with the food. Connecting with what it means.

That’s why baking sourdough is such a good exercise towards developing your intuition as a cook and as a baker.

Because baking sourdough successfully, entails dedication, commitment, and a great deal of intuitiveness.”

drizzling maple syrup on top of sourdough pancakes

Resources:

For Sourdough Baking I recommend the book Artisan Sourdough Made Simple by Emilie Raffa from The Clever Carrot. It’s a stunning book with amazing tips, anybody can bake sourdough after reading this book!

Sourdough Banana Pancakes topped with almond butter and blueberries

Sourdough Banana Pancakes

Camila Hurst
These Sourdough Banana Pancakes are the fluffiest most delicious pancakes of all times! This is my go-to pancake recipe!
5 from 10 votes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Servings 4 people
Calories 100 kcal

Equipment

  • Bowl
  • Whisk
  • Pan
  • Spatula

Ingredients
  

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 283 grams, 10 oz
  • 1 tbsp sugar 12 grams, 0.4 oz
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 4 tsp baking powder 16 grams, 0.56 oz
  • 2 cups milk 480 ml
  • 2 eggs slightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup sourdough starter 100 grams, 3.5 oz
  • 4 tbsp melted butter 56 grams, 2 oz
  • 1/2 cup banana mashed (118 grams, 4.16 oz)

Instructions
 

  • Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt in a large bowl.
  • Whisk the milk, eggs, sourdough starter, melted butter, and mashed banana together.
  • Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients.
  • Whisk until the mixture is smooth and combined.
  • Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Spray it with cooking spray or melt a dab of butter in the skillet.
  • Ladle some batter in the hot skillet.
  • Cook for about 2-4 minutes, until golden. When the top of the pancakes is bubbling, it's time to flip. Cook for another 2-4 minutes on the other side.
  • Remove the pancake to a plate and proceed with the remaining batter.
  • Keep your eye on the heat so it’s not too high and burning the outsides of the pancakes while leaving the inside undercooked.
  • Serving options: maple syrup, berries, melted chocolate, Nutella, caramelized bananas, nut butter, honey.
Storage
  • This pancakes are fantastic when made fresh, but you can also keep them in the fridge overnight, and re-heat them in a frying pan or in a toaster.
  • These pancakes freeze really well. Layer the pancakes between sheets of parchment paper and place them in a ziploc bag. Freeze for up to 2 months. To eat, simply pull the pancake out of the freezer and re-heat it in a frying pan at low heat, and covered, so it will defrost the inside of the pancakes, or in a toaster oven.

Notes

*Make sure to mash the banana really well so the batter is smooth.
*The taste of banana in this recipe will be stronger according to how ripe the banana is. Riper bananas will yield a bolder banana taste.  
*If I am making particularly thick pancakes, I like to cover the pan with a lid while cooking, so it helps the pancake cook in the center without burning the outside.
Keyword pancakes, sourdough

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34 Comments

  1. Haha I love that you name your starters. I think your pancakes look so perfect and beautiful! I have so many bread cookbooks but I don’t have Artisan Sourdough Made Simple. I am going to Amazon to check it out. I love the name of your blog :).

  2. I love sourdough bread! I’ve been thinking of trying to start my own starter soon and this makes me want to even more! Those pancakes look amazing! And oh my goodness Camila- that pour shot!

  3. These pancakes look so dreamy! I cannot make pancakes. Each time I try it’s always a total disaster. I have tons of cookbook in my pantry, but surprisingly none for bread only. I”ll have to check out Artisan Sourdough Made Simple. I think you just sold me on buying this book LOL. I can just eat the pancakes right off the screen. You know I’m pinning this one!!!!!!!!! love it!

  4. These look absolutely delicious – and your photos – WOW! Where did you learn to take such gorgeous photos?? Pour shots are so difficult for me and you nailed this one!

  5. 5 stars
    Awesome recipe! This kicks pancakes out of the park! Started with a really strong homemade Rye sour dough starter. Used stevia instead of sugar … it turned out so fluffy and soft. Excellent tasting. Now I know what to do with all my extra sourdough starter LOL

    1. haha I know, that’s a struggle I have all the time, so always creating recipes and adding to my pizza dough, crackers, other breads lol. And I am so happy you like the recipe!! That’s so cool that you have a rye starter! So do you feed it with 100% rye flour? very interesting!!! Thank you Jacqueline!! Have a great day!!

    1. 5 stars
      Stumbled upon this recipe when my recently revived SD starter, Gerdie, was overflowing from her container on the counter – coincidentally around breakfast, and I had a random ok’d banana that needed usin’. Only had bread flower in the house, and prefer to cook waffles (somehow easier with the waffle iron)…this recipe handled both those adjustments perfectly- delicious and fluffy and flavorful. Thank you!

      1. Follow up, months later, to say I tried the same recipe with over-ripe peaches instead of bananas and it was equally delicious!

  6. 5 stars
    Yummy, fluffy and delicious. I’ve made them twice now, once with discard starter and once with fed started. Both turned out amazingly well.

  7. 5 stars
    Made these for breakfast this morning and WOW! Really delicious and perfect way to use some of my sourdough starter! I did sub buttermilk in for the milk and added just a bit of whole wheat flour….will definitely be in my regular pancake rotation! Thanks for a great recipe Camila!

  8. 5 stars
    Came across this recipe trying to figure out what to do with my discarded starter. I’m glad I did – this was delicious! I used buckwheat flour instead and topped it off with berries and maple syrup. It turned out so soft and fluffy! I did halve the recipe but still ended up with a thick stack of pancakes all to myself 😂Thank you!

  9. 5 stars
    Hands down the best pancakes, regular or sourdough, that I’ve ever made. I even used oat milk instead of regular milk. Pancakes weren’t too sweet even with 2 overripe bananas. Super fluffy and melt in the mouth. Great recipe, thanks for sharing!

  10. 5 stars
    Just made it! Felt like baking powder was too much though, i could taste a bit of bitterness in the pancake.

    Also, how do you make yours so fluffy? Mine didn’t turn out as beautiful as yours

    1. I am wondering if your baking powder is expired, because that would cause the pancakes to not turn out fluffy, and perhaps affect the taste. If you think the baking powder isn’t expired, then maybe next time you can try adding a bit less? try 3 1/2 tsp?

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