Caramel Banana Pancakes with Homemade Caramel Sauce

What's your favorite meal of the day? Mine is breakfast. Or dessert. It's close tie, to be honest. But here's the thing - the line between breakfast and dessert is sometimes blurred. I mean, pancakes could totally be a dessert. Especially this caramel banana pancake recipe. Basically, here's your excuse to eat dessert for breakfast. 🙂

And while maple syrup is a tried-and-true pancake partner, my homemade caramel sauce is pancake's new BFF. It's a lot thicker than maple syrup, and bananas + caramel is simply a match made in heaven. Once you try these caramelized banana pancakes, you'll know what I mean.

Growing up in Germany, my Dad made pancakes as a special treat on weekend mornings. While he sometimes made the simple batter from a Bisquik mix, I always loved the pancakes he made from scratch, with a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg.

Pancakes are popular and simple, but they can also be really hard to execute perfectly. I've gone through dozens of pancake batches that burned, didn't cook through, or turned out tough, soggy, or just plain gross.

After all that recipe testing, I have compiled all the tips to help you make the perfect pancakes.

Ingredients

Banana Pancakes

• All-purpose flour - provides the structure for the fluffy pancakes
• Brown sugar - adds sweetness and an extra caramel flavor
• Baking powder - helps the pancakes rise as they cook to become fluffy and airy
• Ground cinnamon - optional, to add a warm spiced flavor
• Salt - brings out the flavors of the other ingredients
• Milk - I usually use oat milk, but any type of regular or non dairy milk works in this recipe
• Vegetable oil - keeps the pancakes soft and moist
• Vanilla extract - brings out the flavors of the other ingredients
• Butter or cooking spray - greases your griddle or pan so the pancakes don't stick to it
• Bananas - sliced ripe bananas are essential to banana pancakes!

Caramel Sauce

• Butter - use unsalted butter or homemade vegan butter
• Brown sugar - adds sweetness and a rich, caramelized flavor
• Coconut milk - use full-fat coconut milk; light coconut milk won't make the caramel sauce thick enough
• Vanilla extract - brings out the flavors of the other ingredients
• Salt - balances the sweetness

How to Make the Best Pancakes

Below are the general steps to make this recipe. For the full step-by-step directions and ingredient measurements, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Prepare the Caramel Sauce

1. Melt the butter: Melt the butter on medium-high heat in a sauce pan.
2. Add the sugar: Stir in the brown sugar until it is smooth.
3. Add the coconut milk: Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the coconut milk until it is smooth.
4. Add the salt and vanilla: Remove the sauce pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and salt.
5. Let thicken: Let the caramel sauce cool and thicken.

Make the Pancakes

1. Mix the dry ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
2. Add the wet ingredients: Add the milk, vegetable oil and vanilla and stir just until there's no visible dry flour remaining.
3. Rest the batter: Allow the batter to rest in the mixing bowl for at least 10 minutes, while you prepare the griddle or pan.
4. Prepare the griddle or pan: Heat a griddle to 350°F or heat a pan on the stovetop over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the griddle or 1½ teaspoons to your pan.
5. Pour the batter: Using a ⅓ measuring cup, pour your batter onto the hot greased griddle or pan.
6. Add the banana slices: Place a few banana slices towards the center of each pancake and gently press them in. Allow it to cook on the first side for 2 to 3 minutes, until you see little popped bubbles along the edges of the pancakes.
7. Flip the pancakes: Flip them over with a spatula and cook the second side for another 2 to 3 minutes, until golden.
8. Serve: Top with more banana slices and a generous drizzle of your homemade caramel sauce.

Recipe Tips

• Don't Overmix: Stop mixing the pancake batter once you no longer see dry flour pockets. It's easy to overmix pancake batter, which results in dense, chewy pancakes.
• Rest the Batter: Don't skip resting your pancake batter. This is what allows the air bubbles to form and create fluffy pancakes.
• Use Ripe Bananas: It's best to use ripe bananas, not overripe/mushy bananas, as those might stick to your pan. And don't use underripe bananas that are still green, which will taste too acidic.
• Grease Your Pan: Grease your pan or griddle well with butter, to prevent your banana pancakes from sticking.
• Fluffy Texture: Don't press down on your pancakes after you flip them. This will squish the air out and cause them to lose their fluffy texture.

Recipe Variations

• Swap out the banana slices for blueberries, chocolate chips, or chopped apples.
• Add one half teaspoon more salt to the caramel to make salted caramel sauce.
• If you don't want to make the caramel sauce from scratch, you can serve these pancakes with maple syrup or pancake syrup instead.
• Top your pancakes with chopped nuts like pecans, walnuts, or almonds.

Should You Let the Batter Rest?

Allowing your pancake batter to rest gives the liquid in the batter time to soften the flour and release some of the starches to aid the pancakes in rising while they cook.

Resting your pancake batter also gives the baking powder time to evenly distribute amidst the batter, for level rising of your pancakes.

I personally like to rest my pancake batter for at least 10 minutes, to create fluffier pancakes.

What to Serve with Pancakes

• Coffee, juice, or homemade chai
• Roasted root vegetables
• Hashbrowns
• Scrambled eggs or fried eggs
• Almond cashew chocolate granola
• Sausage or vegan sausage

Trouble Shooting Pancakes

Why are my pancakes soggy?

If your griddle or pan isn't hot enough or doesn't have enough fat on it, your pancakes could end up soggy. I recommend greasing your pan or griddle in between each batch of pancakes that you cook.

This will also tell you if your cooking surface is hot enough to add your pancake batter. It should be hot enough that your melted butter or cooking spray sizzles.

Why did my pancakes burn?

Trust me, I've been there... I've even set off the smoke alarm while attempting to make pancakes. If your pan or griddle is too hot, your pancake batter will burn.

Adding butter to your cooking surface in between each batch of pancakes is a great indicator of whether you need to adjust your cooking temperature. If your butter starts to smoke, you need to turn down the temperature before adding your batter.

Storing

Fridge: Refrigerate pancakes in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Freezer: Wrap pancakes individually in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Reheat: I prefer to reheat pancakes either from the fridge or straight from the freezer in the toaster oven. This helps the outsides get a little crispy again and warms them all the way through.

Pro Tip: Reheating pancakes in the microwave could cause them to be floppy and mushy.

More Delicious Breakfast Recipes

Hungry for more sweet and savory breakfast ideas? Try these: