Muffin Mix Pancakes on the Flat Top Grill

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These muffin mix pancakes on the flat top grill are so easy to make that even my wife has perfected this recipe… and that’s saying a lot, since she can barely boil water. Grab your favorite just add water muffin mix and a few other pantry ingredients, and get ready for the fluffiest and easiest pancakes you’ll ever make.

I’ve been making these muffin mix pancakes for years. They’re one of my kids’ favorite griddle breakfasts, and I’ve even taught my wife to make them inside on an electric griddle. And over the years we’ve experimented with different baking mixes, different brands of muffin mix, buttermilk or regular milk, and extra add-ins… but we still come back to these awesome chocolate chip pancakes.

Here’s how to make our go-to pancake recipe, and after you try these, jump over to see how to make Cinnamon Toast Crunch French Toast Sticks, another kid-friendly breakfast for your flat top grill!

Ingredients for Muffin Mix Pancakes

These muffin mix pancakes are so easy to make, and they’re such a breakfast staple in our house, that I have the recipe memorized. Here’s what you need:

• 1 package Just Add Water muffin mix – You can use any flavor you like, from blueberry to banana nut. For these pancakes, we used chocolate chip muffin mix, our daughters’ favorite! I definitely recommend the Betty Crocker brand though!
• 1 1/4 cup Bisquick baking mix
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• butter or oil to grease your flat top grill – I prefer to use butter for pancakes on the griddle.

*For this particular batch, we made chocolate chip pancakes and added an extra 1/3 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips into the batter.

Want to make these pancakes with buttermilk instead?

Before we jump in to the muffin mix pancakes recipe, I will add a few notes…

We recently made these chocolate chip muffin mix pancakes into a fun experiment… We made one batch of pancake batter with buttermilk and one batch with regular milk. For the batch with buttermilk, we adjusted the amount of Bisqucik down a bit… here’s what we used:

• 1 package Just Add Water chocolate chip muffin mix – Betty Crocker brand!
• 1 cup Bisquick baking mix
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips – Optional, but my kids LOVE the extra chocolate!
• butter to grease your griddle – Or if we’re making these inside on an electric griddle, then I add baking spray to the griddle before adding the pancake batter.

For the side-by-side taste test, my wife and I agreed that there was hardly any difference in the taste of the two different pancakes. The batch made with buttermilk was slightly softer and fluffier, but if we hadn’t tried them at the exact same time, we never would have been able to distinguish the two.

So if you already have buttermilk in the fridge that you need to use up, go for it… but don’t run out to the store to buy buttermilk just to make pancakes. Just our opinions!

How to Make Muffin Mix Pancakes on the Flat Top Grill

1. Preheat your flat top grill.

Preheat your flat top grill to about 350 degrees. This is where an instant read laser thermometer comes in handy… Just point it at the surface of your flat top grill, and it will tell you the temp instantly. You can also make these muffin mix pancakes on an electric griddle.

*NOTE – If you’re new to flat top grilling, then pancakes are an awesome recipe to make to learn where the “hot spots” are on your griddle… If your griddle heats unevenly (as some brands tend to do), then you’ll really be able to tell the hot and cool zones of the griddle surface when you flip the pancakes.

2. Mix together all wet ingredients.

Combine milk, egg, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl.

3. Add dry ingredients and mix.

Add baking mix, your “Just add water” muffin mix, and any add-ins (we used semi-sweet chocolate chips) to the bowl and mix until just combined. The secret to light and fluffy pancakes is to NOT over-mix your batter.

4. Grease your flat top grill.

Before you put batter on your flat top, you need to be sure that your grill surface is properly greased. You can use butter or a combination of butter and a little bit of oil. Adding a bit of oil to the butter on the griddle helps the butter to not burn… Remember, most flat top grills can get SUPER HOT even on low heat settings.

5. Spoon muffin mix pancake batter on to your flat top grill.

Once your flat top is preheated, spoon batter on to the greased grill. I like to use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, because the lever on the scoop helps the pancake batter to come out of the scoop. Cook your muffin mix pancakes on the first side until they’re lightly golden brown and they start to bubble on the edges.

There’s no need to flatten down the batter. Just let it spread naturally as it heats, and you’ll end up with the fluffiest pancakes!

6. Cook muffin mix pancakes on the flat top until done.

Allow your pancakes to cook on the first side until the bottoms are lightly golden brown and the edges start to bubble. Then you know it’s time to flip. Continue to cook your pancakes on the second side until they’re done.

Look how dang fluffy these pancakes are! No wonder my wife likes to eat them without syrup.

7. Transfer to a plate to cool slightly.

Once your pancakes are cooked, remove them from the flat top grill and allow them to cool just a bit.

8. Serve your pancakes warm with your favorite toppings.

When I’m making these muffin mix pancakes for my daughters, I go all out! I let them top their chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate syrup, regular syrup, whipped cream, and rainbow sprinkles. And then they eat carrot sticks and apples for lunch!

But my wife’s pancakes don’t even make it to a plate… These muffin mix pancakes are so dang flavorful, with just the perfect amount of sweetness, that you don’t even need syrup. She likes to just pick them up and eat them without any extra toppings.

Other Muffin Mix Pancakes to Try

If you’re not a huge fan of chocolate chip pancakes, then you can easily substitute the chocolate chip muffin mix for another kind. My kids LOVE these chocolate chip pancakes, so I rarely get to make any other varieties, but here are some other muffin mix pancakes you can try:

• Use Blueberry Just Add Water Muffin Mix and mix in extra fresh blueberries.
• Use Banana Nut Just Add Water Muffin Mix and add mashed bananas to the batter.
• Use Triple Berry Just Add Water Muffin Mix and add in some white chocolate chips.
• Use Chocolate Chip Just Add Water Muffin Mix and add peanut butter or Nutella to the batter.

How to Freeze and Reheat Pancakes

We ALWAYS double the recipe and make a BIG batch of these easy muffin mix pancakes. These make a great heat and go breakfast, perfect for busy school mornings.

To freeze your pancakes, first let them cool down to room temperature. Then transfer the leftover pancakes to a gallon size freezer bag, and try to press out the extra air in the bag as you zip it. Store the bag of pancakes in your freezer until you’re ready to reheat them.

We like to reheat the frozen muffin mix pancakes in the toaster oven, because the oven crisps up the outside of the pancakes just a bit. To reheat your pancakes, get a few out of the freezer bag and put them directly on to the wire rack of the toaster oven. Then cook the pancakes from frozen on the “Toast” setting. We set our Calphalon Toaster Oven to the number 5 setting, but use the appropriate setting based on the toaster oven model that you have. Just be sure to keep an eye on your pancakes as they are reheating so they don’t burn.

By reheating them in a toaster oven, they’ll taste just as good as they do right off the flat top grill or griddle!

The BEST Ever Chocolate Chip Muffin Mix Pancakes Recipe

Two out of two of my kids agree that these are the BEST chocolate chip pancakes… and if my wife is willing to burn through some of her daily carb allowance as she wolfs down a few of these muffin mix pancakes, then you know they’re good!

Feel free to print the recipe down below and add it to your list of must-make flat top grill breakfast recipes: