Chef Joost
Appelpannenkoek
The apple pannenkoek is supper pretending to be breakfast: a plate-wide Dutch pancake, tart apple softened into the batter, and cinnamon sugar doing honest work.
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Boerenpannenkoek
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The boerenpannenkoek is the pancake that stopped pretending to be breakfast: bacon, ham, onion, mushrooms, pepper, and cheese folded into one wide, honest Dutch meal.
Breakfast & Brunch
Dutch
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Dinner Party
15 min
Active Time
25 min cook•40 min total
Yield4 large pancakes
Some dishes arrive with trumpets. This one arrives in a frying pan big enough to make a table fall quiet. In my grandmother's second notebook, the pancakes were plain things: flour, milk, egg, salt, and whatever the week had left behind. A little bacon if there was bacon. An onion softened until it gave up its sharpness. Cheese at the end if the household was feeling grand, which, in Zeeland, meant nobody said so aloud.
The name already tells you enough. Boerenpannenkoek means farmer's pancake: boer, farmer; pan, pan; koek, cake. It is not a museum piece from one holy village, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling romance by the kilo. But let me tell you a secret: the pannenkoekenhuis, the Dutch pancake house, turned an old working food into a whole evening out, and this is the version that understood the assignment. Savory, broad, filling, and too practical to be dainty.
The trick is order. The meat and vegetables must cook first, because a pancake batter is generous but not patient; it will brown long before raw onion becomes sweet. Then the batter goes in around the filling, the cheese melts into the top, and the underside becomes crisp at the edges while the middle stays tender. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple. One bowl, one pan, one pancake per person, and a table that understands dinner can be round.
Pannenkoeken have been part of Dutch home cooking for centuries, with older versions often made partly from buckwheat flour, a crop well suited to poor sandy soils in the eastern and southern Netherlands. The boerenpannenkoek is best understood as a twentieth-century pannenkoekenhuis classic rather than a single regional antique: a meal-sized savory pancake loaded with farm-larder ingredients such as bacon, ham, onion, mushrooms, peppers, and cheese. Its popularity says something precise about modern Dutch eating, where an old thrift dish became family restaurant food without losing its plain working logic.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
all-purpose flour
Quantity
200g
buckwheat flour
Quantity
50g
large eggs
Quantity
3
whole milk
Quantity
500ml
fine salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
butter
Quantity
30g, plus more for frying
melted
smoked bacon lardons or thick-cut bacon
Quantity
150g
diced
cooked ham
Quantity
120g
diced
onion
Quantity
1 large
thinly sliced
mushrooms
Quantity
200g
sliced
red bell pepper
Quantity
1
thinly sliced
young Gouda
Quantity
160g
grated
flat-leaf parsley (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| all-purpose flour | 200g |
| buckwheat flour | 50g |
| large eggs | 3 |
| whole milk | 500ml |
| fine salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| buttermelted | 30g, plus more for frying |
| smoked bacon lardons or thick-cut bacondiced | 150g |
| cooked hamdiced | 120g |
| onionthinly sliced | 1 large |
| mushroomssliced | 200g |
| red bell pepperthinly sliced | 1 |
| young Goudagrated | 160g |
| flat-leaf parsley (optional)chopped | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Large nonstick or well-seasoned frying pan, 28 to 30cm
- •Broad spatula
- •Mixing bowl and whisk
Instructions
- 1
Make the batter
Whisk the all-purpose flour, buckwheat flour, eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and melted butter into a smooth, pourable batter. Let it rest for 15 minutes while you cook the filling. The rest is not ceremony; the flour hydrates, the batter relaxes, and your pancake tears less when you turn it.
Buckwheat gives the pancake a faint nutty backbone, the old countryside note. If you don't have it, use all-purpose flour for the full amount and keep cooking. - 2
Cook the filling
Set a large frying pan over medium heat and cook the bacon until its fat runs and the edges brown. Add the onion, mushrooms, and red pepper, then cook until the onion is soft, the mushrooms have lost their water, and the pan smells sweet and savory. Stir in the ham for the last minute. Scrape everything into a bowl.
- 3
Start each pancake
Wipe the pan if needed, add a small knob of butter, and keep the heat at medium. Scatter one quarter of the filling across the pan in an even layer, then pour over one quarter of the batter, tilting the pan so it runs between the pieces. You are making a pancake with filling grown into it, not a wrap with cargo.
- 4
Brown and turn
Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the top looks mostly set, the edges pull away, and the underside is deep golden. Loosen the edges with a broad spatula, then turn the pancake in one confident motion. If confidence fails, slide it onto a plate, invert it back into the pan, and say nothing. This is a respectable old Dutch technique called saving dinner.
- 5
Melt the cheese
Sprinkle one quarter of the Gouda over the browned top and cook for another 2 minutes, until the second side is golden and the cheese has melted into a glossy, soft layer. Slide onto a plate and repeat with the remaining filling, batter, and cheese.
- 6
Serve at once
Serve each boerenpannenkoek wide and flat, with parsley only if you like the green note. Cut it into wedges at the table. A little mustard on the side is welcome, stroop is for another pancake, and confusing the two is how polite arguments begin.
Chef Tips
- •Use a pan wider than you think, 28 to 30cm if you have it. A boerenpannenkoek should be broad and thin enough to brown, not thick like a cake.
- •Cook the mushrooms until their liquid is gone before the batter arrives. Wet filling makes a pale pancake with a damp middle, and no farmer in history worked all day for that.
- •Young Gouda melts cleanly and tastes properly Dutch here. Aged Gouda is delicious, but it can turn oily before the pancake is ready.
- •For a weeknight table, keep the finished pancakes warm on a plate in a low oven while you cook the rest. They are best fresh from the pan, but they forgive a few minutes.
Advance Preparation
- •The batter can be whisked up to 12 hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator; stir it well before using.
- •The bacon, ham, onion, mushroom, and pepper filling can be cooked a day ahead and chilled. Warm it briefly in the pan before adding the batter.
- •Leftover pancakes keep for 2 days refrigerated. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low heat so the edges return to themselves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 400g)
Calories
830 calories
Total Fat
47 g
Saturated Fat
23 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
20 g
Cholesterol
265 mg
Sodium
1620 mg
Total Carbohydrates
62 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
13 g
Protein
40 g
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