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.
Culinary Explorer
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Pannenkoeken (Dutch Pancakes)
Created by
The Dutch pancake is not a breakfast cloud but a whole-plate supper: wide, thin, tender at the centre, crisp at the edge, and ready for stroop, apple, cheese, or bacon.
Breakfast & Brunch
Dutch
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
10 min
Active Time
30 min cook•1 hr 10 min total
Yield8 large pancakes
My grandfather did not call pannenkoeken a treat. He called them what you made when the cupboard was nearly honest with you: flour, eggs, milk, salt, a hot pan, and whatever the table could offer. After the Hunger Winter, that mattered. A pancake was not poor food if it filled the plate and let everyone choose their own ending, sweet with stroop or savory with spek, bacon. That is how Dutch family food often works: plain ingredients, generous result, no speechmaking.
The name already tells you most of what you need. Pannenkoek is simply koek, cake or flat baked thing, made in a pan. Not an American pancake, which rises like a pillow, and not quite a French crepe, which behaves like silk. A Dutch pannenkoek sits between them: broader, sturdier, with eggs and milk doing the lifting and the pan giving you those brown freckles that taste of butter and patience.
But let me tell you a secret. The first pancake is almost always for the cook, because it teaches you the heat of the pan. Too pale, wait. Too dark, lower the flame. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple: rest the batter so the flour drinks properly, use enough butter to make the edges crisp, and turn only when the top has lost its shine. Then stack them high and put the stroop on the table. A dish without its story is half a meal, but a pannenkoek without someone reaching for the last one is no meal at all.
Pancakes appear in Dutch cookery from the late medieval and early modern period as practical pan-baked food made from flour, eggs, and milk or ale, long before they became associated with pancake restaurants and children's menus. The Dutch pannenkoek differs from both the French crepe and the American pancake: it is usually dinner-plate wide, thin but not fragile, and commonly eaten as a full meal with bacon, apple, cheese, or syrup. The official modern spelling is pannenkoek, with the plural pannenkoeken, though many older family recipe cards still carry the earlier pannekoek spelling.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
plain flour
Quantity
250g
fine salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
large eggs
Quantity
3
whole milk
Quantity
500ml
sparkling water or plain water (optional)
Quantity
50ml
butter
Quantity
30g
melted, plus more for frying
sunflower oil (optional)
Quantity
as needed
for frying
stroop, powdered sugar, apple slices, bacon, cheese, or jam (optional)
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| plain flour | 250g |
| fine salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| large eggs | 3 |
| whole milk | 500ml |
| sparkling water or plain water (optional) | 50ml |
| buttermelted, plus more for frying | 30g |
| sunflower oil (optional)for frying | as needed |
| stroop, powdered sugar, apple slices, bacon, cheese, or jam (optional) | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide nonstick or well-seasoned frying pan, 26 to 30cm
- •Ladle
- •Thin flexible spatula
- •Large mixing bowl
Instructions
- 1
Mix the batter
Whisk the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well, crack in the eggs, and whisk from the middle outward while pouring in the milk little by little. This keeps the batter smooth without ceremony. Whisk in the water and melted butter until you have a thin batter, looser than American pancake batter and a little thicker than cream.
- 2
Let it rest
Cover the bowl and let the batter rest for 30 minutes. The flour needs time to drink the milk, and the pan will reward your patience with pancakes that spread evenly instead of tearing at the edges.
If the rested batter has thickened too much, whisk in a splash of milk. It should run easily across the pan when you tilt it. - 3
Heat the pan
Set a wide frying pan or pancake pan over medium heat and add a small knob of butter, with a few drops of oil if your butter browns too quickly. The pan is ready when the butter foams, settles, and smells nutty. If it smokes, you've gone too far; wipe it out and begin again, because burnt butter is a loud guest.
- 4
Cook the first
Ladle in enough batter to coat the base thinly, then immediately tilt the pan so the batter runs to the edges. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until the top loses its wet shine and the underside is speckled golden brown. Slide a spatula under, flip, and cook the second side for about 45 seconds. The first one tells you whether the heat is right; this is useful work, not failure.
- 5
Stack and serve
Continue with the remaining batter, adding a little butter between pancakes and stacking them on a warm plate. For spekpannenkoeken, bacon pancakes, fry a few thin strips of bacon in the pan first, then pour the batter over them. For apple pancakes, lay thin apple slices in the butter before the batter goes in. Serve at the table with stroop, syrup, powdered sugar, cheese, or whatever your household argues for most convincingly.
Chef Tips
- •Use a wide pan, 26 to 30cm if you have it. A Dutch pannenkoek should fill the plate, not arrive as a small breakfast stack.
- •Rest the batter. This is the quiet step that makes the pancake tender and easy to turn, because the flour has stopped behaving like dust and started behaving like food.
- •For savory versions, cook the bacon, apple, or mushrooms in the pan first, then pour the batter over them. The filling becomes part of the pancake instead of sitting on top like an afterthought.
- •Stroop is the classic sweet finish. If you cannot find Dutch stroop, use a dark table syrup or a mild molasses syrup, but keep the pour modest. The pancake should still taste of egg, milk, and browned butter.
Advance Preparation
- •The batter can be mixed up to 12 hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Whisk it well before cooking and loosen with a splash of milk if needed.
- •Cooked pancakes keep covered in the refrigerator for 2 days. Rewarm one at a time in a dry pan until flexible and lightly browned again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 115g)
Calories
230 calories
Total Fat
10 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
5 g
Cholesterol
85 mg
Sodium
200 mg
Total Carbohydrates
27 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
8 g
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