Pancake Batter vs. Waffle Batter: 4 Key Differences

Pancake batter is the base to make pancakes, also known as hotcakes, griddle cakes, or flapjacks. A basic pancake batter contains milk, sugar, flour, and baking powder. You can also include eggs and vanilla or additional dry ingredients, such as chocolate chips or blueberries to make specially-flavored pancakes.

To make pancakes, pour the pancake mix on a hot griddle or frying pan into a circle with a flat surface. Then, flip the pancake, ensuring it is brown on both sides. Serve pancakes with melted butter, maple syrup, and fruit.

Waffle batter is a mixture of wet and dry ingredients that forms the basis for waffles. Waffle batter usually contains eggs, milk, flour, butter, sugar, and a leavening agent like baking soda or baking powder.

To make waffles, pour the batter into a waffle iron or waffle maker to cook the waffle into a particular shape. You can serve waffles with sweet toppings such as maple syrup, butter, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, fruits, ice cream, or other sweetened toppings. The pockets in the waffles created by the waffle iron cooking method allow the syrups and toppings to stay on top of the waffle instead of running down the sides.

Pancake batter and waffle batter contain the same essential ingredients, but there are critical differences between these breakfast foods:

• Ratios: Waffle batter contains more sugar, butter, and eggs than pancake batter, making it a richer batter with higher fat content. Pancake batter contains more milk than waffle batter.
• Texture: The best waffles are fluffy on the inside with a crispy exterior. The extra sugar in the waffle batter caramelizes and gives the waffles a golden brown exterior. The extra fat content produces a crisp exterior and prevents the waffle from sticking to the waffle iron. (Belgian waffle recipes contain pearl sugar, which creates an even crispier exterior than traditional waffles.) Pancakes are also browned, but the low amount of sugar and a higher volume of milk in the batter makes cake-like pancakes that are soft and floppy.
• Leavening agent: Most waffle batters contain baking powder or baking soda to achieve a fluffy interior. American pancake recipes also contain leavening agents, but pancakes in the United Kingdom tend to be flatter and resemble crêpes.
• Consistency: Waffle batter is thicker than pancake batter. This thick consistency lets you pour the waffle batter into a waffle maker without running out the sides. Pancake batter is looser, which means it is easily pourable into a round shape.

Become a better chef with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by the world’s best, including Alice Waters, Gabriela Cámara, Niki Nakayama, Chef Thomas Keller, Gordon Ramsay, Yotam Ottolenghi, Dominique Ansel, and more.