We Taste-Tested 6 Brands of Frozen Buttermilk Pancakes—Our Winner Is as Good as Homemade

Every Sunday, my family enjoys a stack of freshly made pancakes with crisp, streaky bacon and plenty of maple syrup. While I always make pancakes from scratch when I’m cooking for my family of three, that’s not practical when I’m hosting a large breakfast or brunch gathering. I’ll whip up a few make-ahead items—think sheet-pan bacon or a quiche Lorraine—then pop some frozen pancakes into the oven. The question is: Which ones are worth buying? 

To find the best frozen pancakes, our editors taste-tested six widely available brands. We baked each according to the package directions, then sampled them in random order without knowing which was which. We then tabulated the results and crowned an overall winner, along with two other worthy contenders.

The Criteria

Whether homemade or store-bought, pancakes should be light and fluffy, with a tender crumb—not dry, dense, or rubbery. They should taste balanced: A hint of sweetness is welcome, but they should be neutral enough to pair with maple syrup, honey, whipped cream, or fresh fruit. They should also be well-seasoned but not noticeably salty. Though baking powder and/or baking soda are essential for leavening, there shouldn’t be so much of either ingredient that the pancakes taste soapy or metallic.

Overall Winner

365 by Whole Foods Buttermilk Pancakes

Our associate editorial director, Megan, was very enthusiastic about these pancakes. She loved that they were “mild but not overly sweet,” and thought they had the best texture of all the pancakes we tasted. “Fluffy, almost like homemade,” she noted. Similarly, our editorial director, Daniel, thought these tasted like “real” pancakes—high praise for a frozen, ready-made product. These were also our associate editorial director, Amanda‘s, favorite. “Nice little butter taste,” she noted. Our visuals editor, Jessie, thought these were “on the dryer side,” but still decent. While these were the clear favorite overall, our former senior social media editor, Kelli, found them too dense for her liking, and our associate culinary editor, Laila, thought they were plain and a bit dry. Nothing a little maple syrup can’t solve, though! 

Runners-Up

Stop & Shop Buttermilk Pancakes

Everyone picked up on the sweetness here, and it wasn’t unwelcome. “Nice and maple-y, definitely on the sweeter side,” Amanda wrote. “Fluffy with a hint of maple syrup,” Kelli noted. “I like the sweetness, but they’re a touch salty.” They were slightly too sugary for Jessie, who acknowledged that those with a sweet tooth would probably enjoy them. While Daniel and Kelli enjoyed the texture of these pancakes (Kelli described them as “nice and creamy”), other tasters, including Laila, found them slightly too chewy.

De Wafelbakkers Buttermilk Pancakes

“A hint of sweet, a hint of salt. Very standard,” Kelli wrote. Jessie appreciated that these pancakes had some structure and weren’t mushy, with a mild flavor that would make it good for pairing with toppings. Amanda agreed: “A very nice neutral taste.” On the opposite spectrum, Laila found them a touch too salty. Overall, though, our editors thought these pancakes were balanced, nicely seasoned, and, as Daniel noted, had “good” flavor.

The Contenders

• 365 by Whole Foods Buttermilk Pancakes
• Bluey Pancakes
• De Wafelbakkers Buttermilk Pancakes
• Eggo Buttermilk Frozen Pancakes
• Stop & Shop Buttermilk Pancakes
• Trader Joe’s Silver Dollar Pancakes

Key Takeaways and Conclusion

Most frozen buttermilk pancakes are made with similar ingredients: water, flour, sugar, eggs, salt, baking powder and/or soda, and some form of buttermilk, whether liquid, powder, or solids. When paired with an alkaline ingredient, such as baking soda, buttermilk helps leaven baked goods and pastries, giving them their fluffy texture. Buttermilk’s acidity also brings a pleasant tang and helps tenderize gluten, resulting in flavorful pancakes with a softer bite.

Many of the frozen pancakes we tasted contain high fructose corn syrup or invert syrup, sweeteners that help keep baked goods soft and moist. De Wafelbakkers Buttermilk Pancakes and Stop & Shop Buttermilk Pancakes—our two runners-up—contain high fructose corn syrup and invert syrup, respectively. Our winner, however, does not contain either and is sweetened with cane sugar. 

Our winners and runners-up all contain malted barley flour or malted barley extract. As I touched on in my easy hot chocolate recipe, malting is the process of drying, sprouting, and toasting grains, which transforms the grain’s starches into more complex sugars and its proteins into amino acids. This gives malted products—including flour, milk powder, syrup, and extract—their rich, nutty flavors. When incorporated into beverages or desserts, malt often adds savory depth and earthiness, making for a more delicious result than products made without. 

Overall, our editors thought frozen pancakes made with malted products were more flavorful, and preferred those that they deemed balanced and not cloyingly sweet. While the 365 by Whole Foods pancakes were our clear winner, we’d be more than happy to warm up either of our runners-up in a pinch.

Our Testing Methodology

All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample one first, while taster B will taste sample six first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill out tasting sheets, ranking the samples according to various criteria. All data is tabulated, and results are calculated with no editorial input to provide the most impartial representation of actual results possible.