Puffed Dutch Baby Pancake
A year round treat

Reading Time: 4 minutes
I’m always looking for ways to incorporate healthy eggs into my meal planning. Well, how about this for something different: Dutch baby pancakes. Also known as German pancakes or Dutch puffs, a Dutch baby pancake reminds me of a giant popover. Regardless of the name, this large pancake is just the ticket for a springtime breakfast, brunch, or lunch.
Make it savory for an entrée or sweet for a lovely, not-too-heavy dessert.
The bonus? Dutch baby pancakes take few ordinary ingredients, are easy enough for the little ones to help mix, and are unusual in shape and form. After about 20 minutes in the oven, puff! The Dutch baby is done!
Here’s how to make my family’s favorite Dutch baby pancakes.
DUTCH BABY PANCAKE
Having eggs at room temperature allows for a faster rise in the oven.
Ingredients
- ½ stick unsalted butter
- 3 large eggs, room temperature, beaten lightly
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- Couple dashes of salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar for sweet pancake; leave out for savory pancake
- Choice of toppings

Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425.
- Melt butter in 10” ovenproof pan or skillet over medium-low heat, brushing butter up sides of the pan as well.
- Meanwhile, add milk, flour, salt and sugar to egg mixture. Whisk well until very smooth. You can also mix this in the blender for faster mixing.
- Remove skillet from heat.
- Pour egg mixture into skillet.
- Place in oven and bake until pancake puffs its way up high over the sides and is golden brown. It may puff in places in the middle, too. (My kids say it looks like a pancake on steroids!). This takes 15-20 minutes or so.
- Important: Be sure to use a potholder when removing skillet from oven; handle will be hot. Leave potholder on until handle cools.
- Either leave pancake in the pan, or slide the pancake out. Either way, you can leave whole and add toppings, or cut into serving pieces and add toppings. Note that the pancake starts cooling and collapsing pretty quickly once it comes out of the oven.
I like to leave the pancake in the skillet and add toppings in the middle. This makes for a lovely presentation.

Tip: No unsalted butter on hand?
No worries. Use salted and eliminate salt in the recipe.
Sub in olive oil for butter
Yes, you can but the pancake won’t have a buttery note to it. Sub in 1/4 cup olive oil for the butter.

Tip: which pan is best?
Straight sided skillets allow sides to puff up more evenly than a sloped sided omelet pan. (I used an omelet pan).
Pie or cake pans can be used in place of a skillet.
Top it!
So many choices. Here’s a few of mine:

Sweet toppings:
- Serve plain just dusted with powdered sugar.
- Smear jelly or jam in the center and dust with powdered sugar.
- Fresh berries dusted with powdered sugar.
- Apples, peaches or pears chopped and sautéed with a little butter, water, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
Savory toppings:
- Scrambled eggs and crumbled bacon.
- Herbed omelet made in an 8” skillet so that it fits in the center of Dutch baby.

Tip: Fluffiest scrambled eggs
For every two eggs, add about a tablespoon of cream or milk.
First, whisk eggs until combined well. Then add cream and any seasonings. Whisk again just to combine.
Place skillet over medium heat and add enough butter to coat the bottom of the pan. After butter melts but before it foams, turn heat to low.
Add eggs and stir occasionally until you see curds forming. Break them up as they form and cook a little underdone. Eggs will appear shiny and a bit wet. Remove skillet from heat and the residual heat in the pan will continue to cook the eggs to perfection.

Tip: Measure pan correctly.
Measure top inside edges. The outside edge may be larger than the inside, depending upon the kind of skillet.
What’s your favorite way to serve the Dutch baby pancake?

Originally published in the April/May 2020 issue of Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.