If you’ve made American pancakes from scratch, you already know Mexican hotcakes: the same batter of 2 cups flour, baking powder, milk, eggs and butter, cooked thick on a griddle under the American English name, “hot cakes”. In Mexico they’re often made from a boxed mix. This is the from-scratch version, with the details that make them tall instead of flat: a thick, lumpy batter, a pan at medium heat and a single flip once the bubbles pop. Below you’ll find the recipe for 12, how to read each stage, fixes for flat or raw-centered hotcakes, oat, banana and egg-free versions, and how they’re topped in Mexico.
Mexican hotcakes vs American pancakes
How do you make Mexican hotcakes? Whisk 2 cups (250 g) flour, 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp baking powder and salt. Add 2 eggs beaten with 1½ cups (360 ml) milk, vanilla and 3 tbsp (45 g) melted butter, stir just until combined and rest 10 minutes. Cook ¼ cup (60 ml) per hotcake over medium heat, 2 to 3 minutes until bubbles pop, then flip and cook 1½ to 2 minutes more. Ready in 40 minutes for 4 servings.
To be straight with you, the batter is the same thing. “Hot cakes” is simply what Mexicans call the thick, griddle-cooked American pancake, and you could swap this recipe for a classic US one without anyone noticing. What changes is mostly the table:
- The toppings. Butter and syrup are the default, but cajeta (goat’s milk caramel) and sweetened condensed milk, which Mexicans call lechera, are just as common.
- The word “miel”. On a Mexican menu, “hot cakes con miel” usually means pancake syrup, not honey.
- The name across Latin America. In Venezuela they’re panquecas, in Spain tortitas americanas, and in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile a panqueque is thin and rolled, closer to a crêpe.
A note for UK readers. These are American-style pancakes: thick, about 4½ in (11 cm) across, not the thin Shrove Tuesday kind you roll with lemon and sugar.
Time and difficulty. 40 minutes: 15 to mix and rest, 25 at the stove making 2 at a time. On a large griddle, 4 at a time, cooking drops to about 15. Easy; the only skill is adjusting the heat on the first one.
Ingredients for 12 hotcakes, with US and UK swaps
Serves 4 with 3 hotcakes each, a dozen in all. Exact amounts are in the recipe card; here’s what each one does and what you can change.
- All-purpose flour, plain flour in the UK. 2 cups is 250 g: spoon it into the cup and level it off. Scooping straight from the bag packs in more flour and makes them dry.
- Baking powder, 1 tbsp (14 g), does all the lifting. If the tin has been open for months, test it: ½ tsp in hot water should fizz right away. If it barely foams, replace it, or the hotcakes will come out flat. I don’t use UK self-raising flour here, because the baking powder amount is what I’ve tested.
- Milk. Whole milk browns best. Lactose-free milk works the same. Unsweetened soy, almond or oat milk work and come out a little paler. Water works too, but the hotcakes are drier and brown less, since milk brings the fat and sugars that toast.
- Large eggs, about 50 g (1.75 oz) each out of the shell. They give structure, so the hotcakes rise and don’t tear when you flip them.
- Melted butter in the batter keeps them tender. The same amount of vegetable oil works: a little less flavor, no loss of height.
- Sugar and vanilla. You can skip the sugar if you’re topping them with cajeta or condensed milk, but they’ll brown less.
Equipment. A 10-inch (26 cm) nonstick skillet or a cast-iron or steel griddle, which hold heat more evenly. A ¼ cup (60 ml) measure or ladle, so every hotcake is the same size and cooks in the same time, and a wide, thin spatula. A hand whisk is enough; with an electric mixer it’s very easy to overmix.
Homemade hotcake mix
To keep a jar ready like the boxed kind, combine the dry ingredients: 250 g (2 cups) flour, 25 g (2 tbsp) sugar, 14 g (1 tbsp) baking powder and ¼ tsp salt, about 290 g (10 oz) per batch. Sealed and dry, it keeps as long as your baking powder’s date. To use it, add 2 eggs, 1½ cups (360 ml) milk, 3 tbsp (45 g) melted butter and the vanilla to each batch.
How to make fluffy hotcakes, step by step
A thick, lumpy batter
Beat the wet ingredients separately and pour them into the dry. Stir gently with a spatula, no more than about 20 strokes, only until no dry flour shows. Leave the lumps: they cook out on the griddle. Whisk until smooth and the flour develops gluten, and the hotcakes turn out low, tough and rubbery.
Rest the batter 10 minutes while the pan heats. The flour hydrates, the baking powder starts working and the batter thickens slightly. What to look for: lifted on the ladle, it falls in a thick ribbon that sits on the surface for a moment before sinking in. If it pours like a thin stream, the hotcakes will spread wide and flat; stir in 2 tbsp flour with as few strokes as possible. If it’s too thick to fall, add a spoonful of milk.
Getting the pan right
Medium heat, about 375°F (190°C) on an electric griddle with a thermostat. Heat the pan 3 to 4 minutes, then test it: a few drops of water should dance and evaporate right away. If they sit and simmer, it needs more heat; if they vanish with a hiss the moment they land, it’s too hot.
Grease it with the thinnest layer, wiping on butter or oil with a paper towel. Too much fat gives spotty, fried edges and uneven browning.
The first one is a test. If it’s dark underneath after 2 minutes while the top is still raw, turn the heat down. If it’s still pale after 3 minutes, turn it up a little. A cast-iron griddle builds up heat with every batch, so drop the heat a notch halfway through.
When to flip
Pour ¼ cup (60 ml) per hotcake from close to the pan, without spreading it; it settles to about 4½ in (11 cm) on its own. Leave it alone; it usually takes 2 to 3 minutes at 375°F (190°C). It’s ready to flip when all three signs are there:
- Bubbles across the whole surface that pop and leave open holes that don’t fill back in.
- Dry, matte edges, with no wet shine left.
- Lift the edge with the spatula: the underside is evenly golden.
Flip once, in one quick move. The second side is faster, 90 seconds to 2 minutes; it’s done when golden and the center springs back when you touch it. Don’t press it with the spatula: you squeeze out the air that made it rise.
Keeping them warm
Set the oven to 200°F (95°C) and move the hotcakes to a rack or baking sheet as they’re done, without stacking. Without an oven, stack them on a plate under a clean towel; they stay warm, but the bottom ones soften from the steam.
Why hotcakes come out flat, gummy or raw inside
- Flat → old baking powder, batter too thin, or overmixed. Do the hot-water test, stir only until combined and look for the thick ribbon.
- Burnt outside, raw inside → pan too hot or too much batter per hotcake. Medium or medium-low heat and ¼ cup (60 ml); for thicker ones, lower the heat and give each side an extra minute.
- Pale and dry → pan too cold, so they cook without browning. Do the water-drop test before you start.
- Gummy or rubbery → batter whisked smooth, or taken off too early. Keep the lumps, and wait for the center to spring back.
- Tearing when flipped → flipped before the edges were dry, or with a thick spatula. Wait for all three signs.
- Sticking → no fat or a scratched pan. A thin wipe of fat, and a well-seasoned cast-iron griddle.
- Spotty browning → too much fat in the pan. Wipe off the excess with the paper towel.
Oat, banana and egg-free hotcakes
All start from the base recipe and cook the same way, with the same flipping signs.
- Oat → swap 1 cup of the flour for 1 cup (80 g / 2.8 oz) rolled oats, blended to a flour. Rest the batter 10 minutes: the oats soak up liquid and it thickens more. If it no longer falls in a ribbon, add a spoonful or two of milk. They’re a little denser, with a toasty cereal flavor.
- Banana → mash 1 ripe banana (about 120 g, ½ cup) into the wet ingredients and use 1¼ cups (300 ml) milk instead of 1½. Banana adds sugar, so they brown sooner: medium-low heat and a minute more of patience.
- Egg-free → leave out the 2 eggs and add about 100 ml (scant ½ cup) more milk, a little at a time, until the batter has the same thick ribbon. The baking powder still lifts them, but they’re slightly lower, softer and more fragile, so get the spatula well underneath to flip.
- For 2 → half the recipe: 1 cup (125 g) flour, 1 egg, ¾ cup (180 ml) milk. Makes 6.
- For 8 → double it, 24 hotcakes. Mix in two bowls one after the other, cook on a large griddle or two pans, and hold the finished ones in the 200°F (95°C) oven.
How hotcakes are served in Mexico
The classic is a stack with a pat of butter melting on top and about 2 tbsp (40 g) of syrup per 3 hotcakes, or honey. Other common ways:
- Cajeta, warm, poured over. To make your own, homemade cajeta from goat’s milk keeps for weeks in the fridge. In the US, dulce de leche is the closest swap from the supermarket.
- Sweetened condensed milk, drizzled straight from the can.
- Jam, chocolate hazelnut spread or fruit: strawberries, sliced banana, berries.
- As part of a full breakfast, with eggs, like Mexican chorizo and eggs, and something hot to drink: cafe de olla with piloncillo and cinnamon or a vanilla atole.
If you like sweet griddle breads, gorditas de nata are a different thing: a denser cream dough cooked over low heat. And Venezuelan cachapas look similar, but they’re made from fresh blended corn and eaten with cheese.
Storing, freezing and reheating hotcakes
Fridge. Once cool, in a sealed container or bag, 3 to 4 days. Put them away within 2 hours at room temperature.
Freezer. Let them cool completely on a rack; warm ones release steam, turn soggy and build ice crystals. Freeze them in a single layer on a sheet pan for 1 hour, then move them to a freezer bag with the air pressed out, with parchment between them if they have fruit or chocolate. They’re at their best within 2 months.
Reheating. No need to thaw.
- Toaster → 2 to 3 minutes on a low setting, one per slot. This gives the best result: the outside refreshes and the inside stays soft.
- Skillet → over medium-low heat, covered, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
- Oven → covered with foil at 350°F (175°C) for about 10 minutes. Best for a big batch.
- Microwave → under a damp paper towel, in 20-second bursts. Fastest, but overdo it and they turn tough.
Raw batter I don’t keep overnight: baking powder starts working as soon as it gets wet, and the next day they rise less. What I make ahead is the dry mix in the jar.
Mexican hotcakes FAQ
How many hotcakes does 1 cup of flour make? About 6 at 4½ in (11 cm), using ¼ cup (60 ml) batter each. Halve everything: 125 g flour, 1 egg and ¾ cup (180 ml) milk.
Why does the first hotcake always come out wrong? The pan hasn’t settled at an even heat yet, or it has too much fat. Treat it as a test: if it browns before bubbles appear, lower the heat; if it’s still pale at 3 minutes, raise it.
Can I make hotcakes without baking powder? Without it they don’t rise and come out thin and dense, more like a thick crêpe. Baking soda alone isn’t a swap: without an acid in the batter it doesn’t lift and leaves a metallic taste.
Is pancake mix the same as hotcake mix? Practically, yes. Mexican boxed hotcake mix and US pancake mix are both flour, sugar, leavening and salt, and the homemade mix above replaces either.
Nutrition
Per serving of 3 hotcakes (¼ of the recipe), calculated from the gram weights in the recipe card, counting the butter for the pan and without toppings:
- Calories: 445 kcal
- Protein: 13 g
- Carbohydrates: 60 g
- Fat: 17 g, of which 10 g saturated
- Fiber: 2 g
- Sugars: 11 g
- Sodium: 680 mg
Flour accounts for about 230 kcal per serving and butter about 100. Toppings add up fast: with a 1 tbsp pat of butter and 2 tbsp pancake syrup the plate reaches about 655 kcal, and a 1 fl oz (2 tbsp) drizzle of sweetened condensed milk adds about 120. More than half the sodium comes from the baking powder. Contains gluten (wheat flour), egg and milk.
In Venezuela we call them panquecas, and the first ones I made from scratch came out like shoe soles: I beat the batter smooth with an electric mixer, the way I would for a sponge cake. Since I started stirring it with a spoon and leaving the lumps, they rise on their own. Josnaisis.