We Taste-Tested 12 Classic Pancake Mixes—Here Are Our Favorites
After tasting our way through 12 classic pancake mixes—including Bisquick, King Arthur Baking, and Annie’s—we found an overall winner that we’d be happy to whip up at home.
Pancake mix is a pantry staple for many people. Because most mixes require little more than some water, butter or oil, and an egg, it’s an easy way to get breakfast on the table quickly. As convenient as pancake mix is, not all of them make great pancakes: Some produce pancakes that are gloriously fluffy but bland, while others taste good but have a tough, rubbery texture. (And then there are the ones with neither good flavor nor good texture…)
On the heels of our taste test of buttermilk pancake mixes, we set out to find the very best plain pancake mix. To find a winner, we tasted 12 different blends you’re likely to find at your local supermarket or online, cooked them up, and had our tasters sample the pancakes in random order and without knowing which brands they were trying. There was no butter or maple syrup—just many, many unadorned pancakes. After a breakfast buffet's worth of pancakes, we found an overall winner that we’d be happy to make for our family and friends, and one other worthy contender.
The Criteria
Hotcake hot take: A great pancake should be delicious enough to eat on its own—no butter or syrup required. It should be well seasoned with salt and have a subtle sweetness, with a crisp exterior and light, fluffy crumb inside. Good pancakes should have some rise rather than being flat like crepes, but they shouldn't be so lofty that they look bloated. Though chemical leaveners like baking powder and/or baking soda are needed to help aerate the pancakes, there should not be so much that the pancake tastes metallic. While pancakes made from mix might never be quite as good as homemade flapjacks, they should be good enough that nobody would turn up their nose when presented with a stack.
Overall Winner
Hungry Jack Complete Original Pancake & Waffle Mix
Our tasters loved the texture of these pancakes. Our senior social media editor, Kelli, gushed: “So, so, so fluffy. A glorious pillow of pancakes!” Our associate editorial director, Megan, thought these were “quite lofty” and “pretty good.” Our associate visuals director, Amanda, liked that these have a touch of sweetness, and would happily eat them on their own. Though Kelli really enjoyed these pancakes, she did detect a hint of baking soda, which took them down just a tiny bit in her estimation.
Runner Up
Wegmans Pancake Mix
“When I think of a pancake, this is the flavor I have in my head," Kelli wrote in her tasting notes. "There is a touch of something sweet. Maybe a maple flavoring or brown sugar?” Though she loved how these pancakes taste, Kelli wished they were slightly fluffier. Megan, on the other hand, did not care as much for their flavor as the Hungry Jack pancakes, but did quite enjoy their lofty, tender texture. Meanwhile, Amanda thought these were “nice and buttery,” with a "squishy" texture she enjoyed.
The Contenders
- Annie’s Organic Pancake and Waffle Mix
- Best Yet Complete Pancake Mix
- Birch Benders Organic Classic
- Bisquick Original Pancake Mix
- Golden Malted Pancake & Waffle Mix
- Hungry Jack Complete Original Pancake Mix
- King Arthur Baking Diner-Style Pancakes
- Maple Grove Farms Complete Pancake & Waffle Mix
- Pearl Milling Original Pancake & Waffle Mix
- Stonewall Kitchen Farmhouse Pancake & Waffle Mix
- Wegmans Pancake Mix
- Zingerman’s Cornman Farms Homestead Pancake Mix
In Conclusion
Our tasters felt just OK about most of the mixes—nobody absolutely adored or abhorred any of the pancakes. But they were mixed in their responses: A pancake that had the right amount of sweetness for one editor was too sweet for other tasters, while pancakes that were perfectly fluffy for some weren’t lofty enough for others. In fact, Hungry Jack and Wegmans were the only two that were universally liked. Both mixes produced tender, delicious pancakes with just enough salt and sugar, and our editors would happily reach for either box at the store.
Going into these tests, most of us would have assumed that the best pancake mix would be one that required some additional ingredients, such as milk or egg—which is why it's interesting to note that the winning pancake mix from Hungry Jack requires just water—no milk, butter, oil, or eggs. So just because a mix calls for add-ins, doesn’t mean it will be more flavorful. Like the top picks in our buttermilk pancake taste test, our runner up—Wegmans Pancake Mix—contained malted barley flour, an ingredient that gives baked goods and beverages an earthy, caramel note. If that's a flavor you enjoy and you live near a Wegmans, you might want to pick up this mix.
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 for various criteria. All data is tabulated and results are calculated with no editorial input in order to give us the most impartial representation possible.
