Rainbow Pancakes the easy way

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Rainbow pancakes are a fun breakfast idea that you can make quickly and easily, with just three coloring bowls and a little extra time (not much, I swear!).

Colored pancakes

I got a little extra yesterday morning when I was making pancakes. Colorful pancakes are really easy to do, and I only use three bowls for the six different colors. How? Easy: I do the three primary colors first, and then mix the other three!

I make these Rainbow Pancakes silver-dollar size, because I don’t know anybody who could eat six full-sized pancakes in one sitting. But there’s nothing stopping you from making them full size. Just triple the amounts.

What you need

To make these pancakes, you need just a few supplies, and you probably have them already:

Bowls and spoons

You need three small bowls and spoons. Use bigger bowls if you want bigger pancakes.

Food coloring

You don’t need anything special, just the kind of food coloring you can buy at the grocery store. One package usually comes with red, yellow, blue, and green, but you won’t be using the green for this.

Non-stick pan

I have this set of non-stick pans, and the 10-inch one is perfect for three silver-dollar pancakes. A 12-inch pan would fit four silver-dollar pancakes at a time.

You don’t want to crowd the pancakes, because the colors might run into each other.

Small spatula

You need a small spatula, so that you can flip these small pancakes without disturbing the other ones. I love these cookie spatulas from Oxo, they’re the perfect size.

Pancake batter

And of course, you need pancake batter. Just use whatever you normally use, you can do this with any pancake batter. Personally, I use Aunt Jemima Complete Pancake Mix. I’ve tried lots of different scratch pancake batter recipes over the years, and none of them were that much better than this mix, so I just do it the easy way and add water.

How to make the pancakes

Get your pan ready

Heat your pan over medium heat until a droplet of water sizzles. I’m terrible at guessing the temperature, so I just use one of these. If you’re using an electric griddle, heat it to 400 degrees.

Pour about a tablespoon of oil onto the pan and very carefully spread it around with a paper towel that you’ve folded over about four times. The hot oil will be very fluid, so move slowly!!

Red, yellow, and blue pancakes

You’re going to make the primary-color pancakes first. These instructions are for 2 sets of Rainbow Silver Dollar Pancakes (12 small pancakes total), but you can scale up as you wish.

Mix your pancake batter and put half a cup into each of the three bowls.

Add a few drops of red food coloring to the first bowl, yellow to the second bowl, and blue to the third bowl. Mix thoroughly—you don’t want any uncolored streaks in your pancakes!

The red bowl will really turn out looking more like pink pancake mix, but don’t worry, it will look great with all of the other colors!

Pour a small amount of pink pancake batter onto the prepared pan, using the spoon to wipe any drips from the side of the bowl. I usually end up using about one-and-a-half tablespoons. (I don’t measure it, but I know how much is left in the bowl when I’m all done.) Remember, the pancakes will spread a little!

Repeat with the yellow and blue batter, making sure to keep some space between them.

Flip the pancakes when bubbles are popping in the middle, and the edges look dry. Make sure to push each pancake towards the side of the pan when flipping, and not towards other pancakes, so that they don’t hit each other. Don’t do it like this, because you’ll probably get some blue pancake batter on the pink pancake:

Cook the second side until dry and then put the pancakes on a plate. If you’re making these for a crowd you can put them on a baking sheet in a 200-degree oven to stay warm. For a small amount, just cover the plate with some aluminum foil.

Wipe the pan out with the folded paper towel you’ve already used, both to get a little more oil on there, and also to wipe up any little pancake crumbs that got left behind.

Repeat so that you end up with two red pancakes, two yellow, and two blue. At this point, you should have used a little less than half of the batter in each bowl.

Orange, green, and purple pancakes

Now, you’re going to add a few drops of yellow food coloring to the red bowl, a few drops of blue to the yellow bowl, and a few drops of red to the blue bowl.