What non-pancakes can I make out of pancake mix?

December 25, 2008 11:47 PM

I've somehow ended up with 5 lb (2 kg) of Krusteaz pancake mix. Pancakes, fruit, and syrup are getting boring, and I don't have a waffle maker. Is there anything else I can make with pancake mix, other than pancakes? Or are there any other awesome things I can add to pancakes, to make them less boring?

I've done my googling, but all I can come up with are recipes for making ... more pancakes! Ahhh! Help!

posted by Xere to Food & Drink (22 answers total)

Alternatively... you can put it in your freezer and use it less frequently.... freezers are great for increasing the shelf life of such things... then you can stick to making pancakes... but without the pressure to use it up. Just a thought.
posted by taff at 12:18 AM on December 26, 2008

I've made biscuits, both drop and rolled, with pancake mix. It's also not a bad topper to oven baked stew, or used for dumplings. Recipe link had some pretty good results, including shortcake, crepes (yeah, not far removed from pancakes, but a little different), and coffee cake.

We're doing the pancake thing here, and what I do is make shapes. I got a condiment bottle and I put the mix in there, then squirt whatever design I want into the pan. If it's not self contained, I'll pour some on it to make a "burnt in" design.


At one point I worked out how to make pancake mix from tortilla mix, but I haven't tried going the other way around. I suppose you'd just add more flour. With tortilla mix you can make sopapillas or, well, tortillas.

HA! This from cooks.com:

BEER BREAD

3 c. Krusteaz Pancake Mix
1 (12 oz.) can beer

Mix, beat until smooth and pour into greased loaf pan. Bake 60 minutes at 350 degrees. Good with soup.

Now I know what's going on my shopping list. Let us know what you do with it.
posted by lysdexic at 12:19 AM on December 26, 2008 [2 favorites]

Pancake mix is pretty much just self leavening flour. Use it in any capacity that calls for such. Quick breads such as beer and zucchini bread work well. Biscuits, too (regular, drop, cheese, etc.). It'll make a nice cakey/crusty topping for casseroles. How about dessert "cake"? Add sugar, sliced fruit and/or berries, some cinnamon and bake. It'll last pretty much forever in your pantry anyway, so there's no rush.
posted by maniactown at 12:40 AM on December 26, 2008

It'll last pretty much forever in your pantry anyway

I've found weevils in older Krusteaz. Don't know if they were native or came in once in the pantry. But if you don't want to make beer cake, then, uh, you might want to freeze it.
posted by quarantine at 2:15 AM on December 26, 2008

Maybe you can make something like the French dessert Clafouti?

In many places pancakes are also made with meat or mushroom filling, as a main course as opposed to dessert.
posted by Harald74 at 2:16 AM on December 26, 2008

I think you can treat it like flour, mix it with beer, and make fish and chips or onion rings or any other deep fried goodness. This recipe here calls for an outer coating of potato flakes, but I bet you could skip it entirely or use bread crumbs instead.

When I've done the flour/beer combo batter in the past, I've gone for a fairly thin batter, not thick like if you were actually making pancakes. If you do it, I'd start thin, test an onion ring or two, and then add more mix if it seemed to need it.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:39 AM on December 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Also, to clarify, I don't think you actually have to coat the outside with anything...but if you did you could also use potato chips or crackers or cornflakes or any of the other things people use for that stuff -- but I think for a more authentic fish and chips experience I wouldn't coat it with anything other than the batter.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:54 AM on December 26, 2008

You can make savoury pancakes instead of sweet! For instance, instead of adding fruit, you can add the following for a change:

Rosemary and pine nuts
Goat-cheese and parsley
Cheddar and spinach
Parmesan and paprika
Some other cheese and herb combination
Walnuts and cranberries (okay that's a fruit you get the idea.)

You can serve with eggs, and bacon. Or use as a different base for upscaley eggs benny. You can add some kind of plain yogurt sauce sauce or eat plain. Have them for a light lunch with a salad.
posted by typewriter at 4:06 AM on December 26, 2008 [3 favorites]

You could probably throw together a good (but fake-ass) toad in the hole with that mix. Roasting dish with some nice sausages and a little oil in the oven, take it out when the sausages are well on the way to cooked, pour some mix into the dish to surround but not drown the snarlers (be quick, the dish should be & stay quite hot), and put it back in the oven until the mix is plumped up and golden. Serve with plum sauce (or whatever you prefer) and mashed potato/roast veges. Yum.
posted by The Monkey at 4:08 AM on December 26, 2008

Dip oreos into pancake batter and fry.

I'm serious.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 4:45 AM on December 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

You can make cookies! The recipe I (self)linked to is one that we use all the time that uses buckwheat pancake mix, but assuming that the ingredients in the mix are close (and you can see them listed on the package at the bottom of the picture), you can probably use the same recipe to make regular non-buckwheat cookies.
posted by stefnet at 4:56 AM on December 26, 2008 [2 favorites]

You can make Fish and Chips that's better than traditional fish batter mixes with it!
posted by melorama at 5:48 AM on December 26, 2008

Do you like muffins, cranberry bread, etc.? Just add the appropriate extra ingredients such as blueberries for blueberry muffins, make the batter a little thicker and voila, muffin mix. It works the other way around too if you have muffin mix and want pancakes. If you like your muffins and stuff a little sweet you might add some sugar or Splenda to taste, depending upon how sweet this pancake mix is. As stefnet said, you can also make cookies, and don't feel tied to any particular recipe, just get the general proportion of the ingredients such as sugar (there will be a small amount in the mix), butter and flour (mix) down and they will be fine, but don't be afraid to tweak after the first batch comes out.
posted by caddis at 5:49 AM on December 26, 2008

Sausage balls make great appetizers, but are fairly labor-intensive. A clafouti is kinda the same as a fruit cobbler, and would be really easy to make. On most of the cooking websites you can search by ingredient. Use "bisquick" instead of Krusteaz when you search and you'll get enough ideas to keep you busy for a while. I use recipezaar. Search using the ingredient and then list by rating to see the best recipes at the top of the list.
posted by raisingsand at 7:12 AM on December 26, 2008

Stir a little cottage cheese into the batter for delicious cheesy pancakes.
posted by Sara Anne at 8:42 AM on December 26, 2008

You can use pancake mix as a "starter" for lots of things. As mentioned above, Bisquick is the most well-known pancake mix and there are lots of good recipes online using it as a starter (just substitute your Krusteaz for the Bisquick).
posted by amyms at 8:57 AM on December 26, 2008 [3 favorites]

Apple Fritters! (h/t Rachael Ray).
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 9:02 AM on December 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

You do want to freeze it.

Seconding amyms and the rest...bisquick (i.e. any pancake mix) is just flour with leavening agents and salt already added. There's a ton you can do with it.

One of my faves is dumplings. I make a lot of soups and stews with leftovers, and pancake mix dumplings are so good in them. Take some pancake mix, add herbs to match your soup/stew, add enough water to make a sort of sticky dough, and drop it by spoonfuls into your boiling soup. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and wait 10 minutes...perfect fluffy dumplings every time. Yum!
posted by dejah420 at 9:47 AM on December 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Your ratios will be entirely off for making bread with pancake mix. However, you have plenty to experiment with.

I imagine that there are hungry people that would not tire of 5lbs. of pancake mix however.
posted by iamkimiam at 10:01 AM on December 26, 2008

ooh, ooh, donating it is a great idea. perhaps there's a local church that has a soup kitchen you could donate it to.
posted by big open mouth at 1:23 PM on December 26, 2008

I've made crepes with pancake mix before, by adding more water or soya milk to the mix. You can use the crepes to wrap anything you like. I've filled mine with salmon, peanut butter, nutella, chicken mayo and other stuff.
posted by Alnedra at 7:24 PM on December 26, 2008

How about savory pankeggs?
posted by MsMolly at 8:28 PM on December 26, 2008