How To Make Diner-Style Chocolate Chip Pancakes

When your friend’s first job is at a breakfast chain that serves over-the-top stacks of flapjacks, lots of high school homework gets done in those sticky booths. Every week brought a new pancake special, but my all-time favorite was chocolate chip. I still crave the combo of fluffy buttermilk pancakes, melted chocolate, cool whipped cream, and warm maple syrup, and now that I’m in charge of breakfast, I can make them any time the craving strikes.

This simple recipe, which is a little more involved than your basic weekday pancake recipe, will walk you through how to make the fluffiest diner-style pancakes studded with gooey chocolate chips. The tangy buttermilk batter is the perfect contrast to the rich chocolate and decadent toppings, making this the very best recipe there is. Here’s how to do it.

Stacks of diner pancakes emerge picture-perfect: round, fluffy, and golden-brown. And while my homemade pancakes might be slightly misshapen, I have mastered the fluffy texture. It all comes down to two simple steps.

1. Fold in the egg whites (no need to whip!). This is a tip I picked up from Kitchn’s Lofty Buttermilk Pancakes recipe. After separating the eggs, add the yolks to the wet ingredients (buttermilk and melted butter), combine the wet with the dry, then fold in the egg whites —no whipping required!
2. Rest the batter. Resting the pancake batter for 10 minutes gives the leavening agents (the baking powder, baking soda, and buttermilk) a chance to activate and gives the flour time to absorb liquid from the batter. The result is a thick, bubbly batter that gives you sky-high hotcakes.

If you sprinkle the chocolate chips onto the pancakes as they cook, the chocolate is sure to burn after the flip. Here are two easy ways to avoid that.

1. Stir the chips into the batter. Adding the chips directly to the batter distributes them more evenly and protects them, too. The pancake batter acts as a barrier between the hot skillet and the heat-sensitive chips, keeping them from burning.
2. Use moderate heat. It’s tempting to turn up the heat to get breakfast on the table faster, but cooking pancakes — especially chocolate chip pancakes — over high heat is a recipe for trouble. Cooking over medium heat is a better bet because it gives the pancakes time to brown and cook through without burning the sweet chocolate chips.

For the true diner experience, I like to serve stacks of warm pancakes with whipped cream, more chocolate chips, and a drizzle of pure maple syrup. For a less-sweet option, keep it simple with a smear of butter.