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Whenever I make pancakes, I can never make them very circular. My pancakes always end up looking deformed and barely like a circle.

I've tried just pouring the batter (which didn't work) and using a funnel, which worked better but still didn't give me the result I wanted.

Is there any way to make perfectly (or near perfectly) circular pancakes?

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  • Are you trying to make big ones that fill the whole pan or small "mini pancakes"?
    – lmnopcdefg
    Commented Jan 17, 2016 at 21:52

11 Answers 11

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By putting the pancake batter into a squeeze bottle, you can create any shape you like.

There are products made for this purpose but you can also use any old empty squeeze bottle you have lying around, like so:

enter image description here

This method lets you draw cool stuff. Though I imagine line-art pancakes like those would be pretty hard to flip.

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  • 1
    Look up "batter dispenser" - you can find models that are comparable in price to the squeeze bottles, but a hell of a lot easier to clean. If you ever watch the fry cooks making pancakes in a diner, chances are this is what you'll see them using. Same basic idea though: dispense the batter at a steady rate from a fixed point.
    – William the Pleaser
    Commented Dec 15, 2014 at 19:44
  • Never seen those before, @William. Cleaner, although far less hacky.
    – hairboat
    Commented Dec 15, 2014 at 22:08
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    You let the line art sit for 20 seconds then cover it by pouring a big circle on top. Then when you flip it, you can see the line art as it's a different color. My mom used to do that with the our first initials.
    – Double AA
    Commented Dec 18, 2014 at 4:00
  • @abbyhairboat but, doesn't this belong on cooking?
    – Sklivvz
    Commented Dec 20, 2014 at 0:19
  • I can validate this solution - it works great.
    – Ste
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 16:09
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I have a lot of old 60ml syringes lying around. These make great water guns, but you can also use them to make pancakes. Just be sure you either get all the lumps out of the batter, or cut part of the end off so it can handle some lumps.

Simply stick the end into the batter, pull the desired amount into the syringe, and push it into the pan.

This is great because:

  • You can make them any shape you want
  • You have measurements on the sides, you can make them all the same size if you want
  • It's not messy at all, hardly any cleanup needed, and it doesn't drip
  • You don't end up with a lot of batter stuck to the edges, like you do with a squeeze bottle

And others. The picture below shows a smaller syringe than I usually use.

spider-shaped pancake being drawn with syringe

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    This is actually awesome. +1
    – michaelpri
    Commented Dec 15, 2014 at 19:41
  • Note that this requires fairly thin batter, so may not be appropriate for all recipes. That said, for the right batter this is functional and fairly mess-free albeit time consuming to keep refilling. These syringes are also useful for one-handed pastry filling: I use them to inject hot vanilla pudding into cream puffs.
    – William the Pleaser
    Commented Dec 15, 2014 at 19:52
  • @WilliamthePleaser For a thicker batter, cut some of the nose off to accommodate thicker batter flow.
    – J. Musser
    Commented Dec 15, 2014 at 19:53
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Lisa Douglas (played by Eva Gabor) on Green Acres made perfectly round "hotcakes" by pouring all of the batter into a griddle and then using the coffee pot (I think) as a mold to cut out circles. The remaining batter was used as a head gasket for the tractor. See http://www.tvacres.com/food_menus_lisa.htm.

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  • THIS is my favourite answer. 'Specially the automotive parts tip.
    – Stan
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 3:40
  • Remember not to make them as hard as she makes them xD +1 for GA reference
    – Ali Bdeir
    Commented Sep 25, 2016 at 12:56
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The most inexpensive way to make round pancakes is to pour the batter from a height of at least 12" from the pan. Perfect, round, pancakes every time.

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These things that work for me:

  • Heating up the pan. If the pan is heated up appropriately the pancakes will cook before they can spill out of order.

  • Use biscuit tins or a cup or bowl. This solution keeps them circular and in sizes. Using a cup, cut the top off and lay the cup or biscuit tin in the pan and pour the batter in. This keeps the pancakes circular.

Additional Info

sheknows.com

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    Really like the second hack. +1
    – michaelpri
    Commented Dec 15, 2014 at 5:36
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I make my perfectly round pancakes by simply using a smaller pan, so the edge of the pan creates the shape of the pancake = round.

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1

Pour the batter into metal cookie cutters on the pan. You can pull them off after it's cooked one side and ready to flip, will give you a much cleaner outline and clearer shape of whatever you're aiming for (provided you buy a cookie cutter in that shape), just be careful that they're metal and you don't burn yourself with them.

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  • Won't they bake onto the cutters a little, and make you have to clean 'em out between 'cakes?
    – J. Musser
    Commented Dec 17, 2014 at 23:26
  • @J.Musser Pour larger pancake than wanted, wait until it starts to set, use cookie cutter to cut into the desired shapes. … continue reading Jimmy Hoffa's Answer above).
    – Stan
    Commented Jul 25, 2016 at 5:42
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My wife loves pancakes. I had to learn how to make them like her grandmother.

Sounds like your skillet isn't level. Find a level place and pour in the middle.

Also if you like rings around the edge melt some butter on medium high temp. Pour into the butter.

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  • maybe the stove itself isn't sitting level.
    – bigbadmouse
    Commented Jan 30, 2018 at 10:30
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In addition to the other answers: make sure the pan is not warped. If the pan doesn't have a flat bottom, the batter will always flow to the lowest part of the pan instead of filling the pan evenly.

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If you have a really big pan, and you don't want to make a messy pancake, use the pan's lid to stop the pancake from going all over the place. It also might cook both sides.

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-1

Try using an onion ring! Works ever time and you dont have the taste of onion in the pancakes too!!!

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  • You would need some sort of huge mutant onion! Or very small pancakes.
    – Chenmunka ♦
    Commented Sep 13, 2016 at 14:51

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