This thick and fluffy pancake casserole is filled with blueberries and topped with a brown sugar crumble. This is a great way to make pancakes for a crowd, and it’s a great meal prep dish (it reheats beautifully).
This is one of my most popular recipes – and for good reason. This recipe is easy, delicious, and it’s always met with rave reviews. Think of it as a mashup between pancakes and coffee cake.
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Why you’ll love this recipe
Flavor: Buttermilk pancakes with a touch of vanilla, lemon, blueberries, and maple syrup.
Texture: Imagine a super thick and fluffy pancake filled with juicy blueberries and a crunchy crumb topping.
Ease: Although this recipe has several steps, it is super easy. No special equipment or techniques needed.
Feed a crowd: If you don’t feel like standing over the stove flipping individual pancakes for a crowd this is a great alternative. I often make this dish for holiday breakfast/brunch.
Great leftover: Reheat individual servings in the microwave, this casserole reheats beautifully.
Pancake casserole recipe overview
*Full recipe below in recipe card*
Crumb topping:
Combine flour, sugars, cinnamon, salt, and melted butter. Pop the topping into the fridge while you proceed with the pancake batter.
Pancake batter:
- Combine dry ingredients in one bowl.
- Combine wet ingredients in another bowl.
- Combine wet and dry.
- Be careful not to overmix (it will be lumpy).
Add the batter to a greased 9×13 pan. Top with blueberries and crumb topping.
Bake!
Make ahead options
Can this be made ahead?
I highly recommend serving this right after baking but you can do most of the prep in advance. Note: individual leftovers reheat well in the microwave but I do not bake and reheat the whole dish.
Use this method to prep ahead and you will only have a couple of “hands-on” minutes in the morning:
- Prepare the crumb topping and refrigerate until ready to use (up to 1 day in advance). It will firm up quite a bit as the butter chills in the fridge. Let it sit at room temp for an hour (if you have time), or just use your fingers to break the crumb topping into chunks as you scatter it over the pancake batter.
- Pancake batter: combine all of the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda) in a large bowl and tightly cover at room temp overnight.
- Pancake batter: in a large glass measuring cup or bowl, whisk the eggs, buttermilk, milk, lemon zest and vanilla (all of the wet ingredients except the melted butter). Tightly cover and refrigerate overnight.
- In the morning: Preheat the oven, whisk 4 tablespoons melted butter into the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, stir well, pour into a prepared casserole dish. Top with blueberries and the refrigerated crumb topping and bake!
Can you use pancake mix?
I have tried swapping the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt and leaveners) in place of 2 ½ cups of pancake mix. It did work, but I found that the packaged pancake mix puffed up really high, which made the blueberries and crumb topping sink in. It tasted fine, but I prefer this recipe made the way it is written.
Can you use frozen blueberries?
YES! Swap the fresh blueberries for frozen blueberries (without thawing them). Note: You might need to increase the bake time by a couple minutes, and the blueberry color will bleed into the pancake batter a little more than it does with fresh blueberries. It will still taste fine.
Psst: If you absolutely LOVE blueberries (like my family does), you can top this Pancake Casserole with Blueberry Sauce.
Serving and storage
Serve warm topped with maple syrup. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
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Recipe
Blueberry Buttermilk Pancake Casserole
Ingredients
Crumb topping:
- ½ cup flour
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Pancake:
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour, see note
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups buttermilk
- ½ cup milk, I used skim milk
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1-2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ⅔ cups blueberries
- maple syrup, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Thoroughly grease a 9×13 baking dish and set aside.
Crumb topping:
- In a medium bowl combine flour, sugars, cinnamon, and salt. Add melted butter and stir until fully incorporated. Cover and refrigerate while you prepare the pancake batter.
Pancake:
- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
- In a separate bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, milk, melted butter, lemon zest, and vanilla extract (the butter might clump from the chill of the cold ingredients- that’s ok). Whisk wet ingredients until well combined. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to stir until combined. The batter will be lumpy; do not over mix.
- Pour the batter into the greased baking dish. Sprinkle the blueberries over the top. Remove the crumb topping from the fridge and crumble over the top of the blueberries and batter. Bake for about 35-45 minutes, until puffed and light golden brown (check the center for doneness). Serve warm with maple syrup.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Eileen
Can this be made mixing some blueberries inside and not using the topping,
Allison
Yes, you can omit the topping. Some of the blueberries will sink down into the pancake while it is baking.
Melissa
Delicious!! My family loved it! It will become a breakfast staple. Thanks for sharing.
Steph
Made this it was very good! Froze well in seperate pieces and tasted well also after freezing.
Michael H
My recommendation: Take your blueberries (I used frozen ones which work really well) and toss them in about a Tablespoon of flour before pouring and mixing them into the batter. That way they won’t sink as much
Michael H.
Tried it for the first time today as my Christmas morning breakfast and it is absolutely delicious!! This is now officially my go-to holiday morning breakfast. If you are vegan like me, this recipe is still great — just put 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar into 2C of plant based milk and leave for 5-10 minutes (perfect for while you are getting the dry ingredients all mixed). This will act just like buttermilk and then just replace the regular 1/2C of milk with plant based.
Allison
Thanks for sharing. Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Blair
Quick and easy, the best pancake I’ve ever had!
Melissa
Made this with blueberries and strawberries! So delicious! Will certainly make again!
Allison
That’s great to hear! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Terri
Can this recipe be frozen?
Allison
You can freeze and reheat individual portions but I wouldn’t recommend freezing the whole thing.
Jennifer
I know it’s not ideal but what’s the best option for making ahead. I need to prep about two days ahead. I was wondering if I could make and bake, and then just refrigerate. Then pop back in the oven just to warm up before serving? I guess it would be like “leftovers” and not as fresh, but I don’t have the option to mostly make the night before or completely make the morning of.
Allison
Hi, Jennifer. Yes, you can reheat it in the oven, but I would cut and separate the individual pieces before reheating. If you try to reheat the whole 9×13 dish at once the edges will dry out and be overdone long before the middle is heated through. Enjoy!
Danielle
Made this a few times, family loves it.
I also use gluten free flour and it comes out perfect. Thank you for the recipe.
Allison
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Adrijana Schoen
Hi there,
Can you mix the batter and put into the dish the day before, refrigerate, then bake the next morning without compromising the dish? I’m hoping to pop it in the oven first thing in the morning.
Thank you in advance!
Allison
Hi. I would not mix the whole thing because the baking powder and baking soda might be affected. You can combine the dry ingredients and store at room temperature, combine the wet ingredients and store in the fridge. Then combine both right before baking.
Adrijana Schoen
Thank you for the tips!
Siddhi
Hi
I am allergic to eggs and would like to try this recipe. Any substitute?
Thanks.
Allison
I’ve only made the recipe as written. You’d have to play around with it.
Kerri
Can you use gluten free flour for this recipe?
Allison
I’ve only made it as written. If you do I would recommend a 1:1 gluten free baking blend.