The Unexpected Ingredient That Makes Pancakes Even Better

Pancakes are the quintessential weekend breakfast. There’s nothing like flipping flapjacks in your PJ’s, stacking them up, and drowning them in butter and maple syrup. But, if you really think about it, standard pancakes are a little ho-hum in the taste department. There just isn’t a lot of actual flavor there.

That’s why when I saw a pancake recipe in Justine Doiron’s bestselling new cookbook Justine Cooks, I was immediately intrigued. There were a few ingredients that surprised me in the recipe—more on that later—but there’s one that really raised my eyebrows: white miso!

What?!? It would never occur to me to add miso to pancakes, but I trust Doiron and knew I had to give the recipe a try.

Miso Makes Pancakes Better

In the recipe headnote Doiron writes, “These buttery, golden pancakes have a subtle umami note from miso that makes them salty and sweet at the same time.” 

That’s right, the traditional Japanese ingredient that you often find in soup, salad dressing, or marinades is also what levels up this Miso-Butter Pancakes recipe. Miso is a paste made from soybeans and other ingredients that adds a wallop of umami, a salty-sweet savoriness to any recipe it graces with its flavor-packed presence. Here, two tablespoons makes these pancakes richer, more complex, and more compulsively eatable.

The Other Upgrades

But miso isn’t the only surprising ingredient in the recipe. First, Doiron calls for salted butter; most recipes call for unsalted. And, that butter is browned, adding a layer of mouthwatering toastiness to every bite. Note that the salted butter doesn’t mean you don’t add salt. You do–a full teaspoon, in fact. And for anyone keeping score, that means there are three salty ingredients here: the butter, the miso, and the salt. But the pancakes don’t taste salty. They just have an edge of savoriness that is rounded out by the sugar and the puddle of maple syrup you will pour on top.

Speaking of sugar, instead of using typical granulated sugar to add a touch of sweetness to these breakfast goodies, Doiron calls on dark brown sugar. It contributes even more flavor here—caramel, molasses notes that make every bite more interesting. Finally, the recipe includes a couple handfuls of rolled oats for extra texture and chew.

All of these unexpected ingredients, starting with that miso, add up to a special stack. These pancakes are on the thinner side, and they cooked up beautifully, with brown, lacy edges. They packed way more flavor than a typical flapjack: toasty and just on the edge of savory, with some heft and substance from the oats. I enjoyed them plain, but adding dark maple syrup took them completely over the top.

The Miso-Butter Pancakes Recipe

Here’s an abridged version of Doiron’s Miso-Butter Pancakes. For the full recipe, along with her headnote and other helpful tips throughout, get your hands on a copy of Justine Cooks. 

1. Melt one stick of salted butter in a saucepan. Whisk in 2 tablespoons white miso and cook until the mixture is a deep brown. Remove from the heat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2/3 cup rolled oats, 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar, 1 teaspoon kosher salt (preferably Diamond Crystal), and 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder.
3. In a small bowl whisk together 1 3/4 cups milk and the miso-butter mixture. Whisk in 2 large eggs. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients. Cook the pancakes in a pan or on a griddle, and top with maple syrup.

While you’ll probably find plenty of other ways to use it too, this recipe proves that it’s worth keeping a container of miso in your fridge for weekend pancakes alone.

Recipe reprinted with permission from Justine Cooks: A Cookbook Recipes (Mostly Plants) for Finding Your Way in the Kitchen by Justine Doiron. Copyright © 2024 by Justine Doiron. Photographs copyright © 2024 by Jim Henkens. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.