- I tried three blueberry-pancake recipes from chefs Trisha Yearwood, Ree Drummond, and Bobby Deen.
- Yearwood's secret ingredient was sour cream and Drummond used cake flour.
- Dean's recipe was a winner thanks to the whipped egg whites.
Blueberry pancakes, or really any kind of pancakes, are generally easy to make. But the trick is finding how to achieve the softest, fluffiest pancakes that can still hold up to generous helpings of warm maple syrup.
Celebrity chefs Trisha Yearwood, Ree Drummond, and Bobby Deen each have a signature blueberry-pancake recipe, and I tested them all to find out which one is best.
Here's how they all stacked up.
Yearwood adds sour cream to achieve a fluffy texture
Yearwood's blueberry pancakes call for several ingredients, most of which are kitchen staples.
She also allows for a lot of either fresh or frozen blueberries.
The most interesting ingredient was sour cream, which I figured would help make for a pillowy pancake with a bit of tanginess to complement the sweet blueberries.
My pancakes were a bit too large, but they still cooked nicely
The ingredients were easy to work with.
I sifted the dry ingredients together in one bowl and mixed the wet ingredients in a separate one, then poured the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and whisked for a few minutes until it was a smooth batter with no lumps.
I added some melted butter to the heating skillet as the recipe says, but the butter popped and I had to stand back to avoid being burned.
I ladled the batter onto the skillet, but I poured too much and these pancakes were pretty massive. They took about two minutes per side to get lightly golden brown.
The pancakes were good and somewhat fluffy, but the blueberries didn't soften enough
I tasted the pancake plain first to get a good idea of the flavor and texture without the interference of syrup. I could taste the tang from the sour cream as well as the flavor of the lemon.
There was a good amount of fluffiness to this pancake.
The blueberries didn't soften quite enough for my taste, but I did appreciate that they were well-dispersed through each pancake.
After adding syrup, this pancake was really delicious, even if the blueberries were still a bit too chewy.
Drummond's secret ingredient is subbing in cake flour for all-purpose
There are many ways to achieve the coveted fluffiness in pancakes, and The Pioneer Woman does so by using cake flour in place of all-purpose flour in her recipe.
Cake flour is a fine, low-protein flour. The low-protein content means that less gluten forms while mixing the batter, achieving a lighter, fluffier texture.
The recipe also calls for lemon zest and juice plus evaporated milk, so I was expecting flavorful, moist, and soft pancakes.
The batter seemed too thin
I started by mixing the evaporated milk with lemon juice and zest, then let that mixture sit for five minutes. In the meantime, I mixed my dry ingredients and added the remaining wet ingredients to the evaporated milk.
I then incorporated the wet ingredients into the dry to make the batter. When I poured in the blueberries, they immediately sank to the bottom. The thin consistency was concerning, and I hoped the pancakes wouldn't turn out to be a disaster.
The pancakes quickly turned golden, and the blueberries burst, leaving juice stains
Despite the thin batter, the pancakes turned out great.
They achieved a nice golden color on the griddle in no time. While they cooked, the blueberries began bursting, and their juices flowed across each pancake.
I tasted the pancake plain first, and I was bummed that the lemon flavor didn't come through at all. But the pancakes were fluffy and the blueberries softened a lot.
Adding syrup made the pancakes even better. I just wished the lemon flavor was more noticeable.
Dean makes blueberry pancakes fluffy by folding in whipped egg whites
For Deen's so-called "Super Fluffy Mancakes," you mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients in separate bowls, then add the wet to the dry mixture.
The most interesting part of the recipe is the step that involves whisking egg whites to stiff peaks.
Whipping the whites took some muscle, but the results were well worth it.
Aside from whisking the egg whites, this recipe was simple and quick
It admittedly took me a while to whisk my egg whites until the peaks were firm, but the other steps took just a couple of minutes.
This recipe called for non-stick spray rather than butter on the griddle, so I wondered if my pancakes would still achieve a nice golden color.
The texture was incredibly soft and fluffy
I sought out to find the fluffiest pancakes, and this recipe delivered: The whipped egg whites definitely helped.
The pancake tasted fine plain, but, of course, it was much better with syrup. My only complaint with this recipe is that it could use more blueberries. And I could do without calling them "mancakes."
Overall, Deen's trick of folding in whipped egg whites was the best hack for fluffy pancakes
All of these pancakes were delicious, and I'd happily make any of them again.
But I found that Deen's addition of egg whites whipped to stiff peaks was the best way to make super-fluffy pancakes. Next time, I'd just load up on the blueberries for the perfect stack.
Click to check out the other celebrity-chef recipes we've put head-to-head so far.