How to Make Japanese Soufflé Pancakes for Most Any Diet

If you enjoy international food trends, or perhaps your kids do, this is a fun weekend breakfast. Like a classic stack, Japanese soufflé pancakes can be flavored in endless fashion, from chocolate to matcha. With the proper technique and formula for a classic soufflé, you can take brunch from flat to insanely fluffy. And whether you eat gluten-free, paleo, dairy-free, or even follow a ketogenic diet, the how-to for a jiggly stack is all here.

Jump to:

• The Story
• The Art of Soufflé
• The Ingredients
• The Tools
• The Formula
• Soufflé Ratio
• The Technique
• The Steps
• Dietary Variations
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Edible Epilogue
• 📖 Recipe
• More Breakfast Recipes
• 💬 Reviews

The Story

While the Japanese pancake craze gained speed in the eateries of its namesake country, the technique for creating a fluffy, jiggly pancake is classic French cuisine. Japanese pancakes are, technically, not really pancakes at all. The viral delights are more stove-top soufflés than anything else. And delicious ones at that!

The Art of Soufflé

The idea of soufflés spooks even professional cooks. Even though it's a simple mixture of a thick egg yolk-based sauce lightened with whipped egg whites. For Japanese pancakes, the sauce base is a yolk-only pancake batter. Once lightened with a whipped meringue (egg whites beaten with sugar), the pancakes are cooked stovetop with the help of pastry rings or makeshift molds.

The Ingredients

The ingredients for soufflé pancakes are exactly the same as that for a classic stack. The only difference will be that you separate the egg whites from the yolks before cooking.

• eggs, separated
• granulated sugar
• all-purpose, gluten-free, or grain-free flours
• baking powder
• salt
• buttermilk, milk, or plant-based milk
• vanilla extract
• cooking spray, or soft butter, for greasing the molds and pan

The Tools

Kitchen basics are all you need. An electric hand mixer, mixing bowls, a spatula, and a pan with a lid. You can also use foil to cover the pan. Round pastry molds often called pastry rings will help your batter rise up as it cooks. But unless you plan on whipping up soufflé pancakes every weekend, shelling out for a set makes no sense.

Enter: Chef Christina's handy-dandy mold hacks.

Any mold that's two-to-three inches high will give you a tall, fluffy pancake. The point of the mold is to help the pancake rise, so height is more important than width. Here are three hacks for creating molds with common kitchen materials.

1. Quart Milk Carton

I came up with this easy, cheap, mold hack after getting frustrated with flimsy parchment paper molds. Simply flatten an empty quart-size cardboard carton, and cut off the top and bottom. Then cut the trimmed carton crosswise into three pieces.

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The pancakes will of course be square, but I've never met a pancake eater who cared about shape. And because of the wax coating inside, you only need a little bit of butter or spray oil to grease them.

I especially love using the carton as molds, because they're easy to flip, as the cardboard doesn't get as hot as a metal pastry ring. No need to fumble around with tongs, a long spatula and gentle guidance with your hands is all it takes.

2. Parchment or Wax Paper

Cutting and taping parchment or wax paper into long strips and taping them together is a popular hack. Simply take a long piece of parchment, and cut it into two-to-three-inch strips. Then cut and tape the ends together to make a circular mold.

This isn't my favorite mold hack, because the paper can be flimsy and often the tape comes off. But it's great if you don't have any pastry rings or cardboard cartons around. Many of us bakers keep wax or parchment paper in the dark corners of the pantry.

3. Piping Bag

You may see videos of people piping their soufflé batter onto the griddle. Without a mold in sight. What you might notice is that the batter for these piped delights holds its own shape. And this is because it most likely contains a high ratio of whipped whites to the batter.

For piped soufflé pancakes without a mold that holds shape, add another egg white or two to the recipe. Be aware that by increasing the number of whipped whites, the pancakes will taste less like pancakes. And more like a floatin' island dessert or steamed meringue. Still delicious, but a different sort of breakfast delicacy.

The Formula

Japanese soufflé pancakes may be a hit sensation, but by no means did soufflés come of age in Japan (absolutely no offense meant). French chef Marie-Antoine Carême perfected soufflés in the 19th century. The following tried-and-true ratio of ingredients is the ticket to success.

For soufflé pancakes, a great place to start is about five ounces of batter and five ounces of egg whites. The whites from large eggs are a little more than an ounce each, so four egg whites usually work out to around five ounces. This starting point will give you about four, three-inch pancakes. The volume cheat sheet is:

• One-quarter cup of pancake batter = four to five ounces
• Four egg whites = about five ounces

So with four egg whites for every quarter cup of batter, you can chart your pancake path. Once you whip up soufflé pancakes a few times, you'll be able to eyeball how much of each you need. And create a pillowy batter that will rise light and fluffy every time.

When mixing your batter base, replace the whole eggs in your favorite recipe with only egg yolks. You'll be whipping the whites separately!

The Technique

Whipping egg whites are what create the lofty rise of a soufflé. Or the jiggly wiggle of a Japanese pancake. And how you whip the whites before folding them into a thick pancake batter matters.

The egg whites should be whipped on medium-high speed to a soft or medium peak, but no further. Too stiff of a peak and the beaten whites won't mix in nicely to the base. Instead of a smooth, pillowy mixture, you'll be staring at a batter with chunks of egg white floating about. Not edible times.

So what did we learn? Softer peaks. Not stiff ones.

For sweet soufflés like Japanese pancakes, you can whip granulated sugar into the egg whites to create a silky meringue. Regardless of any sugar, baking or cooking the batter immediately is key to ensuring a lofty rise.

The Stiff Peak Problem

Countless recipes for soufflé pancakes call for stiff peaks. But truly, I can't understand why. I trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York and learned to create soufflés with egg whites beaten to softer peaks.

When the whisk or beater is pulled from the mass of whites, a small peak forms, and flops over about halfway. Stiff peaks are when the tip of the peaks stick straight up (or just about). If you over-beat the egg whites for a soufflé, the protein expansion is maxed out. No more room to grow during cooking, so to speak. Martha Holmberg at The Washington Post does a great job explaining the science of this egg phenomenon.

The Steps

To simplify the process, first, mix up a thick pancake batter, then fold in beaten egg whites, and last, scoop the batter into molds and cook.

1. Separate the eggs. After you decide the amount of batter you want to make, take the correct amount of eggs and separate the yolks from the whites.
2. Mix the batter. Whether you prefer an easy box mix, or from scratch, mix your batter the same ol' way with your favorite flavorings. But use only egg yolks instead of whole eggs. And aim for a thicker than normal batter by using a little less milk. First mix the wet ingredients together, then the dry together, then whisk the wet into the dry until you have a smooth batter.
3. Whip the egg whites. With a whisk, hand mixer, or stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip your egg whites with sugar until they significantly increase in volume. Beat in a tablespoon of sugar for each egg white once they're foamy. When the egg whites form soft to medium peaks that curve into themselves or off the beater, stop beating.
4. Fold the whipped whites into the batter. First, mix a third of the whipped whites into the batter with your usual force. This lightens the batter. Then gently fold in the rest, scooping gently up and over the top from the bottom. Scrape the sides well as you go.
5. Cook over medium-low heat. If using metal molds, grease the insides. Melt a small amount of butter in the pan or spray with cooking oil. Place your molds in the pan, and fill them a little more than halfway with batter. Drizzle a few drops of water into the pan, then cover and cook the pancakes over medium-low heat undisturbed. The steam from the water helps the batter rise and set.
6. Flip and serve. The pancakes are ready to flip after about eight to ten minutes, once bubbles break the surface and the bottoms are a rich golden color. Slide a hard spatula under the molds, flip the pancakes, cover, and cook for five to six minutes more. It is normal to see the pancake deflate slightly when you flip. If the pancakes deflate immediately when you remove the lid, you didn't cook them long enough on the first side. The taller the pancake, the longer it cooks.

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Dietary Variations

The following is the real reason I published this recipe. So everyone, regardless of their diet, can get in on the jiggly, fluffy, soufflé pancake craze. Here are the formulas I developed for enjoying Japanese pancakes minus the gluten, grain, and excessive sugar.

Dairy-Free

For dairy-free, just substitute your favorite plant-based milk for the buttermilk. Be sure to use just enough to get a thick base batter. Then fold in the whipped egg whites or meringue.

Gluten-Free

Just as delicious as traditional! I like working with a nut- or legume-based gluten-free flour blend. Because that offers a little more fiber. And less refined starch like rice flour and cornstarch (corn flour).

I find with most gluten-free baking, you need a little more milk than with a batter made with all-purpose wheat flour. A classic pancake batter is equal parts (by weight) flour and liquid. But gluten-free flours tend to be thirstier than wheat flour. So you may need a little more milk than the classic recipe to get the proper batter consistency. Go slow when adding your milk. Since you can always as more, but it's a bit harder to take away.

Grain-Free, Keto, Paleo & Low-Carb

The holy grail of my soufflé pancake quest! With almond flour, coconut, and cassava flour, I dare say these are a safe splurge for a low-carb diet. And the stack didn't derail ketosis for the Edible Times Husband when I served them with pastured butter, a few berries, and toasted nuts.

Soufflé pancakes don't cook up as lofty if you ditch the sugar when beating the egg whites. So expect a slightly shorter stack. But a tasty, less guilt-inducing one.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Edible Epilogue

For the record: circle, square, freeform, loaded with sugar, or better-for-you with just a pinch of sweet, soufflé pancakes of any kind are délicieuse and oishī.

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