Pancakes are a delicious treat for the morning or whenever you’d like them! There are many recipes to make pancake batter that is all fantastic. So, now you might wonder, how do I store this pancake batter?
Can you refrigerate pancake batter? Yes, you can refrigerate pancake batter for 2-4 days. Sealing your batter in the refrigerator or freezer is essential to prevent it from going bad. Refrigerating your pancake batter might not be a good idea, depending on what ingredients you used.
So, in this article, we’ll take a closer look at the different types of ingredients, different scenarios, and more!
Let’s dive in.
- Can You Refrigerate Pancake Batter?
- What Type of Pancake Batter Can You Refrigerate?
- What Happens When You Refrigerate Overnight?
- Can You Freeze Pancake Batter?
- How Long Does Pancake Batter Last?
- How to Extend Pancake Batter Shelf-Life
- How to Use Extra Pancake Batter
- Signs Your Pancake Batter Has Gone Bad
- Last Words
Can You Refrigerate Pancake Batter?
Yes, you can refrigerate most types of pancake batter.
The type of pancake that is not ideal to refrigerate for an extended time (more than one day) is a pancake with bananas, baking soda, or egg whites.
There are various reasons, such as becoming rotten or losing all the rise.
However, refrigerating any pancake for an extended period, over one day, will reduce the rise and keep the pancake flat when you cook it. This will be your most significant concern.
If you are OK with this, you can refrigerate your pancake for up to 4 days, but if you didn’t store it correctly, it would likely last a few days or hours.
What Type of Pancake Batter Can You Refrigerate?
Now, we can dive into the specifics of what will happen for each type of pancake batter your refrigerate.
Baking Powder Pancakes
You can refrigerate baking powder pancakes but expect a slight reduction in rising.
Baking powder is an ingredient used in cooking to make food rise. Baking powder pancakes can react twice instead of once, like most other pancakes. This makes them an excellent option for storing in a refrigerator.
If you like a good rise, add some extra baking powder to the mix before cooking them – I want to add 20-30% of my original amount of baking powder.
Additionally, the shelf life of baking powder is pretty long, 12-18 months, from what I have noticed. If you use the baking powder after this time period, you will see a reduction in rising.
Buttermilk Pancakes
You can refrigerate buttermilk pancakes, but expect a large reduction in rising and less sweetness.
Storing buttermilk pancake butter for over one day is ill-advised because buttermilk does not react a second time.
If you want a rise, you can add yeast to it before storing it. You can alternatively mix your dry ingredients together and keep them separate from the wet ones until it’s time to cook.
Sweet Potato Pancakes
Storing organic substances like sweet potatoes is great for long-lasting pancakes.
You can expect a loss in rising, but you can store potato pancake batter for up to one week and cooked potato pancakes for up to one month.
Baking Soda Pancakes
It is not advisable to store baking soda pancakes in the refrigerator since they will lose all rise after a day.
Baking soda pancakes do not react a second time, so you will need to cook these within a few hours.
By the way, if you want to learn how to make some delicious campfire treats, you can click there to our article.
Yeast Pancakes
Yeast pancakes are great to refrigerate and will only lose a slight rise.
Yeast reacts continuously, so you can store it for a long time while still maintaining that rise.
Before you cook your yeast pancakes, let them sit at room temperature for around 90 minutes.
Egg White Pancakes
Putting egg white pancake batter in the refrigerator is not advised as it will lose all rise after several hours.
An alternative is to separate the dry and wet ingredients and mix them right before cooking for some fresh pancakes.
What Happens When You Refrigerate Overnight?
Often when you refrigerate your pancakes overnight, the pancakes will become fairly flat when you cook them in the morning.
Some ways around this include separating dry and wet ingredients or adding a pinch of yeast to your pancake batter.
You should be good to go if you store your pancake batter correctly in an airtight jar or cheap Ziplock bags.
Can You Freeze Pancake Batter?
Yes, you can freeze pancake batter without any significant issues.
This will increase the shelf life of your batter significantly, in some cases, it can store for a month without any issues.
The thawing will probably take a while, but if you want to speed it up, get a bowl of warm water and put the bag or jar in there.
I prefer Ziplock bags because you can cut a corner and directly squeeze the batter onto a pan.
How Long Does Pancake Batter Last?
This is reliant on the method you use to store pancake batter. It will last the longest in the freezer – but only yeast pancakes will actually rise a fair bit if you store them in for the maximum amount of time (1 month).
On the contrary, keeping it at room temperature will make it go bad in around two hours.
Keeping it in the refrigerator will make it last around 4 days if stored correctly.
How to Extend Pancake Batter Shelf-Life
The best thing you can do to extend the pancake batter’s shelf life is to store it properly. Storing it in a freezer will keep it good for the longest period of time.
Keep in mind that only yeast pancakes will be able to rise if stored in the freezer for close to a month.
How to Use Extra Pancake Batter
If you just have some extra pancake batter, you can also make a lot of other foods with it!
Some example foods include:
- Fluffy biscuits
- Mini-muffins
- Apple rings
- Cannelloni
Signs Your Pancake Batter Has Gone Bad
If you stored your pancakes for a little too long, or maybe some bacteria somehow got a hold of your food, there will be signs that your pancake has gone bad.
These signs are the same as pop tarts, jelly, and most treats. These include:
- Smelling bad
- Visible mold
- Discoloration
This could be caused by:
- Damaging of jar or package
- Using dirty tools when making the batter
- Incorrect temperatures in your refrigerator or freezer
- Storing for over the amount of time reccomended
Last Words
So, can you refrigerate pancake batter? Yes, you can refrigerate pancakes to extend their lifespan from two hours at room temperature to four days in most cases.
You should expect less rise in your pancakes, though.
You should also always store it correctly to ensure your pancake batter stays good for a long period of time.
