If you’re hoping to make pancakes but you’ve run out of milk, or you just want a dairy-free option while still enjoying delicious, fluffy pancakes, you might be wondering whether it’s possible to make them using just water. Let’s find out!
Can you use water instead of milk for pancakes? Yes, you can make pancakes with water instead of milk, but you should note that the pancakes will not taste as good. They are often lacking in flavor and richness, and you may need to bump up the toppings or other flavorful ingredients if you still want tasty pancakes.
How Do You Make Pancakes with Water?
The purpose of the milk in pancakes is to help the flour dissolve, spread the ingredients out, and make everything wetter. It is not there to bind the ingredients together (the eggs serve this purpose). That means you can simply replace the milk with water at a 1:1 ratio, and your recipe should still work fine!
The milk is not doing anything special that the water cannot achieve, so you can remove the milk and replace it with an equal amount of water without changing anything else in your recipe.
However, the problem with this is that the pancakes will often taste a bit “thinner” and “weaker” because they don’t have the creaminess of milk to bulk out their flavor. While the texture should be fine and they should still work, they are going to be noticeably different if you are used to making pancakes with milk.
Will the Batter Consistency Stay the Same?
As long as you keep your liquid ratios the same, your pancake batter should still be the same whether you have used milk or water. Neither batter will be thicker, thinner, lumpier, or significantly different, so make sure your batter looks like you would expect before you start cooking the pancakes.
Again, this is because the water is playing the same role as the milk, and its job is simply to make the batter thin enough to cook with. If the consistency has noticeably changed, something has gone wrong with the recipe and you should check whether you have made a mistake in your measurements.
Make sure that you mix the water-based batter as thoroughly as you would a milky batter. You don’t want any pockets of flour or lumps remaining when you start to cool it, so treat it as you would normal pancake mix.
Do You Need Other Ingredients to Make Pancakes?
Technically, you don’t need to add anything else in order for this batter to work just like milk-based pancake batter does. However, you may find that it helps the flavor if you slightly increase the butter, sugar, vanilla, and other flavorful ingredients. This may compensate for the loss of creaminess.
Your pancakes will still cook perfectly well if you don’t do this, so there’s no obligation to alter the other ratios. However, you will likely find that they simply don’t taste right, and you need to compensate in other areas. You have, after all, removed some of the fat, so it makes sense to put this back if you can.
If you don’t want to change the batter, consider adding a little more syrup or other toppings so you won’t notice the change in taste.
What Other Liquids Will Work for Making Pancakes?
When it comes to replacing the milk, almost any other thin liquid will work, although water is the easiest swap in most cases. However, you can also use most of the plant-based milks, including almond milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk, and more.
People make all sorts of other substitutions when caught without milk. Some recipes call for you to mix Greek yogurt with the water to bump up the creaminess, and you could also use a spot of real cream if you have any. Alternatively, dried milk powder, buttermilk, or UHT milk (processed at ultra-high temperature) should also work if you have those available.
Get a little creative and try experimenting if you don’t have the ingredients that you want. You may find that some recipes don’t work as well as others, but as long as you are adding a liquid to the pancake batter, it should work. However, you should stay away from strongly flavored liquids, such as fruit juice, unless you want fruit juice pancakes!
Will Pancakes with Water Cook Differently?
You may find that pancakes with water turn brown slightly slower in the pan because they have less sugar in them (as there is no milk sugar present). They are also likely to take a little longer to cook, and they may turn out chewier, because there is less fat in them.
You can try to counteract these things by increasing the sugar quantity just a little, and adding more butter to the recipe.
However, you are still likely to see some differences when cooking milk-free pancakes, so make sure you keep a close eye on them while they are cooking. Do not let them burn, and make sure they are done before you take them out of the pan.
Do You Need Extra Eggs to Make Pancakes with Water?
You shouldn’t need to increase the number of eggs in order to make good pancakes with water. The eggs that are already in the recipe should be sufficient for binding the ingredients together, and adding more could alter the taste of the finished pancakes.
If you find that your pancakes aren’t sticking together properly, check your quantities are correct, and consider slightly reducing the amount of liquid if necessary. However, you shouldn’t need to do this; the recipe should work with a straight swap from milk to water with no further alterations needed (except to adjust the flavor if necessary).
Final Thoughts
Overall, you can use water instead of milk for pancakes and you will get a perfectly edible pancake without having to do anything significantly different. However, you may notice that the pancake is chewier and less fluffy because there will be less fat in it, and it won’t taste as rich. You can add a bit of extra butter or more toppings to solve these issues.