Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes Recipe With Blueberries (+ Video)

These pumpkin pecan pancakes are crisp at the edges, tender and light in the middle, and folded full of toasted pecans and juicy blueberries, drizzled with pure maple syrup and slathered with butter! A perfect recipe to use up homemade pumpkin purée or leftover canned pumpkin.

Why You'll Love These Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes

• Toasted pecans in every bite, not just scattered on top (although we love'em as a topper for extra crunch and texture!)
• Crisp, buttery edges with a soft, tender middle
• Makes six pancakes, so nobody's stuck at the griddle all morning, but easily doubled to make more for a group
• They freeze well, which makes them a real option for easy weekday breakfast
• A good use for leftover canned pumpkin or homemade pumpkin purée
• Lightly spiced with my homemade pumpkin pie spice

Watch My Pumpkin Pecan Pancake Video

Ingredients

• Pumpkin purée. Canned pumpkin or homemade pumpkin purée. Not pumpkin pie filling, which is already sweetened and spiced.
• Pecans. Toasted pecan halves (more on this below)
• Blueberries. Optional but very good. Fresh or frozen, and I usually add a few raspberries and blackberries alongside them.
• All-purpose flour. Whole wheat works too, with one adjustment noted in the variations.
• Buttermilk. The acid reacts with the baking soda for lift and adds a tang that plays well against the pumpkin. There is a substitute in the recipe notes.
• Baking powder and baking soda. Both, and both need to be fresh. Expired leavening is a common cause of flat pancakes.
• Eggs, butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla. I use my homemade vanilla extract.
• Pumpkin pie spice. Optional, and easy to make yourself.

Full ingredient measurements can be found in the recipe card.

How to Make Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes Step by Step

Step 1. Toast the pecans in a dry skillet, cool, and chop. Set them aside.

Step 2. Make the pumpkin purée, or skip ahead if you are using canned pumpkin. Here's my 20-minute homemade pumpkin purée.

Step 3. Whisk the dry ingredients together, then add the berries and toss to coat.

Step 4. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk, whole eggs, vanilla, pumpkin purée, and melted butter together.

Step 5. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients. Fold or stir with a rubber spatula or a fork until no streaks of flour remain. Lumps are normal.

Step 6. Fold in the toasted chopped pecans last.

Step 7. Butter a hot skillet or griddle generously, drop the batter in, and cook until bubbles form and the edges look dry, about three minutes. Flip and cook until golden, two to three minutes more.

What Makes These Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes Extra Fluffy

Pumpkin purée is heavy and wet, which is why pumpkin pancakes can often turn out dense. Four things keep these light:

• Buttermilk plus both leaveners. The acid in buttermilk reacts with the baking soda the moment they meet, so the batter starts producing bubbles right away. Most supermarket baking powder is double-acting, meaning it works in two stages: a small rise begins when the wet ingredients are added, and another one comes when the batter hits the heat. That second stage is what keeps them rising as they cook.
• Room-temperature ingredients. Cold buttermilk and eggs take more stirring to blend properly, and extra stirring is what toughens a pancake. At room temperature, they combine with barely any mixing, which keeps the crumb tender.
• Folding, not whisking. Overworking the gluten is what makes a pancake chewy. Stop mixing when you no longer see wide swaths or pockets of flour, but when it's still lumpy.
• Whole eggs, straight in. No separating, no extra bowl. The buttermilk and the two leaveners are doing the work here.

Keeping the Blueberries From Sinking

The berries are optional. Leave them out, and you still have very good pumpkin pecan pancakes. I almost never do, because the pop of tart fruit against the toasted pecans and sweet maple syrup balances everything.

If you're using them, toss them in the dry flour mixture before the wet ingredients go in. Berries are heavier than batter, so left alone they drift to the bottom of the bowl, and the last pancakes tend to get more of the berries. A light coating of flour grips the batter and holds them in place better.

• Frozen berries. Use them straight from the freezer without thawing them.
• The berry mix. Mine is mostly blueberries with a few raspberries and blackberries. Wild blueberries alone are excellent and hold their shape best.
• Big berries. Halve blackberries so they cook through before the pancake browns.

How to Store and Reheat

• Refrigerator. Airtight container for up to 5 days.
• Freezer. Cool completely, then stack in portioned stacks, no parchment needed between them. Wrap the stack tightly in foil or slide it into a heavy-duty freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
• Microwave. 20 to 30 seconds from the fridge, 45 to 60 seconds from frozen.
• Oven or toaster oven. Sheet pan, covered with foil, 375°F for 8 to 10 minutes.
• Steamed, my favorite method. A steamer basket or rack set over simmering water with the lid on, or a covered skillet over low heat with a splash of water. A few minutes, and they come out super soft and fluffy instead of dried out.
• Skillet with butter method: You can also just reheat them on low heat in a skillet with a little butter, covered with a lid, but it takes longer and you have to flip them over for even heating.

NOTE: I don't recommend using a toaster to reheat these because of the berry juices that may make a complete mess.

FAQs

More Fall Breakfast and Brunch Recipes

Made this Recipe? We'd love for you to rate ⭐️ it and tell us how it went for you!

Let's get started!

Food Safety

• Cook pancakes until the centers are set and no wet batter remains.
• Do not leave cooked pancakes at room temperature for more than two hours.
• Wash hands and surfaces after handling raw eggs, and keep raw eggs away from anything eaten uncooked.
• Refrigerate eggs at 40°F or below and use them within 3 to 5 weeks.
• Full guidance on handling eggs safely is available from the USDA FSIS shell eggs guide.