Ube pancakes are your favourite buttermilk pancakes bursting with the ube flavour you love. Made with ube halaya or ube jam, it’s sweet, soft, fluffy. A delicious way to start the day.
(Prefer waffles over pancakes for breakfast or brunch? Try my recipe for ube waffles — crunchy outside, soft inside, also packed with delicious ube flavour).

These ube pancakes are such a great way to kick off the weekend. They are soft and fluffy and filled with ube flavour.
They’re freezer-friendly too. You can make a big batch today so you can enjoy ube pancakes the rest of the week.
Ingredients you need for ube pancakes

You might have seen some recipes for ube pancakes with ube extract, but this ube pancake recipe also has ube halaya or ube jam. It adds a nice earthy and hearty flavour and consistency to the pancakes without making them too heavy.
I make my own ube halaya and it’s easy, delicious and better than the ones from the store. Try it!
In addition, you’ll need:
- All purpose flour
- Brown sugar
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Buttermilk
- Milk
- Large eggs
- Unsalted butter
- Oil for frying
Note that these pancakes are not as purple as other ube treats you might be used to seeing. The insides are more charcoal than purple.
I thought about adding artificial food colour to make it a prettier violet but since it really adds nothing to the flavour or consistency, I don’t bother.
You can add a little food colour if you like; just make sure to use gel and not liquid so as not to affect the consistency of the pancake batter too much.
Tools you need to make ube Filipino pancakes
A blender is really useful when making ube pancakes.
No blender? No problem. You can use a large bowl and a whisk to combine your wet ingredients — just make sure to break apart any large chunks of ube jam as much as you can.
In addition to a blender, all you’ll need are:
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Whisk
We don’t have a special pancake griddle and just use a normal non-stick pan
. We do have a pancake flipper
but any wide flipper or turner will do
How to make ube pancakes
Once you have everything you need, Making ube pancakes is easy.
1 COMBINE DRY INGREDIENTS. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.


2 BLEND WET INGREDIENTS. When making pancakes, I usually whisk my dry ingredients but for this ube pancake recipe, I prefer to blend them to ensure the ube jam gets incorporated. So in your blender, pulse buttermilk, milk, eggs, ube halaya or ube purple yam jam, and melted butter until combined. Set aside.

3 GET PAN READY. Put a medium sized pan on your stove over medium heat. You know it’s ready when small amounts of water sprinkled over it evaporates immediately.
4 COMBINE DRY AND WET INGREDIENTS. At this point, you can pour your ube buttermilk mixture into your flour mixture and gently stir. Do not over stir — it doesn’t have to be a smooth mixture. You want a coarse pancake batter with bits of flour remaining.


5 COOK. Put a little oil (I like to cook with a combination of butter and oil) on your pan and start dropping your pancake mixture about ⅓ cup at a time. Cook about 3 minutes per side, or until the centre is cooked and the sides are golden brown.
6 ENJOY. Serve warm with butter and maple syrup.
Just between you and me, you know my favourite way to eat these? With ube butter!
I mix about a teaspoon of ube halaya with a tablespoon of softened butter, slather it on the pancake, then drizzle maple syrup. So good!
Recipe FAQs

How to make fluffy pancakes
Making pancakes is easy but making them fluffy every time takes a little practice. There are two things I always do to make fluffy pancakes:
First, I combine my wet and dry ingredients at the last minute, just when I’m about to fry them.
I know some recipes ask you to chill the batter but I’ve found that resulted to very flat pancakes (almost crepe-like) for me.
Second, I’m careful to not over mix the batter. What we’re looking for is a lumpy batter, not a smooth one.
Again, I know other recipes suggest mixing the batter in a blender but I prefer to do it by hand so I have more control and just use my blender to combine my wet ingredients.
How to make homemade buttermilk
Can’t find buttermilk? Or don’t want to buy a whole carton? No worries; making buttermilk at home is easy.
Just mix a cup of milk and a tablespoon of lemon juice, stir then let sit in room temperature for 30 minutes. That’s it!
Homemade buttermilk doesn’t get quite as thick as the one you buy at the store but I haven’t noticed a significant difference in my pancakes made with homemade buttermilk vs. those made with commercial buttermilk yet. So I don’t hesitate to use it in a pinch.
In any case, if you have leftover buttermilk from this recipe, check out this collection of buttermilk recipes for inspiration on what to do with it!
How to freeze ube pancakes

These pancakes freeze very well.
Once they’re completely cool, put them in a large Ziploc bag (with a piece of parchment paper between each pancake so they don’t stick together) and put the bag in the freezer.
On hectic weekday mornings, just microwave a piece of pancake straight out of the freezer for about 30 seconds and it’s good as new. Still fluffy and still delicious!
Frozen ube pancakes should last up to a month.
Pancake recipes for Thanksgiving or Christmas morning
These ube pancakes are so delicious I don’t hesitate to serve them to company, especially on Thanksgiving or Christmas morning. They’re a joy to eat and sure to brighten everyone’s day!
Here are other pancake recipes you can try:


Pumpkin buttermilk pancakes are light, fluffy and full of the warm, cozy flavours of fall. Sure to become a breakfast favourite.
Whip up a batch of light fluffy lemon ricotta pancakes and start the day with sunshine on a plate! Bright lemon flavour, not too sweet, soft as a cloud.

Ube Pancakes – Soft Fluffy Filipino Pancake Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
- 2 cups buttermilk room temperature
- ½ cup milk (I use 1% skim) room temperature
- 3 pcs large eggs room temperature
- 7 oz ube halaya or ube jam about 1 cup, room temperature
- 3 tsp ube extract
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
- oil for frying
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine 3 cups flour, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 3 tsp baking powder, 1½ tsp baking soda and 1 tsp salt. Set aside.
- In your blender, pulse 2 cups buttermilk, ½ cup milk, 3 large eggs, ube halaya or ube purple yam jam, 3 tsp ube extract and ¼ cup melted butter until combined. Set aside.
- Put a medium sized pan on your stove over medium heat. You know it's ready when small amounts of water sprinkled over it evaporates immediately.
- At this point, you can pour your ube buttermilk mixture into your flour mixture and gently stir. Do not over stir — it doesn't have to be a smooth mixture. You want a coarse pancake batter with bits of flour remaining.
- Put a little oil (I like to cook with a combination of butter and oil) on your pan and start dropping your pancake mixture about ⅓ cup at a time. Cook about 3 minutes per side, or until the centre is cooked and the sides are golden brown.
- Serve warm with butter and maple syrup.
Video
Notes
- Yield depends on how big or small you make your pancakes.
- If you don’t have a blender, you can use a large bowl and a whisk to combine your wet ingredients — just make sure to break apart any large chunks of ube jam as much as you can.
- See post for more pancake cooking tips.
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only.
Happy pancake making!
Did you make ube pancakes? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below. If you’re looking for all things ube, check out this delicious collection of the best must-try ube desserts.
Nini
These were amazing! OMG! We love ube and I think this is going to be a favorite in our house from now on.
Jolina
That’s awesome Nini! We make them often too 🙂
Rika
I am a big fan of ube! These pancakes look so good! I can’t wait to try this recipe
katrina Kroeplin
these look delish! i need to try them really soon. yum!!!
Ruth
We will definitely try this recipe! My niece loves pancake so much. She needs to taste this!
Pia
Thank you for the recipe Jolina!! We love ube in our house too and can’t get enough. Made your ube pancake recipe and I think my kids like it more that it’s black inside lol. Delicious!
Jolina
LOL that’s good to hear Pia! We can’t get enough of ube either, we always have something ube around 🙂
Margarita
I’m not 100% sure where I’m going to find the purple yam jam but I’m willing to investigate. I’m so open to new ingredients. Thanks for the challenge.
Nathalie Porbes
I really love ube ever since I was a child and seeing it in a pancake makes me hungry. Will definitely try this recipe!