Ube pancakes are your favorite buttermilk pancakes bursting with the ube flavor you love. Serve with ube butter and start the day right!
(Prefer waffles over pancakes? Try ube waffles — crunchy outside, soft inside, also packed with delicious ube flavor).
A lot of recipes for ube pancakes just add ube extract to a pancake mix, which is okay, but this ube pancake recipe has real ube halaya or ube jam, making it extra delicious with that nice earthy and hearty ube flavor.
Let’s get to it.
Why you’ll love ube pancakes
If you love ube, these wonderfully purple pancakes would soon become your favorite way to start the day.
- Big on ube flavor. They’re made with real ube halaya so they’re packed with real ube flavor. Don’t worry, they’re not too sweet so when you top them with butter, maple syrup, ube butter, ube condensed milk, ube jam or even ube ice cream, they will be just right and won’t end up cloyingly sweet.
- Soft and tender. These pancakes always come out soft and tender. See expert tips below.
- Freezer-friendly. They’re also freezer friendly! So you can make them on weekends when you have more time and re-heat the rest of the week.
- Big batch. This recipe makes 12 pancakes — enough for everyone.
How to make
Ingredients
Like most pancake recipes, you’ll need pantry staples like flour, baking powder, sugar, eggs and melted butter. Some things to note:
- Buttermilk — if you don’t want to buy a whole carton of buttermilk, I give options in the FAQs below i.e. you can make homemade buttermilk or use powdered buttermilk.
- Milk — I’ve used 1% and 2% milk, and I’ve also made this pancake recipe with evaporated milk. Haven’t noticed a difference yet. Use whatever you have on hand.
- Ube jam — I make my own ube halaya but if you’re buying a ready-made jar, make sure it’s one that you enjoy eating on its own.
- Ube extract — you can find ube extract in the international or baking aisle of supermarkets, in Asian supermarkets, or in Amazon. This is an important ingredient as it brings that intense ube flavor and vibrant purple color to the pancakes.
Tools
You can use a blender to mix your wet ingredients and an electric mixer will work too. We’re looking for a smooth, well blended mixture.
We don’t have a pancake griddle so I just use a non-stick pan for frying.
We do have a pancake flipper but any wide flipper or turner will do.
Step-by-step photos
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.
Set aside.
Using a blender, or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, combine wet ingredients until smooth and incorporated.
Make sure there are no more big chunks of ube jam.
Put a pan or griddle 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 — you want a coarse pancake batter.
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 ⅔ cups at a time.
Cook 2-3 minutes per side, or until the center is cooked and the sides are golden brown.
Serve warm and enjoy!
Expert tips for perfect pancakes
- Pancake batter shouldn’t be smooth. Other pancake recipes recommend a smooth batter but I don’t. I find that pancakes turn out fluffier and more tender if the batter is lumpy and coarse.
- Don’t use just butter to fry. Butter tends to burn quickly so if you want to use butter for frying your pancakes, add a little oil. Don’t use too much oil either because your pancakes will become unnecessarily greasy. Just brushing your pan with oil is enough.
- Cook over medium heat. Cooking on medium heat allows the pancakes to cook evenly. A pan that’s too hot will result to burnt or unevenly cooked pancakes.
- Know when to flip. You’ll know it’s the right time to flip your pancake once bubbles appear and cover at least 50% of the surface. Then cook the other side for about 2 minutes. Also, remember to only flip your pancake once.
Recipe FAQs
Ube is the Filipino word for purple yam.
It’s been a staple in Filipino cuisine for generations and most often used in making Filipino desserts like ube cheesecake, ube crinkles, and more.
It’s also often paired with coconut milk, like in ube mochi and ube biko.
A lot of people mistake ube for taro, Okinawan sweet potato and purple sweet potato but they’re all different kinds of vegetables and have different flavor profiles as well.
Check out this collection of must-try ube desserts.
There are two things I always do to make soft and tender 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 or using a mixer, but I prefer to do it by hand so I have more control and just use my blender or mixer to combine my wet ingredients.
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!
Powdered buttermilk is a great alternative and it’s what I’ve been using lately.
You just take what you need, mix with water and allow to rest for a few minutes before using (exact instructions are on the package).
That way, you get the exact amount of buttermilk you need.
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 tender and still delicious!
Frozen ube pancakes should last at least a month.
More pancake recipes
Love breakfast? Here are more pancake recipes you can try:
Enjoy and have a wonderful day!
Did you make this ube pancakes recipe? I’d love to hear all about it! Leave a comment or a star rating below. You can also tag me on Instagram or Facebook. I’d love to see your creations!
You can also find me on Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube.
Ube Pancakes
Equipment
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
- 2 cups buttermilk room temperature
- ½ cup milk 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 dry ingredients and set aside.3 cups all purpose flour, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt
- Using a blender, or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, combine wet ingredients until smooth and incorporated. Make sure there are no more big chunks of ube jam.2 cups buttermilk, ½ cup milk, 3 pcs large eggs, 7 oz ube halaya or ube jam, 3 tsp ube extract, ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 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.
- 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 ⅔ cup at a time.
- Cook about 3 minutes per side, or until the centre is cooked and the sides are golden brown.
- Serve warm and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Yield depends on how big or small you make your pancakes. Estimated nutritional information is based on 12 pancakes.
- Avoid over-mixing your pancake batter. We want a coarse batter for best results.
- Cook on medium heat so the pancakes cook evenly. A pan that’s too hot will result to burnt or unevenly cooked pancakes.
- See post for more tips and FAQs.
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only.
Tiara
Hi Jolina! Is ube the same as purple sweet potato?
Jolina
Hi Tiara. No they’re not. Here’s a good reference – https://www.bonappetit.com/story/difference-between-sweet-potato-and-yam
Lois
This is a wonderful twist on buttermilk pancakes. Can’t wait to try this recipe.
Katherine
These are so delicious! We tried the ube+butter too and it made the pancakes even more delicious. I used readymade ube jam but I will try your recipe for ube halaya next time. Thanks for sharing!
Jolina
Hi Katherine! Glad you liked them! Ube butter is awesome isn’t it? 🙂
Debra Schroeder
Ube pancakes, who knew? These look so tasty. I’ll have to try these out one morning. Although, I’m more of a waffle girl so will have to try that recipe too.
Kathy
These look amazing. I love making pancakes. I’m always up to try out new pancake recipes too. I’ll be trying these with the family soon.
Lynndee
I don’t think I’ve ever had ube pancakes before. Gotta try your recipe. Looks yummy!
Jennifer Van Haitsma
I’ve never tried anything ube related but my kids love just about any kind of pancake. The color is so pretty! Thanks for sharing!
Chef Dennis
Hmmm yum! I never really tried ube halaya before and seeing this with pancakes is perfect! I can’t wait to taste this Ube Pancakes!
Dely
We love ube! My nanay would make homemade halaya every christmastime. I never had ube pancakes before, I can’t wait to try your recipe.
Heather
I have not tried Ube before but can’t wait to give it a try. The pancakes look so delicious!
Amber Myers
I don’t think I’ve ever tried pancakes like this. They look really tasty! I’ll have to try them out for breakfast.
Melissa Chapman
I think those pancakes are great and ube butter sounds like the real special touch. I would eat those any time of day and they look scrumptous.
Paula Schuck
Well, this is a very cool take on pancakes. I have never heard of UBE before. I love the purple look and they sure are brought when you are mixing them up. That would be fun for kids too, I think. They tend to love purple things.
Pam Wattenbarger
I haven’t tried ube before but I’m curious to what it tastes like. I’m not sure we have ube at our local markets, but I will be on the lookout for it!
Robin
These pancakes sound so good. What an awesome way to start the day! Yum.