Feel Like A Short-Order Cook Every Morning? Sheet Pan Pancakes Are Your New Breakfast BFF

Once school starts, it can be hard to keep up the hearty, healthy breakfast traditions you began in the summer. When there are shoes to find and a bus to catch, making eggs, French toast, pancakes, or quick breakfast sammies every day just isn't in the cards. There are easier options, though. Of course, you already know about the frozen French toast sticks and waffles. You probably even know you can meal prep some breakfastables from TikTok. But did you know there's a super easy way to make pancakes, too? As in, one where you don't feel like a short-order cook? Yep, it's true — and you may have heard mention of it floating around the internet: sheet pan pancakes. Sure, it's a bit of a tongue twister to say, but the actual practice of making sheet pan pancakes (sheet pancakes??) couldn't be any easier. There's even an easy, breezy TikTok video to walk you through the process.

Hopefully you know that you don't have to make a hot breakfast every day. Your kiddos will get plenty of vitamins and nutrients from slurping down a smoothie pouch (or, shoot, eating a real fruit popsicle!) while they wait for the bus. And let's not overlook the benefits of a simple hard-boiled egg... if your kid will eat it. The point is that your kid will definitely survive if they don't get a gourmet hot brekkie every day of the week. But if you are on the hunt for something hot and homemade to help kick the new school year off right, you do have options.

One of those options is sheet pan pancakes, which TikToker Feeding Kae (@feeding_kae) recently highlighted.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. If your oven tends to overcook, you can preheat to 350 degrees F and adjust accordingly.
2. Make pancake batter according to instructions — you know, the ones on the box. ;)
3. Coat a sheet pan with cooking spray or butter. Lining with parchment paper is optional but definitely helpful.
4. Carefully pour and spread your batter evenly across the sheet pan.
5. Add any fun toppings. As illustrated by Feeding Kae, you could easily divide toppings up according to each of your kid’s preferences.
6. Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
7. Cut like a cake and serve.

Sheet Pan Pancakes, But Make It Even Easier

But wait, it gets better — as mind-blowing as that may sound. When you’ve literally only dirtied three dishes and spent less than 15 minutes, you’re surely thinking, How?!

Well, hold our beer, er, batter.

Make ‘Em Ahead Of Time

A sheet pan of pancakes can seem like a lot of pancakes if you only have one or two kids. And sometimes, even 13 minutes (plus the time to preheat) seems insurmountable. If you have time between your family’s Sunday running-around, you can always make them ahead and freeze them.

Tips

• Store serving sizes in individual sandwich bags for a more DIY breakfast situation.
• Place parchment or wax paper between pancakes in each bag to keep ‘em from sticking
• Microwave in 30-second intervals. (Because that’s the microwave button you should teach your kids to use first.) In most cases, just 1 to 2 rounds is enough.

Use Fewer Dishes

If you want to make pancake batter from scratch or dirty a bowl and spatula when combining your dry boxed mix with water or milk, be our guest. But what if you only had to dirty one thing? Dish, please! Let’s not forget that shake bottles exist. Bisquick has made “shake and pour” containers for years now. HappyGrub also makes a shake and pour container that actually comes in several flavors. That’s right; you can even skip adding “toppings.”

Technically, the tops are designed for squirting directly onto a hot skillet. But who’s stopping you from just taking the lid off and dumping it straight into the sheet pan? If you’re set on skillet pancakes for texture reasons, you’ll still only dirty one dish. And as an added bonus, the batter can be stored in the refrigerator for several days, so you only need to make exactly what you need instead of making enough for the entire school.

How To Store Sheet Pan Pancakes

When storing your sheet pan pancake, place it in a tightly sealed container after it completely cools down. It should be OK to eat for up to three days. Cover it in plastic wrap or large freezer-safe bags if you want to store it in the freezer. You can keep it fresh for up to a month. Just be sure to thaw it before warming it up.