Swedish Pancakes
This Swedish pancakes recipe is the best! Slightly thicker than crepes, Swedish pancakes are simple to make and so delicious!
My family loves any kind of thin rollup/foldup pancake.
Slightly thicker than crepes but not quite as thick as these beloved rollup pancakes, these Swedish pancakes are the perfect middle ground to make everyone happy.
What is the difference between crepes and Swedish pancakes?
As far as I can tell from lots and lots and lots of recipe research, they are very similar. In fact some recipes for Swedish pancakes are identical to recipes for crepes and vice versa. Depending on the source, there are a lot of BIG feelings surrounding the authenticity of certain recipes.
Many recipes for Swedish pancakes call for a bit more flour and less liquid than crepe recipes, as well as using melted butter in the batter, while many crepe recipes call for water in the batter. As mentioned above, Swedish pancakes, once cooked, are a bit thicker than crepes, and they are traditionally served with jam and/or sugar, whereas crepe recipe are more often served with both sweet and savory fillings.
Swedish Pancake Batter
Swedish pancake batter is super straightforward.
- eggs
- flour
- milk
- salt + little bit of sugar
- melted butter
I like to combine all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth, but you can just as easily whisk everything together in a bowl.
How to Cook Swedish Pancakes
Swedish pancakes can be cooked in a skillet or on a griddle. I’ll show you both ways. I also confess down below with rather strong feelings which one is my preference!
To cook the pancakes in a skillet:
- heat a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat
- brush the bottom of the skillet with butter
- pour in 1/4 to 1/3 cup batter and swirl the pan around until the batter covers the bottom evenly
- cook until the pancake is golden on the bottom
- use a spatula to flip the pancake and cook on the second side
To cook the pancakes on a griddle:
- heat an electric griddle to 325-350 degrees F
- brush the griddle with butter
- use a 1/4 to 1/3 cup measuring cup to pour batter into circles on the griddle
- immediately and quickly use the bottom of the measuring cup to spread the batter into a wider, thinner circle
- cook until the bottom is golden and the edges start to bubble
- use a thin spatula to flip the pancake and cook on the second side
My Preference for Cooking Swedish Pancakes
While it isn’t the most authentic way to cook these Swedish pancakes, I far prefer using a griddle to cook them. Not only can I cook more than one at a time, but it’s much easier to get the spatula underneath the thin pancake on a flat surface vs the curved edge of the skillet.
In short, I lose FAR less pancakes to rips, tears, and frustration when I cook them on a griddle.
Additionally, I say far less bad words. So: in order to preserve my soul and my sanity, griddle cooking it is for me.
{I have an older version of this griddle aff. link; I love it – going on several years now.}
Swedish Pancakes for Breakfast
This Swedish pancakes recipe is made regularly around here for breakfast.
Very often, I’ll make them at night before I go to bed (whilst listening to a podcast or audiobook) so that breakfast is ready and waiting at that early a.m. hour when no one really wants to function enough to even get out of bed, let alone make breakfast.
We usually eat them sprinkled with granulated sugar and jam or rolled up with syrup. There’s really no wrong or right way.
(Recently I decided to go all-out IKEA on my family and ordered some authentic lingonberry jam aff.link…not everyone was a fan, but I loved it. Tart and sweet, it’s now one of my favorite jam flavors.)
One Year Ago: Triple Chocolate Scones
Two Years Ago: Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Three Years Ago: Super Easy S’Mores Chocolate Pie {or Tart}
Four Years Ago: Incredible Fluffy Overnight Buttermilk Pancakes
Five Years Ago: Chinese Cashew Chicken {30-Minute Meal}
Six Years Ago: Double Chocolate Quick Bread
Seven Years Ago: Healthier Banana Bread Chocolate Chip Oat Snack Bars
Eight Years Ago: Family Style Shrimp Scampi {20-Minute Meal}
Nine Years Ago: Chocolate Tres Leches Cake
Ten Years Ago: Crème Fraiche {How-To} and Caprese Focaccia
Swedish Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups (568 g) milk
- 1 ¼ cups (178 g) all-purpose flour
- 3 large (150 g out of shell) eggs
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) melted butter
- 1 tablespoon (13 g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth (or whisk the ingredients together in a medium bowl until smooth).
- Griddle Cooking: preheat an electric griddle to medium heat (about 325 to 350 degrees F). Brush griddle with melted butter. Pour 1/4 to 1/3 cup batter into a circle and quickly use the bottom of the measuring cup to lightly spread the batter into a large thin circle.
- Cook until the bottom is turning golden and the top of the pancake is mostly dry (with no runny wet batter spots). Use a thin spatula to flip. Cook until the second side is lightly browned.
- Skillet Cooking: place a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Brush the bottom of the pan with butter. Pour 1/4 to 1/3 cup batter into the pan. Quickly lift the pan while rotating/swirling in a circle to spread the batter evenly over the bottom of the pan.
- Cook until the edges are bubbling and the bottom has golden spots. Use a thin spatula to flip. Cook until the second side is lightly browned.
- Stack the Swedish pancakes on a plate (or fold into triangles). Serve sprinkled with granulated sugar and jam (or with syrup, whipped cream, strawberries, etc.).
My family and I LOVE these pancakes! They are similar to crepes but don’t take as long since you can make multiple on a griddle at once. I love that they can be mixed up in a blender for busy mornings! Delicious and easy!
A+ These beauties are really wonderful.
These are really wonderful. I am currently undergoing treatments & these little beauties w the berries are about the only thing I’m able to eat. The recipe makes A LOT, & the fam loves them, too. Thx for this win/win- yummy & oh so tender recipe, Mel~
I hope whatever you are going through is resolved soon, Lauren! Prayers to you and your family!
Tried these for the first time today and they are amazing. The whole family loved them and mostly ate them plain because they’re that good. A little more finicky than my go to crepe recipe, but we like the flavor of these better!
Thanks for letting me know, Katie! Glad you guys enjoyed them!
I make a lot of pancakes but, to be honest, am not a big fan of the usual thick ones that are the standard at my house. I haven’t made Swedish pancakes in years, so decided to serve these last week on Shrove Tuesday. Wonderful, the recipe was perfect. My thin spatula was MIA so i used a fish spatula (bit awkward).
I’m Team electric griddle. My first lasted 18 yrs, I’ve had the current model 10 yrs, they’re relatively inexpensive, totally worth the money & storage space.
Glad you enjoyed this recipe, Connie! And I agree about the electric griddle. I use mine almost every day.
Hi, Mel! My curiosity made me try this out. My first try was a mess. Everything came undone and I had to repeat it. Turns out, I was flipping the pancake too early. My second try turned out great! I’m planning to make it with some caramelized fruits next time. Thanks for sharing this!
That’s a good point and I’m glad you mentioned it, Dakota! The pancakes need to cook quite a bit longer on the first side than on the second side. I cook them on the first side until the top of the pancake has no more wet batter spots before flipping.
My distinction between crepes and Swedish pancakes is that Swedish pancakes have more eggs in them and less flour which gives them a different texture from crepes, even though both are thin and cooked the same way. Swedish pancake batter is more similar to German pancakes/Dutch babies/puffy oven pancake batter than it is to crepe batter in my experience.
We loved these! Super easy and fast. One of our go to breakfasts is the blender rollups on here, and these are really similar. It is nice to have another recipe that is delicious but uses different ingredients based on what’s in the fridge!
Glad you liked the pancakes, Katie! Thanks for letting me know.
If you haven’t tried them fried in more butter and for a longer time so that the lacey bits turn a bit crisp and the overall color is more like the darkest bits on those in your pics, please do! I am a Finn and these look almost undercooked to me 😉 Of course it boils down to individual taste preferences.
Hmmm… No, there is no melted butter in batter … For each egg I mix it together with 65 g (100 ml) of flour and 200 ml of milk. A little salt and a little sugar. That’s it. Melt a little butter in the pan and pour approx 75 ml in a frying pan of approx 28 cm in diameter. Flip when golden brown (a little more than on your photos, please). They are supposed to be a little crisp around the edges.
That’s my recipe, used it for 40 years. And I am Swedish.
There is a special fry pan called a plattpanna that Swedish platter are made in. In my Swedish descent home growing up, my mother always served lingonberries with platter. She also diced strawberries as an alternate topping. Perhaps different provinces use different toppings.
I have to say this recipe is very close to the one i have used for 60+ years. Mine has another egg and and a little more butter. This batter cab be used for an oven pancake also.
Can you freeze leftovers.
Yes!
Thank you for including grams. I find any baking comes out better with the more accurate gram measurements. Looking forward to making these.
Made these for dinner last night, and we really liked them. We debated between which was our favorite, these, your roll up blender pancakes or just crepes and it was pretty much a tie 🙂
Thanks for the comment, Jen! Glad your family liked these!
Can you substitute the flour for a gluten free flour like coconut flour?
I haven’t tried that, Linda – sorry I’m not more help! Worth a try, though!
These are so yummy! They turned into a last minute, casual dinner for us with the kids all gathered around the island and eating them as fast as they came off the griddle. It was so much fun and the kids asked if we could do it every Monday night! Thank you!
Love that visual of everyone gathered around grabbing pancakes. Thanks, Camille! Will it turn into a Monday night tradition??
I’m really stumped by this recipe, and here’s why. These just did not come together at all. The batter was actually too thin to make anything. These are supposed to be thicker than crepes, but The crepe recipe that I use (at least weekly) calls for less milk, less eggs, and more flour. My crepes come out thicker than these.
Could there possibly be a typo in this recipe? I had to add a good 1/2 cup of flour to make it work…did this happen to anyone else?
Hi Jennifer, sorry these didn’t work out for you. There isn’t a typo in the recipe; the recipe is correct based on my recipe testing. Did you make them in a skillet or on a griddle? How much batter did you use for each pancake (1/4 cup? or more?)? My guess is that using more batter for each pancake and spreading the pancakes thicker vs thinner should help quite a bit.
Thanks for responding Mel- I tried both ways, both the skillet and the griddle and using 1/4 cup flour and spreading it like your pictures show: I’m wondering if the Crepe recipe I have is not a traditional crepe recipe- if it uses much more flour than regular crepes.
Maybe I’ll try this one again and see if I get different results.
Hey Jennifer the flour amount is 1 cup + 1/4 cup of flour. Just saw your comment and thought I’d clarify.
When I made these a few days ago, I had you in mind so that I could make sure I was troubleshooting the flipping of the pancakes. Make sure the pancakes are cooking fully on the first side – the tops of the pancakes are almost dry before I flip them to cook on the second side (no wet batter spots). That might help!
I’m excited to try these Mel! For some reason I’ve always been intimidated by crepes and Swedish pancakes, but I think it’s time to give it a go. One question – when you say you make them the night before, do you make the batter? Or the whole pancakes? And if you make the actual pancakes the night before, what is the best way to reheat them?
Sometimes I make the batter and refrigerate, other times I make the batter AND cook them the night before. Once cooked, I fold them into triangles, stack on a plate and cover. In the morning some of my kids reheat theirs in the microwave and others eat them cold or at room temp.
Love crepes and love your roll up blender pancakes, so I know we will love these too! Thanks Mel!
We just made these this morning, they are delicious! My four-year-old loved flipping them on the griddle!
You’re a good momma letting the kiddos help, Lynsie! Happy you guys loved them!
I was JUST trying to describe these “not crepe crepes” my Grandma used to make, and here they were in my inbox! Can’t wait to try them.
🙂 Love your way of describing them. Kind of like a crepe…except not!
What egg substitute can you use?
Hi Verna, I don’t know if there’s a great way to make these egg-free. I haven’t tried that. Sorry I’m not more help!
Try 1/4th cup applesauce in place of one egg. I’m sure it will work. I sub with applesauce for eggs all the time
Can’t wait to try this! Your crepe recipe is a favorite in my family. I make your berry mix from your Berry Heavenly Dessert as a filling for the crepes and my family loves it. I also make a cream cheese mixture (some powdered sugar and cream cheese – still very cream cheese flavored but sweeter than straight cream cheese). The berries and sweetened, whipped cream cheese are a great combo.
Love those filling ideas, Lynette!
Hey Mel, can’t wait to try this recipe! Quick question about your griddle tho – I clicked on your Amazon link and saw several reviews saying the griddle did not heat evenly. Have you had any issues with that?
Thanks,
MJ
Hi MJ, the center of the griddle (probably about a 4-inch circle) definitely is a cool spot. I avoid cooking in that area. But even with that hangup, I’ve loved the griddle – especially because it’s hard to find a griddle this big for my larger family.
Did you post this today because tomorrow is Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras? Thank you! We don’t really observe Lent, but Pancake Day has become part of our family tradition as we look forward to Easter.
I clearly need to keep up with pancake holidays! I didn’t know that pancakes are served on Shrove Tuesday! Thanks for mentioning that.
Ooooo! We have lots of Swedish heritage and eat these every Christmas, with ice cream and berries. Can’t wait to try your recipe.
Ice cream and berries? YUM!
What’s your night before method? Do you cook them at night and best way to heat up in the morning? How to store/ etc.
Hi Yvette, I cook the pancakes the night before, fold them into triangles (like in the pictures of the post), layer them on a plate, cover and refrigerate. Then we just pull them out in the morning to eat. Some of my kids like to warm them up slightly and others eat them cold.
Years ago we visited friends in Sweden who were living there on a work/study year. Her Swedish tutor gave her a “recipe” for Swedish pancakes that was basically “add milk, flour, and eggs – amount dependent on how well your kids have eaten that day” LOL. Thank you for this straight forward and concise recipe!
Haha, recipes like that are pretty epic. My grandmother (born and raised in Switzerland) gave out her recipes just like that. 🙂
My kids and I love your roll up blender pancakes. I’ll give these a try soon!
Hope you love them, Lisa!
We just finished these off with some strawberry jam and my kids easily could have eaten another batch. Mine definitely didn’t turn out as nice circles but that didn’t seem to bother anyone, especially since they finished them so fast that I only got two. They were very good and we’ll definitely keep making them!
Nicole! You seriously deserve an award for making these so quickly after I posted the recipe. And don’t worry, mine aren’t always very pretty looking either.
I love (Swedish) pancakes. As a Swede I must say – very authentic recipe! Good job! And great pics!
I would suggest adding a dollop of whipped cream when serving, and go with your kids gut instinct: lingon berries do not go on pancakes. 😀 With meatballs – yes, on oatmeal – yes, on pancakes – NO!
Sending lots of love from Sweden! <3<3<3
Haha, ok! Thanks for the clarification on the lingonberry jam, Helena! Appreciate you chiming in! We’ll definitely try with a dollop of whipped cream.
At the Swedish Center in Seattle they serve their pancakes with the option of lingon or strawberry so, if you love it slap it on!
Yum! Love this post! I had the same thought as Helena, “those need whipped cream and lingon doesn’t go on pancakes.” Haha
Can you tell me if milk fat percentage matters in these thin type roll up pancakes (crepes, etc). We always have skim but I’m worried to ruin a recipe with it but hate buying another milk we will never drink. Thank you so much. Have a great week.
Hi Bryn, that’s a good question. I tested the recipe using 1% and 2%. I didn’t notice a significant difference between those two types of milk. I didn’t test with skim, so I don’t know how they would turn out. Sorry I’m not more help! Do you have any heavy cream in the fridge? If so, try mixing the skim milk with a bit of heavy cream to fatten it up.
I would think that the type of milk doesn’t really matter because you can make them with water too.
I use half milk and half hot water for the liquid because it keeps the melted butter from clumping up when you use cold milk and cold eggs.
We often enjoy simple, swedish pancakes/crepes at our house. Our youngest son started making them himself when he was 11 because he likes them so much!
I almost cried when I saw your post… today is the beginning of “pancake week” in Ukraine.
I didn’t know that was a thing! I just looked it up. Thanks for letting me know. So many prayers for the people in Ukraine right now.