Last Updated July 3, 2019

It only takes 5 basic ingredients and 15 minutes to make light and fluffy Dutch baby pancakes.

Look in your fridge and pantry. You most likely have flour, milk, eggs, salt and butter on hand. That’s all it takes to make this amazing breakfast.

Growing up, we reserved this treat for holidays and occasional Sundays, but I’m not really sure why, because they’re so easy to make any day of the week.

We called them German pancakes, but over the past few decades, the name Dutch baby pancakes has become the common American term. Supposedly, someone didn’t realize that the word Deutch was the German word for German, and they thought the person meant Dutch. And here we are today.

Even before German pancakes, the dish was known as Yorkshire pudding, a British creation using meat drippings instead of butter.

No matter what you call them, I call them awesome. Especially because they’re so easy to make.

The batter is simply a combination of flour, milk, eggs and salt. You whisk them together, until they are smooth. The batter will be a little thinner than cake batter.

You have to start with a really hot pan that has a layer of fat melted in the bottom. This recipe calls for butter, but you could also use bacon drippings or sausage grease for a more savory flavor.

I of course cook them on the grill, but growing up, mom cooked them in the oven. She used a 13×9 pan, but I love preparing them in small cast iron skillets.

The edges are my favorite part. Using smaller pans results in more crust to go around.

In about 10 minutes, the edges will begin to puff as it turns golden brown.

Get creative with your toppings. While I love a simple pat of butter and pinch of salt, they’re also delicious drizzled in maple syrup.

You can go even fancier with blueberry compote, fresh blueberries, lemon curd, lemon zest and powdered sugar or savory with pulled pork and bourbon maple syrup.