Pancake Buffet Bar Calculator

Pancake buffet bars are a nice way to serve a breakfast-style meal without going through all the work of creating a traditional breakfast with all the sides.  This calculator will give you an idea of the quantity of ingredients you might need to feed your guests.

For a pancake bar, you should allow for 3 four inch pancakes per person.  The calculator uses the serving size recommended by popular pancake mixes, such as Hungry Jack and Aunt Jemima.  So plan on needing a 1/2 cup of dry pancake mix per person.

If you are making your pancakes from scratch, the serving size should still be similar as long as your pancakes are roughly four inches in diameter.

Pancake buffets are popular when hosting a “Breakfast For Dinner” pancake night, brunch-style celebrations for birthdays, showers, graduations, for social functions at church, and a fun way to end a sleepover.

Topping Options For A Pancake Buffet

You can provide your guests with a large assortment of toppings so they can build their own perfect pancake masterpiece.  You can get as creative as you want with these toppings.  Choose those that would most appeal to your guests’ preferences, and match the theme of the gathering.

The variety of toppings you should offer just depends on the number of guests you will be serving.

Fruits

The total amount of fruit will be provided in the calculator, which is based on a serving size of 3 ounces of fruit per person.

• Sliced strawberries
• Sliced bananas
• Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Kiwi
• Pineapple
• Pomegranate

Toppings

• Chocolate chips
• Sprinkles
• Walnuts, almonds
• Bacon bits
• Crushed peanut brittle
• Crushed Oreo cookies
• Cinnamon granola cereal
• Shaved coconut
• Apricot marmalade
• Strawberry jam

Syrups

• Maple syrup
• Blueberry syrup
• Chocolate syrup

Other Toppings

• Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread
• Dairy Whip
• Powdered sugar (in a shaker)
• Cinnamon (in a shaker)

Can You Make Pancakes The Night Before?

There’s nothing better than freshly-made pancakes.  That’s when they the most flavorful and still soft and fresh.  But that’s not really practical if you are serving a crowd.

You can make pancakes the night before if you store them properly.  Pancakes tend to dry out fairly quickly, so have an airtight oven-safe container ready while you’re cooking.  A deep metal pan covered with aluminum foil works too.  Lining the container or pan with a silicone mat will help prevent sticking during reheating.

Place each batch of pancakes inside the container as soon as they are done.   Don’t stack the pancakes too deep otherwise they’ll compress the pancakes on the bottom; about 5-6 pancakes per stack at most.  Then refrigerate the pan until the next morning.

The best advice is to pre-make a batch of pancakes a few nights before your event so you can do a test run to see if the reheated pancakes meet your standards.

Oven Heating Pancakes

Bring the pan out of the refrigerator about 2 hours before reheating to allow them to get as close to room temperature as possible before heating them.  The longer they take to reheat in the oven, the more likely they’ll dry out.  Set the oven to 300 degrees and place the covered pan in the middle rack.  After 10 minutes, check the pancakes and reposition them if necessary to evenly distribute heat.  They should be ready to serve after 15 to 20 minutes in the oven (depending on how many pancakes you’re reheating).

Using A Crockpot Slow Cooker To Heat Pancakes

If, like most of us, you don’t have a warming drawer in your kitchen, the next best way to reheat pre-made pancakes is in crockpots.  Not only are these slow cookers great for heating the pancakes, they can also be used to keep the pancakes warm during serving.

Bring your covered pan of pancakes out of the refrigerator about 2 hours before reheating to allow them to get as close to room temperature as possible.  Set your crockpot to medium.  Add your pancakes to the crockpot and cover them with aluminum foil while they are warming.  Most crockpot lids have a small steam opening and the addition of aluminum foil will help trap moisture.  After 10 minutes in the crockpot check the pancakes to see how well the heat is distributing, and reposition the pancakes as needed.  Reduce the crockpot temperature to Warm (or Low if Warm is not an option) and continue heating for 10-20 minutes until they are ready to serve.

Also Serving Scrambled Eggs?

Check out our Scrambled Eggs For A Crowd Calculator