These Easy Chocolate Pancakes made with pancake mix are simple to prepare - even on busy school mornings. Add a little cocoa powder and a couple of extra ingredients, and you have a breakfast the kids will love!
Table of contents
These are a family favorite next to Quick and Easy Pumpkin Pie Spice Pancakes.
This particular recipe, as written, uses Krusteaz Pancake Mix. However, I find it works well with several pancake mix brands.
We love these delicious easy chocolate pancakes with a tiny bit of powdered sugar or a fruit-based syrup. Blueberry syrup is delicious!
Ingredients
- Krusteaz Pancake Mix - This is the brand I typically use. Please see below in the FAQ sections about using other brands of pancake mix.
- Cocoa Powder - Use regular baking cocoa powder.
- Sugar - You need just a little to offset the unsweetened cocoa.
- Cinnamon - Cinnamon always goes great with chocolate.
- Water - Most box mixes for pancakes will call for water.
Step-by-step directions
This is so simple! You are going to love it! First, whisk together all the dry ingredients - the pancake mix, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and sugar.
Next, add the water and whisk until combined. I usually let the batter sit for a couple of minutes while the pan is heating up, then I give it another stir before pouring the batter. This helps eliminate any small clumps that may have formed.
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Following the directions on the pancake mix box, heat a pan over medium heat. Oil or butter if desired. Since these pancakes have sugar in them, they may tend to burn or stick if you don't watch them carefully.
Pour the batter, about ¼ cup per pancake, into the heated skillet. When the edges start to firm and bubbles appear and pop on top of the pancakes, it is time to flip them.
Cook the Chocolate Pancakes on the second side for 1 - ½ minutes. I usually use my fingers and press the center of the pancake to see if it bounces back quickly. Once it does, the pancakes are finished cooking.
These Easy Chocolate Pancakes with cocoa powder are a delicious way to start, or even to end, the day.
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Faq's and tips
I see this question asked a lot. And yes! You can add cocoa powder to the pancake mix.
Just remember, baking cocoa powder is not sweetened, so just add a bit of sugar to offset that so your pancakes don't come out bitter.
Yes! I have used Bisquick to make both Chocolate Pancakes and Chocolate Waffles! Just remember to follow the package directions, and add the cocoa powder along with a little bit of sugar.
You can also add a bit of cinnamon or even a small splash of vanilla for a little extra flavor.
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Printable Recipe
Easy Chocolate Pancakes
Ingredients
Ingredients using Pancake Mix
- 1 ½ cups Krusteaz Pancake Mix
- ¼ cup Cocoa Powder
- 2 tablespoons Sugar
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 ¼ cups Water
Instructions
Directions for pancake mix version
- Mix all of the dry ingredients together. Add the water and mix until combined.
- Warm a skillet over medium to medium-low heat.
- Pour ¼ cup of pancake batter onto warmed skillet.
- Flip over when the edges start to firm and bubbles appear on top.
- Continue cooking about 1 - ½ minutes on the second side.
- Serve with fruit, whipped cream and/or powdered sugar.
Notes
- 1 ½ cups Milk
- 1 Egg
- 3 tablespoons Sugar
- 1 tablespoon Canola Oil
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ¼ cups flour
- ¼ cup cocoa
- 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Dalana Blackwelder
This is crazy easy and my grandkids loves these
Michael G
This was super easy and EXACTLY what I was looking for! My kids devoured these cocoa pancakes in no time. Thanks a million for this simple tweak to make Pancake Sunday more exciting!
Kimberly
I made a double batch of these and they turned out fantastic. I was going to make a little more but ran out of my cocoa powder, so I improvised and used a “Girl Scouts Thin Mints Seasoning Blend” that I bought from Sam’s Club in place of the cocoa powder (same amount). It worked perfectly and tastes great! Not overly sweet or overly minty!
Laura
Easy and delicious. I used Pearl Milling mix with Ghirardelli’s cocoa baking. Im saving this recipe. My kids loved it too.
Daya
Easy to make, loved the recipe, came out perfect even grandma approved them!
Anna
I made these with the rest of my Aunt Jemima mix (which uses 2 cups of mix) and I used milk to get them extra fluffy.
They turned out pretty yummy! Thanks for posting this, it was a huge help!
Tobius
My partner and I woke up craving pancakes one morning and we happened to have pancake mix and a bit of sugar, which is rare for us as we don't use sugar nor eat pancakes
Anyways found your recipe tried it using Western Family pancake mix and it was really good! We did have to use a bit more batter and sugar to get it but hey it's a recipe everyone has different tastes etc
My partner ate 4 of them and they were huge! He said we have to make them again.
K
This recipe is terrible. I had to add water three times before I could even stir it. The pancakes ended up over mixed and tough. Never making a recipe from this site again.
Cook This Again Mom
I am sorry to hear that this recipe didn't work for you. I am curious, which brand of pancake mix did you use?
Rebecca Harris
Just made them and yummy! It also made them twice as fluffy then just the mix alone.
cookthisagainmom
I am so glad you enjoyed them!
Carlee Scharnhorst
Oh yum! These would make my morning, that is for sure!