Kick up your Sunday brunch game when you make this impressive Cast Iron Chocolate Chip Pancake. Fluffy pancake batter is baked to perfection in about 30 minutes in your cast iron skillet. Top with your favorite farmers market fruit!
I once worked at this restaurant that had a gigantic wood-fired oven. We cooked all kinds of dishes in there. Brunch on the weekends tended to have some creative dishes to make dining there for brunch an experience. One of the greatest dishes I had the chance of tasting for brunch was their Cast Iron Chocolate Chip Pancakes.
This pancake, at the restaurant, could easily feed two people. This oven pancake is based off the one I cooked hundreds of times during my tenure at this restaurant. It’s truly a unique way to utilize this kitchen staple.
Why do my oven pancakes keep sticking?
The key to making a great cast iron pancake is to make sure that your skillet is well seasoned and well oiled. I like to heat my skillet up in the oven along with a pizza stone (to mimic the floor of a wood fire oven) so that it gets nice and hot.
You know when your skillet is ready when it smokes as you bring it out of the oven and pour in the batter. If you have enough oil in your skillet, your pancakes will come out easily after baking.
How To Make a Cast Iron Chocolate Chip Pancake:
Once you pour the pancake batter into the searing-hot cast iron skillet, a crunchy crust starts to immediately form. At the restaurant, we had a shallow enough pan with straight sides that allowed us to flip the pancake over to crisp the top side.
My cast iron pan has a slight curve to the sides of the skillet, which means that my pancake is slightly tapered. I opted to not flip over my pancake to help maintain the structure of my cake instead of having it fall apart.
I’m a huge fan of eating my pancakes with fruit compotes, as opposed to just plain maple syrup (like this Mixed Berry Compote). However, this cast iron chocolate chip pancake works well with other types of fruit sauces as well. This would be mighty tasty if it was topped with a cherry sauce in the late summer, and maple syrup works perfectly in the winter.
Of course, you can’t forget a nice healthy helping of fresh whipped cream to bring the whole dish together. Add your favorite farmers market fruit on top for an even more delightful flavor explosion with every bite!
Ingredients
- 8 oz flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 oz melted butter
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450ºF with cast iron skillet inside to heat up.
- Mix together dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and wet ingredients in another bowl. Add wet ingredients (except vegetable oil) to dry ingredients and mix until incorporated (don’t worry about the lumps). Add chocolate chips until well mixed.
- Pull preheated cast iron out of oven and place vegetable oil into the bottom of the skillet. Swirl cast iron skillet to get nicely coated with oil. Pour pancake batter into skillet and smooth with a spatula until even. Place back into oven and bake for 25 minutes.
- When pancake is done (test with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean), remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Serve and cut desired portions out of the skillet.
Notes
Home Chef Tip: This oven pancake is delicious alone, even without toppings, but get creative and top with fruit, syrup, whipped cream, or chocolate sauce.
We hope you love this Cast Iron Chocolate Chip Pancake recipe from SoFabFood Home Chef, Marlee from I Just Make Sandwiches, as much as we do. If you enjoyed this delicious oven pancake, visit our Brunch Section for more like it. For daily recipe inspiration, subscribe to our newsletter, like us on Facebook, and follow us Pinterest. Enjoy!
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