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This homemade pancake recipe is everything you need for breakfast or brunch on a crisp fall morning. I think they’ll make a great Christmas morning breakfast, too! I made a batch of these on Thanksgiving morning stored a few in the fridge to eat later. If you love pumpkin spice, you can use pumpkin pie spice instead of apple pie spice.

If you love apple pie spice, try these other recipes:

• Spice Cupcakes With Apple Pie Filling and Cinnamon Buttercream
• Autumn Spice Pound Cake

Continue reading after the recipe card for step-by-step photos and recipe notes.

Step-By-Step Photos & Recipe Notes

Preheat a griddle or cast iron skillet over medium-low heat.

Make the Pancake Batter

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Dry ingredients: 1 cup flour, 2 tbsp sugar (add another teaspoon if you want sweeter pancakes), 2 tsp baking powder, ⅛ tsp baking soda, 2 tsp apple pie spice.

Note: Be careful to not get baking powder and baking soda mixed up. You will definitely be sad with the result!

Apple pie spice: If you don’t have any on hand, use 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp nutmeg, and ½ tsp allspice).

Can I use pumpkin pie spice instead? Absolutely! If you’d rather have pumpkin spice pancakes, just use pumpkin pie spice instead of apple pie spice.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. The butter may start to solidify, resulting in small hard pieces, and that’s fine.

Wet ingredients: ¾ cup milk, 1 tbsp melter butter, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 egg.

Tip: Crack the egg in the bowl first in case you need to deal with some stray shell. That’s much easier when it’s the only thing in the bowl!

Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with dry ingredients and whisk gently until just combined. Do not over-mix.

Cook the Pancakes

Spray skillet with nonstick cooking spray or grease it with a small amount of butter. Ladle pancakes into the pan. You want about ¼ cup of batter per pancake. I used a soup ladle about halfway full. The pancakes should make circles on their own, but you can also use the bottom of the ladle or back of a spoon to help the circle shape form if needed.

Tip: Space them apart enough so you have room to use a spatula to flip them later – this may require cooking them in batches. I did two per batch in my 10.25 inch cast iron skillet. You’ll see a photo below with three pancakes. That was the only batch of three I did because they were hard to flip. (The 20 minute “cooking time” listed above assumes two pancakes per batch.)

Tip: Your griddle or skillet might get hotter as you cook the batches, so you might need to cook some batches for less time. Watch closely so they don’t burn. My first few batches took about 3 to 4 minutes per side, and my last batch was no more than 2 minutes per side. If you notice any burning, turn down the temperature a tad bit.

Cook the pancakes for about 2 to 4 minutes until bubbles begin to appear on the surface. Flip each pancake and cook for another 2 to 4 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with desired toppings, such as butter, maple syrup, or apple compote.