Bigger Is Better For These Blackstone Griddle Big Fat Strawberry Pancakes That Every Kid In America Wants

OK, kids, gather ’round . . . and when we say ’round we mean R O U N D like the size of the whole world because something big is happening today on the Blackstone Griddle.

This recipe is just for you, and for every hungry breakfast eater who is in the mood to have fun and eat like a kid who just got out of the high chair and is ready to throw it down right now.

Blackstone Extra Large Big Fat Pancake Pizzas are here! You may have heard about pizza pancakes that actually taste like pizzas, but these are mouth-watering buttermilk pancakes that look like monster pizzas. We aren’t making any of this up!

These are so big and round they can make a solar eclipse all by themselves. They are so big and round you might need bigger plates. They are so big and round you are never, ever, ever gonna finish one but we have comments below to brag if you do!

Are you ready? Tell Mom and Dad to read all this and make these giant pancakes on the Blackstone Adventure Ready Griddle as soon as possible, so you can tell every friend what just happened and why you are so full. It might take a little practice because we are flippin’ ’em high with Blackstone accessories and they are landing with golden-brown finishes topped with homemade compote, butter and powdered sugar. The decoration is all part of the fun and the eating is the best.

Here’s Where The Big Idea Came From And Why A Blackstone Griddle Is PERFECT For It

When we moved from New York down to St. Pete several years ago, one of the first local eateries we discovered was a popular place called Trip’s Diner. The owners had triplets, hence the name and the need to make fun food for hungry kids.

The star of their menu is the Hubcake. “Pancakes As Big As A Hubcap,” the tagline reads on the menu. Some of us remember when our cars actually had hubcaps, those big discs that cover the lugnuts and spin off and lay on the side of the road and then sold at junkyards.

Diners are throwback by nature so the hubcap idea fits at Trip’s and it definitely is the size of the pancake pizzas we are talking about here. They sell them as a Single or a Double, just in case you somehow can eat a whole one AND THEN KEEP GOING.

We have enjoyed our share of these Hubcakes along with a side of grits and bacon, and we’ve tried all the fixins so we have experimented with two batches using our own homemade compote cooked in enameled cast iron Le Creuset sauce pans. As the owner of Cast Iron Country, I will be using cast iron for a lot of Blackstone cooking, combining the best two heat-retention surfaces anywhere and hopefully raising backyard barbecue technique to art form.

Why You Should Try This Recipe

It’s all about the shapes! The Blackstone’s rectangular shape and double heat zone are absolutely made for this adventure in griddle cooking, whether you are using it at home or on the road. Divide the cooking surface in half and you have two big squares, so each great circle of batter is a perfect fit with its own cooking zone and temperature control.

Family fun. Everyone in the family can get involved and have fun watching these jumbo juggernauts as they form, flip and fill bellies! We really want to emphasize that this is one part cooking and one part entertainment, so make the most of the occasion. You can save the steaks for dinner later on the gas grill, Weber grill, Traeger pellet grill, Pit Boss smoker or whatever brings the flame. Here on the Blackstone portable griddle, kids can even put a Mickey Mouse or Barbie mold on the batter before turning the pancakes to decorate.

Blackstone = Diner. Every diner has a hot griddle going all day to make the perfect pancake, with a continuous temperature of about 375 degrees considered the ideal griddle temp. You have this same control capability for the mostly evenly cooked pancake, and you never have to worry about pouring the batter too early no matter how much is used.

Health and Happiness. The same customization for pizza, or even crepes, applies here. This morning I was in the produce aisle at our Publix and saw kiwis and thought . . . hmmm . . . maybe next time we do a Kiwi-Raspberry Compote. It’s hard to go wrong with a thick batter base, and the best part is you can incorporate healthy nutrients into the big picture. Fruits, nuts, antioxidants, natural colors, and involving the whole family makes it rewarding.

Five Minutes Tops. The only marginally time-consuming part of this process is making the compote, which you can do in batches well in advance. As for the pancake pizzas, you will hover over the Blackstone for far less time than you would think. You don’t want the batter to be TOO thick because you want the two Really Round Rascals to spread out and fill up most of the griddle surface, and that means these are going to be ready to flip really fast. Then repeat the process depending on how many mouths you have to feed.

Ingredients In Blackstone Pancake Pizzas

If you want to make these completely from scratch, then check out our regular-size Blackstone pancake recipe that includes all the basic ingredients. We’re trying out different pre-packaged pancake mixes and tinkering with homemade compotes and flipping techniques.

Servings: 2 Blackstone Extra Large Big Fat Pancake Pizzas. Make it a Single for two people or a Double for yourself. Add ingredients accordingly for your crowd size.

Batter:

• 2 cups Pearl Milling Buttermilk Complete Dry Mix
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 2 tbspn unsalted butter or vegan butter

Compote:

• 1 pound container fresh strawberries, chopped
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions For Making Blackstone Extra Large Big Fat Pancake Pizzas

1.You don’t have to preheat anything. The Blackstone reaches desired temperature with the snap of your fingers so don’t waste your propane grill fuel. Just prep your food.

2.Make your compote. We did a test batch with raspberries in a Le Creuset coquette pan, but the larger Le Creuset #20 Enameled Sauce Pot with wooden handle and spout was the perfect kitchen essential here and we used strawberries for this one.

3. Mix the strawberry pieces, vanilla extract, maple syrup and lemon juice into the sauce pot. Cook your compote over medium heat and cover for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, and remove when the strawberries are soft and juicy.

4. Rest the compote on a trivet like the new 8-inch oyster enameled star we just bought last month at the Lodge Cast Iron factory store in South Pittsburg, Tenn. The compote will thicken as it cools.

5. Make your batter. Use a wooden spoon instead of a whisk and combine the dry mix with water. Stir enough to remove large lumps, and avoid overmixing to make it too thin. It’s easier to overmix with a metal whisk. Small lumps are good.

6. Here’s the secret move: Go thinner with your batter than the box instructions. I added an extra quarter-cup of water in the ingredients list above. Practice will pay off with this step on your outdoor griddle. You want it thick enough to incorporate berries, bananas, pecans or anything else you like inside your pancakes. But you want it thin enough that it will spread far and wide on your flat top grill when you pour the batter in the steps below.

7. Prep your outdoor grill area. However many plates you will serve, stack them on the right shelf of your griddle so you’ll be ready to remove quickly. If you’re serving a stack, then you just need one plate. Again, use the largest plates possible if you’re doing this right.

8. Set out your flipping utensils. I’ve combined my regular long griddle spatula for my dominant hand with another spatula that is wide enough to lift the opposite side of the pancake pizzas. This makes for easy turning of the pancakes, but if you want to have even more fun with Blackstone griddle accessories, check out this Big Green Egg aluminum pizza peel and get under the whole thing. Kids will love that! One proviso, the Blackstone still has an attached hood and you just want to make sure there is clearance for flipping these mighty flapacks.

9. Ignite your portable Blackstone grill to medium low and squirt cooking oil onto the griddle surface, spreading it all over the griddle with a spatula. I’ve found that the left side is generally hotter than the right side when both settings are equal, so adjust accordingly so they are cooking exactly the same.

10. We have made enough batter for two XL Big Fat Pancake Pizzas, so just eyeball the amounts as your pour half of the batter onto the right side and the other half onto the left side. Start pouring in precisely the center of your griddle half, and slowly let it spread out in concentric fashion to form a giant hubcap shape from a Buick Skylark or Dodge Charger. If one is a little larger, add a little more to the middle of the other. Our test batches pictured here still could use at least a couple more inches in diameter, and again it goes back to ratio of dry mix to water.

11. Here’s where it all speeds up. Our first test batch got dark on the bottom fast, so we set the temperature even lower and made sure to turn these very quickly. Cook until bubbles appear and the edges of the pancake no longer look shiny and wet. It’s a minute or two, generally less time than you are expecting. The left center can scorch batter fast. You can peek underneath with your spatula combo set. Feel free to experiment with a fun character mold before the first flip.

12. Flip the pancakes and cook for another additional 1-2 minutes. When done, they should be golden brown and the center should be firm to the touch.

13. Remove and stack on an extra large single plate, or serve one on each plate, depending on what you brought out in step 7. Turn off the burners and the propane tank. Use your spatula or cleaning tool to scrape any leftover food into the back grease tray.

14. Squirt a little water on the surface and carefully wipe with a doubled paper towel. Carefully rub your 3.8 ounce Eazy Beezy seasoning push-up stick or any other Blackstone seasoning and conditioner across the still-hot surface like you’re writing your first name. Then with another wad of paper towels, rub it all around evenly and then close the hood and it’s ready for the next session. Cleanup is so easy on a Blackstone, it made it into one of these steps before eating.

15. Place two pats of unsalted butter in the middle of your pancake. Ladle a generous serving of strawberry compote on the center and swirl it around like a pizza chef spreading tomato sauce onto the pizza. Then sprinkle the powdered sugar all over the pancake just like you’re sprinkling cheese all over your pizza. This is why we call them Pancake Pizzas!

Variations and substitutions

Whipped Cream: You can also apply a heaping helping of this either before or after your compote. Most kids are going to want this step included. You know their tastes!

Scratch or Tinker: As noted above, you can go all the way here by making the batter from scratch. Or have fun trying new pancake mixes that others have worked hard to perfect. Our final version was the buttermilk mix that only required water. Try new compotes for healthy and creative pancake syrup.

Flavor add-ins: Nuts, chocolate, and fruit make great flavor additions. Go with sweet or savory, and feel free to customize individual pancakes as you’re putting them on the griddle. The one on the left might have different flavor extracts and spice blends, and the one on the right might get some blueberries thrown in even after you pour the batter.

Go for more protein. Use Kodiak Power Cakes Flapjack & Waffle Mix to add high protein pancake mix to your power breakfast. The size of these pancakes will mean mega protein with Kodiak pancake mix, a great meal after the gym if keto pancakes and keto waffles is your game.

Tips and Tricks for Making Blackstone Extra Large Big Fat Pancake Pizzas

Perfect for camping: If you’re bringing your Blackstone Adventure Ready Griddle on your camping trip, this recipe will make breakfast a breeze. Whip up the pancake batter the night before and store it in a large batter squeeze bottle or the Blackstone batter dispenser. All you have to do at mealtime is preheat your griddle and get right to cooking.

Make it a competition! You can match the pancake on the left against the one on the right if they each have something different going on. But here’s another game to consider: Blackstone Extra Large Big Fat Pancake Pizza on the left vs. Black Stone Grille Belgian Waffle on the right! Which one’s bigger?

Pour from a large mixing bowl with spout. Brands like Whiskware make pancake batter dispensers that are super useful for everyday pancake sizes. If you try it with our Blackstone Griddle Pancake Pizzas it will just slow the flow, and that flow is key to getting a giant round shape that fills up most of each heating zone. Use a wooden spoon in your weak hand and just pour a free flow of batter into that middle area until it spreads out wide.

Shape up: On our first test drive, the right-side pancake was a little too oblong in shape. If your pancakes aren’t coming out round, the batter is likely too thick. When it’s the right consistency, it will naturally develop into a round shape when poured. Come in from straight overhead when you pour, too.

Don’t butter the griddle. Stick with vegetable oil in your Blackstone squirt bottle, and resist the temptation to throw pats of butter on the griddle surface. Butter browns quickly and burns easily. We’ve got the butter taste covered with the batter and the topping.

Storage: Place leftover Giant Pancakes in an airtight container for up to four days in your refrigerator.

To reheat: There’s a good chance you will have leftover pancakes with this recipe! I ate half of mine, and we cut the leftover in half and put it into Pyrex trays. To reheat, place the pancakes in a paper towel and warm in microwave for about 30 seconds.

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