Red Velvet Pancakes Recipe (Made With Cake Mix)

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This red velvet pancake recipe starts with a red velvet cake mix to produce perfectly light and fluffy pancakes. Serve with traditional maple syrup, homemade whipped cream, or tangy cream cheese frosting for a fun Valentine’s Day breakfast or brunch.

A stack of red velvet pancakes on a plate with a fork. There are mini butter hearts on top of the pancakes and a cup of coffee and syrup container in the background.

TRADITIONAL PANCAKES WITH A VALENTINE’S DAY TWIST

I love me a solid stack of buttermilk pancakes, and so does the rest of my family. We are forever changing up what we put inside, whether we’re standing over a griddle or frying pan, or loading up a sheet pan and each getting our own quadrant.

Pancakes elicit comfort breakfast to me (and we so often have them for dinner, too!), and what better way to turn Valentine’s Day breakfast or brunch into even more of a cozy celebration than with a stack of red velvet pancakes with their bright red color, slightly tangy buttermilk flavor, and totally optional but fully adorable mini butter hearts.

Someone is pouring syrup onto a stack of red velvet pancakes.

YOU WILL LOVE THESE FLUFFY RED VELVET PANCAKES

One of the signature flavors of pancakes is that slightly tangy buttermilk, which is exactly why starting with a red velvet base for these pancakes works so well. If you’ve ever made classic red velvet cake or red velvet cupcakes, you know that buttermilk is a staple in bringing that perfect red velvet flavor.

Since we’re starting with red velvet cake mix, that classic buttermilk flavor is already there, but feel free to add a splash of white vinegar or lemon juice to the milk in the recipe for even more of that signature tang (here’s where you can read all about homemade buttermilk if you’re interested or need it in the future).

A fork digging into a stack of red velvet pancakes. There is syrup dripping down the sides and little butter hearts on top of the pancakes.

Another advantage of starting with a box mix is that you won’t need a mixer, a ton of dry ingredients, red food coloring, or any special equipment to get these pancakes from pancake batter to cooked pancakes. This is quite possibly the easiest Valentine’s Day (or, how fun, Christmas morning!) recipe you could ask for.

INGREDIENTS YOU NEED FOR THIS RED VELVET PANCAKES RECIPE

Since we’re starting with red velvet cake mix, our ingredient list is very short.

Aerial photo of ingredients for red velvet pancakes with text overlay.

For these red velvet pancakes, you will need:
• red velvet cake mix
• eggs
• milk
• oil (I prefer vegetable or canola)
• vanilla extract

HOW TO MAKE RED VELVET PANCAKES

STEP #1

Place the red velvet cake mix in a large bowl and set it aside.

STEP #2

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the cake mix and whisk again until ingredients are just combined. If there are lumps, that is ok. Don’t over mix the batter, as it could make your pancakes dry and tough.

Red velvet pancake mix in a large measuring glass with a spatula.

STEP #3

Allow pancake batter to rest while you heat an electric griddle or nonstick skillet over medium-low heat.

STEP #4

Coat griddle/skillet generously with butter, vegetable oil, or my preference, coconut oil. Once hot, drop ¼ cup of batter onto the skillet. Cook until the edges look set and bubbles begin to form on the sides.

STEP #5

Using a large spatula, flip the pancake quickly and cook on the other side until cooked through. Coat griddle/skillet again with choice of fat for each pancake.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN COOKING PANCAKES

In order for the best doneness on your pancakes, make sure you know what to look for!

Before you flip your pancakes, check for set edges and bubbles on the surface that pop and stay popped. If they fill back in with batter, the pancakes are not ready to flip yet! You can always peek under one side of the pancake before you flip, just to make sure.

Don’t worry if you’re not perfect right off the bat. Sometimes it takes a couple pancakes to get the right feel for the temperature and the time! Start with a smaller amount of batter if you’re unsure and want to test the conductivity of your particular surface.

SUCCESS TIPS

The only thing you need to know about cooking these pancakes is that we have always had terrible luck cooking pancakes with a buttered pan. Butter burns super easily, which can prove to be a problem when cooking pancakes.

If your batter isn’t the perfect consistency, your butter can burn before the inside of your pancake is fully cooked. We have the best results with coconut oil (and no, it doesn’t taste like coconut, I promise!), but whatever you normally use is totally fine.

VARIATIONS AND SUBSTITUTIONS

WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS: you can add chips to this recipe for a fun twist! Do not add to the batter, and rather drop chips into the tops of the pancakes after dropping the batter onto the cooking surface.

MILK: you can use any kind of milk you prefer here, but I find the best moisture and texture of pancakes made with full fat milk. If you want to use buttermilk, add a splash of white vinegar or lemon juice to any kind of milk to sour it slightly and bring some extra tang to the flavor of your pancakes.

WAFFLES: if you’d like to make red velvet waffles instead, add ¼ cup of additional oil to the recipe.

CREAM CHEESE ICING: I’ve linked my cream cheese frosting recipe, but you’ll want to be sure you don’t make way more frosting than you need. Cut the recipe half and then half again so you’ll be making ¼ of the full recipe.

A fork digging into a stack of red velvet pancakes. There is syrup dripping down the sides.

Aerial photo of a stack of red velvet pancakes with syrup and butter hearts on top. A bite has been taken out of the stack and a fork is on the plate in a pool of syrup.

RED VELVET PANCAKES RECIPE FAQs

This recipe for red velvet pancakes starts with a box of red velvet cake mix. You won’t need any red food coloring, leaveners, or even flour or sugar to make them!

Red velvet flavor is in a category all its own! It is not quite chocolate, even though it uses cocoa powder, but it is more than just a buttermilk flavor tinted red. It is slightly tangy and subtly chocolate with an overall rich flavor that pairs well with creamy toppings like cream cheese frosting or whipped cream.

Buttermilk is typically the reason restaurant pancakes are so fluffy and moist. The acid in the buttermilk reacts to the leavening agents in the pancake batter, which creates air bubbles that give the pancakes height and fluff. Since these red velvet pancakes already have acidic ingredients thanks to the box mix, your red velvet pancakes are already on the right fluffy track! If you want to make them even fluffier, add a splash of white vinegar or lemon juice to the milk you’ll use in this recipe.

Yes, in fact, this recipe halves wonderfully since you need 2 eggs for the recipe as written. You will get approximately 5 large pancakes with half of the recipe.

Love red velvet? Me, too. Check out any of these red velvet recipes next (both with a box mix and from scratch): red velvet cookies with cream cheese frosting, red velvet bundt cake, red velvet lava cakes, red velvet brownies, and red velvet Rice Krispies treats.

Half of a black plate can be seen. On top of this plate are red velvet cookies, topped with white cream cheese frosting.

lifting a slice of red velvet bundt cake with a cake server

Red Velvet Pancakes: Light and fluffy pancakes made easily with red velvet cake mix. Ready in no time so you can enjoy Valentine's Day breakfast with your sweetie!

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