Trust Us, Store-Bought Mac And Cheese Is The Secret To Upgrading Your Next Batch Of Pancakes

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Pancakes are a breakfast staple: easy to put on the table, filling, and comforting for the start of the day. Just fry some bacon on the side and use some good butter and your favorite syrup to feed a whole crew. When working with strictly breakfast pancakes, there are easy buttermilk pancake recipes to try, but there's an interesting hack to take your favorite pancake mix into savory territory that's another one of the ways to use store-bought pancake mix as an ingredient beyond breakfast.

You can mix it with store-bought mac and cheese to take your pancakes into a whole new realm. They'll turn into a soft and cheesy — or crispy and crunchy — cheesy fry bread of sorts, that's equally at home on the breakfast table or served as an appetizer or full-on dinner meal. Store-bought, boxed mac and cheese as an ingredient in your pancakes might just be the simple meal upgrade you need after a long day. The dish will be ready super quick, and you already know how to handle the ingredients out of the box, so there's no major measuring or guessing. Try these cheesy, semi-sweet pancakes — let's call them cheesy pancake fritters — for a delicious taste of comfort food that can be on the table in 30 minutes or less.

This is one of those meals or snacks that's easy to make with ingredients you probably already have in the pantry and a perfect way to upcycle leftover pancake batter or mac and cheese. You can up the saucy taste of your "mac" and cheese by subbing in orecchiette, or just go with your favorite boxed stuff. And if you're unsure on a solid boxed version, Chowhound's ranking of store-bought mac and cheese is a great way to discover brands you may have never even considered.

To make these cheesy pancake fritters, prepare the pancake batter as you normally would and simply mix in the fully prepared mac and cheese until properly blended, then cook on a skillet or griddle just like regular pancakes. To get them extra browned, you can add a little more oil and get a good fry on. And if you want more crispy cheese, add a bit of shredded cheddar to the batter. To take the fritters to the next level, use bacon and scallions or whatever savory aromatic or spice you may have in the kitchen. They're great covered in hot sauce, or you can go sweet and spicy with Frank's RedHot Original Hot Sauce mixed with maple syrup. It's a simple way to upgrade your regular store-bought ingredients and easy to tweak to your tastes: soft and chewy, crispy and cheesy, full-on savory, or slightly sweet.