8 Store-Bought Pancake Mixes, Ranked From Worst To Best

I'm not a big breakfast eater most of the time, but having breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite things. So I was stoked to try these eight store-bought pancake mixes to see how they stacked up against each other. To be honest, I had my doubts about how different they could actually be from one another, but over the course of my pancake experiments, I learned that, while it's rare to come across a truly bad pancake, there is a clear and definite line between an okay pancake and a really good one.

There are several key factors that separate the "fine" from the "fantastic" in the pancake world. Most importantly, of course, are taste and texture, but price, convenience, and versatility make a big difference, too. While every store-bought pancake mix I tried was good, the best one stood out from the rest in every way and had me fantasizing about possibilities beyond pancakes.

The Birch Benders batter was so thick, it clung to the measuring cup I was using to dish it out, but I did get exactly six pancakes out of the six-pancake amount given in the instructions. The pancakes puffed up even more in the pan — over half an inch tall — but I noticed that they were much more prone to sticking and burning than the other mixes on this list, despite the fact that I had oiled the electric skillet in exactly the same way for all of them.

The Birch Benders pancakes had a pleasant, slightly sweet flavor, but were surprisingly dense considering how much the batter puffed up while standing the recommended two minutes before cooking. The outside of the pancake was a little tough and challenging to cut with a fork, too. I suspect the texture would have been better if the batter had been just a bit thinner, with an extra tablespoon or two of water, but following the instructions as intended, these just weren't good enough to justify the high price of 34 cents per ounce.

The Kodiak pancake mix is made with whole-grain wheat for a boost of protein. The batter was much darker than the other pancake mixes, and very heavy, with hardly a bubble to be found even as it cooked in the pan. After browning, the outer crust of the pancakes was visibly dry, so I didn't have high hopes for the flavor and texture of the pancake.

The Kodiak buttermilk pancakes did manage to exceed my expectations, though, if only slightly. The flavor was a little bland — neither noticeably sweet nor salty — but not unpleasant. And while they were, as I suspected, a little bit dry, I had also expected them to be unbearably dense and heavy. But to my surprise, the texture was, though not exactly like regular pancakes, pretty darn close.

The price was much higher than almost any other brand on this list at nearly 35 cents per ounce, but I think the added protein justifies the cost — though you could give your regular pancake mix a protein boost with cottage cheese for less money. This won't be my go-to pancake mix on its own, but I'll definitely start adding a scoop of it to regular pancake batter to help load my kids up on their game days.

Of all the mixes on this list, Dolly Parton's was the one I was most excited about. I'm a huge fan of her brand's frozen meals, and I've heard good things about the cake mixes, too, so I couldn't wait to try the pancake mix. One of the first things I noticed was that, unlike most of the other mixes on this list, Dolly Parton's has two sets of instructions just for pancakes. I stuck with the just-add-water instructions out of fairness for the ranking, but I have a feeling the second version, which includes milk and eggs, would have been better.

Still, even with just water, Dolly Parton's pancakes were quite tasty. They were super thick and pillowy, and the pancakes were slightly sweet on their own. But the texture was, unfortunately, a little too heavy and dense. Unlike several of the other store-bought pancake mixes, Dolly Parton's didn't include a recommendation to let the batter stand before cooking, so I dished the pancakes out into the pan right after mixing — one of the classic pancake-ruining mistakes — which didn't leave much time for the leavening to go to work. But I think even a minute or two on the counter would have made a world of difference.

My second complaint is the overall value for the price. Dolly Parton's pancake mix made fewer pancakes than the others I tried, and it costs around 15 cents per ounce. That's not a bad price by any means, it's just too much to pay for too few pancakes that didn't even knock my socks off. Sorry, Dolly.

I have to admit, Bisquick Shake 'n Pour pancake mix has always struck me as a gimmick that simply costs more than the average box of pancake mix. And I was right about the cost — over 40 cents per ounce, roughly four times as much as Hungry Jack. But the gimmick actually did add a lot of convenience to the process. Before shaking, I noticed that the mix had compacted at the bottom of the bottle, so I gave it a shake to loosen it before adding water, and it mixed up thoroughly — way easier than stirring with a fork. The Bisquick batter was quite thin, and it poured easily, meaning I didn't have to wash a bowl or a measuring cup at all, which is a massive bonus.

The Bisquick cooking instructions were pretty vague compared to other mixes — no temperatures, times, or tips — so I went with 350 degrees Fahrenheit until bubbly on top and browned on the bottom, and that worked out fine. The texture was light and fluffy, and the flavor was pretty good, though nothing out of this world. A splash of Sprite could probably turn them up a notch, but still, if you're looking for fantastic pancakes, I recommend looking elsewhere. However, if you need to get breakfast on the table fast for a couple of hungry kids while making as little mess as possible, Bisquick Shake 'n Pour is the way to go. It can also be refrigerated in the container for up to three days — or frozen in ice cube trays — to save for later.

The first thing I noticed about the Hungry Jack complete buttermilk pancake batter was that it was super thick, even right after mixing. But after following the instruction to let it sit for 3 minutes before dishing, it was almost dough-like. After scraping the bowl, I only got 11 pancakes out of the amount of mix that was supposed to make 12-16, but they were among the thickest pancakes I tried, plumping up even more in the pan as they cooked.

The flavor of the Hungry Jack pancakes was pretty good — slightly sweet, but not particularly complex — and the texture was a lot lighter than I expected, considering how thick the batter was. But while they didn't blow my mind, my kids passed up bacon to save room to fill up on pancakes when I made these. More bacon for me is definitely a win in my book, and at roughly 10 cents per ounce, the price is right, too.

I grew up on Pearl Milling pancakes, though it was called Aunt Jemima back then, and everything about them still feels familiar to me. The batter was thinner than most, which I like, both for the more crepe-like texture and the ease of dishing onto the skillet, but the pancakes do puff up while they cook. The result was a thick pancake that was still moist and light — the perfect combination, in my opinion. As far as the flavor, Pearl Milling was one of the top contenders as well. There was saltiness and sweetness in the pancake, in just the right proportions, and they were almost perfectly round and evenly browned — the most photogenic of the pancakes so far.

In fact, my only complaint about the Pearl Milling pancake mix isn't about the pancakes at all, but the packaging. Every other pancake mix on this list had a reclosable package — a zip-top bag, a plastic pouch inside a tab-and-slot box, or a screw-top lid. But the Pearl Milling box was full of loose, unbagged mix with a pour spout that neither pours nor recloses properly, and spills extra mix everywhere. It's something I never would have thought twice about if I'd just grabbed the Pearl Milling mix off the shelf on a regular shopping trip, but compared side-by-side with the rest of the options, it felt unreasonably inconvenient. It's also a little more expensive than similar mixes at around 12 cents per ounce, which won't break the bank, but is enough to make a noticeable difference between Pearl Milling pancake mix and the higher-ranked, lower-priced mixes on this list.

Krusteaz makes a variety of baking mixes, but I'd never tried any of them before, so I had no idea what to expect. But the Krusteaz complete buttermilk pancake mix is easily one of my favorite store-bought mixes on this list. In a lot of ways, it was very similar to the Pearl Milling mix. The batter was thin and pourable but puffed up in the pan, leading to a light and fluffy pancake, and it browned beautifully at the exact moment that it was fully cooked.

The flavor was very similar to Pearl Milling's mix, too — a nice balance of savory-sweetness — with a moist crumb that was chock full of bubbles. Really, the only noticeable difference between the Krusteaz pancakes and the Pearl Milling pancakes was the packaging. The bright blue box looked unlike any of the other pancake mixes on this list, but more importantly, it was reclosable. I know a folded plastic pouch inside a cardboard tab-and-slot box is far from air-tight, but it felt a million times more secure than a never-fully-closed cardboard spout. And it was the least expensive mix on this list by weight at just over 9 cents per ounce.

Patti's Good Life pancake mix, by Patti Labelle, made a much thinner batter than the other mixes, which I loved, because I generally prefer a more crepe-like pancake than the towering flapjacks most other pancake mixes produce. It did make them a little more difficult to manage in the pan — I highly recommend using a spatula that's as wide as your pancakes for flipping — but the resulting pancakes had an unbelievably satisfying texture that was both moist and fluffy.

The pancake on its own was slightly salty, which caught me off guard at first, but it created a really interesting and surprisingly complex flavor contrast with the maple syrup. It would be a great waffle batter, especially for a sweet and savory plate like chicken and waffles, but I could also see myself using Patti's Good Life pancake mix as a more flavorful substitute for an all-purpose baking mix like Bisquick. And at under 10 cents per ounce, it was one of the least expensive mixes on this list by weight, so it's a win all around.

I selected eight national brands and purchased a complete, just-add-water buttermilk pancake mix from each to ensure I was comparing like mixes to each other. I prepared each one in an electric skillet according to the directions on the package, measuring the mix by weight and sticking to the just-add-water preparation when more than one option was available.

I then sampled each pancake by itself, and with a pat of butter and pure maple syrup. The main criteria by which I judged them, of course, were taste and texture, but other factors, such as value for the price, convenience, and versatility, also informed the overall rankings.