Bring Leftover Pancakes Back To Life With Your Toaster

A lot of people save perfect pancake breakfasts for the weekend, mostly because they can be pressed for time on busy weekday mornings. On a day off, however, you can take your time in the kitchen, sipping coffee and whipping up fluffy flapjacks for the whole family. If you're one to save leftover pancakes for the week ahead, though, you know that they are rarely the same when they're reheated, particularly if you're doing so in the microwave. But, you might just be working with the wrong appliance because reheating pancakes in a standard toaster actually produces surprisingly delicious results.

The method doesn't take long and the pancakes develop a light toasting on the outside while the inside remains warm and fluffy, just the same way it came hot off the griddle on Sunday morning. Treat the pancakes just like a piece of bread going in the toaster. When they pop up, they should be ready for butter, syrup, jam, whipped cream, or whatever else you like to top them with. 

The reason that the toaster works better than the microwave for reheating pancakes is that the latter creates steam from any moisture that's in the pancake, which makes it soggy and prone to fall apart. And, when you add butter and syrup to the flapjacks, you'll end up with quite a mess and not a very good taste.

There is one caveat to this tip — if you have combined soft or melty ingredients like peanut butter or chocolate chips into your leftover pancakes, steer clear of warming them up in this fashion. Those ingredients could melt while in the toaster and create a burnt mess at the bottom of the appliance. In this case, it may be better to give the pancakes a quick warming on a hot skillet, or even place them in the oven for a brief period of time to get the same result. And, if you made a larger stacks like oven-baked pancakes, they will likely not fit into a toaster slot anyway.

With this newfound knowledge, you may want to double up on your next pancake recipe so you have leftovers on hand for heating up during the week. Storing them couldn't be easier, too. If you plan on keeping them in the refrigerator, let the flapjacks first cool to room temperature after cooking and then place them in a plastic storage bag or an airtight container. The pancakes should be good for a few days this way. You can also freeze them if you want to keep them longer. For this method, again cool the leftover pancakes and then place them in a plastic freezer bag, but separate each pancake with a piece of parchment paper to prevent any from sticking together. You can also thaw the pancakes before heating them in the toaster or just put them in frozen; it just may take an additional minute for them to heat through.