Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Has a Famous Pancake Recipes That Features 2 of Our Favorite Flavors

Some viral recipes are a flash in the pan (I can live without another Hailey Bieber smoothie), but others deserve to become lifelong parts of your cooking repertoire. And in honor of National Pancake Month — which I very recently learned is February — there’s one celebrity-famous breakfast recipe that’s worth revisiting, in case you missed its debut just a few years ago.

As Gemma Stafford and her co-hosts Ami Shukla and Tianna Cohen point out in the latest episode of their podcast Knead to Know, there are quite a few celebrities out there who are passionate about pancakes. Gordon Ramsay has posted multiple pancake recipes, and in 2023 Kevin Bacon shared the three-ingredient pancakes he makes for his wife, Kyra Sedgwick.

But perhaps the most renowned pancake formula from a major celeb comes from none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Together with chef Janette “Puttie” Clark, the actor and professional wrestler sent the internet into a tailspin with a video of the duo’s coconut banana pancakes in March, 2021. Complete with a generous smear of peanut butter and maple syrup on top, the second you see these crispy-edged pancakes it’s clear why they immediately took off. Here’s everything you need to know to recreate them at home.

There are two key techniques that set these pancakes apart. Unlike most banana pancakes (or other banana-based baked goods), the Rock’s breakfast treats don’t call for the bananas to be mashed. Instead, the bananas are either diced or sliced, before being tossed in the batter — this not only makes the recipe a touch easier, but also creates tender bites of almost melty, warm banana throughout.

Coconut is incorporated into the pancakes in three different formats, allowing for maximum coconut flavor: unsweetened shredded coconut, coconut milk, and coconut water. So if you love coconut, these are for you. All the other ingredients in “DJ’s Infamous Coconut Banana Pancakes” as The Rock calls them, are straightforward items that you likely already have on hand. There’s no stand mixer or special equipment required either, so if you snag the requisite coconut products and some bananas, you could be making these this weekend.

Related: A Guide to Cooking With Any Type of Coconut, From Coconut Oil to Coconut Cream

Seeing videos of the griddled coconut-banana cakes as they're cut into with a knife and fork makes it clear why people were clamoring for the recipe. Because of the added moisture from the bananas and three forms of coconut, these pancakes look incredibly moist even on camera. If you’ve been plagued by dry pancakes before, this might be the answer.

Johnson and chef Puttie have made multiple videos about the pancakes together, with the latter noting that it took two months for them to perfect the recipe. She also emphasizes on the Rock’s Instagram that even in something as simple as pancakes, the quality of your ingredients matter. So make sure to purchase a quality shredded coconut, such as an organic option without any added preservatives, and don’t use the stale flour that’s been in the back of your pantry for a year.

These viral pancakes were so successful, both with The Rock and audiences online, that chef Puttie launched her own line of pancake mixes in 2022. Titled Simple Putt’s Pancakes, the brand of course sells a boxed mix for coconut banana pancakes.

While some fans have referred to Johnson’s favorite pancakes as a protein-packed breakfast — an easy mistake considering that as a member of the WWE, most of his meals are centered around the nutrient — a stack of these tropical-inspired treats is unlikely to be particularly high in protein. They don’t contain protein powder or any additional ingredients that would make their protein content greater than other pancake recipes, and neither banana nor coconut is a significant source of protein.

But do we really need our Sunday pancakes to be a substantial source of protein? That’s not typically my greatest concern when I’m about to dive into a pile of pancakes. Plus, you can always serve them just like The Rock does, with a generous smear of peanut butter on top — for a few more grams of protein and extra nutty, rich flavor — and a drizzle of maple syrup to finish.

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