Expert reveals 'trick' to making viral air fryer pancakes

Tomorrow (March 4) is Pancake Tuesday and it's expected that around 117 million of the fluffy treats will be eaten on the day.

Egg sales soar on the day with around 22 million extra being sold to allow people to whip up their pancakes as part of this popular holiday.

There are, of course, ready made pancakes widely available to buy in supermarkets. However, for those who enjoy making a fresh batch you might ordinarily use a heavy frying pan and brave the flip.

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But social media has thousands of videos of people attempting to make theirs in the air fryer - the most popular kitchen gadget of the moment. Wannabe chefs on TikTok have had varying results with this method and some have described their efforts as 'epic fails' .

Making pancakes in the air fryer may sound like a recipe for disaster, but it can be done. All you need is the batter and some parchment paper. And the bonus is you can make several at once this way instead of tediously making them in a pan one by one.

The experts at Good Housekeeping believe they have found the perfect way to knock up a pile of pancakes in the air fryer but admit it took them a few attempts.

And they advise against the TikTok method of stacking batter between layers of parchment paper and instead suggest doing one layer at a a time.

Good Housekeeping's Grace Evan said: "I came to the conclusion that greasing the baking parchment and placing the tablespoons of batter next to each other in four neat dollops was the way forward."

Posting the recipe on their website, Grace admitted: "I’m going to be honest with you.. air fryer pancakes were a real labour of love to get right. Recipes don’t always work first time in the GH test kitchen. Sometimes a dish takes trial and error, and this was one of those times.

"So, since I’ve gone through all of that effort, do me a favour and give them a go – please."

Ingredients

• 200 g plain flour

• 2 Tbsp caster sugar

• 1 Tbsp baking powder

• 2 large eggs

• 175 ml milk

• 40 g butter, melted and cooled

• Oil, to grease

Directions

• In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and 1/2tsp salt until combined. In a jug, whisk the eggs, milk and butter until combined.

• Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and whisk until just combined. Cover bowl with clingfilm and leave to rest at room temperature for 1hr.

• Preheat air fryer to 180°C. Take two pieces of baking parchment just big enough to cover the base of your air fryer basket and brush both lightly with oil.

• Line the air fryer basket with one piece of baking parchment, oil-side up. Spoon 4 x 1tbsp portions of batter on to the parchment, spacing well apart. Place the second piece of parchment on top, oil-side down, pressing lightly to stick. Cook for 8min, until light and fluffy. Remove to a plate, cover and keep warm.

• Repeat step 4 with fresh baking parchment and remaining batter.

• Serve with crispy bacon and maple syrup, if you like.