Turkey Pancakes for Thanksgiving Breakfast
What could be more festive than Turkey Pancakes for Thanksgiving Breakfast?
Or maybe your family does brunch on Thanksgiving!
This is such a sweet and simple idea for a holiday gathering like that – fun and creative without requiring too much time and fuss.
Why Your Family Will Love Making Turkey Pancakes!
- They’re a fun way to start the holiday! – For children, Thanksgiving morning can feel like a whole lot of waiting – waiting around until the big Thanksgiving dinner. Often, the day is filled with being shooed away from the kitchen, where all the prep for the feast is taking place. Starting the day with a special Thanksgiving breakfast is a great way to make the morning more fun and festive for the children.
- It’s pretty quick and easy! – You’ll be in the kitchen enough on Thanksgiving, Mom! But it doesn’t take long to pull together these fun turkey pancakes. This is especially true if you use precooked bacon and prep the pancake batter the evening before the big day.
- They’re a balanced breakfast! – We all can chuckle at the cereal commercials from the 90s and their depiction of a “balanced breakfast”, but the truth is that it’s important to have both carbohydrates (for quick energy after the overnight fast) and proteins/fats (for satiety and stable blood sugars) for your first meal of the day!. The pancake turkey body gives your carbs, while the bacon tail feathers is your protein and fat. Pour a glass of milk to go alongside it, and you’re golden!
Ingredients Needed For Festive Turkey Pancake Breakfast
You can use your favorite pancake recipe to make the turkey bodies, or even a premade pancake mix!
Bisquik makes some pretty yummy pancakes!
However, I’m going to drop one of my favorite homemade pancake recipes.
Try it out!
- 2 Cups of Flour – Use regular all-purpose flour for light and fluffy pancakes, or swap to whole wheat flour. If you use whole wheat flour, reduce the milk by half a cup and slowly add more if needed.
- 1/3 Cup of Sugar – I use regular granulated sugar, but brown sugar tastes good in this recipe as well! It adds a bit of a molasses flavor and gives the pancakes a slightly deeper color. Perfect for a turkey body!
- 1 Teaspoon of Salt
- 1 1/2 Tablespoon of Baking Powder – You’ll find that this pancake recipe makes a thin batter. This is because I’m looking for fluffy pancakes, and thick heavy batter won’t rise as well! You need thin batter and a good leavening agent, so make sure your baking powder isn’t expired.
- 1 Large Egg – Eggs incorporate better into batters and doughs when they’ve been brought up to room temperature first. That’s not always super practical for breakfasts, but if you make the batter up the night before, you can!
- 2 Cups of Milk – Always feel free to swap to almond milk or another nut milk of your choice, if allergies require.
- 2 Tablespoons of Butter – This needs to be mixed into the batter, so it needs to be softened or even melted. Use unsalted butter, or else remove salt as a separate ingredient. If you’re microwaving the butter to melt it, let it cool down slightly before adding it to the batter.
- 2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Extract
- 1 Pound of Bacon – The bacon strips will be the turkey feathers! This is one instance where precooked, microwaved bacon works well, because it tends to lay more flat than bacon fried in a pan or roasted in an oven. But however you want to cook your bacon, whatever meat your want your bacon to be made from, it’s all fine!
- Strawberries – The beak of these turkeys is half a strawberry! Of course, that’s a paltry serving of fruit, so after cutting in half the strawberries you need to make your turkey faces, serve the rest as a side alongside your Thanksgiving pancakes.
- Chocolate Chips – Just a dash of sweet, for the eyes! It is a holiday, after all.
How To Make Turkey Pancakes
- Heat griddle or a hot skillet to over medium heat.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients for your pancakes.
- Starting with the milk, add the wet ingredients to the bowl. Stir until smooth. No lumps! This will be a thin pancake batter. Feel free to adjust and add more flour, a tablespoon at a time, if you prefer a thicker batter.
- You need to make two different sizes of pancakes – a large pancake for the body and a small pancake for the head! You can eyeball it, put the batter in a squeeze bottle, or use round metal cookie cutters. Keep in mind that the pancakes sizes won’t take the same amount of time to cook! The larger pancake will take about 3-4 minutes, while the smaller pancake will only take 1-2 minutes.
- While you’re juggling the pancakes, cut the tops off of the strawberries and slice them in half lengthwise. Also, however you’re handling the bacon, get it cooked up and warm!
- Tear 3 bacon slices in half, and lay the halves in a semi-circle. Place the large circle pancake on top of the bacon slices, just enough that it holds them in place. Voila – tail feathers!
- Place the small pancake on top of the large pancake, just a little further down than right smack in the middle. On this head, position two chocolate chip eyes and one strawberry beak.
- Use a pizza cutter or knife to cut a third pancake into small strips, and arrange these at the bottom to be the turkey’s feet.
- Serve with a generous amount of maple syrup. Happy Thanksgiving!
What To Serve With Your Thanksgiving Day Breakfast
These turkey pancakes are a showstopper on their own, but let’s round out the breakfast table!
- Eggs – Eggs are one of the best foods you can have for breakfast! Put a spoonful of scrambled eggs or a fried egg on each plate beside your turkey friend
- Fruit – Fill a bowl with some of your favorite fruit! You probably have leftover strawberries from making the beaks, so use those! Mandarin oranges, banana slices, and apple slices are other good options.
- Beverage – Sure, you’ll be leaning on coffee to get through the Thanksgiving dinner prep, but your children probably shouldn’t! A cup of milk or juice will be a happy addition to your homemade pancakes.
Turkey Pancakes
What could be more festive than Turkey Pancakes for Thanksgiving Breakfast? Or maybe your family does brunch on Thanksgiving!
Equipment
- Pancake Griddle or Hot Skillet
Ingredients
- 2 Cups of Flour
- 1/3 Cup of Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon of Salt
- 1 1/2 Tablespoon of Baking Powder
- 1 Large Egg
- 2 Cups of Milk
- 2 Tablespoons of Butter
- 2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Extract
- 1 Pound of Bacon
- Strawberries
- Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Heat griddle or a hot skillet to over medium heat.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients for your pancakes.
- Starting with the milk, add the wet ingredients to the bowl. Stir until smooth. No lumps! This will be a thin pancake batter. Feel free to adjust and add more flour, a tablespoon at a time, if you prefer a thicker batter.
- You need to make two different sizes of pancakes – a large pancake for the body and a small pancake for the head! You can eyeball it, put the batter in a squeeze bottle, or use round metal cookie cutters. Keep in mind that the pancakes sizes won’t take the same amount of time to cook! The larger pancake will take about 3-4 minutes, while the smaller pancake will only take 1-2 minutes.
- While you’re juggling the pancakes, cut the tops off of the strawberries and slice them in half lengthwise. Also, however you’re handling the bacon, get it cooked up and warm!
- Tear 3 bacon slices in half, and lay the halves in a semi-circle. Place the large circle pancake on top of the bacon slices, just enough that it holds them in place. Voila – tail feathers!
- Place the small pancake on top of the large pancake, just a little further down than right smack in the middle. On this head, position two chocolate chip eyes and one strawberry beak.
- Use a pizza cutter or knife to cut a third pancake into small strips, and arrange these at the bottom to be the turkey's feet.
- Serve with a generous amount of maple syrup. Happy Thanksgiving!
Another Fun Thanksgiving Idea
If you think ideas like this are fun, you might also enjoy these Turkey Cinnamon Rolls.
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