Move over dalgona coffee. Step aside sourdough bread. There's a new food trend in town, and it may just replace your usual plate of pancakes.
Pancake cereal has become the newest quarantine craze to take over TikTok and Instagram.
Bowls of miniature pancakes slathered in syrup have been popping up all over social media, with the #pancakecereal hashtag receiving 10.6 million views on TikTok alone at the time of writing.
The recipe is actually quite simple. All you really need is pancake batter, plus something to squeeze it into tiny circles on a hot pan.
While many people have used piping bags and squeeze bottles for their tiny pancakes, others have created makeshift tools from whatever they can find around the house.
TikTok star Melanie Locke, whose pancake cereal video has been liked more than 133,000 times at the time of writing, put her batter into a water bottle and made a hole in the cap to create her miniature pancakes.
@melanie_locke i’m telling u guys 10/10 recommend!! might even beat normal pancakes ##pancakecereal
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"I couldn't find a sauce bottle in my house," she told Insider. "But my friend actually gave me the idea of making my own with a water bottle!"
Sabrina Bui, who also posted a video of her pancake cereal on TikTok, used a plastic oral syringe that she found in her medicine cabinet.
@sabrinabui1999 12/10 recommend!! 🥞 ##quarantinelife ##pancakecereal ##fyp
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Bui told Insider that she is "obsessed" with the trend.
"In my opinion it tastes better than actual pancakes, even though it's made the same way," she said. "It's way more fun to eat it as cereal. I feel like I won't go back to pancakes after this!"
Much like with dalgona coffee, people are already putting their own creative spins on the pancake cereal trend
Valentina Mussi of @sweetportfolio added sprinkles to her pancake batter and drizzled strawberry icing on top to give her cereal a playful twist.
"I saw the trend a few weeks back on TikTok and then I started to see it on Instagram, so I knew I had to jump on it and give it my own spin!" she told Insider.
"I have always been a huge fan of birthday cake and sprinkles so I knew I had to make this version myself."
Shay and Steph of @soflofooodie have spiced up their miniature pancakes by creating new flavors with actual cereal.
They crushed up Oreo O's and mixed them into the batter with Hershey's cocoa powder to create chocolate Oreo baby pancakes, and used food coloring and Lucky Charms cereal to create "unicorn" pancakes.
They even created waffle cereal by just cooking smaller squares of batter in their waffle maker.
Shay and Steph told Insider that they knew they needed to jump on the trend after they saw it on TikTok.
"We love trying new trends to see if they live up to the hype and these sure do," they added. "They're fun to make and eat!"
For those who want to make their own pancake cereal at home, Mussi recommends using a piping bag or squeeze bottle if you can.
"And avoid adding large toppings to the batter, like chocolate chips, because they will cause blockages," she said. "Instead, sprinkle on top!"
Mussi also recommends cooking the miniature pancakes on medium-low heat and using canola oil instead of butter.
"It has a much higher smoke point, meaning it won't burn," she added.
Pancake cereal is definitely more work, but many who have tried the trend think they actually taste better than your regular flapjack
"We prefer the pancake cereal because we can never finish a big stack of regular pancakes," Shay and Steph told Insider. "These make it easier to enjoy!"
"Normal pancakes are already easily one of my top favorite foods," added Locke. "I'd say the mini ones definitely taste better to me though, or maybe it's just because of the added effort."
It remains to be seen if pancake cereal will have the same staying power as dalgona coffee, but it doesn't look like the trend is disappearing anytime soon.
- Read more:
- 21 easy whipped drinks to make at home if you're tired of dalgona coffee
- I tried making dalgona coffee, the newest TikTok craze, and it was definitely worth the hype
- I made 4 whipped drinks at home including dalgona coffee and ranked them all from worst to best
- Dalgona coffee, the whipped drink that's everywhere on TikTok, has become the perfect quarantine caffeine fix
