How Many Calories in a Pancake?
First one out of the pan, straight onto a waiting squeeze of lemon: a thin English pancake (about 80 g) is 187 calories plain, from a batter that measures 234 kcal per 100 g. How many calories in a pancake once it's dressed? Lemon and a teaspoon of sugar make it 203 — and syrup can double the whole plate.
You'd need to walk about 37 minutes to burn the 187 calories in a thin English pancake (~80 g).
How long does it take to burn off a pancake?
A thin English pancake (~80 g) is 187 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 187 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 37 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 23 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 27 min |
| Jogging | 22 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 42 min |
Times are for a 154 lb (11 st) adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (80 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Quick facts
- Thin, American, or a stack of three
- Savoury, wholemeal and duck pancakes
- How do pancakes compare?
- The topping myth
- Most popular pancake brands
- FAQ
Quick facts
The pancake measured here is the classic sweet homemade batter made with semi-skimmed milk — and it hides a surprise:
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per pancake (~80 g) | RI%* (per pancake) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 234 kcal (979 kJ) | 187 kcal (782 kJ) | 9% |
| Protein | 6.3 g | 5.0 g | 10% |
| Carbohydrates | 37.9 g | 30.3 g | 12% |
| — of which sugars | 17.0 g | 13.6 g | 15% |
| Fat | 7.4 g | 5.9 g | 8% |
| — of which saturates | 1.22 g | 1.0 g | 5% |
| Fibre | 1.0 g | 0.8 g | — |
| Salt | 0.13 g | 0.10 g | 2% |
*RI = reference intake for an average adult (2,000 kcal a day).
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from CoFID, the UK government’s Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified August 2026. How we verify our data →
Look at that sugar line before you reach for the syrup. The standard sweet batter already carries 17 g of sugar per 100 g — this recipe is a dessert before anything touches it, with a single pancake holding 13.6 g, nearly half the NHS 30 g free-sugars guideline.
Thin, American, or a stack of three
Format decides the bill. One thin English pancake — the crêpe-style one that gets rolled around lemon and sugar — weighs about 80 g and costs 187 calories plain, or 203 with the classic lemon plus a teaspoon of sugar (16 calories). A small, thick American-style pancake weighs around 45 g and lands near 105.
Then there is Pancake Day arithmetic. The traditional plate of three thin pancakes reaches roughly 560 calories before a single topping — a full dinner's worth that rarely gets counted as one, because each pancake arrives separately and honestly-just-one-more logic takes over.
Savoury, wholemeal and duck pancakes
Drop the sugar from the batter and the pancake gets meaningfully cheaper: the savoury version in CoFID, the UK government's food composition dataset, comes in at 203 kcal per 100 g, so the same 80 g pancake is about 162 — the wrapping for a ham-and-cheese filling rather than a dessert. Wholemeal savoury batter is nearly identical at 209.
The outlier is the Chinese duck pancake at 305 kcal per 100 g — a denser, oil-brushed dough built for crispy duck. The batter is flour, milk and egg in every case; what separates 203 from 305 is sugar and fat worked into the mix.
How do pancakes compare?
| Breakfast | Portion | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Pancake (thin, sweet) | 1 (~80 g) | 187 |
| Crumpet | 1 | 95 |
| Yorkshire pudding | 1 | 108 |
| Croissant | 1 | 224 |
| Porridge | bowl | 168 |
The fun comparison is the Yorkshire pudding: essentially the same batter, but baked without sugar, at 108 — proof that most of the pancake's premium is the sweet recipe, not the flour. For an everyday breakfast, porridge at 168 buys far more staying power per calorie; as a treat, one pancake at 187 still undercuts a croissant.
A crumpet at 95 is the cheapest of Britain's griddled breads here. Two of them cost about the same as one pancake dressed with lemon and sugar.
The topping myth
"It's only the toppings that count" is the Pancake Day lie everyone tells themselves. The sweet batter is already 17 g sugar per 100 g — the plate of three carries 560 calories with nothing on it, and toppings are added to a dessert, not to a blank canvas.
Toppings then finish the job: syrup, chocolate spread or a scoop of ice cream will typically double the plate, in line with the NHS Eatwell Guide's point that discretionary extras are where sugar and fat pile up fastest. Lemon and one teaspoon of sugar remain the best-value dressing in the book: 16 calories for the full ritual.
Most popular pancake brands in the United Kingdom
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United Kingdom, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each label. Shop scotch pancakes are denser than a homemade crêpe batter.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Tesco Scotch Pancakes | 262 kcal |
| Warburtons Scotch Pancakes | 262 kcal |
| Asda Scotch Pancakes | 256 kcal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels.
FAQ
Pancakes with lemon and sugar: what do they cost?
203 calories: 187 for a thin 80 g pancake plus 16 for a teaspoon of sugar, with the lemon juice contributing nothing worth counting. It is the cheapest classic topping by a distance — most spreads and syrups cost several teaspoons' worth per serving.
How many calories in American pancakes?
About 105 calories for a typical small, thick American-style pancake (~45 g). They read as lighter per piece than English pancakes, but they arrive in stacks — three with syrup passes 400 before the bacon, so count the stack, not the pancake.
How many calories in pancakes with syrup?
Budget for roughly double the plain plate. A stack of three thin pancakes is about 560 calories on its own, and a generous pour of syrup or chocolate spread typically pushes the plate towards four figures. Measure syrup by the spoon, not by the bottle's glug.
How many calories in 3 pancakes?
About 560 calories for three thin 80 g pancakes before toppings — dinner-sized, though it rarely feels that way one pancake at a time. With lemon and sugar on each, the Pancake Day plate lands around 610.
How many calories in a crêpe?
About 187 for a plain 80 g one — the thin English pancake and the French crêpe are the same idea, a wide pan-thin batter round. Creperie versions vary with size and how much butter meets the pan, so treat 187 as the plain baseline.
How many calories in a savoury pancake?
About 162 for an 80 g pancake, from CoFID's 203 kcal per 100 g for sugar-free batter. That saves 25 calories a pancake before fillings, and swaps the 13.6 g of sugar for almost none — the filling then decides whether it stays a light meal.
Are protein pancakes lower in calories?
Not automatically — they trade flour for protein powder or extra egg, which changes the macros more than the energy. The win is fullness and a better protein line, not a dramatically smaller number, and shop-bought mixes vary widely, so read the label per pancake.
How much sugar is in a pancake?
13.6 g in one thin sweet pancake, from 17 g per 100 g of batter — nearly half the NHS 30 g daily free-sugars guideline before toppings. The savoury batter is the honest fix, carrying almost no sugar for only 25 fewer calories.
Are pancakes a healthy breakfast?
As a daily breakfast they are a dessert in disguise — 187 calories per pancake with 13.6 g of sugar, and toppings still to come. A bowl of porridge at 168 holds you longer for less. As an occasional plate, enjoy them properly and just log the stack.
Similar foods
- Hash brown — 127 kcal each at McDonald’s
- Duck eggs — ~106 kcal each
- Eggs — 72 kcal per boiled medium egg
- Greek yogurt — 226 kcal per 170 g pot
- Weetabix — 136 kcal for two biscuits
- Porridge — 168 kcal a bowl with semi milk
Flip first, count later
One photo of the stack and BodyPal logs the lot — pancakes, sugar and syrup — in UK portions with sugar and salt in grams, so Pancake Day maths takes care of itself.
