20 Tasty Toppings For Pancakes That Aren't Maple Syrup

There are few foods that are as easily recognizable as pancakes. The picture of a perfect stack of pancakes, though, may seem incomplete without the breakfast food's most common sidekick: maple syrup. Or, depending on where you're from, that version of maple syrup is just maple-flavored corn syrup. But, that's a topic for another day. 

Maple syrup is a fantastic topping for pancakes for many reasons. First and foremost, it sinks down into the pancake and infuses the entire thing with a sticky, sweet flavor. Not only does this topping make the pancakes more tantalizing and flavorful, but it really adds a whole lot of texture to an otherwise heavy and dense breakfast dish. But maple syrup is far from the only topping that you can use for your short stack. We made a list of some of the best toppings that you can add to your next batch instead of syrup. All of them are bound to elevate the flavor, consistency, and overall decadence level of your pancakes.

The best part about going to Texas Roadhouse isn't the hand-cut steaks — it's those deliciously soft rolls covered in the equally tantalizing honey cinnamon butter. And luckily, you won't have to make a trip to the casual dining chain to get your hands on a delicious cinnamon honey butter for your short stack. Just whip up some butter in a stand mixer, add in your honey and your cinnamon, and you'll be all set. When the butter gets plopped onto your pancakes, you get to watch it seep into every pore and fill every bite with sweet, spiced goodness. Okay, you can wipe the drool from the corner of your mouth now. 

Honey cinnamon butter is an approachable pancake topping for all eaters, and it pairs well with other toppings, too. Aim for a drizzle of apple butter or sliced pears to elevate the mouthfeel even more. 

Maple syrup and pancake syrup both tend to be one note. While these toppings deliver on some promises of a sweet flavor, they lack the succulent and milky mouthfeel that a sugary caramel sauce — or even better, a dulce de leche — can bring. 

Making caramel sauce requires patience (and some tips to get it just right), so we always buy ours from the grocery store instead. You'll likely find a jar of it in the section with the ice cream toppings, or you can opt for an easy-to-use squeeze container. As for the dulce de leche, which boasts a milkier flavor, simply try boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk to reach the ideal consistency and flavor. Once your sauce is finished, you can pair it with a nut or fruit topping, or make things extra indulgent with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. 

Apple butter is typically a seasonal concoction made from cooking down fruit with spices until it takes on a caramelized flavor and uber-thick texture. Besides being a delicious addition to any autumnal charcuterie board, it's also one of the items that you need to include on your next stack of flapjacks. 

Apple butter plays well with others, namely spices and toasted nuts. A heaping stack of pancakes, accompanied with a slather of cinnamon-spiced apple butter and topped with toasted pecans, is absolutely top tier. Moreover, you could also add a little scoop of Greek yogurt on top to play on the sweet flavor of the apples; it will add depth and creamy complexity to your pancakes. 

Usually, coffee cake and pancakes live on two separate planes. But, why can't these two meet up for a little rendezvous? 

The next time you make a batch of pancakes, consider adding a little sprinkle of cinnamon sugar streusel to the top. Streusel is a pretty basic topping. It only really needs to include three parts: butter, flour, and sugar. In order to ensure that your streusel sticks to the pancakes, you're going to need to cook the pancakes themselves with the streusel. Once you pour the pancake batter into the pan, add a sprinkle of the streusel on top. Then, add even more after you flip the pancake over to cook the other side. While this topping is a little more intense than a drizzle of syrup, adding streusel to your short stack will impart a buttery flavor and a slight sweetness — no syrup required! 

Maple syrup and pancake syrup are going to be the two most common syrups that people have in their pantry at any given time. Hickory syrup is a little more of a gourmet topping and one that may require a little bit of detective work to find. The hickory syrup isn't tapped from the tree; rather, it's made by infusing roasted hickory bark and sugar together. You can try to locate a DIY recipe online (so long as you have a shagbark hickory tree in your area). Instead, you can also order hickory sauce from Amazon or another online retailer. 

The flavor of this syrup is like a cross between root beer concentrate and maple syrup, with a little bit of smokiness thrown in. It's more complex than a humble bottle of maple syrup, which makes it a pancake topping with personality. 

There's a reason why Nutella remained a popular topping for everything from breakfast toast to ice cream for so many years. This thick and rich spread, made from cocoa, hazelnuts, and milk, is quite dense and flavorful, making it an excellent pairing for a batch of otherwise bland pancakes. Plus, you can pair it easily with sliced strawberries or banana for a breakfast that the whole family will love.

Although the Nutella will slightly melt on your pancakes, getting it out of the jar and onto them can be a bit of a challenge. For the best results, we would recommend grabbing an offset spatula and trying to better distribute the Nutella on your pancakes.

It's hard not to love a delicious strawberry compote, and you're sure to love it even more when it's soaking into all of the nooks and crannies of your pancakes. Not only do you get the whole chunks of fruit, but you also get the saucy sweetness that your taste buds are craving. And, it's even better that you can whip up a batch at home in just about 10 minutes. Simply cook down the fruit (fresh or frozen) with a little bit of lemon juice and sugar, and you'll have a sweet spread perfect for plain, chocolate chip, or fruit-infused pancake batter. 

There are several different types of compote that you can make other than strawberry, too. Blueberry. raspberry, and blackberry compotes are all at your fingertips — just waiting to be paired with a fluffy dollop of whipped cream. 

If you order a stack of pancakes from your local diner, chances are that you'll get served the holy trinity: syrup, whipped butter, and whipped cream. While whipped butter is a great option for pancakes, especially if you're after the richness factor, whipped cream will provide the perfect balance of something that's sweet, but also not so heavy that it weighs you down. Each mouthful will be filled with the delicate fluff of the whipped cream paired with the dense pancake — as well as any toppings you want to add.

The best thing about whipped cream is that you can infuse it with different flavors to completely change your approach to this breakfast staple. For one, you may want to try adding a splash of whiskey for a boozy whipped cream, or you can include a few drops of almond extract for a nutty flair. 

There's nothing that incites a kid-like joy more than when a stack of pancakes comes out of the kitchen absolutely covered in chocolate sauce. Your immediate thought might be, "Should you really be eating chocolate sauce this early in the morning?" Well, our only advice would be to try thinking less — because chocolate is an absolutely divine topping for pancakes. Not only does it go with other toppings, like chocolate chips, peanut butter, fresh fruit, and more, but you can also use it to complement the flavors of the pancake itself. Pumpkin pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, and even berry-infused flapjacks could use the richness and sweetness that this topping can provide. 

Not all chocolate sauces are created equal, so be sure to select one that has your desired texture. While a hot fudge sauce may be a tad too thick, a thin chocolate syrup may just soak right into the pancakes rather than acting as a topping. 

You might be thinking that cheese belongs in eggs — not on pancakes. But, we're here to turn you on to the idea of adding fluffy ricotta as a topping for your pancakes. Anyone who has had a ricotta-based dessert (or even breakfast) can acknowledge the light mouthfeel that the soft cheese can add to every bite. Mainly, we would recommend stirring up some full-fat ricotta with a little bit of lemon zest and sugar to create a gourmet topping for your humble flapjacks. 

The lemon zest helps bring some brightness to the spread while the sugar evens out its flavors more and shifts the balance to something sweet. Pair this sweet spread with a dollop of blueberry compote or fresh fruit for a light, summery breakfast. 

Pancakes aren't always the most protein-dense breakfast that you can order at a diner (that would be the eggs and the meat). But, you could always nix the syrup and opt for a little bit of peanut butter for a boost of protein and fat. Peanut butter, or really any nut butter, has a slightly savory depth that not many other pancake toppings can boast. Not to mention, it plays well with all things chocolate.

Like the Nutella, you'd want to use an offset spatula to spread your peanut butter all over your pancakes. Or, you can opt to warm up a little bit of peanut butter in the microwave and drizzle it across your pancakes.

Pancakes, as a whole, are often associated with words like "dense," "heavy," and even sometimes "stodgy." Lightness and brightness are usually the last things to come to mind when it comes to a stack of this breakfast staple. 

So, if your pancake stack is in need of something to wake it up and rejuvenate it, consider grabbing a lemon or two from the grocery store. You can make a quick lemon syrup by cooking down the juice with some sugar. The sugar is important here as it will nullify some of the juice's tartness without dulling any of its acidity and flavor. A scoop of Greek yogurt, or a handful of fresh, sliced strawberries would make for a delicious stack of pancakes perfect for the days that you're dreaming of summer. 

Cream cheese — is there anything not to love? This fatty and unctuous dairy product is a top-tier option for adding to a whole host of recipes, though you may have never tried to use it as a topping for pancakes. When it's whipped up into a spread, it's easy to add it as a delectable schmear for your pancakes. The slightly tangy flavor will help elevate the dense pancakes and make for a well-rounded, ultra-creamy bite. 

There are tons of ways you can elevate this topping from just whipped cream cheese, too. Add a drizzle of honey or a sprinkle of your favorite spices to bring some complexity. Cream cheese can elevate almost any basic pancake recipe, especially cinnamon bun Christmas pancakes. You won't be missing the maple syrup anytime soon. 

If you're craving a little bit of texture in your pancakes, you may want to try turning to nuts. There are an array of different types that you can use for your pancakes, including the likes of pecans and walnuts for something fatty and dense or even slivered almonds for something a little more dainty and refined. Not only do all of these nuts add a special crunch factor to your pancakes, but they can also really highlight the flavors already in your pancakes. If you try our recipe for triple vanilla almond flour pancakes, you'll find that adding an extra dose of nuttiness on top, in the form of slivered almonds, really will help drive home those flavors. 

If you crave more of a syrupy texture, you could also try tracking down a jar of wet nuts in the ice cream topping section of your grocery store. These walnuts are swimming in a vat of sticky syrup, so you'll get both a crunch and a treacly texture with every bite.

If you're not in the business of reinventing the wheel, a logical maple syrup alternative that you can turn to for your next batch of pancakes is honey. While the consistency is a little more viscous than maple syrup is, you'll find that honey has a more floral-forward flavor and one that is a better match for fruit than your trusty bottle of Grade A amber. 

Honey can be a little bit sickly sweet, which is why we'd recommend sticking to just a little drizzle. It can come in handy if you're using an already dense topping, like Greek yogurt or whipped cream cheese, as it adds a hint of acidity and complementary sweetness. 

Eating a bowl of Greek yogurt is an excellent way to start your morning on the right foot, but so is indulging in a stack of pancakes. So, why not get the best of both worlds by adding a scoop of your favorite Greek yogurt brand to your pancakes? Greek yogurt has a delectably thick consistency, and you can likely already find a brand that's sweetened. Though, that's not to say that your stack of upgraded flapjacks isn't deserving of a drizzle of honey and a handful of granola on it, too. 

Greek yogurt may be a preferable alternative to whipped cream if you're looking for something that has a higher protein content. It's thick and creamy and will really up your pancake game. 

The best things in life are simple — and occasionally, the best things to top your stack of pancakes with are equally as plain. If you're looking for a delectable topping for your morning stack of pancakes, consider repurposing that bowl of fruit salad that's been sitting in your fridge. Fruits like blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries offer an especially juicy and sweet bite like no other. Moreover, you can also utilize more uncommon fruit toppings for your pancakes. For example, if you're looking for a tropical twist, consider slicing up some fresh pineapple and adding a little sprinkle of coconut flakes on top. 

Fresh fruit is the crème de la crème of the pancake toppings world. But, if you can't get your hands on the fresh stuff, you may consider cracking open a can of fruit, draining off the liquid, and spooning it on top of your stacks. Sliced canned peaches would be excellent here, as they still retain their flavor and texture, and best of all, they come pre-peeled. 

There are a lot of things you can do with applesauce. For one, it can be used as an alternative to some ingredients in boxed cake mix, or it can be used as a dressing for a delicious pork dish. But, one of the simplest ways to put this pantry and lunchbox staple to good use is to spoon it on top of your pancakes. 

Applesauce has a liquidy texture, so it will spread easily across your stack and infuse each pancake with sweetness and fruity flair. You can also pair it with other mix-ins, including spices like cinnamon, to elevate its flavor and make it a bit more autumnal. The next time you try a batch of apple pancakes, consider adding a spoonful or two of applesauce to the top and watch your bite totally change. 

Knowing how to thoughtfully use spices is the hallmark of good cooking. While many folks opt to add the spices to the pancake batter itself, mainly ones like cinnamon and nutmeg, you can also make an impression on your stack of pancakes by adding the spices on top after it's cooked. Cinnamon is a great place to start, as it has a neutral flavor that is inoffensive. Adding a sprinkle of it to your pancakes will bring out the sweetness of the batter and make every bite a little more flavorful. You could also add a sprinkle of granulated sugar on top to give your short stack a twist on the childhood treat: cinnamon toast. 

The other warming spices, like nutmeg, allspice, and more, are the ones you need to be careful with, as adding too much can make the bite bitter. If you want to temper the flavor of these spices, try to make your own spice mix.

Ice cream on pancakes may not be your idea of a fun time, especially at 7 a.m., but for all intents and purposes, adding a scoop of ice cream to the top of your pancakes is a great idea. The ice cream has not only the creamy factor, but it also has the sweetness that your stack needs. As the pancake releases heat, it will melt the ice cream and allow it to sink down into all of those pores.

There are tons of different flavors that you can experiment with. For one, you may want to try adding a maple walnut ice cream to the top of your ice cream, as it will impart a flavor similar to maple syrup. Or, you can opt for a basic vanilla ice cream to let the flavors of your pancakes shine through.