Sheet pan pancakes are a genius way to make pancakes for a crowd

If you’ve got lots of family events on the calendar this season, you’re probably mentally preparing yourself to go overtime in the kitchen. Here’s one fun recipe that will make feeding the crowd a little easier: sheet pan pancakes!

You read that right. A big cookie sheet of golden brown pancakes for all to share. And it bakes all at once — no more standing at the stove to flip cakes on the griddle.

There are a lot of ways to make sheet pan pancakes, including using a pre-made pancake mix. Pancake maker Flourish shared a sheet pan recipe on Facebook that gives you a snapshot of just how easy it is:

As food blogger Sabrina Snyder points out on Dinner, then Dessert, you can also make two pans with different toppings for each. Breakfast bonus!

Use your own special recipe for pancake batter, or save a few steps and use boxed pancake mix. Use your hand mixer to blend the mix with some eggs and whole milk. All you’ll need after that is some butter, flour and whatever your favorite pancake toppings may be. Snyder suggests blueberries, chocolate chips, sliced bananas, swirls of Nutella — or whatever your breakfast buddies desire.

Bake the pan o’ pancakes at 425 degrees for 15 minutes and breakfast is served. Check out Dinner, then Dessert for the full recipe. It’s a cinch!

If you’ve got the time, or if you have a second oven, you can even make a whole sheet of bacon to go with your ‘cakes. At my house, we line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, then put down a single layer of bacon. I put it in a cold oven (i.e., not pre-heated) and crank it to 400 degrees.

As the kitchen begins to smell delicious, I frequently check the bacon’s progress — it can burn easily once it starts to crisp up. I usually budget about 20 minutes of cook time, though it can take a little more or less.

Make sure to drain the finished bacon strips on paper towels. Go ahead and blot the tops, too. The bacon can get pretty greasy, cooking in that sheet all together. When I need to hold a heap of bacon for a bit, I put it in the toaster oven on the lowest setting to keep warm.

Now that whole crew is fed, it’s time to go outside!