The Best Fast Food Pancakes Beat Dairy Queen And Jack In The Box By A Mile

Pancakes are an iconic breakfast item. It's not hard to understand why — they're sweet, delicious, aesthetically pleasing, and super easy to make. Of course, despite their ease, sometimes you just don't have the time, or access to the kind of griddle needed to make classic pancakes at home. Luckily, there are a lot of fast food eateries that will serve you up a short stack while you're in your car. When we ranked fast food pancakes, we determined that McDonald's had the best option out there. 

Known as hotcakes, McDonald's morning pancake option comes with three (as McDonald's puts it) "golden brown" hotcakes per order, along with real butter and a maple-flavored syrup. This breakfast item by itself is available for as low as $4.29 in some markets, and it's also part of two breakfast combos, the Hotcakes And Sausage (includes sausage links), and the Big Breakfast With Hotcakes (hotcakes, sausage patty, scrambled egg, biscuit, hash browns).

We found McDonald's hotcakes to be the most delicious fast food pancakes out there, and we're not alone in our love. One social media user praised the hotcakes by saying "they're the best pancakes I've ever [had] in terms of quality, consistency, fluffiness and taste. The syrup and butter they give always deliver as well." Another user on the same thread agreed that the hotcakes' toppings were excellent, even for a Mickey D's skeptic: "I usually hate McDonald's but I love their pancakes, and you're right the butter and syrup they give with them are amazing." These are some pretty impressive reviews, especially considering that McDonald's doesn't even make its hotcakes fresh every day. 

Looking for another reason to love these flapjacks? As a different social media user noted, McDonald's "pancake breakfast is legit one of their best items. Not just because they're good but also they are still one of the most reasonably priced items they have on their whole menu, both breakfast and dinner." While there are in fact some McDonald's breakfast menu items cheaper than the hotcakes (for example, the sausage burrito or the egg and cheese bagel), the price point is reasonably low for pancakes. By contrast, a short stack of three pancakes from IHOP is priced at around $10.99, over twice as much. So, if you're looking to get your pancake fix on a budget, McDonald's is clearly a superior option.