Product Reviews and Buying Guides We Tried 11 Kinds of Pancake Syrup and This Is the Only One We Want for Breakfasts Now Our favorite is Pearl Milling Company’s Country Rich Homestyle Syrup. By Sarra Sedghi Sarra Sedghi Sarra Sedghi has more than 10 years of experience as a food writer. She covers cooking, restaurants, and food culture, as well as travel, design, and lifestyle. Allrecipes' editorial guidelines Updated on July 20, 2022 Close Whether you prefer syrup soaking into your pancakes or pooling in the squares of your waffles, you can't deny that pancake syrup is an integral part of the breakfast experience. And when it oozes to other areas on your plate, pancake syrup gives savory breakfast meats like bacon and sausage just the right amount of contrast. We tested 11 kinds of pancake syrup, all available at grocery stores or online, to determine which was the very best. This taste test was conducted over several weeks and involved six tasters. We drizzled each syrup over pancakes prepared during our boxed pancake mix test and on blank areas on the plate so we could try each pancake syrup individually while observing how each type of syrup interacted with the pancakes. Our testing criteria included flavor, consistency, and overall value for the price. Our top pick is Pearl Milling Company's Country Rich Homestyle Syrup, which has the perfect balance of a sweet and buttery flavor, and good consistency. Backed by our testing, here are the best pancake syrups. Best Pancake Syrup at a Glance: Best Overall: Pearl Milling Company Country Rich Homestyle SyrupBest Buttery Flavor: Log Cabin Original SyrupBest Sweet Flavor: Michele's Gourmet Maple Creme SyrupBest Thick Texture: Mrs. Butterworth's Original Pancake SyrupBest Sugar-Free Pancake Syrup: Great Value Sugar Free Syrup What We Looked for When Ranking Pancake Syrup Flavor: Sure, syrup is intended to add sweetness to a stack of pancakes, but not everyone wants a tooth cavity for breakfast. Many popular syrups also prioritize a buttery flavor, and for some people that triumphs over the more saccharine notes you find in both pancake and maple syrup. Our overall goal was to find a pancake syrup with a balance of sweet and buttery flavors, but because preferences exist we also sought out the best sweet syrup and the best buttery syrup. Consistency: Like flavor, syrup consistency is subjective. There should be a good degree of fluidity, but you also don't want to worry about losing half a bottle's worth of syrup should you accidentally knock it over. Price: Depending on what it's made from, syrup's price tag can range anywhere from a little more than a dollar to double-digit numbers. Pancake syrup differs from its pure maple counterpart in that it's far more affordable, which, along with a less intensely saccharine flavor and thicker density, is one of pancake syrup's major selling points. With that in mind, we judged the various syrups on both price and value for the money. How We Tasted Each Pancake Syrup This taste test was conducted in conjunction with our pancake mix taste test, which provided plenty of vehicles for me to taste each syrup. Like the pancake mix test, this taste test was conducted over the course of several weeks and involved six tasters. We drizzled the syrup both over the pancakes and over blank areas on the plate so we could try each syrup individually while observing how each type of syrup interacted with the pancakes. Best Overall: Pearl Milling Company Country Rich Homestyle Syrup Walmart Buy Now Pearl Milling Company's Country Rich Homemade Syrup had the best balance of flavor and consistency out of all the pancake syrups we tested. This syrup struck a perfect harmony of sweet and buttery flavor with just the right amount of thickness. The plastic bottle holds eight ounces of flavorful syrup, the equivalent of eight 2-tablespoon servings. No refrigeration is required, and an easy-to-open cap flips up to pour the syrup. The company behind this syrup has been around since 1889. Though it contains no dairy products, it is labeled OU Kosher Dairy because the pancake syrup is made on equipment that may come into contact with dairy. Buy it: $1.32; Walmart Best Buttery Flavor: Log Cabin Original Syrup Walmart Buy Now Log Cabin's syrup had the most robust buttery flavor out of all the syrups we tasted. It has a classic, hearty taste as well as a nice degree of thickness so it doesn't immediately get soaked up by pancakes. Buy it: $3.74; Walmart Best Sweet Flavor: Michele's Gourmet Maple Creme Syrup Target Buy Now Those who prefer their syrup on the sweeter side will likely enjoy Michele's Gourmet Maple Creme Syrup. It's two percent maple, which doesn't exactly put it near genuine maple syrup, but it does capture some of pure maple syrup's saccharine notes. Buy it: $3.99; Target Best Thick Texture: Mrs. Butterworth's Original Pancake Syrup Instacart Buy Now In terms of taste, Mrs. Butterworth's was one of the more divisive syrups among those tested. True to its name, Mrs. Butterworth's has a nice buttery flavor, but it also has a strong artificial sweetness, and different people have different tolerances for sugar. However, this syrup's texture stood apart from the others with a thickness that's almost creamy, and if texture is your paramount trait in syrup, you're going to want to go with Mrs. Buttersworth's. Buy it: $4.12; Walmart Best Sugar-Free Pancake Syrup: Great Value Sugar Free Syrup Walmart Buy Now Sugar-free products have the unfortunate tendency of being bogged down by an artificial taste, but Great Value's tastes more like a muted version of its original syrup, and as someone with a sensitivity to sugar, I found this syrup quite nice. It's not overly sweet, but it also doesn't have that slightly chemical flavor you generally find in sugar-free products. Buy it: $2.14, Walmart Related: Pure Maple Butter Is the Dreamiest Spread You've Never Even Heard Of Maple Isn't the Only Tree Syrup Your Pancakes Will Love Does Maple Syrup Go Bad? Here's What You Need to Do to Keep It Fresh Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit